Making life more affordable for the majority of Americans is a difficult task. With Republicans in power at the national level, they are likely to face blame from the public. This could be good news for Democrats at the pendulum swings.
Solving this problem is difficult for pretty much any politician. There are many reasons why affordability is hard to achieve including growing wealth and income inequality throughout the entire population. Climate change brings it's own costs, such as rising insurance rates due to fires, flooding and so forth. Addressing climate change brings its inconveniences as fossil fuel has been a convenient way to power current lifestyles, business practices and technologies.
Another problem is that the things making life less affordable for some people will benefit others. For instance, high home values benefit long term homeowners who no longer owe the mortgage, but they make life less affordable for renters and first time homebuyers. High salaries in various fields of employment such as healthcare, education and administration can make those services less affordable.
Big changes in the way we function as a society are needed. Money and the rising GDP is too important to our way of thinking. How much of the GDP is just inflation versus an actual increase in the quality of the goods and services we have?
Other values, such as community, health, friends joy and the perception of satisfaction are more important goals for me than just things measured in money.
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