Word: homely
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Granted, building a home or installing a pool isn't exactly "spending" the way flying to Rio is -- the home has lasting value. But neither is it a productive investment that makes the economy more efficient and competitive for the future...
...Sluggish home prices are also good news in the drive to dampen inflation. Returning to the days of negligible inflation, if we eventually can do so, should also mean returning to the days of low interest rates (from 1880 to 1965, home mortgage rates above 6% were all but unheard of), and that would be good news for the economy -- and for future home buyers...
...Homes can still be a good investment -- much of my own money is in real estate, and so is much of the money of most of the successful stockbrokers I know (they sell stocks; they buy real estate). Even if there are fewer baby boomers entering the new-home market, the population continues to grow, and as it becomes wealthier, it will want more living space. So don't buy the new conventional wisdom unreservedly. But even in Los Angeles, where the whole point is to spend more than you can afford, rising values are no longer a given...
...Rising home prices may not pay for Junior's education or Senior's retirement. Some real money may need to be set aside as well...
...Cuba, Viet Nam, Ethiopia, Angola and Nicaragua required huge subsidies. Afghanistan was costing lives as well as money. In Eastern Europe the explosive forces of dissent were building dangerously. The stagnant Soviet economy was falling further and further behind the West. Gorbachev's only option was to reform at home and retrench abroad...