
The Great Affordability Crisis - pixelrevision
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/great-affordability-crisis-breaking-america/606046/
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gedy
The article never mentions the word "inflation", but isn't this exactly what
this is in everyday life?

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jfengel
It's not really about "inflation" in general, but about certain areas in
particular. Inflation as measured by the consumer price index has actually
been fairly moderate for well over a decade; it's actually below the target
inflation rate of 2% most of the time.

The article is about certain components that are rising faster than inflation.
Housing and medical care are included in the CPI[1], but perhaps they should
be weighted higher. (Shelter is around 30%, medical care 8%). Things like
student loans don't figure into that at all: tuition costs do, but not the
accumulated weight of servicing the loans. The weights are kind of an
interesting read.

A lot of it is about the way it impacts people disproportionately. The
inflation number lumps a lot of things into one average, but a lot of costs
hit specific people and don't affect others. If you don't have child care
costs or student loans, you are probably enjoying the soaring economy. But
those who do are getting hammered.

[1] [https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/relative-
importance/2016.pdf](https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/relative-
importance/2016.pdf)

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malandrew
All of those (housing, health care and child care) also suffer for excessive
government meddling that prevents the free market from allowing proper
competition.

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breakyerself
Sorry, but we have the MOST free market in the developed world when it comes
to healthcare and it drives costs up. The free market is great for some
things, but it's not the panacea that people think it is.

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ZhuanXia
We have a legally entrenched doctors guild with a government granted monopoly
on their profession. We have patents granting monopolies on chemicals and
devices. This is not a free market. We have zoning laws granting landlords a
monopoly on housing supply. Again, not free. All the modern equivalent of
royal patents allowing the population to be farmed by the professions and the
landed classes without competition. Hardly laissez-faire.

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breakyerself
If the free market is the key to a better healthcare system then it should
happen in degrees. A more free market should be more affordable than a less
free market. Instead we have the most free healthcare market being the most
expensive healthcare system. The is the opposite of what should be expected if
your hypothesis was true.

