<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2008/03/10/080310ta_talk_surowiecki">http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2008/03/10/080310ta_talk_surowiecki</a></div><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 15px; "><div id="articleheads" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 19px; padding-right: 40px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 40px; text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; clear: both; display: block; height: 28px; "><h4 id="articleauthor" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; 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outline-color: initial; text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 12px; ">NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS</a>;</dd> <dd style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; display: inline; "><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/search/query?keyword=Federal%20Reserve" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; text-transform: uppercase; font-size: 12px; ">FEDERAL RESERVE</a></dd></dl></div></div></div></div><div id="articlebody" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; 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outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; ">Americans may disagree about nearly everything, but few contest the idea that owning your home is a good thing. Paeans to homeownership are a commonplace for American politicians, and, since the nineteen-thirties, public policy has been designed to make home buying cheaper and easier. Homeownership, the argument goes, has tremendous social benefits, stabilizing neighborhoods and making people more willing to invest in their communities. And it has economic benefits, too, serving as</p></div></article></div><span><br><br>Read more: <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2008/03/10/080310ta_talk_surowiecki#ixzz2Kcrl9RqB" style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153); text-decoration: none; outline-width: 0px; outline-style: initial; outline-color: initial; ">http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2008/03/10/080310ta_talk_surowiecki#ixzz2Kcrl9RqB</a></span></span></div></body></html>