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> Income inequality self corrects through one of three mechanisms: war, revolution, or famine. Wealth of people under the age of 40 as a percentage of total wea

> Income inequality self corrects through one of three mechanisms: war, revolution, or famine. Wealth of people under the age of 40 as a percentage of total wealth has gone from 19 percent to 9 percent in the last 30 years and this is effectively a form of revolution How much of this is just the costs of college spiraling out of control combined with a larger number of people going to college? I graduated with 60k more in debt than my father from the same school 30 years later. Also do people really care about age dependent income inequality? Because in time everyone under 40 will eventually be over 40.

jrumbut 6y ago
I do think they care. If you see yourself strugling with rent at the age your parents were 5 years into paying off their house, you get very concerned about your future and your children's future. It's not that we just started showering wealth on the 40+ crowd, it's also a matter of the 18-40 year old adults perhaps not having the same opportunities to succeed (or having more opportunities to fail) than their parents did.
- JamesBarney 6y ago
  Income for the 24-35 year old men has stayed about the same over the last 40-50 years. And women have seen a huge rise in salary over that timespan. The price of houses has gone up but that's mostly caused by them getting larger. Half of men in the 24-35 year old range will do worse than their father. And the other half better. And most women will be making more money than their mothers. [0] - https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-people.html https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-p...
  - jrumbut 6y ago
    Income is different than wealth. If you're making the same (or more even) but paying rent instead of a mortgage you end up in a very different place.
    - JamesBarney 6y ago
      An FHA loan only requires putting down 3%. Assuming a 200k house, an average women is earning that much more than her mother in 3 months.
      - jrumbut 6y ago
        And yet she would appear to have a lower share of society's wealth than her mother did. If she was just earning more money and had this great opportunity to buy a home you'd think the opposite would be true or at least things would stay level.
pjc50 6y ago
Some age effects are cohort effects. I should know, I'm from the last generation in the UK with no student debt. Everyone younger than me is worse off and will remain worse off as they age.
- JamesBarney 6y ago
  I'm a huge fan in figuring out how to stop setting so much money on fire in pursuit of education.

jrumbut 6y ago

I do think they care. If you see yourself strugling with rent at the age your parents were 5 years into paying off their house, you get very concerned about your future and your children's future. It's not that we just started showering wealth on the 40+ crowd, it's also a matter of the 18-40 year old adults perhaps not having the same opportunities to succeed (or having more opportunities to fail) than their parents did.

JamesBarney 6y ago
Income for the 24-35 year old men has stayed about the same over the last 40-50 years. And women have seen a huge rise in salary over that timespan. The price of houses has gone up but that's mostly caused by them getting larger. Half of men in the 24-35 year old range will do worse than their father. And the other half better. And most women will be making more money than their mothers. [0] - https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-people.html https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-p...
- jrumbut 6y ago
  Income is different than wealth. If you're making the same (or more even) but paying rent instead of a mortgage you end up in a very different place.
  - JamesBarney 6y ago
    An FHA loan only requires putting down 3%. Assuming a 200k house, an average women is earning that much more than her mother in 3 months.
    - jrumbut 6y ago
      And yet she would appear to have a lower share of society's wealth than her mother did. If she was just earning more money and had this great opportunity to buy a home you'd think the opposite would be true or at least things would stay level.

pjc50 6y ago

Some age effects are cohort effects. I should know, I'm from the last generation in the UK with no student debt. Everyone younger than me is worse off and will remain worse off as they age.

JamesBarney 6y ago
I'm a huge fan in figuring out how to stop setting so much money on fire in pursuit of education.