Vexed Generation X, going for broke
You are somewhere between 35 and 45 years old, give or take, and you can't shake the feeling that things just aren't adding up for you, your family, your generation. The bosses and politicians in charge - many of whom are older than you - don't talk about you much, even as your job bites the dust or you gripe about money in the cubicle next door.
Vexed Generation X, going for broke
You are somewhere between 35 and 45 years old, give or take, and you can’t shake the feeling that things just aren’t adding up for you, your family, your generation.
The bosses and politicians in charge — many of whom are older than you — don’t talk about you much, even as your job bites the dust or you gripe about money in the cubicle next door.
You’re still so young, they say. (No hair dye yet.) You can reinvent yourself. (Presto, change-o!) You don’t even like job security. (You Pearl Jam-loving free spirit!) The real sad sacks, they say time and again, are the Baby Boomers. Don’t you read the papers? (You little brat.)
Well, to all 45 million of you sandwiched between the 80 million Boomers and their 88 million kids, I say this:
You are not hallucinating. You are in trouble. And I have the facts right here.
You don’t read the papers, true. But they don’t talk much about you, and neither does TV news. Maybe an uncle, parent or co-worker would be a darling and share? A Facebook post also would do.
Because listen to this, Generation Xer:
If you are a man born between 1964 and 1974, you were earning 12 percent less in 2004 than your father was when he was your age three decades earlier, according to a study by the Economic Mobility Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Let’s attach a dollar figure to that — so that we truly register the generational grand larceny here.
Fathers were making $40,000 as thirtysomethings, compared to $35,000 for their Gen X sons. With help from an Inquirer colleague, I tabulated that Gen Xers lucky enough to continue making that meager $35,000 for the next 30 years without a single pay raise (but at a 2.2 percent annual inflation rate) will have pocketed $227,680 less than the dad who told them to believe in the American Dream.
And that was before the stock market crash of 2008.
In the immortal words of Sex Pistols front man Johnny Rotten (a Boomer, no less): “Don’t be told about what you need / No future, no future, no future for you.”
If you think I’m an alarmist, take comfort in the fact that Pew considered this finding “very disturbing,” too.
“This suggests the up-escalator that has historically ensured that each generation would do better than the last may not be working very well,” wrote authors Isabel V. Sawhill of the Brookings Institution and John E. Morton of Pew.
And yet, the May 2007 report got little coverage, despite its horror-show revelations. Scanning the print-news archives was like a trek through the desert.
In an interview last week, Morton said the finding was “surprising” because, among other things, the economy was doing pretty well during the three decades when Gen Xers became, in my words, Generation Hexed.
“This is a cohort of people who were selected because they were at their prime earnings years,” Morton said. “And yet, over a full 30-year period, they have double-digit declines in income.”
Think about it: $227,680 less in the bank at age 65. And for a generation of workers who, more than those before them, are saving for retirement mostly on their own because pensions are history, 401(k)s are scary, and houses still cost a ton.
Uncool.
More on this tomorrow.
Read more of Maria Panaritis' writings on this topic here.
Mike Armstrong is away. Contact Maria Panaritis at 215-854-2431 or mpanaritis@phillynews.com.
Comments (53)
mcc99, glad someone said it. dannywow40, really? You're ok with Madoff, Enron, Tyco, Worldcom, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Bros, the no doc loan debacle, etc? These aren't xers.— lpeace63- If you are between 35 and 45, and only make $35k, it is what you deserve to earn.— dannywow40
- There is one sure way to be able to reach your goal: Lower your expectations. Please keep in mind that regardless of recent wage stagnation, in the aggregate we live like the upper-classes of 75 years ago, without having to provide very much effort. And whatever this American Dream right everyone had heard proposed must have held about as much significance for me as the make-up lessons on the elegance of compound interest that I missed during a sick-day in parochial school. This New Years why not discover (if you haven't already) the one true majestic quality of money: It's best to have it earn for you rather than the opposite.— Murrayman
- Thanks for thinking about my generation for a change, and by the way, if I have to hear that stupid Blackberry commercial with the annoying Boomer "All you need is love" song remade by that whiny emo Gen Y singer my head will explode.— Petey_Boy
- One thing at work here, tacitly implied in the writing above but unmentioned explicitly, is that the independent, unaffiliated incomes of women have skyrocketed within the Gen X cohort. Now in many of the most vaunted areas of professional work, women outearn and outperform men. The article's near-exclusive discussion of Gen X men's earning power decrease as compared with their fathers', but total silence regarding the increase in power, potential, prestige, and earnings of Gen X women, sit like a 1,000-lb. gorilla in the corner of the room. We in America are rightly happy and proud of the accomplishments of our female relatives, our daughters, our neighbors, mothers, wives (er, I mean, spouses), friends, colleagues, etc. But we also must acknowledge this wonderful opening up of opportunities for the expression of their talents has come at a price to men, both in measurable dollar figures such as the ones the author discusses, as well as in less-measurable ways, though ways just as significant. The rights of men as political and economic entities, as fathers, as citizens, as ends unto ourselves, have far too many times been directly violated, sometimes grossly, in order for these leaps of progress for women in so many spheres to have occurred. These violations have led to unresolved and contentious situations, large and small, that are still unfolding, and promise outcomes but not always resolutions that have yet to be seen. The 1,000-lb. gorilla has yet to get up and move. It has yet really to say anything or do anything. But it has to, eventually.— mcc99
Comment removed.- we're in the same boat as the gen y'ers, just that nobody cares about us. maybe we shouldn't care about the boomers when they start whining when the well runs dry, most irresponsible generation.— dreinterests
- bvl390 - nice syntax and spelling. Your lack of accomplishment is totally because boomers are holding you down. Take some responsibility!— FilterSquareDad
- MikeP, don't worry. Once you're old and disenfranchised we'll cut your Medicare nursing home benefits. Boomers created the welfare system out of thin air and invented the war on poverty from some bourgeois noblesse obligĂ©. What did Boomers' protesting, drugs and free love do? It cracked the American political will and facilitated an ignominious defeat in Vietnam, followed by an oil crisis and stagflation (and caused the AIDS epidemic too). Guys went out and served while protesting boomers suckled at the teat on their 2-S deferments, and then called the vets baby killers when they got home. After that your generation rolled, panted, joined the system then later became the system. Just look at your own reward metrics: You're tooting your horn about a raise, because you did something for an establishment -- The Establishment -- that made it more money. It's going to take GenX and GenY an entire generation to clean up this mess -- if ever. The Greatest Generation left you a magnificent, resolute, indomitable land and Boomers blew it. Thanks.— PaJC
- The situation is even worse if you are a woman, because we still do not earn the same wage for the same work. I'm in IT, and I'm making 10K less than I was 10 years ago, and even then I wasn't earning what my male counterparts were. I am not optimistic.— MBW
- Ecksicon, 5x doesn't quantify anything without a comparitive cost of living. Can anyone argue that insurance and taxes haven't made everyone's cost of living higher and discretionary income lower?— lpeace63
- Ecksicon, 5x doesn't quantify anything without a comparitive cost of living. Can anyone argue that insurance and taxes haven't made everyone's cost of living higher and discretionary income lower?— lpeace63
- Hey bvl390, you nailed it. Love it. We should all be entreprenuers any way but "they" make that near impossible as well. Parasitic bunch huh.— lpeace63
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- I beg to differ with the gist of this article. The American Dream is the God-given luxury of living in a country that guarantees one the rights to life,liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and nothing more. Only other guarantees in life that I'm aware of are death and taxes. And BTW, I'm 49 yrs. old and making an income 5X that of my dad's when he was my age. Y'all must have simply picked the wrong profession.— afrdmd
- I'm 32 and got a pension. Nicccccccccccccccccce!!!— PJJ
- None of this matters. Ever since Democrats have taken control of the house and senate in 2006, the national debt went from 8 trillion to and will go to 16 trillion by next year. It has taken less than 4 yrs for them to double the national debt when it took Bush 8 years. Good job democrats and especially that POS president. A centrist you are not!— FlyersFan561
- JohhnyH, you are so screwed. You're main problem is you. EVERYTIME you make decent money, your employer lays you off. Get a clue already. When that keeps happening, the message is clear. You make decent money and your employer says "He's not worth what he's paid. Get rid of him. He's dead wood" I had this Generation Xer that I worked with. The guy did squat. He convinced some company that he had the skills and experience to do a 6 figure job and got hired. He's about to get married and buys a house just before he accepts his new job. He goes around telling everyone that he's not getting stuck in this company and is moving up. Two months later, he's fired because he can't do the job. Calls me. I tell him that they still haven't filled his position and to call his former manager and see if he can get back in. He says he'd consider that a step backwards and he's moving up. 6 months later, he's working at Home Depot, lost the home after defaulting on his little money down mortgage on his $500,000 home and his marriage isn't going well. He can't understand what went wrong. He has a college degree!!! He was at my company for 3 years and did absolutely nothing and then complained that he was getting promotions. Pathetic.— MikeP
- Just look at the comments on here by the Generation Xers and you can see part of the problem. They have absolutely no clue what they are talking about. If Generation Xers are so great, why are they all getting laid off? Because they are dead wood in their 30s. I'm a baby boomer and have survived a series of massive lay offs over the passt couple years. I just got the biggest raise that I've ever received. The reason: the company said that it wanted to reward key employees that make significant contribution to the success of the company. There were no Generation Xers that got a raise this year. None. Zero.— MikeP
- Thank you Ronald Reagan! Thank you for deregulation! Throw out that rule book! Great job! Done wonders for the economy and our system of government!— cemego
- The huge benefits, pensions, and entitlements for the 55 plus set, along with massively wasteful defense spending, stole the future from the 30-45 year olds. Its shocking to see the retirement benefits many federal, state, and local workers are getting.— JonKap
- I am so tired of you whiners in this area. Here's a novel idea, get an education which actually has good job prospects instead of the waste of time liberal arts degrees or "MRS." degrees so many of you "earned". The difference between previous generations and Gen X'ers is work ethic and desire. When you are given too much for too little effort, you become lazy and develop an entitlement mentality. bvl390, if you cannot construct a coherent sentence without misspelling words, it should be obvious why you are a failure and it has nothing to do with employed boomers. And Citizenc92, it is woe, not "whoa" which is what the Lone Ranger says to his horse. I guess it is also obvious from these posts that public education has failed the Gen Xers.— g18188
- So what does this tell us? Baby boomers were and still are greedy and self-centered and they have been raising children who are just the same! Unfortunately, the Gen Xers--despite being practical and realistic--are the ones who are burdened with being sandwiched in-between them. X'ers need a leader who understands that. My fear is that the leadership of our generation we will be overlooked and the country's problems won't truly be fixed. I think Obama sort of gets it, but I don't know if the majority (who aren't near our generation) will allow him to fix it. Thanks for a good article--it explains a lot!— 3rick
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- I'm 40 and every time I make the most money I've ever made I get laid off and it takes me a couple of years to get back to where I was before I get laid off again. The economics of our times is horrible. I just got laid off today so Happy New Year!— JohnnyH
- I agree we are totally screwed, but honestly think the next generation (i.e. Captain Entitlement) is in more trouble than we are.— MrsDamian
- Move south. Jobs pay more and housing is much cheaper.— barefoot
- I've been thinking this for years. Boomers gave themselves Medicare, are bankrupting social security, started the war on poverty and lost it, sold American industry overseas for their own wealth and comfort, did nothing to hold down our dependence on foreign petroleum. Baby boomer doctors pillaged the health system, handing over health care to administrators and insurance companies who are now similarly pillaging it. They securitized the mortgage system, invented credit default swaps, commingled commercial and investment banking, caused the SandL crisis in the 80s. The most self-involved generation ever. What else?— PaJC
- Two words for people of my generation (I'm 35 years old)... Start saving. For about 30 years now people have been living beyond their means through credit cards and student loans. They've racked up a ton of debt and have no savings. It's time to start living more along the lines of our grandparents and start putting some money away. No more lines of credit and no more spending what we don't have.— Stairs08
- If you were to talk to my father-in-law and my parents they would tell you the trouble my husband and I are having is our fault. We are 40 and 49 with good paying jobs but still rent our home and have no health insurance, simply because my husband has to take contracts in order to support our family. According to them, we are to blame because we can't afford what they could when they were our ages.— Shara
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- There isn't a gernerational war, you idiots. There's a class war going on. The middle class is disappearing on every age group. If Generation Xers would get their heads out of their butts, maybe they would join the Boomers in trying to change things. However, Generation Xers think it's uncool to educate themsleves about politics and vote. Yeah ok. Stop whining about the situation YOU created. It's completely uncool.— MikeP
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Just remember, boomers, it'll be US Gen-Xers "taking care of you" in your dotage! Mwahahahahahah!!!!- Oh and that $200,000 could pay for 20 kids to go to college. Now, one kid, four years.— pagoda
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- The baby-boomer CEO at my last job disolved the company pension fund because it was "too costly to manage and maintain" just before me and my fellow Gen Xers at the company were going to become 100% vested. Then he let all of the Gen X'ers at the company go by either eliminating our jobs or making it impossible to remain there - Basically stripping the company of it's future. With only aging baby boomers left and several departments in shambles, he quit and jumped ship for a higher paying job at another company.— mikegdj
- I think people in this country need to wake up. The twenth century was a boom for this country because we were the only industrial power to come out of WWII in tact. Europe was a mess. Thier cities were destoyed and their governments a mess. People also forget China was basically enslaved by Japan. Japan basically killed a generation of young men and the Allies had to pound there cities into oblivion to get them to surrender. So you have to figuire it would take at least 50 years for them to begin to rebuild and compete in a world that is now more global. Then the baby boomers created a USA that is over taxed, polically corrupt, and economically hamstrunged by bad policy and bad decision making that makes it more difficult to compete in a world with real compition. It not just the Gen Xer's that may be screwed, the generations after us are pretty much in the same boat.— blue&white
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- It gives me great pleasure to know that boomers paid three times what I bought my shorehouse for at the end of the real estate boom. I feel like I got them back a bit. In reality though, there is no shot for any of use in corporate firms because the boomers hand onto their high paying-do absolutely nothing jobs. Go re-organize the department again guinus...that'll keep it looking like you have a clue...— bvl390
- It's because the Boomers elected Republicans too often.— HandNik
- Speak for yourself, pops.— yawns
- I'm 39 years old. I've had more jobs (read: "contracts") than most people change their underwear. NOBODY hires full time anymore. It's nearly impossible to maintain health insurance. I've downsized my life 3 times in the past 10 years. I think I have less now, then when I graduated college in 1993. This country needs a revolution of some kind. Right now humanity's existence is based solely on money/greed. Things have got to change for the common good. It seems the only people with a voice anymore is al qaeda! It's sad when the only way you are heard in this world is when you kill innocent people. This is what is left of the "freedom" and the "american dream". Something to really thank our parents for.— cemego
- It seems to me that many of my fellow Gen Xers will be the ones who, by necessity or design, leave careers to start new businesses...creating new jobs and opportunities for other Gen Xers along the way. Out of recession comes innovation, isn't that right? And, Gen Xers are the most likely candidates to create that innovation, based on experience and available capital. And, while initially small businesses do not typically offer the same salary and benefits as larger organizations, with growth over time that picture changes, as well. That doesn't seem like too bleak of a picture for my generation.— tbamford
- "Want an actual house with a yard in a decent school district? Try $600,000 minimum" - nonsense: Upper Merion, Upper Dublin public schools are very good - you can find a nice house for much less than 600k.— Murrayman
- It's very difficult to prosper by living in the wake of the Baby Boomers. But earnings are only 1/2 of the equation - the cost of living is the other half. Private schools for 2nd graders now cost between $10,000 and $25,000 per year per child. A townhome in a fake suburban development will cost $350,000. Want an actual house with a yard in a decent school district? Try $600,000 minimum. Oh, and the Boomers aren't retiring yet. They kept their jobs, (even though they are 60 years old), and laid off the "too expensive" 40-year olds in favor of the "cheaper and more tech savvy" 25-year olds.— ArabianGoggles
- I say this in typical Gen Yer fashion.....where do we fir within this problem? Just curious. I can relate to the Gen Xers because all three of my older brothers fit within this category, and I must say that I see their struggle daily.— fafafohi
- With everything from policies to products marketed and created to the needs of Boomers and GenNexter's, its no wonder GenXer's are struggling. We lose. There is a generational war going on and those without the numbers (Xer's lose) Please cover this more!— europa109
- "Gen Xers lucky enough to continue making that meager $35,000 for the next 30 years without a single pay raise (but at a 2.2 percent annual inflation rate) will have pocketed $227,680 less than the dad who told them to believe in the American Dream" - Huh? What kind of assumptions are you making here?— Murrayman
- The scariest thing to me is that the Boomers tend to project their own neuroses onto the external world so successfully (due to numbers I guess). Therefore even tho I am not that old, I feel very very old -- because we're all old, aren't we? When they are aging and dying, they will decide that the whole world must be ending. If we can (as Xers) manage to resist this thinking, I optimistically think we can do a lot and will benefit. We just have to remember that they may have numbers, but they don't have the Fountain of Youth - yet.— Phthalo
- This is very interesting. Parlay this into a series of articles, Maria.— Echo
- Sing it, sister! I remember graduating from college when the papers were reporting the worst job market in over 40 years (early 90s), having too little money to take advantage of the "irrational exuberance" of the 90's, then watching a massive clot of tech-ignorant boomers slowly kill our companies' competitive advantage while stifling advancement for people my age (who were the first generation to really "get" the Internet and understand its potential). Now, we have to compete against a huge wave of low-cost Asian talent that is better educated and happy to work for less than an American can afford to accept. Plus, we have to deal with a protracted recession and painfully slow recovery caused by the same generation of boomers who will soon be bankrupting social security. Finally, the general population is now so unhealthy, so poorly educated, and so impoverished that it is very unlikely that meaningful, large-scale change can be effected quickly enough to make a difference. Oh well... at least I'm not graduating NOW... Those kids are REALLY up the creek...— jpb
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Mike Armstrong blogs about Philadelphia corporations and business-related topics. Contact him at 215-854-2980.
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