And what he'd like people to do is call their mortgage holder and see if they qualify.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing

Most people are used to juggling two discordant views of themselves and their fellow humans, one statistical, according to which what's normal is what most people do most of the time, and one rooted in what you could call the moral imagination: a there-but-for-the-grace-of-God capacity to put themselves into other people's moccasins, however horrible or untypical the circumstances.

ECONOMIST: The silence of the lambs | The

But investors' cold feet also might have something to do with what behavioral economists call the "disjunction effect, " the idea that people don't think one step ahead when making decisions because they're waiting for more information.

FORBES: Magazine Article

People do not care what kind of technology they are using when they are making a phone call or downloading a ringtone, says Julian Horn-Smith, Vodafone's chief operating officer.

ECONOMIST: Mobile telecoms