The Cost-of-Living Arbitrage: Why Deflationary Startups Could Define the Next Decade of American Tech
Former presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang has identified a structural inefficiency in the American economy — chronic overpayment for essential goods and services — and argues that the next generation of transformative startups will be built by attacking those margins. Rather than chasing pure-play AI or consumer entertainment, Yang's thesis positions affordability infrastructure as the most defensible and impactful startup category of the 2020s. This signals a potential ideological shift in venture capital from growth-at-all-costs SaaS models toward mission-aligned, consumer-surplus-generating businesses.