A "weak housing market" means fewer people are borrowing money to buy homes, and since our entire monetary system is based on people *borrowing money into existence* (fractional reserve banking), this means our money supply will continue to contract as existing debtors pay off their debts without new debtors borrowing more money into circulation. Monetary contractions ALWAYS lead to recessions, and prolonged severe contractions become depressions. See this for background:Money as Debt IIhttp://digg.com/business_finance/Money_As_Debt_II_ ...The solution is not to get more people to borrow money; the solution is to take the power to issue money away from the banks (who issue check-book money and credit when money is borrowed to buy homes and cars), where the amount of money in circulation depends on fickle things like how likely consumers are to borrow, and return it to the government, which is the only entity that should have the power to issue money. Commercial banks presently issue 95% of the money we have in circulation, and they do so for their own profit, issuing it only as debt that accrues interest. (The last 5% is issued as Federal Reserve notes--your cash and coins--used to buy Treasury bonds, indebting the Government for which you pay the interest by your income tax.) Money should only be issued to meet the needs of commerce; any issuance of money beyond that just causes inflation. (Concomitantly, the government should not spend money on things it does not have the political will to raise taxes to fund, such as long term wars and nation building.)