, Columnist
Why Some Consumer Costs Just Grow and Grow
Food gets cheaper. Housing and health care don't. Some of the blame lies with the government.
You can afford bread. But you cannot live by bread alone.
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Why does everything cost so darn much? More to the point, why does it cost so much more than it used to?
Well, not everything costs more than it used to. Food is cheap. Electronics are absurdly cheap: I can get a clock radio on Amazon today for not much more than I would have paid in 1965 (before adjusting for inflation). The cost of air travel has fallen dramatically.