“A widening array of financial-market problems threatens to trigger a new phase in the global credit crunch, extending it beyond the risky mortgages that have cost banks and investors more than $100 billion in losses and helped push the U.S. economy toward recession” —“New Hitches in Markets May Widen Credit Woes,” Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2008, page A1. “The credit crisis is no longer just a subprime mortgage problem. “As home prices fall and banks tighten lending standards, people with good, or prime, credit histories are falling behind on their payments for home loans, auto loans and credit cards at a quickening pace, according to industry data and economists” —“Mortgage Crisis Spreads Past Subprime Loans,” New York Times, February 12, 2008, pg. 1.