1. What is the main point of Thomas Sowell's commentary?
2. Why do you think that the media has not widely presented this position on the housing crisis?
3. Think about the following statements made by Mr. Sowell in his commentary. State whether you agree or disagree with each statement and explain your answers.
- Most people pay for what they can afford at the time. (para. 9)
- What [politicians] are saying and doing usually boils down to trying to enable people to choose what housing they want first - and then have some law or policy where somebody else, somewhere else, somehow or other, makes that housing "affordable" for them. (para. 11)
- If you think it through, that is a policy for disaster. We cannot all go around buying whatever we want, whether or not we have enough money to afford it, and have somebody else make up the difference. For society as a whole, there is no somebody else. (para. 12)
- The ultimate irony is that increasing government intervention in the housing market over the years has generally made housing less affordable than before, by any standard. (para. 18)
4. With which of the following statements do you think Mr. Sowell would disagree? Explain your answer.
- the cost of renting an apartment is too expensive
- all Americans deserve to own their own home by the time they are 30 years old
- people should only live in what they can afford