Housing?

Paraphrase "when will they ever learn?"

Housing vs productive work.

Housing drives sprawl, a consumption mentality, a debt driven economy, work force tied to location.

Wrong.

The Economy and D.C. - Renewed Weakness - NYTimes.com: "Of course, doing no harm will not be enough. The economy needs help, like direct federal job creation and options for homeowners to reduce the principal on troubled loans."