August 16, 2009

The “Rentership” Society

The (often overlooked) Weekend Journal has an essay this week that to me seems absolutely indispensable for anyone who cares about how we move out of the financial shit storm in which we are currently ensconced. It briefly documents the centuries old American obsession with home ownership, and all the US government has done since the Depression, both covertly and overtly, to make the dream of ownership a reality for tens of millions. Of course, we all know where all that assistance led us decades later: the debacle that is GSEs like the infamous Fannie and Freddie, now on taxpayer-funded life support and operating in a zombie-like state.