We have made it all but impossible for young families to join the middle class in America. Let alone to save money and build wealth. $2300 per month for daycare. $1800 for the mortgage on a starter house, plus another $700 for property tax and insurance. $1000 for a car payment, insurance, and gas. $1000 to $1500 for groceries, $2000 for bare bones health insurance. $500 for utilities and a cell phone. Add it all up, you’re at close to $10k per month, just for basic essentials. After paying federal and state taxes, you need to gross $150k+ per year. And that’s just for surviving. It doesn’t include saving for emergencies, retirement, medical expenses (remember, that bronze-tier insurance plan comes with a $10k family deductible!), college tuition. It certainly doesn’t leave anything for charity, home improvements, date nights, or an occasional vacation. $150k. A number we used to think of as having “made it,” now the bare minimum to afford name-brand diapers and a car that won’t fall apart in a minor fender bender. Is it any wonder why young people are putting off getting married and starting families? Why the political center is falling and Gen Z is racing for the political extremes, left and right alike? Are we surprised that the rampart daycare fraud in Minnesota is so offensive to people? When taxpaying American citizens have to take home a middle-management salary just to keep their lights on? I’m all for pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. On an individual level, it’s great advice—we all have a responsibility to live within our means, take ownership of our lives, and build the lives we dream for our families. No one else will do it for us, nor should we expect them to. But, on a societal level, if we don’t make it affordable for people—especially young people—to lead decent lives, we’re simply not going to make it. And I’m not sure we even deserve to do so.