WANTING Lower House Prices? La, La, La, I'm Not Listening

My privilege as an American working on a mortgage, a (supposed) homeowner, is the privilege to dream of jackpots and not to listen to reason. The older I get, the less reason I have to think logically anyway. And the yearning for the big suburban jackpot: where else do you think the Tea Partiers get their mojo, sitting there watching their Glenn Beck on their big-screen TVs (purchased on credit)? Logic, schmogic. Talk to any young person: they're up-to-here with stories about their bizarre elders.

If you thought the Baby Boom was a self-centered pain-in-the-ass in the 1960's, wait until they all retire with their loot and start meandering the desert in their RVs. Wait! It's already happening? Too late!:

The only people who clearly benefit from rising home prices are those who are selling their last house or downsizing. This is the same group that benefitted most from the previous run-up in prices — that is, typically, older people who have lived in the same house for years.

...Any investment value greater than zero (or zero plus inflation) is suspicious because it depends on the greater-fool theory. There is no physical reason why a house should become more valuable at all. It is not growing like a crop. It is not producing anything that you can turn around and sell, like a factory. It just sits there. It becomes more valuable because people believe that it will become more valuable. Worse, since the general assumption that it will become more valuable is already reflected in the price you paid, you need a buyer who believes that it will become more valuable even faster than the general consensus.