Thursday, May 18, 2017

Economically Lucky or Not?

Most people on earth today and people on earth in all of history and people in the USA even in the last 120 years had it much harder than young people in the USA today. There is a very small window of people luckier economically: The USA Doesn’t Understand that the 1950s and 1960s are Not a Reasonable Basis for Setting Expectations.

Yes, that group of even luckier people is often some of those a few decades or even 50 years older in the USA (there may also be a few places in Europe in the last 50 years).

So while it is true compared to some of the luckiest people economically in all of history those young people in the USA today have it harder when compared to most every group (those in the USA previously, those alive today elsewhere...) they are extremely lucky.

I do agree that the policies in the USA that last 50 years that have dramatically helped trust fund babies and increased income inequality are unwise and harmful. We should fix those problems. But even with those problems there are very few places that someone could be randomly placed into where their economic luck is as good as those born in the USA in the last 30 years.

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