Book Review – John Wasik's Cul-De-Sac Syndrome
US Financial Columnist Critiques the American Dream
Oct 27, 2009
In his book, The Cul-De-Sac Syndrome: Turning Around the American Dream, John Wasik addresses the origins of attitudes toward homeownership and looks to a future where housing can once more become affordable, as well as economically and environmentally sustainable. With the help of innovators in architecture and town planning, Wasik attempts to re-imagine lifestyles which are community-based, not dependent on long commutes and are both personally and ecologically healthier. It seems that if the American Dream is to be attainable once more, it needs an update.
Homeownership – A Democratic Right?
Wasik says, "Ever since the dawn of the twentieth century, families all over the country were desperate to leave crowded city apartments for a place of their own. That's part of the American dream that has been largely enjoyed by almost 70 percent of the country."
Wasik encapsulates this long-held desire with a quote from archietect Frank Lloyd Wright, from his own book, The Living City, published in 1958: "When every man, woman, and child may be born to put his feet on his own acres and every unborn child finds his acre waiting for him when he is born--then democracy will have been realised." It is stirring stuff with osmotic appeal and the US is not alone in its property bias. Australia too, another country with vast frontiers, also has an insatiable appetite for land ownership.
However, the more recent shift away from cities, when housing became increasingly unaffordable, has led to the development of large suburbs, which Wasik calls 'spurbs'. In these 'spurbs', people are heavily reliant on motor vehicle transport to travel often great distances to work and the quality of life and health of commuters is at stake. It is most unlikely that American forebears envisaged such ramifications in their version of the American Dream.
Dot.com Crisis and September 11 Sharemarket Reaction
According to Wasik, the turbulence in the sharemarket during the late 1990's and early in the following decade caused a massive shift in confidence away from equities and into property, as people watched their share investments dwindle. This in turn caused a housing boom, which continued to gain momentum until the bubble burst in 2008.
Wasik describes how a belief in homeownership, as the most solid of investments, took hold and also how during the 'mortgage bonanza days' people not only took out one mortgage, they took on a second and third mortgages as well. "Homeowners were spending money that they thought was on the house; their loans were supposed to be covered by gains they bet would come in the future," Wasik says.
According to the author, by the end of 2008, Americans owed more in mortgages than they owned in home equity, while at the same time property tax, averaged over three years of property values, had sky-rocketed. With enormous outlays, people turned to their credit cards to make ends meet and debt further spiralled out of control. Wasik, notes that 'simple supply and demand economics" were forgotten in the boom.
Re-imagining the American Dream
Despite the gloom, and perhaps because of it, Wasik finds hope. It's an 'out of the rubble, good will prevail' kind of thing. Increasing fuel costs, environmental concerns and quality of life, along with the lessons learnt from the housing mania, could spawn a different way of looking at the American Dream.
Wasik explores new and innovative design in pre-fabricated houses in favour of the wastage and on-site work hours involved in conventional stick building. He talks to town planners and architects about passive energy-saving homes, who predict that 'green' houses in 'green' developments will be sought after as much more affordable over time.
"Changing course will involve some major cultural soul searching. These mistakes of the housing debacle will cost us trillions and may burden several generations of Americans with debt and create longstanding difficulties in obtaining credit and buying homes. Only one thing is certain: The age of froth is long over. It's time for reckoning and renewal," Wasik concludes.
The Verdict
John Wasik pulls no punches in his book, The Cul-De-Sac Sydrome: Turning Aound the Unsustainable American Dream, but to his credit neither does he over-simplify the issue by laying the blame solely on financially devestated and demoralised homeowners or conversely focusing entirely on disreputable lenders. Instead, he attempts to create a cultural context by which to understand why the American Dream has soured for so many. Even more importantly, he looks ahead to a future where homes at the centre of American life may be within reach again.
The Details
Author - John F. Wasik
Title - The Cul-De-Sac Syndrome: Turning Aound the Unsustainable American Dream Publisher – Bloomberg Press
Date - 2009
ISBN - 978-1-57660-320-8
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