1. Perpetuate outdated notions about the desirability of single family homes;
2. Impose incredibly restrictive zoning in areas close to jobs, ensuring that homes there will remain very expensive;
3. Provide large, implicit subsidies to drivers, specifically by failing to price-in the societal cost of greenhouse gas emissions;
4. Under-invest in mass transit;
5. Allow exurban developers to build large, cheap single family homes on large lots in sprawling developments.
The result: A bunch of people sitting in their cars for 60-120 minutes a day, eating fast food, getting fat, not spending enough time with their kids, polluting the earth, and generally being unhappy.