Bret Devereaux

Also how does that number look generationally

Well, it was 65% in 1960 and it is 64% now, though it got all the way up to 69% in the early aughts and all the way down to 63% in 2016, so there is long-term stability in the statistic, but you are right to note that millennials trail older generations in home buying.

In terms of home value, the issue frankly is that housing values are too high, not too low. That's part of what is keeping millennials out of home-buying and why I think we need policies that lead to building a lot more houses, even if it means that per-unit values stagnate.

Nevertheless, it is just statistically true that even among the younger generations, actually owning a house on both a per-unit and per-square-foot basis is more affordable in the United States than in most - nearly all - countries.

That's not really the point. The point is, how many millions of people don't enjoy the life McArdle describes at all, and are they able to provide education and health care for their children?

I mean, the point really is what percentage of people don't, otherwise all you've proved is that the United States is the largest rich country, which is true but besides the point.

Which, to be clear, you ought to do. I get really frustrated seeing 'poverty rates' compared across countries that have substantially different definitions of what constitutes poverty (e.g. different poverty lines).