A Lost Generation

Pundits and politicians like to claim that our current young people generation will be the first in American history not to live as well or better than the prior one.

I say they are grossly mistaken!

While much could be said point-for-point about that, I’ll save that level of analysis for a future article. Instead, I want to focus on something I thing is real. Namely, the slowly disappearing concept that you can become rich in life.

The more I speak with young people (20 and 30 something’s) about increasing taxes, increasing government regulations, how harder and harder it is to start and own a business, etc. the more frequently I hear the comment “It doesn’t bother me ‘cause I’ll never be rich!”

That’s awful!!!

Think about it: People (men and women) with their entire lives ahead of them have already made up their minds they can not be successful in a monetary sense so why bother trying? Why bother caring about what crazy taxes or regulations are enacted because they won’t have to be concerned about it?

Part of this can be explained by the constant drum-beat of negative talk from politicians, specifically Democrats. When year after year you are bombarded with talk of how awful things are and about all the people loosing their shirts it takes a toll on you and your attitude.

But part is also the fault of the lack of education about exactly how people do get rich. Gaining wealth takes time. Lots of time. Wealth is rarely attained over night. For every one person who wins the lottery or who makes a killing in the stock market there are thousands of others who are well on the way to becoming rich slowly over time. Slow and steady, not sprinting, is the way to wealth. But that isn’t what is being taught (indeed, being wealthy is being taught as somehow “evil” or “unfair”) or exemplified.

It may be true that we have the first generation that doesn’t do as well as the prior one. But I say a major reason isn’t anything systemic in our economy but rather people not being taught how to gain wealth and given real examples of what it takes to really become wealthy.

The race is long and the winners are only seen at the end.

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