Elections are coming, and one of the top items on voters’ minds is affordability.
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In recent years, prices have gone out of control. Many American households have struggled to pay mortgages, put food on the table, and buy basic essentials. Even those with decent incomes are grappling with affordability. In many states, people are losing or selling their homes because they can no longer afford homeowner insurance. Comprehensive auto insurance has become luxury rather than necessity. Many drivers are forced to take a risk of carrying only a bare minimum liability coverage.
Voters expect politicians to fix this problem. That’s understandable; they run the country, and some of their policies and actions have caused inflation to rise and driven up prices. It is important for voters to express their disapproval of a lack of action by the government on affordability at the voting station. But government alone cannot fix this, even though politicians’ short-sighted and misguided policies have contributed to this problem.
While voters are angry at politicians and the government, corporations have been gradually increasing the prices of their products and fanning out excuses such as importation and logistics woes due to government policies or other challenges, such as wars, natural disasters, health scares, etc. Some of that is true, but even in those cases, instead of sharing the pain with their loyal customers during difficult times, they are simply passing the pain to consumers.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer prices have increased 3.5% from June 2025 to June 2026, with gasoline prices rising 26.7%. In the meantime, many large corporations are reporting record-breaking profits. According to CNBC, CEOs made 281 times more than the average worker in 2025. Most people do not pay attention to this because it is much easier to blame politicians and the government, who are not blameless but are not the sole culprits.
To stay above the water, many people are applying for additional credit cards and taking out loans and second mortgages. Banks are happy to oblige, issuing loans and credit with high interest rates to low-income individuals with questionable credit ratings, which increases the likelihood of loan defaults and bankruptcies. Banks can afford to take such risks because they are insured. When their insurance premiums go up, they simply raise their annual fees or somehow pass the cost to customers. It is always consumers who end up paying for everything.
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Consumers themselves are not blameless. Corporations are making large profits because people are still spending beyond their means, relying on credits and loans or draining their savings. They are buying new cars they cannot afford and taking out six, seven and even eight-year loans with extremely high interest rates. On top of an unfathomable amount of car payment, they are paying sky-high insurance fees. Likewise, popular restaurants are still full of patrons. Bars are crowded. Airports are filled with travelers despite hefty airfares. It is hard to find parking at shopping malls, even during non-holiday seasons. It is easy to put everything on a credit card, make minimum payments, and hope somehow things will work out at the end. Unfortunately, things do not somehow work out at the end without exercising strong will and discipline.
Only when consumers exercise discipline and rein in their spending will corporations be forced to reduce prices. Until voters express their disapproval of politicians who are guilty of putting their interests before the welfare of their constituents, they will continue to serve corporations and their special-interest donors instead of the people they are supposed to represent. Although not nearly enough, there are some nonprofit financial and debt management organizations that can help people who are not savvy enough to manage their own finances and debts.
It is regrettable that the government does not do enough to create community-level assistance programs from which people can seek help to manage their finances and debts. Sadly, unless consumers change their spending behavior and become more responsible financially and civically, the government will not fix the affordability problem.
Eric Khant is a former government employee with over 30 years of experience in international affairs.
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