Auto and mortgage lender GMAC LLC (NYSE: GKM) reported a first-quarter loss of $675 million and now faces further pressure from bank “stress tests” and freefalling sales volumes that may push its former parent General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) into bankruptcy.

Like a boxer who has a habit of dropping his hands, America finally caught one on the chin. The U.S. economy is flat on its back, and the financial markets are leaning down into its face yelling out a 10-count. But the U.S. economy isn’t “out for the count” yet. It will struggle back to its feet. But if the economy hopes to stay on its feet, it will have to devise new tactics. The old, sloppy tactics of credit-financed consumption won’t work anymore.

If you want to bet on something. Bet on deleveraging. It is a “leveraged planet,” says the New York Times. It explains that an ounce of leverage in Manhattan is likely to turn into a pound of credit in Dubai…which could quite possibly fall as a ton of debt on someone’s head in Norway.