this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2024
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A Boring Dystopia
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It’s not isolated to Gen X. Wealth is largely transferred as early inheritance, always has been, therefore it’s just rich keeping getting richer. The only thing that changed after we got rid of monarchy was that social status was determined by wealth and not by birth. Given that the wealth of upper class was not redistributed - nothing could really change. There was a brief moment in time after WWII where high taxation of the rich changed things but it was quickly resolved in 70/80s when we went back to tried and true exploitation of the masses.
This is your reminder to join your local socialists, whoever they might be.
Another thing that's affecting basically everyone is increasing levels of personal debt.
https://www.creditkarma.com/about/commentary/americans-have-a-net-worth-problem-and-its-not-positive
About a 1/3 of Americans in general have 0 to negative net worth.
Every time you see a headline article about income/wages going up, unemployment going down... remember that it is very, very difficult to find good numbers on debt levels, as they take far more effort to measure than many other metrics which are reported much more directly and more routinely to government entities.
This, and absurd housing/rent prices, are the main reasons you get the mismatch between the 'good' economic picture painted by the headlines people usually publish more, and the perceived reality on the ground of growing poverty and financial difficulty.
The lower class just has more and more debt that grows much faster than the minute income increases or inflation lowering. If you're paying 20 to 30 to even 40% on credit cards or microloans or payday advances, for basic necessities you need to survive, inflation lowering from 4% to 2% or your wage increasing by 4%, while your rent or needed downpayment to buy a house jumps 10% in the same year... such minute but heavily publicized boons are basically meaningless.
Or union at least
Lots of us in Gen X had another leg up: technology jobs.
There have been multiple bursts of technology hiring over the last 30 years. Yes its been "boom and bust" but during the booms the income received by those Gen X workers was disproportionately larger that many other professions. Those that saved during the "boom" times to ride out the "bust" are doing much better.
One challenge that Gen X has appeared to be facing more than prior generations is generational squeeze. Adult Gen X'ers having to care their own now adult children that are struggling to survive on their own outside of the home as well as caring for Boomer parents (many of whom didn't save enough themselves).
This path is still available for Millennials even if a bit harder. Long term there’s a lot of job safety to be had because Gen Alpha can’t use computers beyond phones and tablets. I do worry that by the time I’m really old I’ll be like a watchmaker, logging people into their bank accounts when biometrics fail or things like that.
Having children is a terrifying thought given where the world is and is going. I feel like Gen X got really screwed on that end, reproducing in the last hurrah of western optimism.