In America, the nineteenth-century credit crises grew out of initiatives aimed at settling western lands and at the concomitant extension of the railroads. During most of the twentieth century, the focus switched to home ownership. In housing, a myriad of government policies, tax breaks, regulations, oversight organizations, and other instruments have, over generations, promoted an ever-increasing rate of home ownership. The original Jeffersonian ideal was a nation of citizen farmers, each owning the means of his or her own support. Today, this vision has morphed into one of a nation of
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