"In real estate, this is a shakeup," Dent said. "People left standing with cash flow and credit inherit the world, and the banks will give them all the devalued real estate for very low prices."

He also advised that making money should not be the number one priority. "Your goals should be, how do I refinance the property I have, how do I re-structure, sell the ones I can't and maintain cash flow and credit." Offering the corporate example of General Motors, he said that despite their woes, the company didn't go down as fast and as far as their competitors.

Calling on history, Dent said there was a major crash in Japan in the 1990s and a major crash in the United States in the 1930s and that was it. The intervening years, he said, had been mostly up. "The Depression was a pretty good pattern for what happens, because we are going through a boom, bubble and bust. Stock markets and asset prices overreact and the banking system just gets killed."

Dent said this is a 12 to 14-year process, with the 1929-1942 cycle as the closet analogy. He added that the real estate bottom should occur in 2013.

If we only see a modest rebound from the current stimulus efforts, the stock markets are going to react negatively, Dent said. World markets are going to look at the US dollar and say it's deflated and that the country has "debased itself and has nothing to show for it." Dent said that ultimately, either the stimulus will not be enough or the government will be forced to stop because its own dollars and financing become too questionable, too quick. He says for the economy to triumph, it will have to wash out the debt.

More specifically, he said there would be some temporary rebounds: stocks for three to six months; maybe commodities for 12 months; perhaps oil, silver and gold. But he warned that the US faces huge trade deficits and that half the debt is owned by foreign governments or entities who would not be as tolerant of the nation's stimulus programs.

To address this, Dent recommended that the greater part of the stimulus package should be directed towards infrastructure projects. At present, it's about one third of the package.

Dent told the New York audience they should be lobbying for infrastructure project money, that it pays off in the long term and that investments in it help make the most of the most attractive mega-city in America. More broadly, "if you can borrow money when things are down, at least have an investment that pays off in the long term. In 2012 or so, China, Dubai or Japan will say to the United States, 'you guys are bankrupt, you threw away three or four bottles of Viagra.'"

But he added that these countries would be willing to make deals and help us if they get a piece of an investment like infrastructure, which is broadly defined. "If we're going to add debt to stimulate the economy, you need to be lobbying for infrastructure."