The spectacular collapse of two big investment banks — and the scramble by a major insurance company to stay afloat — has many on Wall Street and Main Street wondering: Is this as bad as it gets? The answer is that nobody knows — not the heads of surviving banks, Treasury officials or policymakers at the Federal Reserve. The reason is that the true value of the investments being held by banks and other financial institutions cannot be known until home prices stop declining and the job market stabilizes. Until that happens, more losses are inevitable. The value of MS homes continue to drop as more houses are put on the market due to unemployment. THIS is a time to take on MORE debt? Ridiculous. Absurd.