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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

#121

Post by elzbardico »

falcolas wrote: post #85
elzbardico wrote: post #8

Boomers in their twenties were mostly working. Gen Z in their twenties is finishing college, working towards a master's or even a PhD. EDIT: No value judgments here. This is just a fact, people entered the active workforce earlier.

My mother, a baby boomer ('48), worked as a waitress part time to pay her way through college in her 20's. My dad worked for ma'bell, and earned somewhere around $150k in today's dollars as an high-school-educated lineman when he retired (and was then hired back on to train). And that's with a fully funded pension plan. So, even if they were in the workforce earlier (they weren't, I (as a genX) was working part time…

Sorry for nitpicking, but 48 is not a boomer. She is a Gen X. Boomers are the folks born after WWII and before the oil crisis.

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

#122

Post by [deleted] »

phonon wrote: post #105

The author apparently has no idea how to do CPI calculations. She somehow seems to be calculating inflation adjusted wage increases to CPI changes. Rather-- Median Family income in 1970 was $9,870 [0] Median Family income in 2021 was $79,900 [1] CPI in 1970 was 38.8 [2] CPI in 2021 was 271.0 Ratio of incomes = 8.1 Ratio of CPI = 6.98 So household income has increased more than inflation. Median household income might…

[deleted]

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

#123

Post by hot_gril »

GrifMD wrote: post #109
hot_gril wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ford Crown Victoria was sorta that until 2010.

Yeah but the gas mileage on that was only 16 city/24 highway (mpg)...

90s cars of that size aren't any better. But even today, that MPG is common in the US because the fuel efficiency gains in engines get negated by 2/3 of people driving SUVs.

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

#124

Post by [deleted] »

twic wrote: post #75
Swizec wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

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

#125

Post by nerdponx »

m00x wrote: post #71
Swizec wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Are there still cars in the USA without "smart"/connected features?

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

#126

Post by notch656a »

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…

Healthcare in the US is hilarious. I got a bill when Border Patrol forcefully took me to the hospital to "search" me, despite not consenting to the search and them having no warrant or court order at the time care was rendered.

That's right, you can be billed in the US if you never consented to have care, refused to even go to the hospital, no psych hold was in place, never had any emergency at all, and some healthcare workers touched you against your will without a court order nor being under arrest. I complaint to the state nursing board and they said this is all good and dandy.

Name one other country where you can bill care to someone who refused it while being psychologically stable and being alert and oriented to deny consent, and no court authorized the treatment.

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

#127

Post by [deleted] »

falcolas wrote: post #112
krustyburger wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of low-mileage 90s cars are on the market. If you’re being sincere, just filter by low mileage and single owner and you’ll find your dream car.

Gimme something with '20's safety and fuel economy, and '90's features otherwise. Or, even better, an electric car without the computer screen on the inside. I remember 90's cars safety and gas mileage, and I emphatically don't want that.

[deleted]

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

#128

Post by xtracto »

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.

TVs became cheaper because now companies have recurring revenue by selling ads.

Same with other stuff, it got "cheaper" because the sellers found alternative monetization channels, which often are more anti-consumer.

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

#129

Post by Zenst »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #19

How does one compare the purchasing power for a phone, which would be like a million dollars back in the day (if it was built to do a fraction of the things it can do now)?

Landlines, which were not cheap going by UK prices compared to operating a mobile today.

Don't have figures but then couldn't afford one when I grew up in the 70's.

Then colour TV's.

Much technology has got cheaper.

Now real-estate and travel costs (well apart from plan flights I'd say) have got more expensive.

But when rent and travel is a big chunk of life, and you measure things from owning a home. Well, those do skew things.

Then you also have aspects of population growth, post-war, kinda fewer people, that soon grow to hit that real-estate boom.

Also interest rates, was mentality of saving for things in 70s and shifted towards low interest rates and buy now, pay later. This also changed the landscape and again made those on the property ladder grow and push the access to that property ladder higher and higher.

But rental and travel, those really are the skew factors at play.

Need to compare quality of life really to get a bigger picture of everything, as that has increased in more aspects than people appreciate.

Heck I grew up with no central heating, single pain windows which had ice on the inside in winter and an outdoor toilet. This was in the uk in the 70s. Today, that would be called homeless. So much improved, so can't distract from that difference either.

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