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Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy

wsj.com

46 points by lucaspauker a month ago · 34 comments

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yfw a month ago

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

throw0101a a month ago

https://archive.is/akHpQ

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

blacksmith_tb a month 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 a month 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 a month ago

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

      • lunar-whitey a month 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 a month ago

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

        • fuzzfactor a month 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 a month ago

      All US billionaires make up like 8 trillion

  • exabrial a month ago

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

    • accrual a month ago

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

  • SilverElfin a month 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 a month ago

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

    • blacksmith_tb a month 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 a month 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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