Global housing desaster

The US finance industry is leading the market be it good or bad. It is interesting to note that European countries which copied the US finance stratgey like UK, Ireland, Spain, Iceland  (NY Times “Britain has one of the most developed home-financing industries, not far behind that of the United States” )   are hit hard by the housing crisis.  Whereas consumers in more conservative countries like Germany are hardly affected. Germany had a similar banking crash in 1931, when banks where using foreign, short term loans to finance long term investments in the industry resulting in a deep depression in Germany following the great US depression in 1929. Obviously there are not that much people around anymore who could advise bankers and their customers with their historical knowledge.