Who sold us this bill of goods?

I'm curious as to what evil think tank ever sold us on the joys and financial gains of home ownership. Granted, I wouldn't be whining about it too much if it weren't for the current real estate market - or if our house handn't decided that this was the year to have a bunch of things go wrong at once.
My current discontent stems from the fact that the AC decided to go on the fritz (and drip condensation water in the basement ceiling) leaving me hot and bothered, and not in the good way. The fridge also decided that it was time to start leaking water on to the kitchen floor, which happens to be parquet, so those started buckling as well. So, now we need a whole army of various workmen to come out. And as you working homeowners know, this isn't easy, cheap or convenient, even when they DO show up when they are supposed to show up. Durr.
So, it got me to wondering...between the repair / replacement costs, regular indoor/outdoor maintenance, lost vacation time, and of course the mortgage, are we really coming out ahead? (if we tried to sell now, I could give you a resounding "NO") This doesn't even take into account the regular, irritating things going wrong, like the constant battle against weeds, mega bushes, invasive mint-and other irritating growth, and the normal wear and tear items, like roof, furnace, driveway, etc.
On the plus side, we don't share a wall with neighbors. Hard to find apartments like that... Guess the heat is just getting to me. AC guy comes tomorrow. Back to more optimistic thoughts then.