Surely, if Mother Nature had been consulted, she would never have consented to building a city in New Orleans.

The most critical factor subduing the demand for housing is that home ownership is no longer seen as the great, long-term buildup in equity value it once was.

These days the American dream of home ownership has turned into a nightmare for millions of families. They wake every day to the reality of a horrible decline in the value of the home that has meant so much to them.

For the baby boomer generation, a home is now seen not as the cornerstone of advancement but a ball and chain, restricting their ability and their mobility to move and seek out a job at another location.

Surely, if Mother Nature had been consulted, she would never have consented to building a city in New Orleans.

Millions of public workers have become a kind of privileged new class - a new elite, who live better than their private sector counterparts. Public servants have become the public's masters. No wonder the public is upset.

The unique danger today is the possibility that we may face longer-term stagnation as a consequence of relying too heavily on borrowed money.