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I own property. I wouldn't mind seeing its value halved if it meant everybody could afford a house.
Not to mention we shouldn't be valuing property in terms of monetary value, but rather the utility you get for that value.
Property is worth a shit ton right now, and I get that people like counting the high value of their property as an asset. But say you go to sell that property...you still have to live somewhere afterwards. Any new place you'd be buying or renting would be just as overinflated in terms of cost.
If the housing market were to crash again, you can't sell your house for as much, but also you wouldn't need to pay as much to move in somewhere else either. A house losing half its value doesn't delete half the house, it just makes it more accessible to buyers who don't already have a house to sell.
A problem here is: how many people with 20+ years on their mortgage are suddenly owing more than the house is worth? If my house's value were to drop by half tomorrow, I'd be stuck and unable to move because I would still need to pay as much as the previous values in order to move somewhere else.
I don't know how we fix that, but I don't think it's an insurmountable barrier to making housing affordable.
That is something people focus a lot on, but far more important is: can you afford to pay it? As long as the monthly payment doesn't change, the value of my house doesn't affect me at all. The problem comes when banks suddenly want to foreclose homes because it's underwater for reasons that the owner can't control.
Would you continue to pay $4000/month for a home when identical houses are available for $2000/month?
Banks don't forclose houses because they're underwater. Banks forclose houses because the owners realize they're underwater and they stop making $4000/month mortgage payments on their house that is only worth $2000/month.
I can't just switch to a cheaper house and pay less if selling my current one doesn't pay off my mortgage. I'd still be stuck with the same debt, that I took on voluntarily and could afford to pay when I did. As long as that situation doesn't change, nothing for me has to change.
I don't think anyone simply stops paying their mortgage just because the value of their house drops. They stop paying because they can't afford it. The 2008 crisis was because bad, predatory mortgages being pushed onto people who couldn't afford them (and the mortgager then offloading that risk so unsuspecting investors will bear the risk of the predictable default).
I suppose the comment said they decide capitalism is "ok", but maybe not ardent support.
If you manage to be confident and comfortable, then you don't have the interest/energy to be so actively *against" it, but also not mind some change so long as that change doesn't leave you behind.
There are of course those that want to hoard their wealth and only feel validated of they are scoring higher than others, but most folk just want to get by, and if they are getting by, they aren't inclined to be passionate one way or the other.
I admit I also feel that pressure to be more successful. I mean, it's that or accept that I'm being taken advantage of. The people who profit from my work make way more than I do, so I try to position myself so I can get a bigger share of that, but I often wish I could just forget about the money completely and build whatever I want. It's the unfairness of it all that's eating at me. Can we just drop this stupid system and make sure everybody has access to a comfortable life?