While I am very sympathetic to the houses and cars are nicer and bigger than before and we made it illegal to build 'em shitty like we used to viewpoint...

I have torn apart a few old houses in my day and am currently living in a 2000s era house which I am tearing apart -- and there's no contest: the old houses were better built, with nicer materials, and many of their elements were 50 to 100 years old. The house I am currently in will be lucky to still stand at age 50 and I'm confident that none of the fixtures will survive that long.

I do believe we've regulated ourselves into expensive lifestyles. But real actual inflation pumping assets deserves a healthy dose of blame here.