Over the past year, the word “affordability” has worked its way into nearly every conversation where the economy is the topic. Anyone tasked with balancing a household budget may very well say, “It’s about time.”
In recent months—and, in truth, for more than two decades—Americans have heard a familiar economic story: the economy grows, inflation rises and falls, wages adjust, and over time living standards improve. This narrative, reliably recycled by politicians seeking reelection and economists insulated from everyday pressures, obscures a more complicated reality.
