When the value of a man’s house goes from 185k to 325k in two years, is that growth? The government says it is.

But to get that growth, the man has to sell that house, and pay 20% capital gains on that growth. Then if he wants a similar standard of living, he has to pay $325 for another house.

That growth does not increase his purchasing power. It does, however, greatly increase the power of banks to lend on that property, to obligate more of a man’s future earnings to paying for that property, and to extract more of his earnings in the form of insurance and taxes.

There is growth that serves man, and there is fictitious growth that serves his master.