An affordability crisis: US full-time wages adjusted for True Living Cost (TLC), an alternate measure of inflation, dropped -5.1% between 2001 and 2023. By comparison, wages adjusted for CPI inflation rose +8.8% during this period. The TLC focuses on essential household expenses like housing, healthcare, groceries, and transportation. By contrast, CPI tracks price changes for ~80,000 goods and services, including items many households rarely buy. From 2001 to 2023, the TLC rose 30% faster than CPI, showing inflation for households is far higher than official figures suggest. While CPI shows medical costs doubled from 2001 to 2023, the TLC reveals they nearly TRIPLED due to soaring premiums. Affordability is horrible at best.(The Kobeissi Letter)