Dwelling expenses have increased in large part because more people want to live in the same places, like I mentioned in my previous comment. In the last 50 years we&#x27;ve gained another 130 million people and a larger percentage of the population wants to live in urban centers than ever before. You want to live in an apartment on the Upper East Side in the 60&#x27;s? $90: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.6sqft.com&#x2F;new-york-in-the-60s-apartment-hunting-job-searching-and-starting-out-in-the-big-city&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.6sqft.com&#x2F;new-york-in-the-60s-apartment-hunting-j...</a><p>With inflation, that $90 is $725, which won&#x27;t get you a closet in Brooklyn these days. However, it will get you a cute little house, in downtown Lubbock, TX: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;lubbock.craigslist.org&#x2F;apa&#x2F;5559051429.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;lubbock.craigslist.org&#x2F;apa&#x2F;5559051429.html</a><p>This doesn&#x27;t have anything to do with inflation or the Federal Reserve. This is just competition for the available space.<p>Stay on the treadmill or get off of it, it doesn&#x27;t matter. My point is that we work the same number of hours, not because of hidden policy decisions, or &quot;the man&quot; keeping us down, or what the Federal Reserve decides, but because we <i>like</i> it! You could have a very similar lifestyle to someone living in the 60&#x27;s and only work ~14 a week if you wanted to, right now! You&#x27;d have to make some adjustments, with TV no longer transmitted by radio waves and all, and the population&#x2F;city problem mentioned earlier, but it&#x27;s definitely possible, even if you&#x27;re raising a family, especially for a software engineer. We just really like the treadmill...