A fool and his borrowed money...

With stock markets in crash mode from Europe (Sweden down 5% today) to Asia (India down 30% in a week), there's a familiar refrain building:

Indian police are watching out for brokers and investors attempting suicide after a market slide wiped out billions of dollars in share values.

Policemen were keeping a watch near lakes and canals on Monday - possible places where people in distress could head to kill themselves. They said rescue teams were on alert.

OK, I just put that in there because I thought the idea of cops watching fish ponds for people trying to drown themselves was pretty funny. I wonder if they have firemen with those portable trampolines standing under tall buildings just in case. There haven't been any market-related suicides as of yet, at least that I've heard of.

But there has been a lot of this:

Sanjay Joshi, a small investor, said: "I borrowed money to trade in the market. I lost it all in the past two days.

"I don't know how will I repay my loans."

Why, oh why would you borrow money to play in the stock market? Because you're a moron, that's why, following a noble, centuries-long tradition of fleeced investment sheep who lose everything on a sure thing. Margin wiped out thousands of investors in the 1929 crash, and it will wipe out millions when we get another one. Small investors love leverage, the ability to ride a tiger twice or ten times as fast as it's running, yet when the beast turns on them they are swallowed whole. Then they have the audacity to act surprised.

It's coming in American real estate very soon as well, maybe this year, as rising interest rates start to drive house prices down. Adios, Morons of the 110% Mortgage. You really thought we could all get rich selling our houses to one another?