The Myth of the Affordability Crisis

We’re hearing it everyday that Americans are facing an affordability crisis. Housing, tuition, health care, and grocery prices are rising fast. But over the first six months of Trump’s second term, affordability has gone up, not down. Through June inflation adjusted median household incomes are up about $1,100 per household.

The stress that consumers are feeling about affordability is the hangover effects of the near 20% rise in prices under Bidenomics from 2021-23.

Also, don’t forget that the average family will see a near $2,000 tax savings next year due to the Trump tax cut passed in July.

Maybe this should be called “the myth of economic data”.

Trump’s doing fine, but it’s a lot more than the inflation rate making things less affordable, especially those trying to get out from under their parent’s wing for the first time.

There are relatively big ticket items not included in the inflation rate analysis.

So consider vehicles, the price of which increase much faster than the inflation rate, all due to regulation.

And there’s also frequency of replacement to consider. While cars last longer, they can be instantly “totaled” simply by having an airbag deployment.

As an exercise, next time you finish your taxes, try adding up all other taxes and see what percentage of your gross income goes to gov. If you’re middle class, you’re likely to find it to be 50% or greater.

Your appliances, the cost of which is closer to the inflation rate (except for HVAC) need to be replaced more frequently.

E.g., Compare how many dishwashers your parents bought to how many you have bought.

And that’s just the economics. As the gov gets bigger and bigger, more of your money gets sucked in. It’s not just the feds. State and local have the same, refuse to cut spending mentality.

So even if you don’t notice much of a change to local income taxes, you’ll find property tax, vehicle registration fees, cell phone tax, energy tax, etc. going up quite a bit.

Here’s a good economic indicator - how old do you have to be to be able to afford to move out of your parent’s house?

“a near $2,000 tax savings next year”
Great, if you still have a job.

Median House is ~$450K + 5% yearly for Taxes and maintenance.
Median Income about <$75K

That doesn’t look good going forward.

MAGA is the right path, but it’s gonna be bumpy for a while.

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