Originally Posted by
nain rouge
Sure. But the mortgage-interest deduction wasn't really exploited until the 1950s, when it was to help push bigger, suburban homes, pushing investment away from urban developments. In addition, the mortgage-interest deduction doesn't apply if you take the standard deduction on your income tax, which your average person does because it's generally more cost-effective [[in fact, roughly 66% of people - including, I'm sure, most Detroiters - take the standard deduction). Therefore, it's usually the exurban homeowners that are benefiting from the mortgage-interest deduction, because it's very much in their interest itemize deductions.
Home ownership in the US is about the same as it is in other advanced Western countries that luck such a deduction - the only difference is that our homes tend to be larger, and this is directly related to the mortgage-interest deduction. If a wealthier person can basically scratch the interest of off their mortgage, they'll often use some of the money they save to get a bigger house.
I hate having to spell everything out like this, but I can see that a few you of you really love to exploit any ambiguities you find, creating meaningless abstractions from the holes to support your desired viewpoint [[and yes, I'm aware that at least one of you are going to point that statement back at me).