The panelists agreed there’s not much that policy makers can do to fix the current re-recession movement. Komal Sri-Kumar, chief global strategist for the Trust Company of the West, said the government should focus instead on job creation and tax code reform. Nancy Lazar, co-founder and vice chairman of ISI, said companies, unfettered by regulations, will fix their own problems.

All four said they believe that by this time next year the US markets will be in somewhat better position, either because of a more positive economy or because of moves by banks to sell off assets to clear out holding, opening up opportunities. True recovery is likely at least three-to-five years off however, they said.

A panel on debt markets told the roughly 400 attendees that because of the massive extension of debt, and the mountain of hundreds of millions of dollars that will be maturing every year, that the US is nowhere near the end of the deleveraging cycle. The question is who is going to recapitalize those commercial real estate assets when they come due, they said.

Until the time comes when the market takes its proverbial lumps with massive loss, they said, there won’t be a meaningful change other than the possibly permanent death of 80%-to-90% loan to value ratios. Ethan Penner, president and founder of CBRE Capital Partners, said there is opportunity for those who want to take risks, that those that can fill a void will get paid in a time when there’s more need for capital and less of it available.