<prompt> Human: Is it only due to lack of capital?  <response>: Lots of reasons, but here are two. In a recession, money tends to be tight. People may have lost jobs and the last thing they are thinking about is buying stocks at a discount when theyre having trouble paying the mortgage. Psychologically it is extremely difficult to buy an asset that is declining in value every day with no end in sight. Hindsight has a tendency to make doing this seem easy. 