Study Says 30-Somethings Today Poorer Than 30-Somethings Thirty Years Ago

They can thank mom and dad supporting insane economic policies

For the first time in history, the American dream may really be in trouble.

A new study by the Urban Institute shows the net worth of 30-somethings is down 21 percent from 30-somethings a few decades ago when adjusted for inflation.

Comments

[Paul.]

I keep wondering about my own state of wealth compared to my parents' when they were my age.

It's tough to calculate, especially when you consider wealth vs. income.

It seems that in many ways, my parents were better off than I am. I seem to struggle more in certain ways than my parents did... but I have a 46" flat screen HD tv, high speed internet, I've been to Hawaii and have a pretty good life.

However, my father had owned more new cars (driven off the lot) than I ever will by my age. My first New Car wasn't purchased until I was 38 years old.

When I grew up, we had in in-ground pool. I couldn't imagine anything like that for myself.

[JWatts]

I'd like to see the study. On the other hand the Urban Institute is a "non-partisan", but strongly Left leaning organization. So, I'd have to look at it carefully. That being said, it's clear that the Dot Com bubble/crash followed by the housing crash have made for a rough decade.

However, I suspect that out of control consumer spending and excessive college debt are the underlying issues. Too many 30 something's have been sent to college, which has simultaneously flooded the market and resulted in a lot of drop outs. So the drop out's that never should have gone to college are saddled with some debt and missed out on several years of earnings and the graduates have a lot of debt, but so much competition that the wages are depressed.

[Free Society]

Out of control consumer spending? Try out of control government spending. Or maybe government policies that discourage and diminish savings if consumer spending were necessarily a bad thing. Excessive college debt? How about excessively easy federally guaranteed student loan credit.

If anything is depressing wages, it's very little to do with competition. Instead think about payroll taxes, inflation, healthcare costs (and the mandated employer based system of providing it) and finally good ole fashioned regulation.

There's virtually no economic ill that the government hasn't caused or exacerbated.