You're right that old people have always held power. The difference now is that 'old' people are not the 45 year olds of previous generations. Instead, wealth i

You're right that old people have always held power. The difference now is that 'old' people are not the 45 year olds of previous generations. Instead, wealth is disproportionately concentrated in the hands of much older - 60's through 80's, thanks to modern medicine. This tends to push back the timeline of wealth acquisition: the boomers being such a big demographic along with the economic crisis in 2008, and what I see in my highly progressive US city is a massive failure for late Gen X and older millenials to form households: children, mortgages, and the typical consumption patterns this usually breeds. There are advertisements for IVF treatments on our metro. I'd say 30-40% of educated women are unable or unwilling to have children due to the inability to find a stable partner (who's also educated). I make well over 6 figures and my girlfriend also does pretty well. Together, we'd still need to pay half our joint salary to afford a mortgage on a typical home in a area close to our jobs. There is no way a couple with the median income could do the same without leveraging a huge amount of debt relative to income. Whether I'm able to do so or not, I'm defintely not willing. Jobs are not certain - I'm always waiting for the next crisis or recession and lay off. No way in hell would I want to be in so much debt in this system. Same for children (along with family court, but I digress). I'm guessing our politicians see this and understand that the whole pyramid will come crashing down, hence the elite's push for more and more immigration. Maybe the solution would be, instead of subsidizing foreigners, to create massive tax breaks for locals to procreate - housing, child care, etc. But that wouldn't do anything to push down wages, so it's obviously a no-go in today's political debate.