From the AP via Yahoo:
The calculus of living paycheck to paycheck in America is getting harder. What used to last four days might last half that long now. Pay the gas bill, but skip breakfast. Eat less for lunch so the kids can have a healthy dinner.
No longer is the evidence anecdotal. The retailers – WalMart, Family Dollar and 7-11, among them – are seeing evidence of the difficulties facing Americans whose incomes are strained. Rising food costs, rising housing costs, rising energy prices – with little or no increase in pay – is creating a situation not seen for years. And, of course, winter is coming.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Food prices in general have risen because grain prices for corn and wheat are at all time highs. Why are those commodities in demand? Government mandates for ethanol, turning food crops into fuel. Why are milk prices high? Government minimum price mandates and payments to cut production. Why are housing costs rising? Rents rise as fewer people are able to purchase homes and investors are leary of building or converting housing to rental. More renters, fewer rentals, higher rents.
All of these are the result of government involvement in the market place.
It would seem to me that this datum disproves your argument. Rents are rising because the government did not get involved in the marketplace and a series of unscrupulous lenders and mortgage brokers took advantage of the dreams of low-income Americans.
Um, not sure why you think I said anything about the government getting involved. I made no argument about that. Perhaps you were reading something else?
The first comment mentioned government involvement. Of course the truth is that the government didn’t get involved. This is such a myth that has been perpetrated by republicans. If you look at the historical data you will see that everyone does better when there is gov’t regulation. We are seeing the middle class slip away because of this horrible notion. Furthermore, this idea that just because the stock market is doing well (-300 pts. on Friday) doesn’t mean that the economy is doing well. Another myth perpetrated by the free marketeers.