Why Everything Is So Cheap (But So Expensive)

"We can see the bait and switch of the Airbnb model... seeping into the hotel model, where things that used to be considered baseline aspects of the experience, such as having a refrigerator to store your own food, are now becoming upcharges at every turn. Check-in times are becoming later, checkout is becoming earlier, and the overall experience is steadily declining."

"This creates a vicious feedback loop with bigger, emptier houses demanding more stuff to fill it and fueling our consumption of the very fast furniture that will soon fall apart in a few years, forcing us to buy more ugly trend pieces."

"The basic systems of food safety oversight are already strained and now being systemically dismantled with fewer federal inspectors and a global supply chain of dizzy and complexity. We're all playing a low stakes game of Sal Manila roulette every time we go to the grocery store."

"If lowerincome people are suddenly able to purchase the same luxury brands that higher income individuals can, well, they then need to move to higher ground because the flood is coming."