Americans want to be middle class, and if we keep telling them that homeownership is the "most tangible cornerstone" of middle classness, and the best available evidence of whether you've worked hard and been responsible, they're going to keep wanting to buy houses.
Why not instead emphasize that renting—that is, not taking all the money you have in the world and putting it into a highly leveraged real estate investment—is a perfectly valid life choice, even for people leading prosperous, middle-class lives?
