Ever feel like the deck is stacked against younger folks? Well, you're not wrong. Some mind-bending numbers about this were reported in The New York Times. And let me tell you, it's not a pretty picture for us youngins.
Since 1980—before I was born—80% of real domestic spending has gone to Social Security and health care. Meanwhile, everything else is shrinking as a share of GDP.
College debt? It's seven times what it was in 1971. Housing prices? They've nearly doubled relative to income since 1984, the year I was born. Don't blame me.
In 1989, the median net worth of 35- to 44-year-olds was about 75% of that of 65- to 74-year-olds. Now, it's down to one-third.
So why is this happening? Simple. Medicare and Social Security were designed to grow faster than our national income. Forever.
Now, I'm not saying we should throw grandma under the bus. And I'm not saying we should forget about grandpa either. But when we're borrowing just to keep the lights on, something's got to give.
This is a raw deal and a conversation that our political and social environment refuses to consider. I've barely heard anything about this from Vice President Harris or former President Trump. There must be a way to rebalance our social system, but I'm not betting on it.
As demographer Neil Howell often says, big society-wide problems aren't solved on sunny days. Odds are strong that we'll have to hit a wall—financially, societally, and who knows in what other ways—to actually deal with the big problems that we see all around us.
So no matter what happens on Tuesday, I'm not expecting either of them to deal with it willfully. What the solutions are is anyone's guess. But as we were told in The Wire, it can't start with a lie.
What do you think? Are we robbing Peter Jr. to pay Paul Sr.? Or is this just the price of progress? Let me know in the comments, and support my work at jamesbrowntv.substack.com.
On that note, I'm James Brown, and as always, be well.
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