Lawyers have filed over 70 securities-fraud class actions in the first quarter, three times the amount filed in the first half of 2007.

According to the report: “The targets aren’t only obvious ones like mortgage lenders and credit-rating agencies, either. They now include securities underwriters and mutual funds.”

It’s little wonder Americans are suing Wall Street institutions over the subprime mess.

“The part of the economy in worst shape now is the consumer,” says Bill Bonner. “He’s the one whose salary has not gone up. He’s the one whose house is being foreclosed. And he’s the one who’s got to buy gas and food.

“Banks now have twice as many foreclosed houses as they did a year ago. People take bus tours of foreclosed properties – looking for bargains… and generally depressing prices all over town.

“People are buying fewer SUVs. Hummers are having trouble finding buyers… (We have a brother in Virginia with one; he says his daughter refuses to ride in it, citing environmental damage). Consumers are getting more careful when they go to the grocery store.

“And even in the Hamptons, apparently the housing market is in a slump.”