Directchannels of infection between the subprime-mortgage crisis and the credit-cardmarket certainly exist: consumers are likelier to load up on credit-card debtnow that home-equity loans are drying up. But card issuers look at cash flowrather than asset values, so falling house prices do not necessarily trigger achange in borrowers creditworthiness. They may even work to issuers advantage. The incentives forconsumers to keep paying the mortgage decrease if properties are worth lessthan the value of the loan; card debt rises higher up the list of repaymentpriorities as a result.

　　Card issuersare also able to respond much more swiftly and flexibly to stormier conditionsthan mortgage lenders are, by changing interest rates or altering creditlimits. That should in theory reduce the risk of a rapid repricing of assets. We are not going to wake up one day and totally revalue the loans, says Gary Perlin, Capital Ones chief financial officer.

　　If a suddensubprime-style meltdown in the credit-card market is improbable, the risks of asustained downturn are much more real. If lower house prices and a contractionin credit push America into recession, the industry will undoubtedly face agrimmer future. Keep watching for those dorsal fins.

　　1. The authormakes mention of dorsal fins which are irrelevant to the topic in order to_____.

　　[A] makepeople alert to the potential danger

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