An aspect of this, in much of the west, is political demography. The voting population is getting older all the time. Politics increasingly serves their interests. Often these are directly orthogonal. Labour vs capital. Real estate values vs housing costs. Opportunity vs stability.

Even this pandemic, sadly, creates opposing interests. Younger people need workplaces to operate. Older people are more susceptible to the virus. Since the stock markets are fine, retired people don't generally have financial interests at stake.