
What is obscured in the strict ‘line up’ and ‘line down’ interpretations of the market is a tremendous amount of money churning through different hands. It invariably transfers to the wealthiest hands who are most capable of absorbing losses and taking risks. The vast body of wealth that is lost in high market volatility is… retirement and pension funds.
The Dow Jones could stay flat and billions of dollars could still be transferred into the hands of a dozen people.
Although it does appear that living in them was better than living in a tent and perhaps led to living in a better housing situation? Unless the place was demolished after you moved out, it would be better than a tent for someone else.
Bad housing is better than no housing, largely in part that it helps people get out of the inertia and deathspiral of homelessness.
There’s a minimum a society should provide, and public housing at least can satisfy that.