US Homeownership Shows The Bust Has Been Greater Than The Boom

Boom bust cycles are a net negative to a society.

The Wall Street Journal Blog narrates on the state of US Homeownership. (bold emphasis mine)

The release also showed that the housing bust has undone all of the gains in ownership rates that were much ballyhooed in the early and mid-2000s. The nation’s home ownership rate, at 66.4% in the first quarter, was down from 66.5% in the last three months of 2010 — the lowest level since 1998.

US homeownership fell more than the levels when the policy induced boom had been accelerated (meant to combat the dotcom bust during the advent of the new millennium). Thus, the damage incurred from the ensuing bust has been far greater than 'illusory' benefits of the boom.

As for China phobes: China played an insignificant role in the US housing bubble cycle engineered by the US government.

All these show that governments' penchant for blowing serial bubbles signify a path to a lower standard of living (poverty). As the great Murray N. Rothbard wrote,

“inflation reduces saving and investment, thus lowering society’s standard of living. It may even cause large-scale capital consumption”