The Proof is in the Retirement Home Pudding
It’s no secret that Joe Biden is old. During the 2020 Presidential campaign, The Trump Campaign and it’s propaganda outlets like Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax made a big stink about his perceived ‘mental decline’. It’s also no secret that those critiques were much ado about nothing, and hypocritical, Trump clocks in at 74. But Joe Biden is 78, which makes him the oldest person to ever take the oath office, and that does matter. The disturbing thing about the two President’s age is not their ‘Boomerness’ in isolation, but the sheer consistency of boomers in the U.S. government. The profound number of elderly people wielding the levers of power in the United States makes it better characterized as a Gerontocracy, a government run by the elderly, than a democracy.
The average age of a U.S. citizen is 38 years old. Meanwhile the average age of a U.S. House member is 20 years older than that, at 58. And the average age of a U.S. Senator is 63! When you get to leadership in the government, it gets worse. Nancy Pelosi is 80 years old; her number two, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, is 81; and her number three, Majority Whip James Clyburn is also in his 80’s. Chuck Schumer, apparently the Young Turk of Democratic leadership was born in 1950, before the advent of Color TV, let alone the internet. Now it makes sense that the people in government are slightly older, but the degree to which the U.S. government’s demographics more closely match a nursing home than the country is creating real world consequence.
They Hoard More Than Old Photos
It is no secret to those paying attention that there is massive wealth and income inequality between the rich and the poor, both in the U.S. and across the world. But less discussed, yet just as important, is the wealth and income inequality by age. Deloitte, an audit and assurance brand, found this:
“In 2016, real median family net worth among households with a head of household less than 35 years old stood at $11,000, much lower than that among households with heads in the 65–74 ($224,000) and 75-or-older ($264,000) age groups.”
Now, the mere fact that older people hold more wealth is not surprising on its face, but once again the degree to which the young and old are unequal is deeply damaging. Even more concerning than the current level of inequality is the fact that it appears to be growing. The same Deloitte study found that in 1992, the ratio of median net worth of families headed by those 75+, as compared to the median net worth of families headed by those under 35, was 9.4. By 2016, that ratio reached 24.1. In other words, the gap had more than doubled in only 24 years.
It’s not just wealth. Income inequality by age is also dramatic. The study found:
“Among households headed by people under 35 years of age, real median before-tax family income has fallen at an average of 0.1 percent per year between 1992 and 2016. In contrast, all other households except the 45–54-year-old age group (-0.04 percent average annual decline) witnessed gains in real median before-tax family income during this period.”
Data from the credit bureau Experian showed that Millennials are the generation with the fast increasing debt load, and while plans to pause student debt during the pandemic, cancelling student loan debt does not seem to be a priority in the geriatric white house.
This inequality is the result of policy choices by those in power, and those choices continue to be made today. Take the bipartisan CARES Act, passed in March of last year. The bill included the overwhelming popular $1,200 stimulus checks. But less discussed among the venerable political class at the time was a notable exception, adult dependents, of whom college students and recent graduates make up a substantial bloc. While Baby Boomers, Gen X, and some Millennials were able to receive the “universal” checks, struggling college kids and people entering into the worst labor market since the Great Recession were left out. This is the result of an elderly political class.
We’re All Screwed and All Screwed Up
The evidence that shows that low income and large debts leads to negative health outcomes is overwhelming, but an understudied topic is how wealth inequality by age affects health. Thus, we are forced to resort to correlation, and not causation, but here are the facts:
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found in a 2017 study, among American 18-25 year old’s, 13.1% had a major depressive episode, 7.7% of 26-49 year old’s had a depressive episode, and only 4.7% of those aged 50+
The NIMH also found that of American 18-59 year old’s, 20.6%-22.7% had any anxiety disorder, compared to 9.0% of those aged 60+
None of this is wholly attributable to the age of those in government. But it is not a coincidence that it was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the youngest woman of the House ever elected who championed including college aged dependents in the next round of stimulus checks.
Nor is it a coincidence that it is young progressives, like AOC (31) and Ritchie Torres (32), who pushed for the largest Climate Change legislation, The Green New Deal, which is an issue that will most affect them and their age group peers.
The unfortunate truth is that so long as the Gerontocracy is intact, the interests of the ancient will crowd out the interests of the young.
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