Possibly a daft question

[Tensai]

Hate me, I converted my equity into cash...

Hmmm... a tad smug perhaps....

[expat]

I always believed that in most situations there were winners and losers.

It ain't necessarily so.

Some games are zero-sum, but few bits of Real Life are.

Many situations have a part that is seen, and a part that is not seen. You could say that American subprime borrowers (i.e. Ninjas: No Income, No Job, No Assets) who got to live at least for a while in houses that they couldn't afford, have won something. American lenders who sold worthless "Asset-Backed" Commercial Paper have won. Other banks have won by having a competitor trashed for them. The Government expects to win by giving its baby special deals, then selling it off again at a price much better than what they cynically reduced NR to before confiscating it.

Lots of winners!