In the old days, before the housing mess, a person making $50k a year would not get a mortgage for 3 times his salary, let alone more than that. Banks simply didn't do that. The rule was 2.5x one's salary. And it was typically a 30-year fixed mortgage, meaning that 1) a person knew exactly what the payment would be, 2) it would not increase unless the homeowner refinanced, and 3) the debt would go down year after year until it was paid off. Given that our national debt is largely (80%) financed with short-term bonds, we don't know what we'll be paying in 2 years because interest rates could and will go up and we are adding to the debt every day, not paying it down. So, your analogy is an epic fail across the board.