i'll just point to the last paragraph of the introductory section of the author's (oren cass's) companion article[0]: > "In 1985, the COTI stood at 30—the medi

i'll just point to the last paragraph of the introductory section of the author's (oren cass's) companion article[0]: > "In 1985, the COTI stood at 30—the median male worker needed thirty weeks of income to afford a house, a car, health care, and education. By 2018, the COTI had increased to 53—a full-time job was insufficient to afford these items, let alone the others that a family needs. A generation ago, the worker could be confident in his ability to provide his family not only with the basics of food, clothing, and shelter, but also with the middle-class essentials of a house, a car, health care, and education. Now he cannot. Public programs may provide those things for him, a second earner may work as well, or his family may do without, while his television may be larger than ever. The implications of each are surely worth pondering. But the fact that he can no longer provide middle-class security to a family is an unavoidable economic reality of the modern era." what i called "basket of essential goods" is his COTI (cost of thriving index). more housing and more cars are exactly beside the point. he's making an argument about what it takes to be secure and solidly middle class in the US, not about having more stuff, which is beyond the "thriving point". and he also encompasses your point that the average american (male) can no longer reach that "thriving point", because the average american (male) would need more than a year's wages in a year. but he's not actually talking about you, an upper- (or possibly upper-middle-) income earner, but rather the solidly middle class american (male). [0] https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2020/02/the-cost-of-thriving/ https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2020/02/the-cost-of-thriv...