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> the one thing that matters in life is growth growth growth, particularly company growth, and there’s nothing more innovative than coming up with ways to explo

> the one thing that matters in life is growth growth growth, particularly company growth, and there’s nothing more innovative than coming up with ways to exploit people’s privacy and attention for profit. But wait, there's more! The only reason growth is pushed for so hard is because most of the investors are retired or retiring soon and don't want to work any more. If the companies stop growing then their stock prices might go down. They gambled hard when they removed pensions from US companies and they can't lose the game before they die!

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> most of the investors are retired or retiring soon Where are you getting this? Baby Boomers are smoothly transitioning their share of stock ownership to younger generations [1]. [1] https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/table/#quarter:127;series:Corporate%20equities%20and%20mutual%20fund%20shares;demographic:generation;population:all;units:shares;range:2004.2,2021.2 https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distr...
- withinboredom 3y ago
  I don't know if you are making a joke, because the data says the exact opposite. When the silent generation had 55% of the "total wealth" (and declining), boomers had 40% of the remainder, but now boomers have 55% (and climbing, instead of declining), and the younger generations only have 26% (combined). It looks like they are still hoarding (for lack of a better term) wealth than relinquishing it.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > When the silent generation had 55% of the "total wealth" (and declining), boomers had 40% of the remainder, but now boomers have 55% (and climbing, instead of declining), and the younger generations only have 26% (combined) One, stock ownership, not total wealth. Two, boomer share is declining after peaking around 2020. It’s flat-ish as they begin retiring. Gen X got screwed, but the pick-up among Millenials looks like a return to the norm. (Look at the Boomer/Silent share in the 1990s.) Three, the generation on the precipice of dying, the Silents, are not the chief stockholders. Boomers still have decades to live. They’re not looking to eke out another year or two of growth at the long-term expense of anything, they need that decades-on value to bank on.
    - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
      Why did GenX get screwed? I though millennials got screwed by the 2009 crash.
      - wwtrv 3y ago
        Weren't millennials a bit too young to have significant (or even any) amounts invested in the market back in 2009? And then they got live through one of the biggest stock market booms in history (which unlike dot.com didn't just blow up)? OTH Gen X got a chance to lose their savings during the latter stages of dot.com and then again in 2009.
        withinboredom 3y ago
        Many millennials graduated from college and couldn't get a job due to the market crash. So, not only did they not have savings, they couldn't save if they wanted to. Then, by the time a good chunk could have savings and start investing, inflation slapped them in the face. Now, grocery shopping for a house full of kids is downright expensive. Not to mention, the amount of monthly bills a household is expected to pay is 4-500% of what their parents had to pay while wages have largely stayed the same, housing costs are through the roof because boomers want to make sure they get their "investments" back, and so on.
lotsofpulp 3y ago
> They gambled hard when they removed pensions from US companies and they can't lose the game before they die! Defined benefit pensions and 401k get invested in the same thing.
- withinboredom 3y ago
  The difference is that if the stock market dips, you still get paid a pension for the set amount of time (paid out of company profits if it has to). With a 401k, you can watch years of your retirement disappear.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    If the stock market dipped permanently, those pensions would not pay either because they are all invested in the same equities. Hence why the government repeatedly provides a backstop whenever things start to take a downturn.

JumpCrisscross 3y ago

> most of the investors are retired or retiring soon Where are you getting this? Baby Boomers are smoothly transitioning their share of stock ownership to younger generations [1]. [1] https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/table/#quarter:127;series:Corporate%20equities%20and%20mutual%20fund%20shares;demographic:generation;population:all;units:shares;range:2004.2,2021.2 https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distr...

withinboredom 3y ago
I don't know if you are making a joke, because the data says the exact opposite. When the silent generation had 55% of the "total wealth" (and declining), boomers had 40% of the remainder, but now boomers have 55% (and climbing, instead of declining), and the younger generations only have 26% (combined). It looks like they are still hoarding (for lack of a better term) wealth than relinquishing it.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > When the silent generation had 55% of the "total wealth" (and declining), boomers had 40% of the remainder, but now boomers have 55% (and climbing, instead of declining), and the younger generations only have 26% (combined) One, stock ownership, not total wealth. Two, boomer share is declining after peaking around 2020. It’s flat-ish as they begin retiring. Gen X got screwed, but the pick-up among Millenials looks like a return to the norm. (Look at the Boomer/Silent share in the 1990s.) Three, the generation on the precipice of dying, the Silents, are not the chief stockholders. Boomers still have decades to live. They’re not looking to eke out another year or two of growth at the long-term expense of anything, they need that decades-on value to bank on.
  - FirmwareBurner 3y ago
    Why did GenX get screwed? I though millennials got screwed by the 2009 crash.
    - wwtrv 3y ago
      Weren't millennials a bit too young to have significant (or even any) amounts invested in the market back in 2009? And then they got live through one of the biggest stock market booms in history (which unlike dot.com didn't just blow up)? OTH Gen X got a chance to lose their savings during the latter stages of dot.com and then again in 2009.
      - withinboredom 3y ago
        Many millennials graduated from college and couldn't get a job due to the market crash. So, not only did they not have savings, they couldn't save if they wanted to. Then, by the time a good chunk could have savings and start investing, inflation slapped them in the face. Now, grocery shopping for a house full of kids is downright expensive. Not to mention, the amount of monthly bills a household is expected to pay is 4-500% of what their parents had to pay while wages have largely stayed the same, housing costs are through the roof because boomers want to make sure they get their "investments" back, and so on.

lotsofpulp 3y ago

> They gambled hard when they removed pensions from US companies and they can't lose the game before they die! Defined benefit pensions and 401k get invested in the same thing.

withinboredom 3y ago
The difference is that if the stock market dips, you still get paid a pension for the set amount of time (paid out of company profits if it has to). With a 401k, you can watch years of your retirement disappear.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  If the stock market dipped permanently, those pensions would not pay either because they are all invested in the same equities. Hence why the government repeatedly provides a backstop whenever things start to take a downturn.