The decades-old root of the affordability crisis

And DOJ readies murder charge for D.C. shooting suspect |

VIEW IN BROWSER MS NOW DAILY Understand today's news Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025   THE LATEST Everyone is talking about affordability — and making the same mistake By Heidi Shierholz Everyone is talking about affordability — and making the same mistake By Heidi Shierholz Today's affordability debate focuses almost entirely on prices, as if the only way to make life affordable is to make things cheaper. But that approach misses the bigger picture. Affordability depends on both prices and wages. The roots of today's affordability crisis actually lie not in recent price spikes, but in the long-term suppression of workers' pay.   For more than four decades, employers have been actively suppressing the wages of working people, so that corporate managers and owners can claim an ever-larger share of the income generated by what workers produce. Government policies facilitated these efforts. Policymakers allowed labor standards such as the minimum wage to erode (and reduced enforcement of the standards we do have), blocked adequate protections for workers' right to organize and promoted macroeconomic policy that allowed unemployment to remain too high for long periods, undermining workers' leverage.   One way to see this shift is by comparing the growth in workers' pay to the growth in productivity, which measures how much income is generated on average in an hour of work. If pay for typical workers had kept pace with productivity over the past 45 years, their paychecks today would be roughly 40% larger.   This is a preview of Heidi Shierholz's latest column. Read the full column here. TOP STORIES STEVE LIEBERMAN This well-intentioned parking policy comes at the expense of disabled people More states are allowing pregnant women to park in accessible spaces. Nobody bothered to ask the people who depend on accessible parking how this would affect them. Read more. JA'HAN JONES Trump vows to shut down 'third world' migration in Thanksgiving screed A post to the president's Truth Social account on Thursday claimed that 'reverse migration' is the only 'cure' to the United States' woes. Read more. JORDAN RUBIN Is there a downside to James Comey and Letitia James getting their cases dismissed? Any value that might come from seeing the cases through to trial is outweighed by the dangers of letting legally unworthy cases go on for longer than they must. Read more. JA'HAN JONES Massie pours gasoline on his fiery feud with Patel, Bongino The Kentucky Republican's eye-popping allegation of political targeting only stands to worsen his ongoing fight with FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino. Read more. TOP VIDEOS MS NOW REPORTS DOJ readies murder charge for D.C. National Guard shooting suspect WATCH NOW MS NOW REPORTS Zelenskyy's chief of staff resigns amid corruption probe WATCH NOW MS NOW REPORTS Eight people arrested Friday over massive Hong Kong high-rise fire that killed at least 128 WATCH NOW MS NOW REPORTS 'Unbecoming': Rep. Garcia reacts to Trump's vow to halt immigration from 'third world' countries WATCH NOW MORE FROM MS NOW We have a new website. You can get more breaking news, reporting and expert analysis on the top stories of the day on our new digital home, ms.now. That's right, no .com needed. Same mission. New site. Visit ms.now to learn more. Rachel Maddow tells the story of one of the most shocking decisions in American history in her new podcast, "Rachel Maddow Presents: Burn Order." This six-part series reveals how an executive order authorizing the roundup of innocent Americans came to be  – and a bombshell discovery in the unlikeliest of places that would ultimately expose it all. Listen to the trailer now and follow the series. New episodes drop Mondays. Subscribe to MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free listening. 229 West 43rd St. New York, NY 10036 PRIVACY | CONTACT | UNSUBSCRIBE