[danking00]

These conversations never seem to mention what seems to me a relevant and related problem: the growth in commuting time during the rush hour.

Yes, there are cheaper places to move. Yes, the price of my parents' home roughly matched inflation. Yes, after inflation, I earn about what my parents did at this stage of their life.

So, why not just buy a home like my parents' in my hometown? The commute time into the city (Boston) has gone from ~45 minutes when my parents bought in the 80s to 90 minutes today, with high variance. That's 1.5 additional lost hours per day with no compensation in inflation-adjusted salary, home price, or cost of education.

My father made roughly the same as me, inflation-adjusted, without a college degree or the associated costs. In comparison, I started my working life with ~100k in debt (they couldn't afford to help me pay).

It's all very frustrating because it feels like we have the technology to solve these problems and yet we're hung up on non-technological problems.

[0xcafefood]

The US has chosen to pursue population growth, largely through immigration, as a route towards short-term economic growth. Things like overloaded infrastructure (more expensive housing, longer commutes on overcrowded streets, etc) are some of the consequences of that choice.