The larger affordability problem that Gen Z faces is not Uber Eats but the destruction of the commons. Gen X were the last Americans raised on safe streets, decent public schools, family restaurants, clean public libraries, cheap beach vacations, etc. in a country built for the broad middle class. Now you will either pay through the nose for all these things — or not have any of them. You need to be a millionaire today to live like the 1970s/1980s middle class.

People laugh when we suggest that there is an alternative to living in dying mega-cities like Los Angeles and New York. In their minds, living in “the city” is an important lifestyle accomplishment that makes them kin with the Velvet Underground and Jean-Michel Basquiat. In reality, of course, what makes artists special is that they create art — which is impossible when you are paying $3500 a month for a share in a fake loft and drinking $7 lattes. Artists lived in cities because they were cheap. Actual artists can’t afford to live in today’s mega-cities which are game reserves for trust fund NGO workers, the very rich and the immigrant poor. Not exactly fertile ground for real art — which is one reason why there is so little of it these days. You’ll have better luck in any decent town with cheap rent and a record store.