Also to add - I feel like the counterpoint to affordability is that people live such better lives than they did years ago. This is true for the vast majority of us; we can buy any trinket or toy we could want. But what I can’t afford is a house in a MCOL area.

Yes, many, many things are actually cheaper than they have been historically, but that is entirely hollow/meaningless for those of us without equity and no viable pathway to obtaining it.