9-11 was a huge factor. greenspan cut the fed funds rate to about 1% making loans easy to come by. the lack of regulation in the housing market exacerbated the prblem which eventually precipitated the subprime crisis. but its also the variable rate loans that eventually rebalanced combined with offshorig of manufacturing jobs that have perpetuated the housing market woes and the overall economy

the market overall will be fine in the lung run. if you look at history, black monday is a blip, the tech bubble isn't really noticeable and there has never been a 10 year period where there wasn't a gain.

if a crash is on your mind, short index futures.