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

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

#131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I doubt it. Kids leave elementary school today knowing more programming languages than college graduates did in 2010. If you want actual data, compare SAT scores or something. I'm willing to bet that by any metric, school was lax back then.

If anything, if that was actually true, it'd be a colossal indictment of prior generations of administrators and leaders demolishing the quality of education for those who followed. So for GP's sake, I hope they're actually wrong about math skills being weaker among the current gen.

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

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> healthcare per capita than any other OECD nation. You also need to mention that the US is not like any other OECD nation. It also happens to he the nation with the largest innovation in Healthcare, and not just by a little. By Far.

Which is heavily paid for by taxpayer-funded research, so Americans are paying for it on both sides.

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

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> healthcare per capita than any other OECD nation. You also need to mention that the US is not like any other OECD nation. It also happens to he the nation with the largest innovation in Healthcare, and not just by a little. By Far.

Yep! Innovative billing practices, and innovative marketing!

Actual R&D is a distant second. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/11/big-p...

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

#135

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.

Older cars require more ongoing maintenance and repairs. What I want is a car with '90s features that rolled off the factory yesterday so I don't have to worry about it dying in the middle of a road trip next week.

That's why your parent poster specified "low milage."

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

#136
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…

This one's a whopper. The annual salary in the first graph is adjusted for inflation, while the CPI is not adjusted for inflation. Rather the CPI is how inflation is calculated.

Wildly misleading.

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

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

> healthcare per capita than any other OECD nation. You also need to mention that the US is not like any other OECD nation. It also happens to he the nation with the largest innovation in Healthcare, and not just by a little. By Far.

there's no discernible innovation in healthcare, at least if you go by any actual metric that would indicate that. Life expectancy in Cuba is higher than in the US, infant mortality in the US is higher than in any peer country, drug death rates are higher than in most if not all comparable nations, and so on.

The pharmaceutical industry might produce innovations concerning some rare diseases or whatever, but there's no discernible reason why that is, or should be paid for by the public healthcare sector.

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

#138
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…

There have been methodology changes between 1970 and today.

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

#139
post #79

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.

Their salaries are suppressed by the cost of insurance premiums, typically paid by their employer.

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

#140

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…

> In the US, healthcare is effectively a collection of cartels Not just in the US. For example there's a huge glasses cartel in France with specialists that are protected by the government and make pairs of glasses cost 500~1000 USD with very little reimbursement, while in Japan private companies (that actually compete against each other's) let you have glasses for 60~70 USD all included. You are literally better off…

Might be tricky if you don’t speak Japanese though. Do they have multilingual optometrists that cater to tourists? I suppose Tokyo is big enough you can probably find one of anything.
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