Why Houses Aren't Being Built: Housing as a Major Asset Investment

For years I have tried to look at things not only from the broadest possible perspective, but also from the philosophy implicit in the facts themselves. 9/11, for example, was not merely an abject crime. It was an attack on the Western way of life, on liberal democracy and on capitalist society. On social mobility and on individual independence from the state. Its success, in terms of altering how we live, was overwhelming. I think we are still not fully aware of how far that goes. Housing is something similar, with all due differences. We are so used to arguing about rents, prices, mortgages, evictions or social housing that we have lost sight of its fundamental dimension. A home is not just a place to drop…