The war on young people

The war on young people:

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The war on young people.

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It’s begun.

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You could argue it’s been going on for years.

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Possibly decades.

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Mostly since 2008.

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But massively ramped up since Covid.

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Young people’s future is bleak.

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Hopeless.

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Barren.

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What do we have to look forward to?

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Our generation is saddled with debt.

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38 trillion now in America.

It will never be paid back.

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But the interest keeps growing.

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It means that as the old die off, our generation will be burdened with the debt.

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We need a debt jubilee.

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One that’s been done throughout history.

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Will we ever get it?

Hard to see.

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The boomers own too much.

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Aggregated too much wealth.

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Own too many assets.

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Housing affordability is impossible.

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Hearing my dad talk about it with his friends more and more.

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Without financial support from your parents, you can’t afford a house.

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Even if you do well.

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Even if you’re succeeding.

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Even if you’re earning good money.

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In major areas where most of the good jobs are, it is impossible to buy a house.

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I remember an event I went to a few years back.

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It was an event for authors.

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Met this lady who was in her late 30s with her husband in his early 40s.

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He was a fireman.

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She was a nurse.

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Had been saving for a house for 5 years.

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Still couldn’t afford one.

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Good jobs that historically had no issue with buying a house now priced out of the market.

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I do live in a city where the real estate prices have skyrocketed.

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But this is happening globally.

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Young people are being priced out.

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Here’s what else is happening.

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AI.

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AI is ruining the early job market.

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College grads aren’t getting jobs.

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Nowhere near what our parents were.

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That’s a huge problem.

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Not just for the young, but for everyone.

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Companies will continue to cut costs and boost profit margins because it’s cheaper to run a 24/7 AI agent than pay a worker.

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Especially an expensive one that needs to live and survive in a Western country.

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People are making less money on an inflation-adjusted basis.

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Inflation is eating at our purchasing power.

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Not just young people but everyone.

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The problem with that is over the last 40 years ever since Reagan came into power and instituted trickle-down economics, the biggest lie in economics, wages have not kept up with assets.

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Capital has crushed labour disproportionately the last 40 years.

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But now labour is slowly fighting back.

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The reason we’re seeing more workers fight for unions.

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More walkouts.

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More slowdowns and labour disputes.

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The average worker has been losing significantly to capital.

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Meanwhile, capital has skyrocketed.

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If you’re rich and own assets, you have been loving life the last 40 years.

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Same with corporations.

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Gutting your local workers, exporting them around the world, boosting profit margins, buying back stock, juicing your gains.

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Not to mention the massive cuts in corporate taxes since the post world war 2 years.

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Most people don’t know this, but do you want to know how much corporate taxes and taxes on the rich were post World War 2 in the best generation ever for the middle class in America?

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Let’s see what Perplexity says - https://www.perplexity.ai/search/corporate-tax-rate-in-america-VY6j8zrPRzKYpjkMshYSEg

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The corporate tax rate in America post World War 2 was notably high, with the top corporate rate around 52-53% throughout the late 1940s and into the 1950s. The top individual tax rate on the wealthiest people was even more extreme, reaching as high as 94% in 1944-45 and staying near or above 90% through the 1950s and early 1960s.

In comparison, today's corporate tax rate is significantly lower, set at a flat 21% since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. For the wealthiest individuals, the top tax rate now is much reduced as well, with effective rates for the richest around 24%, down from historically much higher levels.

53% post world war 2 vs. 21% today.

Over 90% vs. less than 25% today

Have rich people earned more and done better than those from generations ago?

No.

But they have been extremely effective in making sure they keep more and more of their money.

Especially corporations.

But, have companies become more productive?

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Have they allocated capital in a responsible way?

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Generally, no.

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It’s gone into stock buybacks instead of making the company more productive.

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The other thing that’s changed the game is money printing.

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2008 changed everything.

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Socialism for the rich.

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Capitalism for everyone else.

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After the Fed saved the banks and kept QE running since 2008 with ever-decreasing interest rates, capital became more and more free.

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As this got lent out into the economy, most of this went into the banks which then pushed them into assets.

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Again, this has led to disproportionate gains for capital.

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But not labour.

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So if you’re trying to get into the labour market now as a young person, you’re already way behind.

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As Scott Galloway says in this INCREDIBLE speech that everyone needs to watch (here).

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A 30 year old today is not doing as well as his parents at 30.

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That’s bad for the future of a society.

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Why would you buy into the idea of a Western society if you’ve been promised a lie?

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Why would you work so hard if most of your money will be going to taxes to pay off debt your parents’ generation incurred or to pay for their medical bills?

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Why would you work if you can’t afford a house, a car, a vacation, get no health insurance, no benefits, no overtime, no savings, no retirement, and no future?

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What’s the point?

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Young people will soon reach that point.

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Then what?

Well, history is pretty clear.

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It’s not good.

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Really not good.

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Very bad.

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We need to fix these issues soon.

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Politicians need to wake up.

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If they don’t fix the economic and affordability issues soon, Western society will crumble.

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And not because of any outside forces.

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But because the social contract they were promised has broken.

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Why are suicides up?

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Why is drug use up?

Why is depression up?

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Why is anxiety up?

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Why don’t people want to get married?

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Why are people having less kids?

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Society is breaking, especially for the young.

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The war has begun on young people.

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We’re already living it.

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