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I've said it before but there's a reason the US stopped subsidizing the imagery of upward mobility and really got down to dismantling labor protections after the great socialist enemy of the USSR collapsed.
There's a bit in the "kitchen debate" where Nixon says that mortgages stabilize the housing market, RE the idea that Americans can treat suburban homes as semi-disposable and up or downgrade as needed and *slide whistle*
The middle-class and all its starter homes and stable credit sure stopped being politically expedient pretty quickly.