To clarify, I have nothing against debt. I've taken on housing and business debt, made money on the former and plan to on the latter. Debt is neither good nor bad in its own. What's bad is artificially derisking debt in such a way that a few people make a lot of money off of it, while the risk is spread across the US taxpayer. Caveat emptor doesn't quite describe that situation, because debt is being foisted on you and I through no consent of our own, with little chance of reaping any of the benefits. My two specific examples, the 30yr fixed and the interest deduction are both cases that encourage people to take on way more debt (risk) than they probably should. I could finance an $800,000 house if wanted to, according to Fannie Mae's guidelines. The taxpayer would be paying for my foreclosure within a couple years if I actually did that.