[derg]

> But if we're talking about a thriving society and population, surely our aims should be set higher than the very first step on Maslow's hierarchy of needs?

Very much agreed.

The issues with sectors that have been outpacing inflation aren't due to a blanket "we're pumping too much fiat into the economy" but are absolutely political choices.

Healthcare: The US does spend too much here for what we get in return but this is a political choice. We could institute Medicare for All and _save_ money [0]

Education: Again political here. How much funding has been stripped at the state/local level for the universities and how much can be attributed to extremely bloated administrations? Other countries can manage education just fine.

Housing: this is current housing being weaponized to increase the value of property while artificially limiting what, where, when, who, and how much can be built at any given time. See: all of California. Housing as strictly a monetary investment now dictates that nothing is ever allowed to depreciate, only ever increase.

[0]https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

[secabeen]

> Healthcare: The US does spend too much here for what we get in return but this is a political choice. We could institute Medicare for All and _save_ money.

This is absolutely true, but also exceptionally hard. Extracting the $1 Trillion/yr out of the current healthcare system is going to put a lot of people out of work. We'll need a good system to re-train them for new work too.