This question was posed by PolicyMic.com:
“I’m an American underwater in debt and with a stagnant income. Which group should I support: the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street?”
I took one side, Peter Rothberg of The Nation the other. You can see the discussion here.
Cool, I finally got a chance to read this. I like the opposing-viewpoints type editorials, at least when the contributors are thoughtful.
Do you think there is a cascading effect from the mortgage deduction? If someone is concerned about fairness and equality, I can see how they might object to homeowners getting a fat deduction while renters do not. That might lead them to support more government involvement to increase home-ownership. I think the deduction is one of the factors pushing the mechanism you talk about. Not to mention artificially raising the price of houses.