You are being overly charitable when you call it a system.

The whole system is broken.

system

[ˈsistəm]

NOUN

• a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network.
• a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized framework or method.

There is hardly a framework and the pieces do not work well together.

It is too bad you did not address why our measures of inflation do not capture the affordability crisis. The headline numbers say that wages are rising faster than expenses.

Yes, this:

the brightest glimmer of hope lies in housing and health-care policy by individual states.

It should be more important who is your governor than who is your president. States have a better chance of creating a system of benefits, incentives and regulations that work together for the benefit of society than the Federal Government. The states can be more responsive to the needs of its residents. The Federal Government is only responsive to Politics and Lobbyists.

There are also some unrealistic expectations at work. Never ending grown and constantly improving lifestyle. Subsequent to the Boomers it will be harder to achieve and maintain that middle class lifestyle. The Boomer lifestyle was fueled by a few things the post war American Industrial superiority, post war demand for U.S. products, American Technological superiority and huge borrowing from future generations (creating both fiscal debt and environmental debt).

Those post war advantages have all but disappeared and those huge debts are now hanging over the younger generations. They can’t borrow from future generations, they actually need to start paying off those debts. It would be appropriate for Rich Boomers to do that for them or at least pay them down a bit.

People sometimes say we mortgaged our future. It does not feel like that to me, with a mortgage you would have a tangible asset. It feels like we stole from our future.

Reducing the costs of healthcare/insurance, post secondary education, childcare, and housing will all require funding. I don’t trust the Federal Government with more revenue. It will be squandered and it will flow to the already bulging pockets of the rich. Better would be for the States to raise the money and spend it locally.

We also have to reset expectations. No, future generations will not have it as good as the Boomers, the Boomers time was different and the Boomers lived on stolen wealth, stolen from future generations, stolen from the less developed world and stolen from the environment.

TEK