Largely a result of NIMBYism keeping home construction figures near economic centers low, resulting in a huge demand-supply imbalance, forcing renters into a bi

Largely a result of NIMBYism keeping home construction figures near economic centers low, resulting in a huge demand-supply imbalance, forcing renters into a bidding war for access to those markets, causing much of the surplus to go to landlords. Also, the treatment and legislation of housing as an investment asset class rather than as a life necessity. And then there's the healthcare industry, swallowing much of the real wage gains in recent decades in the form of rapidly rising insurance costs (cleverly decoupled from peoples' paycheck, so they feel like it doesn't cost them anything). And, of course, designing most of our cities to require that people maintain enormously expensive personal cars, or waste hours per day navigating sub-par mass transit systems. There are myriad other causes (advertising, consumer culture, extremely expensive infrastructure, government writing blank checks to universities, etc etc), but I think these are the majors.