For many Americans under the age of 40, homeownership is just a dream that will probably never come true. At this point, only workers that make at least six figures can afford to buy a decent home. If you can believe it, the home that Homer Simpson lived in would cost approximately 450,000 dollars today, and the home that was featured on Married With Children would cost approximately 700,000 dollars today. Those families were considered to be poor by the standards of the 1980s, but in 2026 they would be considered to be very wealthy. Of course just about everything else has become less affordable as well. Purchasing a new vehicle is totally out of reach for most of us, health insurance rates have become utterly absurd, and many of the items that I commonly purchase at the grocery store have doubled or tripled in price since the beginning of this decade. The cost of living has become the number one political issue in the United States, and it didn't happen by accident.

ome time around the beginning of the decade, something in our system suddenly snapped.

Home prices started going through the roof, and now they are sitting at absolutely ridiculous levels.

Married With Children was a very popular television show that first aired in 1987. The star of the show was a shoe salesman named Al Bundy that made very little money, and he was constantly complaining about how poor he was.

But in 2026 the home that Al Bundy and his family lived in is valued at approximately 700,000 dollars…