I’d like to hear people’s thoughts on what is causing this to rise to the top slot of people’s issue list.
I think it’s is a result of today’s younger generations not owning things. Everything is rented. I had a CD collection, they have a monthly subscription. I watched 150+ televised Cubs games each year, where the only cost was watching commercials. Today you need multiple subscriptions to various platforms at truly ginormous rates. Buying a first home is a joke when it is priced at many multiples of their gross income.
All this is directly related to the seemingly insatiable appetite for debt securities. Any and all cash flow streams are quickly monetized. The amount of non governmentallly created money is out of control.
A long, but spot on OpEd attached, by Oren Cass, one of the contributors to the Project 2025 document. He and I agree on the problem, tough we most likely endorse different solutions. Luv to get other thoughts.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/opinion/capitalism-industry-financialization.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KVA.BL76.Lbuu6tc9694o&smid=nytcore-ios-share
Inflation. Not renting things, but inflation. Globally there is excess labour, so the billionaires writing the rules use that to suppress wages.
I think I accumulated somewhere around 100 CDs in my teenage years. Napster in college turned everything else into an MP3 collection. Napster was certainly cheaper, but it seems like I spent much more on CDs back then than a comparable Spotify subscription. Its $20 a month for 6 people to have all the music.
I know that is just an example, but I don’t think it is the subscriptions on its own. Maybe enough people (like 10%) get buried in mismanaging what they buy each month such that they feel poor, and this creeps into polling. It’s really easy to spend a lot of money from your phone in general.
Social media also highlights what everyone else has, so people chase that until they are broke. Influencers tell them all about the greatest product, and share the link.
I can’t read your link, since I dont have that subscription 
Maybe you intended to gift it….but if the point is really the monetization of everything, it maybe be a bit of the chicken and the egg.
Note: my first house is exactly the same price in 2026 dollars as it was in 2003 dollars, and interest rates are about the same, so my market must not have gotten expensive, at least when you consider a fixed unit of housing, not one defined by the median.
The 24K cash I paid for my new car college graduation gift to myself would be 42K in 2026, and that looks like it would by the new version today.
That all just saying that inflation happened. Wages went up a similar amount (they did not get any productivity gains though). Food seems like it has gone up disproportionately. It’s such a small share of an actuaries budget that don’t think much about it. Energy costs have gone up. We all “need” $1000 phones every two years. Any time you need someone to do something, it costs a fortune.
I think it adds up to people want more things, and better things they see on social media, while basics have actually taken out a share of their spending money. Hidden delivery costs are everywhere, even with your free Prime overnight delivery.
Changed to gift. The op ed is really about policies that favor capital and banking vs, things that add to the general well being. He is a fantastic writer. He informs, persuades, and entertains. A trifecta
What about of an average person? And have average person wages kept up with inflation in the last 25 years?
Thanks, I skimmed through it, admittedly less my thing, and to understand the basis in most of his arguments seems to require an additional subscription. Banks grift for sure. I use credit cards to maximize rewards while I recognize what’s really happening is everything has become 4% more expensive so I can get 2% while the CC company gets their 2% fee. Digital everything just makes it easier for a bank to offer something with a few clicks. They deserve some of the blame for sure.
(that was me acknowledging your first point).
Wages, from what I have looked at, have kept up with inflation per hour, but all the productivity gains have gone to the bottom line.
OK reasonable.
I think wages have diverged for high and low skilled work so I think low skilled hasn’t kept up, but I’m too lazy to support that guess with facts.
I don’t see the need to update more frequently than every 4 or 5 years. The improvements aren’t worth it.
Just adding to that.
In 1984, the gross domestic product per capita was nearly equal 52 x the median weekly full time wage. $17,079 vs. $16,952.
By 2024, the per capita GDP was $86,115 vs. $60,294 for 52x the median weekly wage.
If wages had gone up as fast as the per capita GDP, we wouldn’t be hearing much about “affordability”.
That was back in the day when the word “mean” was meaningful.
I agree with you, the improvements aren’t worth it. Many/most people can’t afford $1200 for a new phone, but they have $28 each month for the next 30 months that makes the upgrade fee look like a deal when they ignore the additional $25 per month line they already pay the carrier buried in their contract. This gets a bit in to what Gnome’s article is suggesting, which is the financialization of everything where the dollars aren’t just the sale of the phone, but the incentives around monetizing that into an income stream. Apple gets $1000, ATT gets $300, the bank gets $300. The most that consumer would have spent paying cash would have been about $800 that may last them 4 years. They will be back in 30 months.
You need to break it down to essential vs non-essential spending.
Essential Spending
- Housing (Rent or mortgage)
- Property taxes (or similar)
- Utilities (energy, water, internet, phone)
- Transport (car, tube, train)
- Insurance
- Food
Non-Essential Spending
- Travel and Holidays (Domestic and International)
- Eating Out (Restaurants)
You can have your pay increase over time (which has been the case in the US), but the % of that pay that is being spent on essential items has increased, leaving people with less disposable income for non-essential items (travel, eating out etc)
The ccst of some everyday things is silly. Fast food and soda are the ones that stand out where prices have gone up 3-4x since ~2000, nearly double CPI. People see this in their daily lives even though it may be a small % of their overall spending.
I kind of think you’re overthinking this…
Affordability is becoming a top issue because people are struggling to keep a roof over their head. Wages haven’t kept up with inflation. Rents have gone way up, food costs have gone way up, utilities have gone way up. As a result their savings rates are down. Meanwhile home and vehicle prices have climbed massively and so those are out of reach. There doesn’t seem to be an end in site and retirement looks like it’ll never be an option.
I frequently see stats going back to the 70s showing wages haven’t kept up. When was the last time federal minimum wage went up?
Should we be looking at average or median wages? I know when you look at average savings, they are typically 3-5× median savings because of the distortions created by the super wealthy.
I am not convinced this is actually true.
MSRP on a Honda Accord in 2000 was 16k. That is now 30k and its a much better car.
The median house size has grown 10-20% in the last generation, on top of a similar increase during the prior generation. Families have gotten smaller.
People are buying bigger, better, and more because the market has expanded what is offered, even though they need less than what their parents had.
The federal minimum wage has become meaningless. 2/3s of the US lives in a state that has a higher minimum, and even in red states that don’t top up the rate, the higher COL metro areas will have to pay higher to get anyone to work. Something like 1% of jobs are at the minimum.