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Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power

finance.yahoo.com

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Re: Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power

#11

Post by toomuchtodo »

hedora wrote: post #8
erelong wrote: post #2

I think people object more to an alleged disruption of the conditions for generating wealth / power by said generation

Yeah; it's one thing to get a kickback so you waste $75M of taxpayer dollars on coal export terminals in Oakland in 2026. It's quite another to do $75B in damage to Oakland in 20 years when climate change from the coal exports hit.

Indeed. The issue is that a subset of old folks (not all, importantly, the ones in power or outsized wealth) are running up the tab, and when they dip out (~2M 55+ age out every year in the US), the folks who remains are going to have to pay the tab (all manner of debt, local up to federal, climate costs, etc amounting to at least $50T dollars at a minimum, as of this comment).

US Federal debt: https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-debt-does-the-us-have/...

US State and Local debt: https://reason.org/transparency-project/gov-finance-2025/

US Forward Looking Climate Costs: https://climate.uchicago.edu/news/u-s-weather-and-climate-di...

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025GL11...

(not to mention off the books debt that isn’t counted as debt because it hasn’t been issued yet, think costs for deferred maintenance around infrastructure)

Re: Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power

#13

Post by [deleted] »

dickersnoodle wrote: post #4
Bender wrote: post #3

More power to them. When they eventually pass on most of that will go to their children and/or grandchildren and many of them will very likely spend it all. Those without progeny will likely donate it to charities via their trust and will. Perceived problem solved. Good on them for saving money as to not become a burden on society when bad things happen and bad things do happen. Insurance companies are quick to find…

As many commenters have pointed out, a lot of that wealth will disappear into the grubby hands of private-equity-owned assisted living facilities and nursing homes.

[deleted]

Re: Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power

#14

Post by [deleted] »

Bender wrote: post #9
Braxton1980 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're being sarcastic when the alternative can be a more reasonable retirement option

Well if we are going the MAID option then along the path of your idea I suggest all the other burdens go with them. Anyone on welfare, SNAP and similar programs, etc... Anyone part of the recent floods into the country that are also on welfare, especially groups that have brought violent tribal blood feuds. All violent felons that are just going to sit in prison and milk the taxes. All the rioters that cause damages…

[deleted]

Re: Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power

#15

Post by guilhas »

As expected, someone working for 50 years, and saving some, having more money than someone who worked less

Same for power, for example in companies generally comes with seniority and career years of experience

Not sure what other distribution could anyone expect and which system rules would support it

Re: Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power

#16

Post by guilhas »

Braxton1980 wrote: post #6
Bender wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah that's awful. I can only hope most of those people can afford a full time or live-in nurse. Are we suggesting they should take the Canadian MAID option?

You're being sarcastic when the alternative can be a more reasonable retirement option

What do you mean by that?

So today you open a savings account, put money there every month of your life, and in 50 years someone takes it away and gives you a more "reasonable option"?

Re: Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power

#17

Post by y-curious »

k310 wrote: post #10

> None of this is evenly distributed. Wealth data show extreme inequality among older Americans: early work using the AHEAD survey found that households with someone 70 or older in the top tenth of the wealth distribution held around 2,500 times as much wealth as those in the bottom tenth, and more recent work finds that inequality has widened further since the late 1990s. How can you draw a "conclusion" from such da…

You and your ex wife both own homes outright and you helped buy your kid a home in a VHCOL area. I mean, the point stands that you had plenty of concentrated wealth before the divorce and voluntarily gifting it away.

That being said, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. You just aren’t exactly contesting the point that you didn’t have concentrated wealth.

Re: Boomers are hoarding most of America's wealth and power

#18

Post by k310 »

y-curious wrote: post #17
k310 wrote: post #10

> None of this is evenly distributed. Wealth data show extreme inequality among older Americans: early work using the AHEAD survey found that households with someone 70 or older in the top tenth of the wealth distribution held around 2,500 times as much wealth as those in the bottom tenth, and more recent work finds that inequality has widened further since the late 1990s. How can you draw a "conclusion" from such da…

You and your ex wife both own homes outright and you helped buy your kid a home in a VHCOL area. I mean, the point stands that you had plenty of concentrated wealth before the divorce and voluntarily gifting it away. That being said, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. You just aren’t exactly contesting the point that you didn’t have concentrated wealth.

I was more replying to the word "hoarding"

What if the really wealthy didn't hoard so much?

I checked the Buddhist notion of wealth. Perhaps in the earlier teachings, it's all about denial, but the later teachings are all about flow: having and sharing, exemplified by the rare bird, King Ashoka, who abandoned violence to benevolence.

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