re: For the first time in our nation's history, a 30-year-old isn't doing as well their parent

quote:

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In earlier times they'd either join the military or enter the workforce and work their way up.

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Exactly, and where did those jobs with a long term trajectory go? Who was cheerleading the profits and increased stock prices (not an actual measure of the economy's health) while the next generation's opportunities for meaningful work eroded? It wasn't the people in their 30's now.

What do we have now to show for our race towards high value 401ks and cheap consumer goods? We have a materialistic society where worker has no long-term attachment to company (and vice versa) and none want to talk of anything that would diminish stock price gains (or question whether the giant game is really an exercise I'm collective make believe). The objective good of meaningful labor is no longer talked about. A gig economy which pays no regard for the needs of the family is the payoff.

Would we really be worse off if the employer pension was a key feature of mass retirement planning? If student loans and the usury industry weren't allowed to work with colleges to always justify more (debt allowance)? If manual labor and the trades hadn't been derided, but instead had been celebrated? If we looked at manufacturing as delivering something "good" (meaningful work) for the masses who can't simply "learn to code"?