Those are all expensive because of artificial barriers meant to keep their prices high. Go to any Asian country and houses, healthcare and cars are priced like commodities, not luxuries.

Tech and AI have taken off in the US partially because they’re in the domain of software, which hasnt bee regulated to the point of deliberate inefficiency like other industries in the US.

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tyre 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

If we had less regulation of insurance companies, do you think they’d be cheaper?

(I pick this example because our regulation of insurance companies has (unintuitively) incentivized them to pay more for care. So it’s an example of poor regulation imo)

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davidw 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Health care is the more complicated one of the examples cited, but housing definitely is an 'own goal' in how we made it too difficult to build in too many places - especially "up and in" rather than outward expansion.

Stuff like this isn't Wall Street or Billionaires or whatever bogeyman - it's our neighbors: https://bendyimby.com/2024/04/16/the-hearing-and-the-housing...

	▲	wyre 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Health care is complicated, but I don't think it would hard to understand how less regulations could lower prices. More insurers could enter markets, could compete across state lines, and compliance costs could be lowered. However regulation is helpful for those already sick or with pre-existing conditions. Developed countries with well-regulated systems also have better health outcomes than the US does.

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murderfs 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Well, they'd be more functional as insurance, at least! The way insurance is supposed to work is that your insurance premium is proportional to the risk. You can't go uninsured and then after discovering that your house is on fire and about to burn down, sign up for an insurance plan and expect it to be covered.

We've blundered into a system that has the worst parts of socialized health care and private health insurance without any of the benefits.

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2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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refactor_master 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Go to any Asian country and houses, healthcare and cars are priced like commodities, not luxuries.

What do you mean? Several Asian cities have housing crises far worse than the US in local purchasing power, and I'd even argue that a "cheap" home in many Asian countries is going to be of a far lower quality than a "cheap" home in the US.

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websiteapi 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

you mean the same Asia that has the same problem? USA enjoying arbitrage is not actually a solution nor is it sustainable. not to mention that if you control for certain things, like house size for instance relative to inflation adjusted income it isn't actually much different despite popular belief.