Regarding "McMansion Mania"

Often I have a hard time with essays of this type.  For the most part, reading of another person’s opinion of problems in ‘society’ puts a sour taste in my mouth.  One thing I found enjoyable about this article was the author’s ability to present an issue without excessive complaining or moral judgment.  It really boils my blood when nit-pickers decide to publish their bitching.  My pet peeve is complaining; I say just do something about it.  It’s good to identify a problem, but sitting in it will not produce a solution.  Though “McMansion Mania” did not pose a solution, it did raise important questions.  I had a hard time finding any nonbiased side to this argument, however.  Where was the other side?  There are always two sides to every story.

I thought it interesting that the average house size is increasing while the average family size is decreasing.  To me that can be taken two different ways.  The article presented the first school of thought – that the fat and greasy American public is living more extravagantly and not sharing it with anyone.  Could there be any other interpretation of this information?  Perhaps members of American society are choosing to have fewer children and therefore be less greedy, considering overpopulation is a reality today.  Why not have smaller families?  Plus, in most areas of the United States, technology simply allows us to have smaller families.  People are able to be much more efficient now.  It does not take a family with nine children to work the farm so everybody can survive.  And Americans have larger houses now.  That is not necessarily a bad thing.  Since when is it evil to enjoy the fruits of hard work?  It’s like we guilt ourselves for being successful these days.  Sounds like a leftover attitude form the 1800’s.  I often observe a specific mentality in which people try to bring others down to their own level instead of raising themselves up to a higher level.  I’m not saying all of this is exactly what is happening; I just want to present another possible explanation.  It is distressing and unfortunate that those who are struggling at the bottom of the socioeconomic totem pole now find it even harder to get subsidized housing.  The solution to this difficulty is not a simple one, that’s for sure.