Mr. Gross says "Those are big hypothetical costs for taxpayers. But they would still be smaller than the actual benefits taxpayers—or at least the large majority of taxpayers who are homeowners—have already received."

Let's call this what it is: suburban welfare. The government takes from the renters and gives back to the homeowners. Since renters tend to be poorer than homeowners, it's robbing the poor to pay the rich. Since renters tend to be younger than homeowners, it's robbing the young to pay the debts of the old. Since there are more renters in dense urban areas, it's robbing the cities to pay the suburbs.

Suburban welfare.

Just another policy in a long line of government bailouts designed to herd us all into mortgages, marriages, and little boxes made of ticky-tacky. Why do the 'burbanites get to deduct their mortgage interest, but I can't deduct interest on a nice car or an expensive Living Room set? Why do the 'burbanites get a tax-free investment vehicle via their house when I have to pay capital gains on my small caps? Zoning laws? Explicitly in favor of single-family residential. Explicitly designed so that the "evil developers" won't build those nasty apartments that "bring down property values." Heaven forbid.