[quote=SD Realtor]Owning a home is not a basic need and to classify it in the same breathe as air, water, food, even freedom is a joke.
Once more to place arbitrary restrictions on markets such as home ownership does not solve basic problems due to differentials in wealth.
You can apply your same line of reasoning to cars, to jobs, to food, to water, to anything. Carrying your logic to a not so unreasonable conclusion would imply everyone should have access to everything no matter what they have accomplished in life.[/quote]
Shelter IS a basic need. As to whether or not people have a “right” to own their own shelter, it’s a matter of priorities. Personally, I think the “right” to own one’s home supercedes the “right” of the wealthy to extract more wealth from the productive workers who need that shelter.
As mentioned above:
I think we need to determine what our priorities are. Though I’ve never liked the “Ownership Society” that was built on loose credit, I DO agree that most people are better off owning their own homes (affordably-priced homes, not “affordable” credit), largely because they can control their own housing costs, and because they can have a paid-off house when they need it most — in retirement.
I want to avoid a return to the days when a privileged few owned all the assets and had all the power, while the lowly plebeians labored to give all their money to the wealthiest people in the world. We are already headed quickly in that direction, unfortunately, but I think we can reverse this trend.
