Do you think President Trump is failing to resolve the affordability crisis? If so, what can he do to fix it?

I don’t think anything truly meaningful can be done (by a president of either party) that will move the needle to a significant degree in the short term at an overall level. The affordability crisis is a result of the fact that we increased the money supply by something like ~40% during Covid. That can’t be reversed.

The best thing to do is to keep the money supply flat or increasing at a reasonable pace (<2%). There are some things in specific sectors (in particular healthcare, education, housing) that can help to a small degree in those areas, but it’s not going to lead to a magical era of cheap stuff.

Time and not printing money are the only things that will solve this.

We seem to be in a K-shaped recovery pattern, and the divergence appears to be widening.

For some folks like myself, it's completely business as usual, the economy is basically fine, and there is no affordability crisis. Yes, I notice prices go up, but it doesn't impact me because my comp package and investments are rising at an even faster pace.

For much of the country, obviously, it's a different story. Sure, the rate of inflation has objectively decreased. Sure, interest rates have objectively come down (now technically under 6%). Sure, gas costs less than before, etc. But overall costs are still inflated and the dollar has definitely weakened relative to other currencies.

Has Trump done enough? Hard to say. This is mostly up to the Fed, which is *supposed* to be an independent body, and which has a history of utterly f'ing things up (see Janet Yellen). But Trump also causes chaos where it doesn't need to be, which spooks the markets and makes them volatile when they don't necessarily have to be.

On balance, I think it's best to take matters into one's one hands. Diversify your portfolio. Prepare for hyperinflation, which seems inevitable. Make yourself valuable enough to keep increasing your comp/business. Keep reserves handy for the corrections.

Stop with the tariffs…

In his mind, it’s both “a hoax” and “I’ve already fixed it”, which is why is surrogates keep flooding the airways after the address that he brought inflation down from 9% to 2%, despite it actually being around 3% when he took office and it being around 2.4% now.

He’ll lie, deflect, and distract. Kind of all he has.

if I remember correctly, Kamala Harris didnt win a single swing state

Seems like a lot of the prices can be brought down by simply reversing Trump policies. Removing tariffs is an immediate step. Helping people with subsidizing their healthcare is another. There are lots of spending priorities that would change how much people have to pay for things but then we wouldn't have massive spending on the military, on ICE, on tax cuts that only help the richest. And so on.

There are many facets and aspects under the affordability umbrella. Some of it is structural where certain things are becoming out of reach for many more middle class Americans: health insurance and health care costs/drug prices only ever go up, housing prices and the availability of more modest starter homes, the cost of a college degree. These require more systemic changes - meaningful healthcare policy reform, incentives and policies in mortgage laws (eg. portable mortgage rates, getting private equity out of the personal home/housing markets, etc.). The other areas are more day to day - the cost of childcare kinda straddles the "big ticket" bucket and the day to day. Rising utility costs (especially for electricity right now), cost of groceries, transportation costs, etc. Trump's biggest short coming is he wants to do things by fiat - he barely has the patience to work with his own, Republican controlled Congress. Executive orders, executive actions such as tariffs, etc. None of that will really help. Trump is a short term thinker, and he largely is motivated by what's best (and easiest) for Trump. Federal policy and action could contribute to addressing the affordability areas I voted but odds are very low. You either need a strong, unified bipartisan effort, led and motivated by a President (Trump is not that President and our current political culture makes bipartisanship impossible) or a Dem President and Congress. But even with a Dem President and Congress chances are low for meaningful change - greater consumer affordability in all of these areas means lower profits for each respective industry. And Dems are as awash in corporate donor/billionaire class political contributions as Repubs. Without meaningful campaign finance reforms to get $$ out of politics, it's hard to see a governance approach that puts the American consumer and their rapidly eroding purchasing power first, in terms of policy priorities. And that's where we are all losing. That's where the Red vs Blue/Repub vs Dem Punch and Judy show makes us all losers. Big media and. Big tech has monetized that "engagement". The rich and powerful know that just enough bread and circuses will keep us distracted and in our place, rather than unified, angry and motivated to demand a course correction of capitalism back to a more balanced, fair and equitable system for all, but especially for individual citizens and families, along a full spectrum of needs.

Let me go see what CNN has to say and circle back

Create a land value tax, build more housing, close corporate subsidies, fund small businesses so we can actually have real capitalism instead of large corporate protectionism, universal healthcare, more legal protections for workers, and absolutely stop printing money and shoving it into the stock market at all time highs because that is going to do squat for the average American, especially if theres a large correction

Bomb Iran and mak Mexico pay for it. Also invade Mexico to save the Mexicans. Team America is back

He could die. That would help out a lot