By Pat Cutler

The CDO party is over, Wall Street has been over served, and the mother of all hangovers is upon us. The expectation of “ever rising” housing prices, low or no documentation loans, and creative structuring on Wall Street proved to be a deadly brew for the economy. As home prices climbed, consumers rushed to buy houses or cash in their newfound wealth. Just as your mama told you that too much alcohol was not good for you, experience should have told us that ever increasing real estate prices and no doc mortgage loans would come to a no good end.

During my 7 year college career (in pursuit of a 4 year degree), I proved on countless occasions that a cheeseburger, fries and a jumbo sweet tea will cure the most severe hangover.

Drinking sweet tea is one of the oldest and most sacred of Southern traditions. By "sweet tea," I mean "sweet." Good sweet tea has about twice the amount of sugar as you’d find in a Coca-Cola. Based on the size of the rear ends at last week’s Mount Ebenezer Baptist Church homecoming, sugar worship might account for much of sweet tea’s popularity.

Real men like myself drink sweet tea in 24 ounce styrofoam cups with the name of their favorite “meat and three” restaurant prominently displayed on the outside of the cup. One of my good friends owns a chain of family restaurants. If you are one of the fortunate, he will give you a card that entitles you to free sweet tea for life. All you have to do in present the card at the counter, and you will be served a jumbo sweet tea over crushed ice with a half of lemon floating on top. Other than a NRA membership card, I cannot think of a better card for a Southerner to carry.

Despite the hangover remedies served up by Congress and Messrs. Bush and Bernanke in the form of tax rebates, rate cuts, and the bailout of Bear Stearns, the economy is still hugging the toilet. As with all hangovers, the extreme pain is followed by repentance and the vow to never make the same mistake again. However, all thoughts of good behavior seem to disappear once the next party comes along. Have we learned from our mistakes this time? Only time and the next mortgage boom will tell.

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