Episode 239: The Vague, Capital-Serving Co-Optation of 'Affordability' Politics
“The Congressional Progressive Caucus has a plan for high prices,” insists Politico. “Democrats ride the affordability wave,” announces The Hill. “Democrats Pitch ‘New Affordability, ’ Looking to Widen Midterm Appeal,” proclaims The New York Times.
In recent months, we’ve heard a lot about the Democrats’ latest attempt to attract voters: they're focusing on "affordability." An age of rapid inflation, tariffs, war, and A.I. has exacerbated the extraordinary rise of prices on essentials like housing, groceries, gasoline, and utilities, resulting in a cost of living that, for so many in the United States, is untenable. And, as the recent mayoral victory of Zohran Mamdani has shown, a policy platform focused on lowering the cost of living has widespread appeal.
This all sounds like a necessary and promising intervention. Who wouldn't want to be able to afford more, and thus have some of the greatest stressors of daily life alleviated? But, all too often, what’s presented as Democrats’ “vision” of affordability smacks more of corporate PR and free-market boosterism than of a genuine desire to ensure dignified lives for their constituency. Instead of promises to make essentials free, publicly subsidized, or universal, we see slippery, ill-defined terms like “fair pricing,” the always-elusive “access” and, even worse, red flags like “reducing regulatory barriers.”
On this episode, we examine media and policymakers’ intentionally fuzzy framing of “affordability”; how, in an era of skyrocketing cost in housing, gas and food, billionaire-funded efforts, namely that of the so-called “Abundance Movement,” seek to channel populist anger over high prices into capital friendly deregulatory regimes; and the broader consultant and think tank PR world that's designed to take good ideas and strip them of anything that makes them subversive, just or narratively interesting.
Our guest is political commentator and culture critic Luke Savage.
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Guest
Luke Savage is a politics and culture writer and co-host of the political cinema podcast Michael and Us, and author of the book, The Dead Center: Reflections on Liberalism and Democracy After the End of History (published in 2022 by OR Books). He also co-authored - with late, former leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party Ed Broadbent - Broadbent’s own memoir, Seeking Social Democracy: Seven Decades in the Fight for Equality (published in 2023 by ECW Press). You can check out Luke’s work at lukewsavage.com.
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Show Notes
Luke Savage | March 27, 2025 | Substack
Luke Savage | June 12, 2025 | Substack
Kamala Harris’s election memoir shows just how deluded the Democrats still are
Nesrine Malik | September 29, 2025 | The Guardian
Harris on Trump: ‘We’re dealing with a communist dictator’
Alex Gangitano | September 23, 2025 | The Hill
Pay Close Attention to Trump’s Affordability Rhetoric
Meagan Day | February 25, 2026 | Jacobin
Why the “Affordability Agenda” Won’t Deliver for Democrats
Dustin Guastella | January 28, 2026 | The Nation
What Americans Really Mean by ‘Affordability’
Nate Cohn | January 28, 2026 | The New York Times
People Can’t Stop Saying ‘Affordability.’ But It Wasn’t Always Popular.
Nitsuh Abebe | December 18, 2025 | The New York Times
The Affordability Framework [PDF]
Becky Chao and Mike Konczal | October 2025 | Economic Security Project
Enough With the Housing Crisis Already!
David Moscrop | July 21, 2024 | Jacobin
Manhattan Landlords Take Apartments Off Market During Rental Slump
Will Parker | March 7, 2021 | The Wall Street Journal
More Republicans Now Support Free College Than Oppose It, Poll Finds
Zaid Jilani | September 21, 2017 | The Intercept
Lily Geismer | February 8, 20216 | Jacobin
James McQueeny | April 12, 1981 | The New York Times
Lack of Affordable Housing Plagues Elderly
Diana Shaman | October 14, 1979 | The New York Times
Robert Lindsay | January 9, 1977 | The New York Times
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Transcript
For a full transcript of this episode, go here. You can also find transcripts of past episodes, live shows, Beg-a-Thons, interviews, and News Briefs here.
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Credits
Senior Producer: Florence Barrau-Adams
Producer: Julianne Tveten
Production Assistant: Trendel Lightburn
Newsletter: Marco Cartolano
Music: Grandaddy
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