One for each side of the aisle today. Note that truths is not really the right word, these are small steps towards coming to truths.
(1) For my friends on the Right: Welfare reform in the 1990s decreased incidence of single motherhood.
(2) For my friends on the Left: The housing crisis was an issue of prime borrowers defaulting with little to no to negative equity and not primarily an issue with subprime borrowers. And this, “Housing traits, race, initial income, and speculators did not play a meaningful role, and initial leverage only accounts for a small variation in outcomes of prime and subprime borrowers.”
Yes, but there is any doubt the housing crisis was not largely attributable to government policy? Weren’t the PRIME borrowers granted “no money down mortgages” thanks to the existence of Fannie and Freddie (remember once upon a time when banks required 20% down?)? And were they not further subsidized by deductible mortgage interest, the ability to deduct property taxes from federal income taxes…). (and I will freely admit that PRIME borrowers include me … in fact I have a VA mortgage that means no money down, a lower rate, AND does not require private mortgage insurance ($0 for PMI!) because uncle Sam backs the loan.