The Government has many programs to help us acquire affordable housing, affordable health care and affordable higher education.
Thank goodness.
Think how painfully expensive these things would be if we let the free market deliver them, like we pretty much do with food, household consumables, clothing, shoes, transportation, electronics and energy.
What thirty year old has not run up $ 50,000 of debt to feed, house and clothe themselves for the last four or five years? You know, like the debt they had to run up in order to get a undergraduate degree and be taken seriously in the job market.
Who does not rage over their weekly grocery bill like they do over the payroll deductions and the unaffordable co-pays for health insurance that recently appeared?
Who is not driven to despair each time an article of clothing or an automobile wears out and they need to buy a new one? Like they are when they discover that it is time to buy a house and a house in a safe neighborhood with decent schools is beyond their reach. Not a luxurious house, just in a safe neighborhood with decent schools.
What’s that? You say food, clothing, transportation, electronics and energy are not very expensive relative to our paychecks. Exactly.
In 1976 it took 3.5 times the average income to buy a house. In 2012 it took 5.0 times the average income to buy a house. Good work.