one of those 'bits of life advice' that sticks in my mind is...

one of those 'bits of life advice' that sticks in my mind is from a successful entrepreneur giving a talk to a group of men at at one of those city clubs for movers & shakers (I was merely the uni student barman/wine waiter)

"Never forget that the banks are the enemy" he said casually during his speil - and then repeated with great emphasis in his summing up.
No names - he was a guy who, like the average property investor, had started with nothing and worked hard and intelligently in several areas of business, and along the way had been royally screwed by the banks but had emerged from that hard-screwing, intact and proud.

Don't forget that banks do have their fingers on the economic pulse - to the minute - and they have no social duty to protect anything except their money.
ie. they they will take your leveraged assets in a split second and leave the govt of the day to take the heat and pick up the peices.