Time and again you hear pundits say that what the U.S. experienced in the last decade was a terrible boom/bust cycle for the housing and credit markets. But then, almost in the same breath, they oftentimes say the nation must do whatever it can to get those eight million jobs back that were “lost” when the housing bubble burst.

But, does that make any sense?

Were those jobs really “lost” or should a good many of them have never existed in the first place?

Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of economics would conclude that, since many of the jobs created early in the decade were related to housing – construction workers, mortgage brokers, etc. – that they won’t be coming back anytime soon, at least not as long as the housing bubble remains “popped” (which is a pretty good bet over the next few years).

Of course, since the early-2000s housing boom was, effectively, the cure for the stock market boom that went bust at the turn of the century, one could argue that what the government and central bank need to do is create a new and different asset bubble.

But, so far, Fed Chief Ben Bernanke and crew seem to be shooting blanks.

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