Well maybe people are paid pretty close to what they are actually worth already in their 30s and 40s and the problem is their spending doesn't match their incom

Well maybe people are paid pretty close to what they are actually worth already in their 30s and 40s and the problem is their spending doesn't match their income over their lifetime. This could be true for a small number of people; but when we look at the population as a whole, spending has to be balanced by productivity. People can't spend money on goods and services that aren't being produced. If there is excess productivity that isn't matched by wages -- if people are consistently able to consume more than they earn -- we have to ask where that extra productivity is coming from.