Podcast Summary: The Realignment, Episode 587

Guest: Mike Konczal
Hosts: Marshall Kosloff
Date: December 19, 2025
Episode Theme: What’s Actually Driving the Affordability Crisis + Announcing the Niskanen Summer Institute for Undergrads

Overview

This episode of The Realignment dives into the roots and politics of America’s affordability crisis. Host Marshall Kosloff interviews economist and policy expert Mike Konczal (Economic Security Project), co-author of the new report "The Affordability Framework." Their discussion explores why affordability has become the defining issue for both major U.S. political parties, the interplay between tariffs, labor, and immigration policy, and how “broken markets” and “broken incomes” together drive unaffordability across sectors like housing, healthcare, and education. The episode also examines the Democratic Party’s internal debates over solutions, the role of antitrust, inequality discourse, and prospects for policy reform.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Why "Affordability" Now?

[03:09] Mike Konczal:

• Three Drivers:
  • Long-Term Problems: Issues like housing shortages, unaffordable childcare, and long-term care were already major concerns pre-2019, and have only worsened.
  • Inflation Sticker Shock: Post-pandemic prices rose about 20%, with real wages lagging behind.
  • Policy Choices (Trump 2025): Tariffs are acting as taxes on working-class consumers; mass deportations threaten labor supply in sectors like food and construction; healthcare costs are rising amid Medicaid cuts.

“Sticker shock and the fact that some people were behind in that exchange... they feel the price of groceries as being much higher than they’re used to.” – Mike Konczal [04:18]

The Politics & Policy of Tariffs

[05:20] Marshall Kosloff:

• Marshall reflects on his post-neoliberal approach: tariffs can be a tool if used strategically (as under Biden for EVs), but Trump’s blanket approach is counterproductive.

“Trump’s tariffs are bad because they put tariffs on everything and they weren’t strategic... but tariffs could play a really important role when it comes to our national objectives.” – Marshall Kosloff [05:38]

[06:59] Mike Konczal:

• Lacks clear strategy: Trump’s tariffs target not only China but allies and make little economic sense.
• Tariffs act as a regressive tax: Eventually consumers pay the price, and the proceeds are used for tax cuts for the wealthy.

“If you’re asking everyday people to pay that kind of tax increase... it went to pay for high-end tax cuts... I think that’s really offensive.” – Mike Konczal [09:18]

Assessing Trump’s Affordability Record

[10:09] Mike Konczal:

• Trump’s affordability agenda is failing; tariffs and mass deportations worsen prices and slow growth.
• Priorities are not aligned with lowering household costs.

“They would be doing the tariffs differently if they wanted to make housing cheaper… I’d give them a failing grade, but I don’t even think it’s really honestly a priority for them.” – Mike Konczal [11:28]

Introducing the Affordability Framework

[13:26] Mike Konczal:

• Framework:
  • Broken Markets: Issues like artificial scarcity (housing), concentration (corporate power), and supply constraints.
  • Broken Incomes: Lack of social insurance, increasing inequality, and wage stagnation.
• Aggregates solutions across silos (housing, antitrust, income policy), advocating for a blended approach.

“We wanted to step back and say, what are the big drivers? ...There’s broken markets... and there’s broken incomes… each of those have huge costs for everyday people.” — Mike Konczal [14:02]

Frameworks vs. Factions

[18:07] Marshall Kosloff:

• Policy debates (e.g., housing) are often fragmented into tools (antitrust vs. supply-side solutions) tied to factions.
• Advocates for broader frameworks instead of factional point-scoring.

[18:49] Mike Konczal:

• The Democratic Party’s generational crisis is exacerbated by social media.
• In practice, at the state level, abundance (YIMBY) and antitrust actors often collaborate.

“When you look at the state level, they’re actually not as much conflict as you’d think...” – Mike Konczal [20:14]

Antitrust at a Crossroads

[20:55] Marshall Kosloff:

• Antitrust’s media profile (via Lina Khan) often reduced to Big Tech; suggests centrist buy-in increases when focus shifts to sectors like healthcare and hospitals.

“If we talk about concentration as a problem that’s specifically impacting affordability in people’s actual living, that’s a version... much more relevant and obvious to centrist people...” – Marshall Kosloff [22:48]

[23:01] Mike Konczal:

• FTC and CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) as positive examples of agency effectiveness post-reform.

“The FTC was really a backwater... before Lina and crew took it over... in terms of revamping government to do things better, the abundance people... could learn a lot from Lina Khan and her people.” – Mike Konczal [23:07]

The Shifting Inequality Debate

[24:12] Marshall Kosloff:

• Distinguishes between “inequality as a policy problem” and “inequality as a political slogan.”
• Questions whether inequality truly drives voter behavior, especially given electorate’s tolerance for Trump’s economic approach.

[25:37] Mike Konczal:

• Inequality remains analytically central, even if less politically salient.
• Highlights growth of top 1% income and capital gains since 1980; these fundamentally reshape communities and affordability.
• New inequality debate is more personal—focused on specific winners (AI, tech elite) and policy choices benefiting them directly.

“The explosion of 1% income... can’t really be overstated... it just characterizes the way communities have evolved [and] the way housing markets... have evolved.” – Mike Konczal [26:29] “There’s also a small resurgence of 1% inequality... certainly the sense that something has gone wrong in that part of the social contract.” – Mike Konczal [27:08]

Healthcare & Higher Education in the Affordability Debate

[34:44] Marshall Kosloff:

• Notes awkward tension for Democratic centrists: affordability means housing and utilities, but the left will always bring the focus back to healthcare and education.

[34:44] Mike Konczal:

• Affordability reform should balance both supply and demand—expanding capacity while subsidizing access and controlling pricing.
  • Healthcare: Cap drug prices, increase ACA subsidies, fight Medicaid work requirements. Single-payer/public option depends on coalition makeup.
  • Higher Ed: Critiques Trump administration’s chaos: “shaking down” colleges, ad-hoc attacks on higher education, and the lack of clear rules. No clear affordability fix; step one: stop policy destabilization.

“The Trump administration is going to fundamentally change how higher education looks over the next few years... the fact that we are going to lose a lot of it, I think is really destructive.” – Mike Konczal [38:17]

Balancing Supply, Demand, and Price Controls

[40:39] Marshall Kosloff:

• Niskanen Center centrists often skeptical: increasing education subsidies (demand) often inflates prices; need supply-side attention and vigilant price controls.

[40:39] Mike Konczal:

• Not all three tools (supply, demand, price) must be used at once.
• Universities’ rising prices driven by arms race over amenities—a collective action problem.
• Subsidizing demand can be appropriate in undercompensated sectors (childcare); in some cases, higher wages are a desired effect.

“I think there’s often this sense that subsidizing demand only goes into prices, but I don’t think that’s always true... it depends a lot on what the thing is and where it’s happening.” – Mike Konczal [41:32]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Sticker shock and... behind in that exchange... people feel the price of groceries as being much higher than they’re used to.”
  — Mike Konczal [04:18]

• “Tariffs are just totally bad and we’re going to ignore the use of tariffs forever – that’s a mistake... But also tariffs are a vital strategic tool.”
  — Marshall Kosloff [05:38]

• “There’s broken markets... and there’s broken incomes… each of those have huge costs for everyday people.”
  — Mike Konczal [14:02]

• “If a theory of abundance is that government regulators need to work better... few people you could learn more from than Lina Khan and her people.”
  — Mike Konczal [23:08]

• “I think it’s hard to talk about ERA without inequality ... the explosion of 1% income... can't be overstated.” — Mike Konczal [25:52], [26:29]

• “There’s a small resurgence of 1% inequality... the sense that something has gone wrong in that part of the social contract and that the rich are lifting off...”
  — Mike Konczal [27:08]

• “I don’t have the affordability agenda for higher education. But like, the first step is to just [get] the Trump administration to stop doing what they’re doing.”
  — Mike Konczal [38:47]

• "[On increasing subsidies and controlling prices:] I wouldn’t say you do all three of them all the time or anything like that. I'm just saying that’s the general approach..."
  — Mike Konczal [40:40]

Timeline of Important Segments

• [03:09] – Explaining why affordability is at the center of U.S. politics now
• [05:20 – 09:48] – Policy debate: Tariffs, Trump vs. Biden, and their mechanics
• [10:09] – Trump’s approach to affordability gets a “failing grade”
• [13:26] – Introducing the “Affordability Framework”: broken markets and broken incomes
• [18:07 – 20:55] – Frameworks vs. factionalism; centering collaboration
• [20:55 – 24:11] – The antitrust debate: Lina Khan, FTC, beyond Big Tech
• [24:12 – 31:22] – Rethinking the role of inequality in politics and policy
• [34:44 – 39:33] – Healthcare and higher education in the affordability debate
• [40:39 – 42:37] – Balancing supply, demand, and price controls: lessons and cautions

Tone & Takeaways

• The conversation is direct, nuanced, and policy-wonkish, balancing economic analysis with astute political observation.
• Key Takeaway: Addressing the affordability crisis requires frameworks that cut across policy silos and reject zero-sum, factional thinking. Both market reforms and income supports are necessary and must be tailored to sector-specific realities.
• Final Message: Solving affordability is not about choosing supply-side or subsidy tools in isolation, but about integrating a broad toolbox, confronting inequality’s new forms, and being honest about both policy practicality and political messaging.

Report Discussed: The Affordability Framework by Mike Konczal & Becky Chao (Economic Security Project)

Guest Contact: Mike Konczal on Twitter/X

For further resources and application links for the Niskanen Summer Institute for Undergrads, check the show notes.