Democrats say they'll make life affordable. Your wallet may disagree

Democrats have discovered a wonderful new word for the 2026 elections coming to primetime.Affordability.Healthcare needs to be more affordable.SCHUMER PREACHES AFFORDABILITY IN DEM MIDTERM PITCH WHILE SABOTAGING GOP FIXES FOR SOARING COSTSHousing needs to be more affordable.Childcare needs to be more affordable.Energy needs to be more affordable.Groceries need to be more affordable.Who could possibly disagree?Certainly not me.LET SOCIALISTS ROB FROM THE RICH 100% AND YOU STILL WON’T BE ABLE TO PAY THE BILLSBut as a financial advisor, I have one question whenever somebody tells me they're making something more affordable.Did you actually lower the cost, or did you just find somebody else to pay the bill?Because those are two very different things.Democrats have made affordability a centerpiece of their 2026 economic message.LIZ PEEK: DEMOCRATS’ AFFORDABILITY SCAM COLLAPSES IN STATES THEY ACTUALLY RUNAmong the ideas being discussed by progressive Democrats are $1 trillion toward new housing supply, government-produced prescription drugs, federal utility-rate standards and limits on what families pay for childcare.Other Democrats are pushing expanded healthcare subsidies and additional government assistance for families.Some proposals could attack legitimate underlying problems.Cutting zoning and permitting restrictions to build more housing, for example, could actually increase supply.I'm all for finding ways to make America build again.AMERICA’S BROKEN PERMITTING SYSTEM IS QUIETLY RAISING YOUR COST OF LIVINGBut too much of the affordability conversation still follows an old formula.Something costs too much.
Have government pay more of it.We've seen this movie before.We used to call it tax and spend.Now we call it affordability.Imagine your health insurance costs $20,000 a year.Government gives you an $8,000 subsidy.Your personal bill falls to $12,000.Fantastic.But healthcare didn't suddenly cost $12,000.It still cost $20,000.We simply changed who wrote part of...