(most of those are visible in the official stats, if arguably understated. a more current version of the chart below would show a sharp increase in housing since 2018, and that would from most people’s perspective be understated, given how housing quality along social dimensions has stratified.)

(in the piece, my goal was to use the measure the more rose-colored side of the debate seems to prefer, and show that the terms on which they are using it — absolute level higher than ever! — is not really informative of whether the economy is good or bad.)

(whatever information is in these series — and i agree it’s a lot more problematic than naive “real purchasing power” intuitions suggest — is in the changes, not the levels.)

( i did a post on why levels are uninformative here drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/11/12/r... )