If it's a longer trough, where we get double screwed is with housing.
Somehow, the government thought that people would spend less $ per month on housing if they changed loan terms.
40 year mortgages got rolled out, people still could afford the same monthly payment, so prices rocketed. Zero down because common. People saw prices going up and up and everyone wanted to be a landlord, further driving up prices.
Now you have a large part of your population with mortgage debt out of whack compared to much of the world, and even if prices come back down to earth or stagnate, everyone who bought their first house during that period is screwed on a relative basis.
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