The stretch from 1997 to 2007 was the helium-rich years of a multi-decade-long credit bubble, when buying and selling dot-com stocks was replaced with suburban houses as the path to riches.

However, IRS data show that during these years, as Americans pocketed $5,312 billion in capital gains, they simultaneously shelled out $5,252 billion in mortgage interest and real estate taxes – a difference so small as to be a rounding error. Over the same period, homeowner costs rose 122% for mortgage interest and 112% for property tax, while personal income increased by a paltry 63%. The cost of home-sweet-home ownership was eating Mr. & Mrs. Suburbia alive.

This 10,000-foot view is just a snapshot of the big-picture trend. There were obviously home flippers and stock market players that profited handsomely during the market’s boom. And we haven’t factored in the balance between taxes saved from interest/taxes written off and taxes owed from capital gains. But as a whole, did the nation grow any wealthier as a result of Americans being obsessed with selling their houses to each other? At best it looks like a zero-sum, tax code-induced illusion.

As Doug Casey has long and often said, a house is not an investment, it’s a consumer good, albeit the most expensive one that most Americans will ever make. And consumer goods are not, as a rule, great investments.

For over 28 years, Doug Casey has spotted the big-picture trends emerging throughout the investment universe. But more importantly, he understands how to profit from them by investing ahead of the crowd. So what does Doug Casey think makes for a great investment in today’s frenzied markets?

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