ABU DHABI – Ever since hunter-gatherers started to build their own dwellings some 14,000 years ago, homeownership has been a mark of high social and economic status. Today, the United States has built a mammoth financial bureaucracy to promote homeownership, and economists, bankers, politicians, and of course homeowners themselves keenly follow house-price indicators.
阿布扎比—自从14,000年前采集狩猎部落开始建设栖身之所以来，房屋拥有权就成为社会和经济地位崇高的标志。如今美国建立了巨大的金融机构系统以促进房屋拥有，经济学家、银行家、政客，当然还有屋主本身，都热切地追踪者房价指标。但是，正如我们最近所看到的，除非按揭风险得到正确计算，否则拥有房子之梦很容易演变为经济噩梦。