Everything Feels So Expensive. Here’s What’s Really Going On.

Ms. Sarin, a contributing Opinion writer, is a professor at Yale Law School who was an official in the Biden Treasury Department.

If there’s one thing that Americans agree about, it’s that we are in the middle of an affordability crisis. The evidence is everywhere: Filling up your gas tank will probably run you more than $4 a gallon. Home prices are up over 50 percent since the pandemic. The share of Americans who say their financial situation is getting worse is at its highest point in my lifetime.

Affordability defined the 2024 presidential election, and it’s likely to define the 2026 midterms and the choice of our next president too. Roy Cooper in North Carolina is running for the Senate this November with a campaign........

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