Re:Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests...
by port11 on Sunday July 19, 2026 @04:37AM
(#48966072)
Yes, Things Get Better Over Time, that’s also not a new phenomenon. Even if you don’t compare against a well-off previous generation, there are 2 issues:
1) Not enough young people can contribute to make social security payments to the elderly, across most of the developed world. A typical pension in Belgium is almost comparable to a typical young person’s salary.
2) At a young age, the previous 2–3 generations could afford social mobility levers, i.e. a house and car.
Note that I’m not commenting on the management, investment strategy, returns, or sustainability of social security (point 1).
“Across the vast majority of space-time”, the elderly also somewhat contributed to the tribal/community needs, trained their replacements, cared for grandchildren, and so on. Oh, and everyone was poor, so the range in standard of living was reasonably tight.
1) Not enough young people can contribute to make social security payments to the elderly, across most of the developed world. A typical pension in Belgium is almost comparable to a typical young person’s salary.
2) At a young age, the previous 2–3 generations could afford social mobility levers, i.e. a house and car.
Note that I’m not commenting on the management, investment strategy, returns, or sustainability of social security (point 1).
“Across the vast majority of space-time”, the elderly also somewhat contributed to the tribal/community needs, trained their replacements, cared for grandchildren, and so on. Oh, and everyone was poor, so the range in standard of living was reasonably tight.