America’s Dysfunction Has Two Main Causes

> At the same time, the U.S. began overproducing graduates with advanced degrees. More and more people aspiring to positions of power began fighting over a relatively fixed number of spots. The competition among them has corroded the social norms and institutions that govern society.

> As wages diminished, the costs of owning a home and going to college soared

Let's not forget what made homes and higher edu "more affordable" (cough cough)...relatively cheap and easy to get government enabled loans.

Politicians love to buy votes and ignore basic laws of economics (i.e., supply & demand). Taxpayers and voters love to be bought, and never stop to ask "where have I seen such promises go wrong before?"

Recently, banks started offering 40 and 50 yr home mortgages as an answer to affordability. What could go wrong?

Our problem #1 is using money to measure everything; and not using the average when we should be using the mean.

Perhaps more interesting than this op-ed is the author’s field of study: cliodynamics.

Comes up from time to time on HN:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24596506