#wealthiest — Public Fediverse posts

Why baby boomers are the wealthiest generation – The Washington Post

How baby boomers got so rich and why their kids are unlikely to catch up

The wealthiest generation holds more than $85 trillion in assets thanks to economic conditions Gen X, millennials and others would be hard-pressed to replicate.

November 18, 2025 at 5:00 a.m. EST, Yesterday at 5:00 a.m. EST, 7 min

By Shannon Najmabadi and Federica Cocco

Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend.

The reasons come down to timing and time: Americans 75 and older bought homes and invested in stocks well before such assets exploded in value, according to Edward Wolff, an economics professor at New York University. In a working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, he examined the four decades between 1983 and 2022 when those older boomers saw their wealth climb and their younger peers recorded relative declines.

“It’s astonishing how their relative wealth has taken off in the last 30-plus years,” Wolff said. “They started out as among the poorest groups in terms of wealth back in 1983.”

The wealth of baby boomers — especially those in retirement —is a reflection of the uniquely favorable economic conditions that occurred during their working lives, Wolff and other economists said. So much so that it would be difficult for younger generations to emulate, especially as they are more likely to be weighed down by debt or child care costs.

Housing costs also factor into the widening divide between baby boomers (born from 1946 to 1964) and everyone else, experts say. Generation X (1965 to 1980), millennials (1981 to 1996) and their successors increasingly dedicate a bigger portion of their budgets to mortgage or rent.

People might assume boomers’ wealth reflects superior financial decision-making, if they don’t consider the historical context that allowed boomers to build their wealth over decades, said Olivia Mitchell, professor of business economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Why baby boomers are the wealthiest generation – The Washington Post

#babyBoom #babyBoomers #boomerKids #boughtHomes #childrenOfBoomers #economicConditions #economy #federicaCocco #generation #housingCosts #nationalBureauOfEconomicResearch #rich #shannonNajmabadi #stockInvestments #wealth #wealthiest #workingLives

Why baby boomers are the wealthiest generation – The Washington Post

How baby boomers got so rich and why their kids are unlikely to catch up

The wealthiest generation holds more than $85 trillion in assets thanks to economic conditions Gen X, millennials and others would be hard-pressed to replicate.

November 18, 2025 at 5:00 a.m. EST, Yesterday at 5:00 a.m. EST, 7 min

By Shannon Najmabadi and Federica Cocco

Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend.

The reasons come down to timing and time: Americans 75 and older bought homes and invested in stocks well before such assets exploded in value, according to Edward Wolff, an economics professor at New York University. In a working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, he examined the four decades between 1983 and 2022 when those older boomers saw their wealth climb and their younger peers recorded relative declines.

“It’s astonishing how their relative wealth has taken off in the last 30-plus years,” Wolff said. “They started out as among the poorest groups in terms of wealth back in 1983.”

The wealth of baby boomers — especially those in retirement —is a reflection of the uniquely favorable economic conditions that occurred during their working lives, Wolff and other economists said. So much so that it would be difficult for younger generations to emulate, especially as they are more likely to be weighed down by debt or child care costs.

Housing costs also factor into the widening divide between baby boomers (born from 1946 to 1964) and everyone else, experts say. Generation X (1965 to 1980), millennials (1981 to 1996) and their successors increasingly dedicate a bigger portion of their budgets to mortgage or rent.

People might assume boomers’ wealth reflects superior financial decision-making, if they don’t consider the historical context that allowed boomers to build their wealth over decades, said Olivia Mitchell, professor of business economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Why baby boomers are the wealthiest generation – The Washington Post

#babyBoom #babyBoomers #boomerKids #boughtHomes #childrenOfBoomers #economicConditions #economy #federicaCocco #generation #housingCosts #nationalBureauOfEconomicResearch #rich #shannonNajmabadi #stockInvestments #wealth #wealthiest #workingLives

Thousands in #Midwestern #GOP Districts Attend #Sanders' First Stops on Tour to Fight #Oligarchy

"It's like there's only one person who is actually able to sidestep the demoralization and frustration," said one observer.

Julia Conley, Feb 22, 2025

"After addressing more than 3,400 #Nebraska residents in Omaha Friday evening, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Saturday made his second stop on his National Tour to Fight Oligarchy—telling Iowa City, #Iowa residents that '#Trumpism will not be defeated by politicians inside the #DCBeltway.'

"'For better or worse, that is not going to happen,' said the Vermont Independent senator, whose broadly popular policy proposals have long been dismissed by Democratic leaders as unrealistic and radical while President Donald Trump has increasingly captured the attention of the #WorkingClass Americans who would benefit most from Sanders' ideas.

"'It will only be defeated by millions of Americans in Iowa, in #Vermont, in Nebraska, in every state in this country, who come together in a strong #grassroots movement and say no to oligarchy, no to #authoritarianism, no to #kleptocracy, no to massive cuts to programs that #LowIncome and working Americans desperately need, no to huge #TaxBreaks for the #wealthiest people in this country,' said Sanders.

"The senator announced his tour earlier this month as #ElonMusk, the head of the Trump-created Department of Government Efficiency ( #DOGE) who poured $277 million on the president's campaign, swept through numerous agencies, with DOGE staffers setting up illegal servers, seizing control of data, shutting federal employees out of offices, and working to shut down operations across the government.

"Since Trump took office for his second term just over a month ago, roughly 30,000 federal employees have been fired or laid off—part of Musk's push to cut $2 trillion in federal spending in order to fill the $4.6 trillion hole that Trump's extension of the 2017 tax cuts would blow in the deficit.

"#Republican lawmakers have also pushed to include cuts to #Medicaid, and Trump this week signaled he would back #Medicare cuts after repeatedly insisting he would not slash the popular healthcare program used by more than 65 million Americans, in order to save money while handing out tax cuts to the same #corporations and #ultrawealthy households that benefited from the 2017 tax law.

"'Today in America we are rapidly moving toward an #oligarchic form of society where a handful of #multibillionaires not only have extraordinary wealth, but unprecedented economic, media, and political power,' said Sanders in Iowa City, which like Omaha is represented by a Republican U.S. House member who narrowly won reelection last November and has faced pressure to reject the GOP budget plan. 'Brothers and sisters, that is not the democracy that men and women fought and died to defend.'"

Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/bernie-sanders-donald-trump
#Oligarchy #OligarchyTour #StillSanders #BernieSanders #USPol #CorporateInterests #Corporatocracy #CorporateColonialism

How #America’s #wealth map has changed

The #wealthiest cities in the #US. are almost seven times #richer than the #poorest regions, a disparity that has nearly doubled since 1960.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91262157/americas-wealth-map-changed

As a child, Mathew Desmond experienced poverty firsthand.

He saw his family home repossessed and endured the stresses and humiliations of his family’s lack of means.

It raised the question that he would go on to dedicate his professional life to answering:

❓Why is there such stark #inequality in America?❓

The hard truth, he said, is that
💥so many of us benefit from it.💥

Desmond shared a litany of statistics illustrating the growing burden of poverty and inequality in the United States:

• 1 in 3 families live in a household that has an income of $55,000 a year or less.
• 38 million people are below the federal poverty level of $30,000 for a family of four.
• Evictions have increased by 22% since the turn of the century.
• The number of public-school kids who are unhoused has increased by 74% since the turn of century.
• The amount of inflation-adjusted, non-mortgage debt has increased by more than 200% -- and the number of families reporting no income apart from food stamps has quadrupled since the 2008 recession.
• Since 1985, rent increases have outpaced wage growth by 325%.
• Each year, people are charged $11 billion in overdraft fees and $10 billion in payday loan fees.

“So, here's one reason there's so much poverty in America today:

because the poor are #exploited,”
said Desmond, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Evicted" and his more recent work "Poverty, by America".

“I think it's a word we should use more.”

👉The exploitation is perpetuated, not only by the corporations, financial institutions, and landlords who withhold fair wages, charge exorbitant fees, and profit off those in poverty,
👉but also by affluent Americans who benefit from the exploitation, he said.

Desmond quoted an analogy from novelist Tommy Orange,

“Kids are jumping out the windows of burning buildings, falling to their deaths. And we think the problem is that they’re jumping.”

🔥The American approach to poverty has often been to focus on those who are poor and what they can do to uplift themselves -- rather than changing the systems that keep them poor.

This can be uncomfortable for those whose #property #values are protected by ⚠️segregation of affordable housing,
those who have invested in the #stock #market and make money when ⚠️exploitative corporations net profits,
and those with #free #checking #accounts that are ⚠️subsidized by the poor who pay fees for their lack of capital, he explained.

The affluent also benefit from government subsidies more than the poor, he said.

According to Desmond, the #wealthiest families in the United States receive an average of about 🔷$35,000 annually in tax benefits, while the #poorest get an average of ♦️$25,000 in subsidies.

These are realized in #mortgage #incentives, special #investment #accounts, like #529 accounts that help pay for college, and other #tax #breaks for the wealthy.

Many affluent families further contribute to poverty by building communities that exclude and marginalize the poor
— pushing them out of their neighborhoods using #zoning ordinances, Desmond said

https://www.aamc.org/news/we-can-solve-poverty-america-we-just-don-t-want

People with no #compasion who won't share with other #cultures who are in dire need of #safety, should move to the moon. #Charity does begin at #home & should extend to #refugees in need. Why then do we give all our #resouces inc. #money to the #wealthiest & #elite? If we didn't do that our #poor & genuine others could have #essentials. The real #UsAndThem: elite/wealthy & the rest of us & don't let them #brainwash you to think it's between 2 groups of struggling #poor. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jul/02/rees-mogg-tories-build-wall-english-channel-donald-trump-biden

The 30 #Wealthiest #LGBTQ #Stars.

Honestly, it might surprise you just how many #highrolling #bigshot #celebrities are actually #LGBTQ+. There are a few LGBTQ+ celebrities that are worth #billions of #dollars! Crazy, right?

#Women #Lesbians #Bisexuals #Gay #Queer #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Entertainment #Music #TV #Movies #Representation #Culture

https://living.alot.com/entertainment/the-30-wealthiest-lgbtq-stars--17457

"I think I should be granted the #ability to #inflict my multiple #health conditions on random #billionaires at will.

We’d have a #cure for just about #everything in under five years.

#Everyone being like “but we wouldn’t have access to #treatment” as though some of the world’s #wealthiest #assholes don’t run health #insurance #companies and I wouldn’t use this power to enforce health care reform and force them to write the deal in their own #blood like the wrath of an #angry #god.

Be not afraid? No fuck you. Be afraid, be very afraid."

https://www.tumblr.com/161afa1312acab/715356971083153408?source=share