Of course rent is not cheaper, because there is only so much land in attractive locations -- and because appartments have things that wasn't available 20 years ago.
Health-care cannot really be compared because it is not subject to free competition. If it had been, basic care would have been massively cheaper.
Energy is cheaper, you are just not seeing it because China is using so much of it.
Food is cheaper -- but you are eating larger portions of it, more meat and better cuts.
Of course electronics have gotten massively cheap, as it is not limited by government, or geography and the primary expense is the production facilities, rather than the actual product.
But that's my point: living expenses are not dictated by the supply and demand curves of perfect markets, with perfect competition, perfect information and zero transaction costs. The real world doesn't work according to Econ 101.
As a result, what were supposed to be gains in production efficiency resulting in lower prices with higher supplies all-around have instead resulted in somewhat lower prices, but much higher economic rents.
We're partially seeing a capitalist crisis of overproduction, but we're also very much seeing a reversion to a feudal economy based on rent-extraction and financialized ownership of entire labor outputs.
Health-care cannot really be compared because it is not subject to free competition. If it had been, basic care would have been massively cheaper.
Energy is cheaper, you are just not seeing it because China is using so much of it.
Food is cheaper -- but you are eating larger portions of it, more meat and better cuts.
Of course electronics have gotten massively cheap, as it is not limited by government, or geography and the primary expense is the production facilities, rather than the actual product.