On equity "cushions" and negative equity

A report last month indicating that almost 25 percent of all borrowers now owe more on their mortgage than their homes are worth punctuated one of the more dramatic turn of events in the ongoing credit crisis and housing bubble aftermath. Twenty five percent!

It seems those home equity "cushions" that Federal Reserve economists used to talk proudly about just a few years ago have all but vanished, giving rise to the new, far less pleasant reality of "negative equity" as captured at Google Trends and shown below.