there isn't much equity financing in their banks and therefore they don't have strong buffers against lossswhen they see the potential dangers coming from europe they hunker down, they cut back on loans, they get ready for the storm in that passion and that has a negative contracting effect on the rest of the economy. >> brown: simon, how much of the problems are self-inflicted problems that never got resolved? we talk misdemeanor times on this program several years ago in the midst of the financial crisis about all the bad assets out there. how much of that, simon, is still hanging out there and still with us? >> an enormous amount, unfortunately and self-inflicted is exactly the right term. there is estimated to be about $700 billion in negative equity in residential mortgages. that's mortgages worth less than the house... the house is worth less than the mortgage and that, of course, is sitting on the bank's balance sheet. they don't want to deal with it, they don't want to do a write-down of it of any kind and that's paralyzing that the housing market and leading to blights in many comm