Commercial real estate developers are no longer immune to the credit crunch hitting residential real estate owners and developers, according to today's Wall Street Journal. Yesterday in visible proof of the problem, a Las Vegas casino developer, Bruce Eichner, defaulted on a $750 million loan from Deutsche Bank because he was not able to refinance the debt. It's not the first time he's been caught up in a credit crunch. The Journal reports he lost several projects in New York City during its real estate downturn in the early 1990s.

The Journal also points out he's not the only one having trouble getting refinancing. Other commercial developers in trouble according to the Journal include:

• A major Australian shopping mall developer, one of the largest owners of shopping centers in the U.S., has been unable to refinance $3.4 billion in short-term debt.

• New York developer Harry Macklowe, who bought office buildings at the top of the commercial real estate market, can't refinance $7 billion in debt that's due in February. He's trying to sell his General Motors Building in midtown Manhattan to come up with cash.

With people from all sides calling for increased government intervention in the wake of the subprime meltdown, we've found a surprisingly intelligent viewpoint coming from an unlikely source: Vice President Dick Cheney.

Full Disclosure: I would be hard pressed to think of three nice things to say about Mr. Cheney. I apologize to the three people reading this who have some modicum of respect for him. But he may be on to something in his reaction to the subprime mess.

Here's what he told Fortune: "The fact is, the markets work, and they are working. And people -- some of the big companies obviously -- have taken risks. Risk means risk. And there's an upside as well as a downside in some of the choices they've made. We have to be careful not to have this set of developments lead us to significantly expand the role of government in ways that may do damage long-term for the economy."

I actually think Cheney's right. Think about the message a bailout would send: "Speculate wildly and profit handsomely if it goes well. If it doesn't, Uncle Sam will be in to bail you out."

What's next? Sending in federal officials to reimburse gamblers who lose at the craps tables? It's good to know Cheney wouldn't expect the Government to step in should the war profits his former company Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL) is enjoying suddenly take a plunge. No danger of that!

As subprime lenders continue to face the music for lending to buyers with low credit and high risk, the situation may only get worse before it gets any better. New Century may not agree with this, but many industry pundits and mortgage hawks are thinking that 2007 may be a massive write-off in terms of effort and time wasted. Semi-proof of the coming doom-n-gloom was announced by the National Association of Realtors yesterday, who announced that the subprime mortgage situation "will weigh heavier on the U.S. real estate market than initially projected." Yep, had to see that one coming.

The twin pillars of the continuing lending industry nightmare are tightening credit standards and increased foreclosures, according to a spokesperson for the NAR. Tightening credit standards were likely to come back once greedy subprime lenders actually realized that low and behold, economic conditions and housing markets may, gasp, change and may make foreclosures rise. In turn, credit standards go back to where they've been from a traditional lending perspective and those considered in the subprime market start getting squeezed out.

On lighter news (heh), the group also stated that new home sales are now expected to plummet 14.2% while existing home prices are expected to drop 0.7% after a slight rise at the start of 2006. In other words, the housing market in this existing cycle peaked somewhere before the middle of 2005. Ever since, the slide has been visible but only slightly pronounced. Now, it is in full swing.