We try not to let what's written here be dictated by the discourse on X but sometimes we can't avoid it. If you have been on the website these past few days, you will have seen it explode over debates on whether kids these days have it easy or whether they have it hard, whether things are better than ever or worse than ever, and so on and so forth.

Two things do seem to be the case. First, GDP keeps improving, standards of living, at least as measured in most conventional ways, keep rising. Second, there is a growing sense of social malaise. Family formation is down. Lonliness is up. Home ownership is down. Something is wrong.

The best way to square this circle that we know of has been American Compass's "Cost-of-Thriving Index." This methodology looks not at the cost of living, but at the cost, for an average family, of what we've come to consider the basics of middle-class American life: housing, healthcare, education.

We think it's a very clever way of looking at things (and a great example of why think tanks are great, because they come up with new way to conceptualize issues) because it shows that both sides of the debate are right.

It is true that we are more able than ever to enjoy a cornucopia of consumer goods, which are cheaper than ever, higher quality (at least in many cases) than ever, and constantly improving thanks to progress in technology.

However, it is also true that when it comes to many things that we usually consider foundational to the "good life" and specifically the ability to form a family and raise children, these things have become less accessible.

Both things are true!

And the fact that the first thing is true doesn't mean that the second thing isn't true, and that it's not a problem!

Another chart we love, which AEI's Mark Perry keeps posting, and rightly so, is this one. It shows the prices of various types of consumer goods and services, starting at base 100, since 2000. Some of them have radically come down: TVs, software. And some of them have radically gone up: hospital services, college tuition, medical care services, childcare and nursery school, housing. (Painting the basic same picture as the American Compass chart, note.) Perry loves the chart (and so do we) because, as he repeatedly points out, all the things that have radically gone up are those that are most regulated and subsidized, whereas the things that have come down are the least regulated.

So you don't have to agree with Oren Cass (or anyone else) about everything to agree with the basic picture painted by American Compass's figures: namely that while prosperity has increased by most measures, by some key measures, for the average family, it has gone down.

Policy News You Need To Know

#Immigration — The Senate is set to consider the Laken Riley Act today. See our evaluation of the bill here →

#Men — The ever-valuable American Institute for Boys and Men has put out its numbers on the employment picture for men in December. The number of prime age men not in the labor force has increased by 145,000 relative to a year ago…

#Ed #BigTech — The Manhattan Institute has just published a report and model legislation on restricting smartphone use in K-12 schools. More on this anon.

#LGBT — Here's a quote from Politico, and tell us if you see what's wrong with it: "Yesterday, in a 218-206 vote, the House passed a bill to (1) ban transgender students from playing on women’s sports teams and (2) amend Title IX to define sex as based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth." Well, we can think of a few things. First, the bill doesn't ban transgender students from playing, it bans transgender students from playing on the wrong team. Actually, come to think of it, the phrase "transgender students" is already problematic. Many would argue that there's no such thing as "transgender," instead you have people with gender dysphoria. Then, rather than the car crash of a final clause, it could just say "amend Title IX to define sex as sex." We particularly love the terms "genetics at birth." How restrictive to account for genetics at birth, we wouldn't want to forget all those people who had certain genes at birth and then one day woke up with a different set of genes. Anyway, watch to see if Senate Democrats will try to filibuster the bill, which could come up in the Senate as soon as next week.

#Tax — AP: "Trump says he will create an ‘External Revenue Service’ agency to collect tariff income" Sure, why not? Don't tell DOGE, though.

#Tax — Interesting perspective from Brookings' William G. Gale. The conventional wisdom is that TCJA's corporate tax cuts boosted investment (your correspondent must acknowledge that, at the time, he did not believe they would). However, Gale takes a careful look at the data and argues they didn't, not really.

#Tech — Also interesting: AEI's Shane Tews has been to this year's Consumer Electronics Show and has come back with the insight that wearable devices and AI can transform health care.

#MAHA — We did not think of this point made by Brownstone Institute's Martin Kulldorff, even though it makes a lot of sense: "The only way to restore public trust in vaccination – which has taken a big hit since the lies attending the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine – is to put a well-known vaccine skeptic in charge of the vaccine research agenda. The ideal person for this is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who has been nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services."

#Preparedness — Some much-welcome, sober commentary from RAND: "The Los Angeles Fires and the Need for Long-Term Strategy Building Wildland Fire Resilience"

#Immigration — Well, would you look at that: "LA wildfires arson suspect reportedly entered US illegally"