Repost from another blog I write.

I just began reading Richard Florida’s book The Great Reset: How New Ways of Living and Working Drive Post-Crash Prosperity. 

So far it is very interesting, and I’ve started following him on Twitter.com. Florida hypothesizes that in the coming years home ownership will be less attractive, as people will need to be more flexible in their living conditions. Renting will become preferred to buying a home.

This morning, Florida pointed to this interesting and somewhat contrary view of home ownership by Wendy Waters. I won’t summarize her ideas – just click through and read them. Good stuff. Quick read. She is exactly right.

I can’t say how all this will play out in the coming decades, but I think Wendy has some very good points. The problem with home ownership isn’t the simple fact that you own a home. It is the fact that, really, in most cases the bank owns the home, and we are spending 30 years or more to pay off houses — giving what should be our retirement savings the bank.

With Americans spending their entire working lives paying mortgage interest, funnelling that money into the banking system never for them to see it again, is it any wonder that wealth is increasing concentrated in the upper few percent of our population?