Two papers, the second a classic, that help (I think) shed additional lights on Judea's points and this topic more generally. This comes from someone who has used SEM (which is correlation and regression) repeatedly and resonates with his critiques: 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103111001466

http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1973-20037-001