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Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

consumeraffairs.com

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Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#71

Post by m00x »

Swizec wrote: post #27
ctoth wrote: post #16

At least they can buy cheap TVs, right? I wonder if we can finally accept that just because things like phones and TVs got better faster than purchasing power got worse, doesn't mean that it hasn't been getting worse for a while. I'd even go so far to say that technical progress in a couple areas has hidden some pretty stark declines. Or at least allowed some people to point at shiny things getting better when compla…

What good is cheaper tech if we just use that to add more features and keep the same price? You could get a TV for less than $50 if it had the same features and processing power as it did in 2002. Same for computers. Imagine how cheap we could make a car that only has the features we had in the 90’s? Even if you include the mandatory passive safety upgrades.

The cars would still be fairly expensive. The upgrades on a low-end car are topical and aren't the expensive part of a car. Basic cars

A basic car only costs ~20k brand new. Some cars are as low as 12k.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#72

Post by api »

stolenmerch wrote: post #14

It seems the annual income vs. CPI is the core chart here. Something happened in the decade of 2000-2010 to throw things out of whack. I'm not informed enough to know if that was the result of policy decisions or what, but I'd like to know how wage growth declined so dramatically during this time while prices seemed to maintain its projected linear growth.

Setting a trillion dollars on fire in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Of course Putin's doing it now in Ukraine and maybe China is about to do it in Taiwan so don't worry, the rest of the world is catching up to America's stupidity.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#73

Post by hot_gril »

telchior wrote: post #59

One of the items this article doesn't cover is healthcare spending, which has increased between 2 and 8 times since 1980 (depending on whether you're looking at individual spending or share of GDP). Here's a decent collection of charts: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-spe... It has been shocking to me to see how cheap and effective healthcare can be in other countries, from an emergency visit…

I always see the healthcare cost to consumer compared to other countries, but that isn't the true cost to society if the govt is subsidizing the rest. AFAIK the US healthcare is still truly more costly. Monopolies or something, idk.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#74

Post by kurupt213 »

hot_gril wrote: post #46
lettergram wrote: post #38

To be fair, most (the vast majority) of people I know in gen z I know works significantly less hard than my parents did, I did, etc. Those who do work hard are fairly well off. They work two jobs, didn’t go to college, but own their homes and have a steady income. There’s definitely systemic issues, but work ethic is the major issue. And that’s a cultural issue. Would you want the gen z you know building your house?…

I know gen Z as working harder, especially in school. The bar gets higher every year.

kids left highschool knowing more math in the 70's than college graduates do now

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#75

Post by twic »

Swizec wrote: post #27
ctoth wrote: post #16

At least they can buy cheap TVs, right? I wonder if we can finally accept that just because things like phones and TVs got better faster than purchasing power got worse, doesn't mean that it hasn't been getting worse for a while. I'd even go so far to say that technical progress in a couple areas has hidden some pretty stark declines. Or at least allowed some people to point at shiny things getting better when compla…

What good is cheaper tech if we just use that to add more features and keep the same price? You could get a TV for less than $50 if it had the same features and processing power as it did in 2002. Same for computers. Imagine how cheap we could make a car that only has the features we had in the 90’s? Even if you include the mandatory passive safety upgrades.

I was going to say "and how light we could make a car", but then i actually looked up some stats, and this was news to me:

http://web.mit.edu/sloan-auto-lab/research/beforeh2/files/Ma...

Car weight declined sharply from 1976 to 1982, then started creeping up again, but cars in 2010 were only about as heavy as cars in ~1979.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#76

Post by throwaway0a5e »

kurupt213 wrote: post #55

aren't taxes lower now, though?

At the federal level nominal rates are lower. Effective rates are a lateral move or slight change depending on your bracket. Unless you're rich enough that progressive taxes (e.g. income and property) dominate your tax burden (most 20yos are not this wealthy) overall tax burden in most places is way up due to the proliferation of regressive consumer taxes and government fees that are basically taxes in the past 70yr.

The above paragraph is a broad brush statement and does not apply to all jurisdictions and situations. The prior sentence shouldn't be needed but is.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#77

Post by SQueeeeeL »

hot_gril wrote: post #73
telchior wrote: post #59

One of the items this article doesn't cover is healthcare spending, which has increased between 2 and 8 times since 1980 (depending on whether you're looking at individual spending or share of GDP). Here's a decent collection of charts: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-spe... It has been shocking to me to see how cheap and effective healthcare can be in other countries, from an emergency visit…

I always see the healthcare cost to consumer compared to other countries, but that isn't the true cost to society if the govt is subsidizing the rest. AFAIK the US healthcare is still truly more costly. Monopolies or something, idk.

It actually just is, if we're talking about purchasing power of an individual, which is pretty much the only thing the average person cares about

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#78

Post by [deleted] »

endisneigh wrote: post #50

I don't understand why people compare now to before (Boomer adolescence) in the United States. The USA basically had no competition when Boomers were in their 20s. All of the major powers destroyed themselves and their economy. I'd be interested to see this analysis done per country.

[deleted]

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#79

Post by gruez »

telchior wrote: post #59

One of the items this article doesn't cover is healthcare spending, which has increased between 2 and 8 times since 1980 (depending on whether you're looking at individual spending or share of GDP). Here's a decent collection of charts: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-spe... It has been shocking to me to see how cheap and effective healthcare can be in other countries, from an emergency visit…

Not saying that healthcare spending isn't an issue, but it doesn't seem like a major contributor to the problem of gen Z being poor. They're not exactly at the age where most of them are racking up huge healthcare bills from chronic illnesses.

Re: Gen Z have 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers in their twenties

#80

Post by willcipriano »

hot_gril wrote: post #73
telchior wrote: post #59

One of the items this article doesn't cover is healthcare spending, which has increased between 2 and 8 times since 1980 (depending on whether you're looking at individual spending or share of GDP). Here's a decent collection of charts: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-spe... It has been shocking to me to see how cheap and effective healthcare can be in other countries, from an emergency visit…

I always see the healthcare cost to consumer compared to other countries, but that isn't the true cost to society if the govt is subsidizing the rest. AFAIK the US healthcare is still truly more costly. Monopolies or something, idk.

The US government spends more on healthcare per capita than any other OECD nation. We are just being robbed.
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