To add numbers to this: A teenager in 1950s would be 40-50 when the productivity-wage breakdown happened [1]. Their generation not only benefited, they caused

To add numbers to this: A teenager in 1950s would be 40-50 when the productivity-wage breakdown happened [1]. Their generation not only benefited, they caused that for juiced returns on their stocks. A teenager today was born an entire generation after that decoupling — and has only known a world where their parents were exploited by 1950s teenagers. I don’t think it’s surprising that a generation where hard work was rewarded was more optimistic than one born to parents for whom that didn’t apply. [1] - https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/ https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/