The author is ignoring the cost side of the equation. Higher education (even public), housing, and health care, have all significantly outpaced wages. Public U

The author is ignoring the cost side of the equation. Higher education (even public), housing, and health care, have all significantly outpaced wages. Public Universities have increased in price as states have basically stopped funding them. Housing has increased because of artificial scarcity through restrictive zoning regulations which prices the middle class out of markets. Today's NYTimes describes of the last apartment listed for less than $600K in Manhattan's West Village (a total of 408 sq feet for $595K). http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/nyregion/amid-housing-scarcity-many-buyers-are-going-home-empty-handed.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/nyregion/amid-housing-scar... The dramatic rise in housing was through politics that restrict construction that benefits existing landlords over the middle class. Housing and public higher education costs can both be addressed by electing public officials that are concerned about living standards for the middle class by simply restoring state funding of higher education and deregulating restrictive zoning laws.