If you’ve witnessed intergenerational arguments online, it’s a near-certainty you’ve seen Baby Boomers taking flak for hoarding their wealth and leaving their posterity in generational poverty.
A while back, Business Insider backed up those complaints with data. The numbers show that not only have younger generations been robbed, the scope of the generational theft exceeds their accusations.
In 1989, baby boomers (defined in a recent Federal Reserve report as Americans born between 1946 and 1964) were roughly the same age millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) are today. But boomers held 21% of America’s total net worth in 1989 — seven times millennials’ paltry 3% share in 2019, wrote Alex Tabarrok in the blog Marginal Revolution.
The chart below shows what percentage of total US wealth each generation has held since 1990, according to Fed data that extends through 2019 Q2. Over time, the Silent Generation has seen a decline from 80% to 25% of total US wealth, presumably because they’ve begun to pass away and exhaust their retirement accounts and pensions.
As baby boomers age, their percentage of total US wealth has increased from 20% to nearly 60%.
To clarify, while almost everyone younger than the Boomers is getting screwed, when you break Generation Y out from the Millennials in 1989, Gen Y are the biggest losers.
Gen X and millennials haven’t even reached these wealth levels. Thus far, Gen X only comprises about 16% of US wealth. And perhaps most strikingly, the line for millennials is almost completely flat: They’ve barely seen any increase in net worth, coming in at less than 5% of total US wealth in 2019.
It’s worth noting that these generations are younger, so comprising a smaller percentage of US wealth is expected. However, the chart below, which highlights the percentage of US wealth held by age, shows that the young are still financially behind: Their wealth levels are below where they should be.
These figures describe the result of Boomers inheriting history’s biggest windfall, inflating it with one credit bubble after another, and refusing to pass any on to their heirs.
Boomers aren’t just being miserly with their wealth, either. They’ve got an equally tight death grip on power, even though the effects are proving disastrous for the West’s future.
The main reason to amass wealth is not to die with the most toys. It’s to provide a sound support base for your kids to keep building the family legacy and continue the process with their children. That is how civilizations are built and maintained.
But that’s not happening now, and it hasn’t for decades. Instead, three generations were left to raise themselves while their parents chased materialism. Those same parents then handed their kids over to grifters who left them in generational poverty.
Devon Stack had it right, re: the ruling class’ generational wealth vs their subjects’ generational poverty. Our elites’ unprecedented power is maintained by the vast resources their forefathers accumulated over centuries. Their inheritance gives them a nigh-insurmountable advantage in terms of cultural and political influence.
Here’s Stack’s analogy: Imagine time as a 500 k marathon track where each kilometer represents one year. It’s a relay race where each runner passes the baton to his kid, who gets to start at the point where his dad finished.
For the sake of argument, let’s say that all our ancestors started on the same line 500 km/years back from us. Due to differences in natural ability, training, and dumb luck, some of the racers pulled ahead. But the others still had a chance to catch up if they pushed themselves. But the math says that at least some of front runners’ kids would maintain their fathers’ lead, and in some cases expand it.
Eventually, some of the third and fourth-generation runners way out front would run over the horizon from those trailing behind. A number of them would realize that no one would know if they cheated. So, some of them would indulge the temptation to stop running on foot and hop in golf carts. Their already wide lead, which a runner farther back might have been able to overcome with supreme effort, would double. And when no chance existed of anyone discovering their cheating, the golf cart drivers would switch to sports cars, then bullet trains, then supersonic jets.
What are the odds that the succeeding generations who never had to train, but got to ride out the race on the Concord, are as fit as their ancestors who started running?
That explains why we see such gross mismanagement in every sector of commerce. Our rulers have inherited an almost omnipotent machine, but they no longer remember how it works. They have degenerated into a cargo cult that tries to appease the machine with blood rituals and sacrifices.
The machine is incredibly resilient – it was built to be – but one day it will stop. Prepare accordingly.
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The three generations that exist as the children of Baby Boomers are all acting in accordance with how the reprehensible parental experimentation they were raised with taught them to be.
Gen X is the libertarian generation, looking out for #1, build that fence too close to me and I will destroy your life, it’s noble to not care about anyone not blood related (sometimes, not even that) to you.
Gen Y is the materialist generation, hoarding what scraps they can because there is no path to gain more, your worth is predicated on what you save up, everyone only wants to take so hold on all the tighter.
Millennials are the neurotic generation, listen to the conflicting advice of everyone in charge, follow the absurd rules or there’s something wrong with you, don’t trust anyone in the ill-defined outgroup.
What we’re dealing with now, especially as Baby Boomers are shuffling off this mortal coil, are those same generations either finally adapting, or learning how to adapt, to a post-Baby Boomer world. I’ve noticed some people changing in very subtle ways since the coof, and it does feel like those older generations are shifting as reality asserts itself. That old era really is coming to a close.
Vaguely related, I’ve been witness to a lot of Baby Boomers dying at younger ages than their parents’ did, and many are far worse off physically than they were if they’re still alive. Really speaks to how the wear and tear they were so proud of is really boring into them now.
It’s good to hear you’re seeing Xers, Ys, and Millennials adapting. I’m mostly seeing them crack up upon finally being forced to confront reality.
Yes, Boomers as a whole are in worse shape than I remember my WWII grandparents being. My grandfather suffered from macular degeneration, a product of old age and too much sugar. Otherwise, he was reasonably fit/mobile until the day of his death. My paternal grandfather mostly seemed to be suffering from the effects of sedentary life in old age. My paternal grandmother died at 88 able to walk etc.
My father has had a serious reconstructive surgery. My MIL has had several reconstructive surgeries, mostly on her back. My father may also ultimately need back surgery. My FIL has also had a couple of minor surgeries and is significantly more obese than his father. The WWII generation simply did not have this amount of surgery to keep themselves functional into old age, nor carry this collective weight as a generation.
Part of me is relieved for my father. Another part of me finds all of this mad reconstruction late in life simply to move around all rather creepy.
I do agree that behavior is starting to shift. However, that’s because the cracks are here for a post-Boomer world. Reality is seeping in slowly at the edges. We are still living in the center of Boomerville, though, including the experiencing mass hysteria around the coof. It’s not until we’ve really slowed down the Weekend at Bernie’s reanimation surgeries and some younger faces take control will we be walking out of Boomerville. I am not sure that world will be better, but God willing, it will not involve endless Beatles references.
Even in small scale, it’s difficult to ignore generational poverty. My Boomer in-laws have pensions, a paid off house, investments, and social security. Their biggest expense is that Medicare doesn’t cover absolutely all the damage they did to themselves over the decades. They have been on several globe trotting junkets in the last decade and plan more.
My working class Boomer dad did manage to save in the last decade of his working life, and has social security, semi-free health care thanks to his participation trophy in a war, and guaranteed housing costs.
My MIL wonders why my oldest hasn’t left home yet, despite landing a solid entry level job. My father wonders when my husband and I will take that trip to Europe. None of them seem interested in the issues of having a mortgage larger than we ever wanted (or they experienced), or paying off medically necessary surgeries over years, and that we’re not getting either fixed income housing or pensions post 65. The concept that housing is off the charts expensive even in saner places just is not on the radar.
The Boomers online insist it’s envy. The complaints of the following generations are not envy, even if that emotion is attached. The economics are very real, as is the control exerted by the Boomer/Silent generation on both culture and politics. Yes, the working class/non-elite Boomers are along for the ride, just like the rest of us. That doesn’t change the demographics of the ruling global classes or who primarily benefits from the current economic and social structure.
Boomers thought they’d go out spending the last of their money on cruises and sports cars. They’ll spend it on pills and nursing homes instead.
Note also, that though Gen X comprises 16% of net wealth, it also has several of the most individually wealthy people on the planet, which probably skews things a little.
Wasn’t it last month you were telling us millenials to just tuck our chins and keep on grinding?
Now you’re saying we have been screwed even worse than we believed.
What exactly is it you want from us, considering we aren’t going to be paid for our effort? You act as though we chose to be broke and powerless, or that we didn’t need 10 years of hurting ourselves and each other to realize that we didn’t understand love because what our parents taught us was mere commerce.
Stop preaching to those starving about God’s love. Feed them.
A Life Note, with Love from Gen X: Life is unfair. There are two things you can do when presented with a mountain much tougher than your parents climbed. You can whine at the bottom of it. Or you can make your best attempt to climb it. Even if you never get higher than your parents, you will have succeeded more than your parents because the climb was tougher. For sure, whining at the bottom will leave you right there.
That doesn’t mean you’re a 80 hour slave to corporate America, but it does mean that you work at work. You might never get the cruises/big houses/etc, but you’ll get something that the Boomers as whole lack: self respect. God bless.
These two statements are not contradictory:
1.) You were screwed over. Where you are at now isn’t primarily your fault.
2.) You are screwed over. You need to arrange your life to fix things, or you’re going to remain screwed over.
My observation is that many of the millennials problems for the future come from not being able to distinguish these two statements. (The problems in their past are well documented here and elsewhere.)
Cultivate stoicism and Christian detachment. No matter what situation you are in, you retain control over how you react to it. Even if it is just to turn from despair to hope.
For the record, I’m not saying that millennials are the only ones who have vices that prevent them from improving their lot in life. Other generations do too, they are just particular to each generation. For example, Generation Y can generally understand the difference between not being to blame for a situation and still being responsible for fixing it. Our big problem is that our instinctive solutions (i.e. to close ourselves in and hope that the calendar reverses itself) would never work in the first place.
You’re screwed even worse than you thought, so you’d better start grinding.
“Stop preaching to those starving about God’s love. Feed them.”
That’s backwards. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and these shall be added unto you.”
I apologize for having made an error. I thought you were the author of Heretics of Saint Possenti, which was a formative book for me during the time I was returning to Christ. I’ve spoken to you with anger because of mistaken identity, and expecting you to have a different value set. Sorry.
I’m actually confused as to how I came to follow you now… I appreciate the witch test and have used it a few times, but I don’t think I’ve ever read one of your books.
I enjoyed Nethereal. Souldancer is currently waiting in my not-ever-getting-any-shorter reading pile. I make a point of not doing schoolwork on Sundays, so it (and re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring) will make good Sunday leisure reading.
No apology necessary. Praise God for the grace of conversion!
>> “Stop preaching to those starving about God’s love. Feed them.”
> That’s backwards. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and these shall be added unto you.”
To stop preaching God’s love for the sake of food is an anti-Christian trade. “God loves you so here’s a bowl of soup” has no overhead at all.
Imagine trading eternal spiritual inheritance for a bowl of soup.
I seem to have a vague memory of an oldtestament story where, I think it was Daniel, tricked his older brother out of his birthright for a food that he had prepared.
I think that goes well with the verse, Hold true to the kingdom of the Lord and know what is truly important.
That’s exactly what I was referencing. Jacob/Esau, where the latter gave up his inheritance for a bowl of soup.
Seems ridiculously dumb, yet it can sneak up on us when we’re not careful with our values and priorities. We should be practically helpful, but avoid the pitfall of becoming materialistic by dismissing the importance and power of spiritual truth.
Thank You for reminding me of me that story. I really shouldn’t post when sleep deprived on such waited matters but there you go.
Jacob and Esau, I believe the theft of birthright was a running theme throught the relationship. It happened twice. Once over he food and one time even earlier, where Jacob’s mother convinced him to steal Esau’s blessing from his father by wearing fur to make him think it was Esau.
Esau was angry and would have been well within his rights to punish Jacob, but the miracle was that he forgave him instead. I’ve always considered Esau’s forgiveness a miracle, because most people would not have forgiven that transgression.
Yeah, that’s what happened. We were screwed over.
The plan we made, as a family, to get ourselves out of poverty, and out of the exploitative rental market and buy a house… it was a great plan four years ago when we made it, we executed it perfectly, more than doubled our income, and we’ve now been overtaken by inflation. The plan will not work anymore. We’re still stuck in a rental, because groceries have gone up 30%, and real-estate-investor-vultures have taken over the market, buying literally every single livable home in our price range, for cash, which we can’t compete with.
We could whine about this being unfair– it is– but that’s not going to help us fix it. What we have to do is accept that we don’t control reality, and we have to work with the situation *as it exists* and not as we want it to be. Unfairness is not an excuse for inaction. We are working on a new plan. We’ll have to do it without any kind of standard house financing– mortgages and HFA loans are out. We’ve tried it, and it’s a no-go. Now looking at purchasing an empty lot for cash, and installing a mobile home. Or maybe a shed…
It helps that God placed us here. We are not entitled to the lifestyles of our parents. Times change. But God didn’t put us here in 1948. We were born for *this* time. Let us do the work God has put us here for, and not try to live in the memory.
You illustrate why maintaining an internal locus of control is vital.
That doesn’t mean living in a state of denial or a fantasy world. It does mean taking charge of what you can exert control over – even if that’s just your own thoughts.
For a matter so delicate as this, it’s important to pair truth with hope.
Truth: the generations proceeding the boomer generation got screwed, some more than others, and it’s not their fault. Now it’s their responsibility to clean up the mess. It’s not fair, but such is life at times. That responsibility also comes with the power to fix things in their own image. The victim generations have been beaten down long enough to know what kind of system doesn’t work, thus can, in time, work to make things better.
Hope: Despite being dealt a bad hand, there are things one can do today to make the current situation less painful be it through their mind, body, or soul. This is a war of attrition and the younger generations are winning even if it doesn’t seem like it. Making it to the next day means they are pushing the worst generation in American history off the board and into irrelevancy. The victim generations may not achieve the status of their boomer ancestors, but why attain the world and lose your soul and be remembered forever as the greediest, most destructive generation in history? No, the youth of today will trade material wealth for being remembered as those who persevered and planted the seeds for a better future.
At least that’s how I choose to see it.
Yep. Every day you wake up is a small victory. After a while, they add up.