Here's the critical point: "Since World War II, new cars and suburban houses have powered the economy and propelled recoveries." Emphasis suburban houses, not

Here's the critical point: "Since World War II, new cars and suburban houses have powered the economy and propelled recoveries." Emphasis suburban houses, not a loft in a building built in the 19th century in a formerly downtown industrial space. This because new cars and new houses are a lot about debt money creation. In every recession since 1980, these have mostly led recoveries. Without debt money creation, we'll likely see more slack. Or something - capacity utilization is actually up. From the banking-industrial-advertising complex's view ( roughly congruent with the mores of the Silent Generation ), this IS cheapness. My parents were Silent Generation and were extremely cheap by those standards. But at that time, the stock of both existing cars and housing was well under demand.