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Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy

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Re: Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy

#11

Post by amanaplanacanal »

Aeglaecia wrote: post #10
chocoboaus3 wrote: post #6

[flagged]

well there's nothing special about any batch of humans in particular. what changes is the environment in which they function. so what exactly about the post ww2 environment led to this scenario?

As a person in that cohort, I suspect it was the booming economy that led us to think that growth would go on forever, so we could vote ourselves infinite riches on the back of our children and grandchildren, secure in the knowledge that infinite growth would bail them out.

We are the worst generation.

Re: Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy

#12

Post by accrual »

exabrial wrote: post #8
blacksmith_tb wrote: post #3

Hmm, Musk, Bezos, Huang, and Zuckerberg are all younger than 65...[1] 1: https://www.newsweek.com/americas-12-richest-men-worth-combi...

Also Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Rihanna and may others the generation adores.

Beyonce is currently in the news for firing a stage manager of 20 years with no severance.

Re: Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy

#13

Post by Aeglaecia »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #11
Aeglaecia wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well there's nothing special about any batch of humans in particular. what changes is the environment in which they function. so what exactly about the post ww2 environment led to this scenario?

As a person in that cohort, I suspect it was the booming economy that led us to think that growth would go on forever, so we could vote ourselves infinite riches on the back of our children and grandchildren, secure in the knowledge that infinite growth would bail them out. We are the worst generation.

if i breathed in leaded petrol id behave irrationally too , personally i believe that sustainable growth could have continued for a few hundred years (and possibly have lead to a better system) had we not instead capitulated to those suggesting parabolic growth was anything but borrowing from the future

Re: Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy

#14

Post by SilverElfin »

blacksmith_tb wrote: post #3

Hmm, Musk, Bezos, Huang, and Zuckerberg are all younger than 65...[1] 1: https://www.newsweek.com/americas-12-richest-men-worth-combi...

The ultra rich are also a problem. Wealth makes it easy to get wealthier. You can take unlimited risks. Copy the ideas of startups. Act in anti competitive ways. Live off loans. Etc

Re: Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy

#15

Post by fuzzfactor »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #11
Aeglaecia wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

well there's nothing special about any batch of humans in particular. what changes is the environment in which they function. so what exactly about the post ww2 environment led to this scenario?

As a person in that cohort, I suspect it was the booming economy that led us to think that growth would go on forever, so we could vote ourselves infinite riches on the back of our children and grandchildren, secure in the knowledge that infinite growth would bail them out. We are the worst generation.

>As a person in that cohort,

Me too.

>We are the worst generation.

Nah.

>Pulled the ladder up on those after them.

It was only the ones that voted themselves infinite wealth and got it, and they pulled it up on most everybody in their same age group too way back then. IOW only a handful of boomers by comparison to all the rest.

When you do the math the vast majority of people over 65 have assets that are dwarfed by a halfway decent tech employee, after only about 5 years of employment.

Which is neither better nor worse, if everything went south right now you still couldn't say whether the retiree of 65 or the hard-working 25-year old would make it until they were 70 or not without running out of "runway".

This is by design no matter how you vote.

Re: Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy

#16

Post by erelong »

Barrin92 wrote: post #9
blacksmith_tb wrote: post #3

Hmm, Musk, Bezos, Huang, and Zuckerberg are all younger than 65...[1] 1: https://www.newsweek.com/americas-12-richest-men-worth-combi...

Total household wealth in the US is about ~170 trillion dollars. Those 12 own about 1% of all US wealth. Not shabby for a dozen people but the main issue of American society isn't the handful of people who hit the news but mostly the top 19% below them. Richard Reeves wrote a good book on the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Hoarders It's the upper middle class that fills educational institutions, prevents…

Upper middle absolutely causes a lot of problems; surprised more people aren't focused on them

Re: Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy

#17

Post by fuzzfactor »

Aeglaecia wrote: post #13
amanaplanacanal wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a person in that cohort, I suspect it was the booming economy that led us to think that growth would go on forever, so we could vote ourselves infinite riches on the back of our children and grandchildren, secure in the knowledge that infinite growth would bail them out. We are the worst generation.

if i breathed in leaded petrol id behave irrationally too , personally i believe that sustainable growth could have continued for a few hundred years (and possibly have lead to a better system) had we not instead capitulated to those suggesting parabolic growth was anything but borrowing from the future

What a coincidence ;)

I'm looking forward to even more exposure to today's somewhat leaded aviation gas as I contribute to the transition being made to alternative fuels.

I'll use that as an excuse any time I need to behave more erratically ;)

>sustainable growth could have continued for a few hundred years (and possibly have lead to a better system)

Yes, I did the math when I was a teenager.

But both of these impending eventualities did not look like they would ever be recoverable after Nixon was there for not that long a time.

I guess I was right, and here we are :\

This is not what my father fought in World War II for, and the whole country went through, just to end up in deeper debt [0], with more irrational leadership than so-called shitholes, and failing to remain orders of magnitude richer than China :(

As we go along, a lot of 21st century financial things that might have been recoverable just a few years ago are slipping out of reach faster each day now. Sooner or later the bottom rung of this modern ladder will be out-of-reach and not coming back either.

[0] When the only reason for any debt at all is a temporary situation like the need to vanquish authoritarian dictators who need it so bad that freedom-loving Americans just can't stand it any more.

Re: Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy

#18

Post by fuzzfactor »

erelong wrote: post #16
Barrin92 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Total household wealth in the US is about ~170 trillion dollars. Those 12 own about 1% of all US wealth. Not shabby for a dozen people but the main issue of American society isn't the handful of people who hit the news but mostly the top 19% below them. Richard Reeves wrote a good book on the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Hoarders It's the upper middle class that fills educational institutions, prevents…

Upper middle absolutely causes a lot of problems; surprised more people aren't focused on them

IOW alot of the parents of the young people who are complaining quite a bit themselves.

Re: Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy

#20

Post by Aeglaecia »

fuzzfactor wrote: post #17
Aeglaecia wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if i breathed in leaded petrol id behave irrationally too , personally i believe that sustainable growth could have continued for a few hundred years (and possibly have lead to a better system) had we not instead capitulated to those suggesting parabolic growth was anything but borrowing from the future

What a coincidence ;) I'm looking forward to even more exposure to today's somewhat leaded aviation gas as I contribute to the transition being made to alternative fuels. I'll use that as an excuse any time I need to behave more erratically ;) >sustainable growth could have continued for a few hundred years (and possibly have lead to a better system) Yes, I did the math when I was a teenager. But both of these impend…

im not entirely sure that i parsed your smileys/double negations/insinuations as intended ... the irrational aspect was agreeing with psychopaths , those psychopaths will always exist and will not be kept in check by anything except for community enforced morality. the west honed a beautiful set of morals for thousands of years , then proceeded to throw those morals in the bin because tv said so. id feel bad for the west , however this does bring up the conundrum - is a propagandized (or otherwise hypnotized) populace liable for their own actions ?
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