Pete has a long, in-depth piece with plenty of time series comparisons to address "the" affordability crisis.
Verdict? Yes, there's an affordability crisis; no, it wasn't started by the current administration; and yes, by getting rid of tariffs and regulatory burdens, it could greatly help!
Insisting there is no affordability crisis while simultaneously increasing import costs is analytically incoherent, especially when many of the underlying pressures — monetary excesses, pandemic distortions, and longstanding regulatory barriers — predate Trump’s return to office. Instead of denying these strains, the administration could acknowledge them and credibly explain their origins while advancing market-oriented solutions: expanding competition, removing regulatory bottlenecks, and eliminating tariffs, which would quickly relieve price pressures and reduce costs economy-wide.
And some more nuggets:
Donald Trump has repeatedly dismissed cost-of-living concerns as a “Democrat hoax” or a “con job,” yet consumer frustration over housing, energy, food, health care, and insurance remains widespread.
From January to September 2025, the All Items CPI rose about 2.2 percent, food about 2.1 percent, energy nearly 4 percent, and core indices about 2.2 percent. Nominal wages rose only modestly, and real gains were minimal. The affordability problem did not end with the turn of the calendar or the election; it persists as long as cumulative price increases outstrip wage gains.
several items rose more in the first nine months of 2025 than during the entire 2021 to 2024 period. This suggests not only that elevated prices remain embedded in household budgets, but that some categories continue to accelerate even after “high inflation” has supposedly ended.
"the affordability crisis that began in 2021 has not faded; it has evolved into a stubborn, category-specific price pressure affecting everyday goods."
by taking the precise tactic that its predecessor did and attempting to evade and mislead citizens, it forfeits the strongest argument available:
- yes, there is an ongoing affordability crisis;
- it did not start under the current administration, but it continues;
- it partially owes to policy lags, and partially to interference with trade (as the administration has already conceded);
- and truly free-market reforms are the only lasting way out.
But eh, politics is a game for retards, by retards, so no, we won't see any of that.