Ben Shapiro Thinks Americans Complaining About the Cost of Living Should Leave. So Now We Are Too Poor to Be American?
The internet never forgets.
A post on X featuring Ben Shapiro’s controversial take on housing affordability, where he states, “If you’re a young American who can’t afford to live here, then maybe you shouldn’t live here,” is currently going viral. This clip, originally from Shapiro’s 2025 appearance on the TRIGGERnometry podcast, where he discussed the crushing cost of living in places like New York City, has recirculated at a time when affordability is a top concern for most Americans.
According to NBC News, the economic landscape in America today tells two very different tales. If you’re wealthy, things look pretty good. However, for the typical American, the picture is much grimmer. The median-priced home is simply unaffordable for many, and a new car often comes with an average monthly payment exceeding $700. This is probably why Coinvo’s April 6 post had many calling Shapiro’s comments out-of-touch and elitist.
This growing divide between the rich and the poor is the widest it has been in at least a generation. Federal Reserve figures show that the amount of wealth held by the top 1% increased at more than double the rate of the bottom 90% in the first nine months of last year. At the very top, figures like Elon Musk’s fortune are approaching that of 19th-century businessman John D. Rockefeller when viewed as a share of the overall U.S. economy.
Many factors have contributed to this disparity
The pandemic significantly disrupted the housing market, making homes harder to afford. Stocks have surged, fueled by enthusiasm surrounding artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, manufacturing has waned, hiring has slipped, and costs continue to climb. President Donald
Trump’s policies, now a year into his second term, appear to be amplifying these trends.
His administration has cut programs designed to help lower-income households while simultaneously advancing policies that largely benefit the wealthy and corporations. He has signed legislation that reduces food stamps and Medicaid benefits, and has imposed new restrictions on low-income housing assistance and student loans.
Conversely, the Trump administration has delivered billions of dollars in tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy, eased regulations on banks, and loosened rules around cryptocurrency, a sector from which the president has personally benefited.
Robert Reich, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the Labor Department during the Clinton administration, noted, “Donald Trump talks a lot about the working class, his MAGA base is primarily working class, but if you look at the data, the working class is doing very badly in the second Trump administration.” He added, “The real growth in the second Trump administration has been in corporate profits and in the wealth of the people at the top.”
Trump however, has consistently defended his economic record, dismissing concerns over affordability as a “hoax” and attributing any economic weakness to Democrats. In his February State of the Union address, he claimed to have ushered in a “golden age of America,” citing rising 401(k) balances, a drop in mortgage rates, and lower gas prices as evidence. However, gas prices have since spiked following his attacks on Iran, which disrupted the global flow of oil.
White House officials and Trump allies beg to differ
They argue that the administration’s policies will eventually benefit all Americans, pointing to an average tax refund increase of about $1,000 this year, according to White House data. They also suggest that Trump’s still-evolving tariffs will eventually boost U.S. manufacturing jobs, despite a decline last year, by encouraging foreign investment in the U.S.
However, some economists, including those who served in past Republican administrations, question whether these improvements are enough to offset other economic pressures, such as a slowing job market that shed 92,000 jobs in February across various industries. The widening gap between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else has been a trend for decades, and it shows no signs of slowing.
This economic reality is profoundly shaking a core American belief: the possibility of getting ahead. A 2016 study by Stanford University economists found that Americans born in the 1980s were less likely to earn more than their parents compared to those born in the 1940s. Today’s households also face escalating costs for healthcare premiums, deductibles, and childcare.
These struggles are not equally distributed. As of last October, the top 1% held 32% of America’s wealth, a significant increase from about 23% in 1990. Wealth held by white households also continues to far outstrip that of Black and Hispanic households. Stagnant wage gains have further exacerbated this divide.
A 2024 report from the Economic Policy Institute revealed that since 1979, wages for the bottom 90% of earners have increased by 44%, while wages for the top 1% have soared by more than 180%. This leaves many Americans feeling like they are perpetually falling behind. Amidst all this, when Ben Shapiro suggests that if you cannot afford to live here, you should leave, it is a profound dismissal of the systemic issues at play.
(featured image: Gage Skidmore)
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