Now one might argue that paying a "little" extra for a house or car is not important to the economy. Further, anecdotally we know the price of shelter, food and other expenses and taxes have remained at roughly 1/3, 1/3 and 1/3 for 2000 years or so, however, we routinely see these ratios changing because the prices of these goods is not tied to their utility, or even their intrinsic value, but to what the bankers and tax collectors say it is. More importantly, in a "free market" economy, if the price of something is off, it throws everything else out as well. For example, most of the major recessions of the last 100 years is tied to either an unexpected price shock (oil crisis, dot com bust) or a banking breakdown. These are the "market's" reaction to mispricing assets like houses and cars. Therefore, it is not about short term vs long term investments, but about long term incorrect pricing to profit the (feudal or banking) aristocracy.