Oh, the Suffering!
Why do people spread misinformation about today’s generations being worse off when they’re clearly so much better off?
Have you heard how young people suffer now?
Scroll TikTok, Instagram, etc., you see the same message: “Young people today can’t get ahead!”
One popular meme says when baby boomers like me were young, “A family could own a home, a car and send their kids to college, all on one income.”
“That’s a fantasy,” says economist Norbert Michel. “We are much better off than we were.”
My new video takes the meme’s claims one by one, starting with “a family could own a home.”
On social media, many young people say things like, “Most people don’t live in houses because it’s too expensive.”
Yes, homes cost more now, but census data show more Americans own their homes now than when I was a kid.
And today’s homes are much bigger and twice as likely to have central air, dishwashers, garbage disposals, etc.
We want more now.
Also, young people can afford more now.
Today, Americans actually spend a smaller percentage of our money on food, clothing and housing than we used to, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics survey data.
“We have a lot more things and we don’t have to work as hard to get them,” says Michel. “Now it’s the norm to go out for dinner.”
When I was young, few people did that.
Few people flew places for vacation. They didn’t have the money, and flying cost much more. Adjusted for inflation, a cross-country flight cost $1,000. Now it’s about $300.
“People did not just go on vacation,” says Michel, “did not fly all across the country.”
But the popular narrative circulates.
It’s part of progressives’ campaign for socialism. They tell young people: Not only does capitalism foster greed, inequality, etc., but it doesn’t even deliver the goods.
Columbia Business School Professor Jeremy Ney tells me, “The game changed on the younger generations. Hard work alone is not enough because the deck is stacked against so many folks.”
“The idea that nobody had to work hard, that everybody had job security,” replies Michel, “is absolutely ridiculous. My dad would’ve laughed at that and should have. Income is definitely higher, jobs are more plentiful, opportunities are more plentiful.”
They sure are. Unemployment today is 4.3%. It was almost twice that when I was young.
Gen Z, overall, is doing better than young people once did. A typical 25-year-old Gen Z-er has annual household income that’s 50% above Baby Boomers’.
On to the meme’s claim that when I was young, “a family could afford to send their kids to college.”
Well, yes, some could, because college was much cheaper then. Tuition in 1963 averaged $10,542 (adjusted for inflation) versus $39,307 now.
Even so, “Most people didn’t go to college,” says Michel. “Roughly half of the labor force didn’t even finish high school.”
Finally, yes, it’s true — a family could own a car. But it wasn’t anything like today’s cars. It wasn’t as safe or comfortable, and it broke down sooner. Today’s cars last more than twice as long as cars did then.
Why do people spread misinformation about today’s generations being worse off when they’re clearly so much better off?
“Politically, it sells,” says Michel. “It makes it really easy for a politician to say, ‘I’m going to fix it.’”
Maybe that’s why President Donald Trump campaigned saying, “We don’t have a great country anymore! We’re going back to the old days … ”
“We always have a tendency to believe in the things that are wrong and that are bad,” says Michel. “That’s unfortunate, because overall most people have been doing much, much better.”
That internet meme should really say:
“Once upon a time, a family who rarely ate out, or flew anywhere, could afford a smaller home, a lousy car, and they didn’t send their kids to college. All on one income.”
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