Home Sweet Cash Machine?

When I start seeing stories like this one at the LA Times: Equity Is Altering Spending Habits and View of Debt I start to worry about a housing bubble crisis. The quotes sound like they came from last call at the Tiki bar: one real estate economist tells us that thriftiness is "very unsophisticated...If you paid your mortage off, it means you probably did not manage your funds efficiently over the years." (Hiccup). Another 44 year old dope tells us this about his house: "It's like I'm sleeping in my piggy bank." Kachink. A loan executive cuts to the chase: "if you own your own home free and clear, people will often refer to you as a fool." What's happening is people are running their credit card debt into their home equity loans, tapping home equity to finance any kind of pleasure they can think of. That sound you hear is the ratcheting up of roller coaster cars filled with money approaching the tipping point. What happens when the value of your home starts to fall? Do you have the stomach for this ride, my shortsighted, drunken high-life friends? Better learn to spell "foreclosure".