Each of these markets is at the intersection of two or more inflationary forces. Real estate and colleges are often positional goods - you can spend as much mo

Each of these markets is at the intersection of two or more inflationary forces. Real estate and colleges are often positional goods - you can spend as much money as you can afford to live in a nicer house than your neighbor, or go to a better school than other job applicants. Health care and college tuition are victim to increasing efficiency in making things like manufactured goods. If you're ambivalent between apple farming and practicing medicine, then the price of 2 hour doctor's visit is going to be approximately buyable with two hours of apple farming. And since apples per farmer is going up faster than apples per dollar, the cost of health care is going to increase over time relative to other goods. College loans and mortgages are the debt society has decided it has to pay in order to fund retirement. There really isn't another way to save on a long enough timeframe for enough people (unless you're Norway, and you can just decide to sit on oil reserves). If you make things, they fall apart, become outdated, or require ongoing maintenance - either way, when society stops making them, they stop having them. They can trade these things for promises to make them later, which basically works.