Middle-class families are no longer in majority

[The Comrade]

[NAB]

[fstarcstar]

[Philly]

[fstarcstar]

[fstarcstar]

[Saz]

The real difference in wealth is generational and it's not an American thing, it's the same in every western country. The "wealthy" are f**k boomers, asset rich old's who have gotten fat from a 40 year surge in the global economy. Ask yourself this, even among middle class or lower middle class boomers, those making say 50-75k a year, how much is their house worth? How much has their 401k appreciated? Would a 22 year old with a similar education and grades ever have a chance at such a profession? I truly do not think people realize what a massive gap there is between the young and the old. Income is meaningless, everyone young has massive student debt and housing costs that crushes even a very good salary. I'm well over the 125k threshold, and many of my friends are as well. The idea of any of us being able to buy a home is laughable. We all spend 75%+ of our income on student loans and rent. Simply looking at income is a terrible way to judge economic class, and conveniently obscures the massive difference in wealth between the young and the old. I saw an article in FT the other day saying that in the UK, retirees own a greater percentage of wealth than those under 45, despite the fact that there are 3-4x as many people in the second group. In the US, the median net worth of those over 65 has skyrocketed while the median net worth for those under 29 has dropped like a stone. The young have never been poorer and the old have never been wealthier.

The sad thing is, by f**k us like they have, boomers have only made inequality worse. I have friends who own homes. Homes their parents bought. I have friends who make exactly what I do and who ball out, but their parents shelled out 50k a year for their tuition so they don't have loans. The millennials who truly have money to spend all have parents who have money to spend. When the young have no ability to earn a living or to improve their economic standing, they essentially inherit their parents. The rich stay rich and the poor stay poor. Which again, is a trend that is obvious if you look at social mobility in any western country.

[Winchester]

[Indy]

It starts with the fact that we fetishize the rich here, give them the biggest breaks, have handed over the gov't to them, let their voices drown out everybody else's, and then delude ourselves with the idea what we can be one of them one day if we just work hard enough.

[Winchester]