Comment by andai
11 hours ago
Damn, never thought about it like that. That seems a lot more practical and relevant than the Big Mac Index.
11 hours ago
Damn, never thought about it like that. That seems a lot more practical and relevant than the Big Mac Index.
Yeah I think housing is the real index. CPI doesn’t make sense for individuals unless you build your own index.
I don't understand why. People spend money on other things besides housing. Because people spend money on multiple things, it doesn't really make that much sense to say that our index of inflation should track be one thing. I mean, if the price of food and healthcare tripled, I think you would probably say that the inflation metrics should go up.
Ofc, focusing on just one thing is very convenient for people who want to tell a particular story. (inflation is so bad! look at housing! there's so much deflation! look at food and TVs!)
It'll never happen because it shines a light on uncomfortable facts that would risk far too much cognitive dissonance across the political spectrum. Please keep the discourse to identity politics, culture wars, the Epstein files, and large-scale, unprovoked acts of international warfare; those will all be much easier for us to talk about as a nation than what we should do about housing prices.
Housing (which is actually land in the school district you want to be in)
Healthcare
Education (not just for learning, but for signaling).
Everything else is inconsequential in my budget.