When asked about his outlook on the future of the mortgage market, Goldman Sachs CEO Jan Hatzius, estimates a loss of $400 billion over the next year.

He thinks the mortgage market overall will have a huge impact on the economy as a whole. Soon other sectors may start to feel the crunch of this credit crunch and the results could be quite disastrous for employment and retail.

When asked why the numbers deviate so much from the $50 billion estimate Ben Bernanke threw out back in July, Hatzius said:

‘Now, it is clear to most observers that they are far too low. At present, we believe that a reasonable estimate would peg expected credit losses on the currently outstanding stock of mortgages in the $300-$400 billion range.’

Looks like all the people who said there would be a soft landing or “rough patch” are absolutely dead wrong. Its not a soft landing, its more like jumping off the Empire State building with a rocket pack attached to you.

Now that the financial big wigs have stopped lying to their investors and the American people, we can start to see what they really think the outlook for the future is.  Sadly, part of me wishes they would start twisting the truth again,  because I’m not sure I can actually handle the thought of a 15-30% economic downturn.