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Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy

wsj.com

46 points by lucaspauker 4 months ago · 34 comments

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yfw 4 months ago

Plenty of poor older folks. Way to miss the mark. The battle is against class

throw0101a 4 months ago

https://archive.is/akHpQ

https://archive.is/https://www.wsj.com/economy/over-65-congr...

blacksmith_tb 4 months ago

Hmm, Musk, Bezos, Huang, and Zuckerberg are all younger than 65...[1]

1: https://www.newsweek.com/americas-12-richest-men-worth-combi...

  • Barrin92 4 months ago

    Total household wealth in the US is about ~170 trillion dollars. Those 12 own about 1% of all US wealth. Not shabby for a dozen people but the main issue of American society isn't the handful of people who hit the news but mostly the top 19% below them. Richard Reeves wrote a good book on the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Hoarders

    It's the upper middle class that fills educational institutions, prevents the construction of new property, hogs most of the old property and in general has impacted the upward mobility of the lower classes. Musk has a lot of issues, but he's not really getting in the way of people getting richer themselves.

    • erelong 4 months ago

      Upper middle absolutely causes a lot of problems; surprised more people aren't focused on them

      • lunar-whitey 4 months ago

        It’s easier for the top 10% to blame the top 0.1% and absolve themselves, in spite of the knowledge that this changes nothing. Americans especially are averse to the idea that the middle class owes anything to anyone.

      • fuzzfactor 4 months ago

        IOW alot of the parents of the young people who are complaining quite a bit themselves.

        • fuzzfactor 4 months ago

          Sorry, on HN I wasn't expecting any attention from somebody who is fully convinced that no young people have parents, or something like that.

    • thegreatpeter 4 months ago

      All US billionaires make up like 8 trillion

  • exabrial 4 months ago

    Also Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Rihanna and may others the generation adores.

    • accrual 4 months ago

      Beyonce is currently in the news for firing a stage manager of 20 years with no severance.

  • SilverElfin 4 months ago

    The ultra rich are also a problem. Wealth makes it easy to get wealthier. You can take unlimited risks. Copy the ideas of startups. Act in anti competitive ways. Live off loans. Etc

  • big_youth 4 months ago

    They are both true? Between the ultra rich and the elderly there are scraps for everyone else.

    • blacksmith_tb 4 months ago

      True - though I would say that the elderly have had a chance to earn and invest longer than the young, so it's not exactly like that's a nefarious plot. But a better tax structure would make that less glaring (same for the multibillionaires, only more so).

  • cucumber3732842 4 months ago

    Those guys own squat compared to the assets the boomers own personally and fractionally.

    That said, they do get to exercise infinitely more control and power than a bunch of old people who own non-voting shares and real property that's only valuable at the whim and pleasure of the local regulators.

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