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YOU Need to be MAD NOW
YOU Need to be MAD NOW
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0:00
The American dream is dead. Its bloated carcass lies on
0:03
an autopsy table… and there’s only one suspect.
0:06
In 1968, a minimum-wage worker earning $1.60 an hour could buy
0:11
a house 7.5 times their annual income. That’s $14.90/hour in today’s dollars.
0:18
Today, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 - half the 1968 value - and median homes cost
0:25
up to six times annual income. Even Master’s and PhDs can’t afford rent.
0:31
Those aren’t numbers. They’re evidence.
0:33
I’m Josh, and on today’s episode of The Infographics show,
0:36
we reveal how Baby Boomers blew up the American dream.
0:40
Chapter One: Follow the Money
0:42
Let’s start with the crime scene. The untouched version. The control
0:45
group. The proof that the system worked before someone interfered.
0:49
In 1976, a groundskeeper at UC Berkeley made minimum wage, or $2 per hour. He works 12
0:56
weeks over the summer, or 480 hours, and nets $960. UC Berkeley’s annual tuition that year?
1:04
$637. He covers 150% of his tuition in one summer. He has $323 left over, for,
1:12
you know, things like books. For rent. For living.
1:16
That’s the American Dream in its purest form.
1:19
A person with no degree, no connections, and no generational wealth - but a strong
1:23
willingness to work - can pay for their education and still have enough left to live a decent life.
1:29
That groundskeeper in 2026? California minimum wage is now $16.90 per hour. The groundskeeper
1:36
works the same number of hours. He earns just over $8,100. UC Berkeley tuition? That’ll cost you
1:43
over $14,200 for the year. His work has covered roughly 57% of tuition. He’s over $6,100 short.
1:52
And that’s earning more than twice the federal minimum wage.
1:56
At the federal rate of $7.25, he’d need to work nearly 2,000 hours - or
2:02
49 weeks - of full-time labor just to break even on tuition alone.
2:06
Did the groundskeeper get any lazier? Did the university get any better?
2:11
Or did the numbers just get weaponized?
2:13
Baby Boomers represent 20% of today’s U.S. population. Yet they control $85 trillion in
2:20
assets. 51.4% of all American wealth. One-fifth of the people. More than half of the money.
2:27
Millennials? They’re 21.8% of the population. Almost the same size as the Boomer generation.
2:33
But they control just $18 trillion, about 10.3% of the nation’s wealth.
2:38
Let’s make this concrete.
2:40
In 1989, households aged 70 held about one fifth of the nation’s wealth. That made
2:46
sense. They’d worked their whole lives. They’d saved. But by 2025, households over 70 control
2:52
32% of the wealth. That’s a 63% increase in wealth concentration among the elderly in just 36 years.
3:00
All while younger generations’ share collapsed.
3:03
So how did they do it?
3:04
Stocks. Boomers own $25.15 trillion in equities. 54% of all publicly traded
3:11
shares in America. Millennials own $3.9 trillion in stocks, just 8.2% of
3:17
the market. Boomers control six-and-a-half times more equity wealth than Millennials.
3:22
Again, same population size.
3:24
Nowhere is this clearer than in the realm of real estate. Boomers hold almost $19.7
3:29
trillion in property. Millennials hold around $9.8 trillion. Exactly half. But remember,
3:35
they’re the same size generation.
3:37
A recent post by MacroEdge, highlighted a striking trend. From 1960 to 2025, the
3:43
share of all 30-year-olds who are both married and homeowners fell from 52% to 12%. In other words,
3:51
only about one in eight 30-year-olds today meet both criteria. It’s a decline
3:55
largely driven by fewer young people getting married, not just lower homeownership rates.
4:00
Overall homeownership rate has actually risen from 62% in 1960 to 65% now. How is that
4:07
possible? Boomers are buying multiple homes. Second homes. Investment properties. Airbnbs.
4:14
The market isn't frozen; it's just locked to one generation.
4:18
This discrepancy is not an accident. It's the
4:20
outcome of a protectionist system that Boomers themselves built.
4:24
Still substantial. Still comfortable.
4:26
The average Baby Boomer has a net worth of about $1.6 million,
4:31
with the median at $387,200. Comfortable and secure after decades of work.
4:37
Gen X is behind, with an average of about $976,000 and a median of $247,000,
4:43
significantly less than Boomers.
4:45
Millennials fall even further, averaging $366,000 and a median
4:50
of just $87,300. That’s roughly one-fifth of what Boomers hold.
4:55
Three generations, one ladder…. and the people at the bottom are drowning.
5:00
But here’s the part that seals it, the testimony from a Boomer dad that even they can’t deny. For
5:06
years he’d lectured his son about looking “way outside his means” while house hunting. The son,
5:11
fed up, issued a challenge for his dad to “go find a house today at the
5:14
price you think is fair for me.” The dad spent hours searching. He came back pale.
5:20
“This isn’t just expensive,” he admitted. “It’s impossible. You’re playing a rigged game.”
5:24
The dad paid $25,000 for his first home in 1980. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $93,000
5:31
in 2025 dollars. The median home price today is just under $417,000, four-and-a-half times more
5:39
expensive. Even after adjusting for inflation. He could afford it at his age. His son can’t.
5:45
Same work ethic. Same country. Different math.
5:48
Another Redditor shared his grandfather’s story. He bought a six-bedroom home in 1970 for
5:53
$40,000. It’s worth $950,000 today. Adjusted for inflation, that $40,000 equals $333,000 in
6:02
2025 dollars. The house still costs $617,000 more than inflation alone would predict.
6:10
That’s not market dynamics.
6:12
That’s extortion.
6:13
Defenders of the status quo love a particular rebuttal: “Of course Boomers
6:17
hold more wealth…they’re older. That’s just lifecycle economics.” And yes, wealth naturally
6:23
rises with age. That part is true. But lifecycle patterns don’t explain how steep the curve became.
6:29
Previous generations aged into wealth gradually. Boomers aged into asset hyper-inflation.
6:34
One fifth of the population holding more than half of all the wealth isn’t prosperity. It’s
6:40
hoarding. And what they hoarded, they took. From wages, from housing, from taxes, from pensions,
6:46
from the future. They didn’t merely get rich, they ensured no one else could, either.
6:51
And that’s where the evidence trail leads next.
6:54
Chapter Two: Housing–The Ladder They Pulled Up
6:57
We have to look at the deliberate mechanics of
6:59
the housing lockout to understand why the system was rigged by the Boomers.
7:03
In 1970, the median home cost 2.4 times the median household income. Not easy, sure. But achievable.
7:10
You would work a few years, save for a down payment, and then buy shelter for you and yours.
7:15
In 2025, the median home cost 5.6 times the median household income. That's a 133% increase in the
7:23
ratio. But that doesn’t discriminate based on urban density. In cities where jobs actually
7:28
exist, it’s way worse. In San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley, the median home costs 10.5
7:35
times the median household income. In Los Angeles, 12.5 times. In Miami, 8.7 times.
7:41
A house in those places isn’t really achievable to your average joe.
7:45
It’s an inheritance lottery ticket, or a perk reserved for the upper crust of society.
7:50
The median age of a first-time homebuyer today? 40 years old. In 1980, it was 29.
7:56
They’re making people wait an extra decade of rent extraction before they can even access the market.
8:02
But the crime also extends to the supply stranglehold.
8:05
After the 1968 Fair Housing Act threatened to integrate white neighborhoods,
8:10
suburbs responded with a wave of exclusionary zoning in the 1970s.
8:14
Suddenly, 75% of residential land in American cities was zoned exclusively for single-family
8:20
homes. Municipalities imposed minimum lot sizes, 3 to 10 acres (1.2 - 4 hectares) in
8:25
some places. It was designed to keep out anyone without substantial capital.
8:29
Housing at that time started being treated as a “growth stock” instead
8:33
of a “blue-chip.” It was an investment rather than a shelter. San Francisco’s
8:37
zoning restrictions alone inflate land prices by $400,000 per house.
8:43
Now? 43% of Baby Boomers say they will never sell their home. Never. 56% have lived in their
8:50
current home for over 10 years. Empty-nester Boomers own twice as many 3-bedroom-plus homes
8:55
as Millennials with children. Three in ten large homes are occupied by empty nesters.
9:00
Millennials with kids own just 14.2% of large homes.
9:04
The math is suffocating.
9:06
Only 25 out of every 1,000 homes changed hands in the first 8 months of 2024.
9:12
It was the lowest turnover rate in decades.
9:15
Between 1970 and 1980, when Boomers needed homes, housing units increased 29%. Construction exploded
9:23
to meet demand. Post-2008, when Millennials needed homes, construction collapsed.
9:28
The Baby Boomers built the ladder when they needed it. Then they voted for the zoning
9:32
laws that made sure it couldn’t be rebuilt. They’re sitting in oversized homes they refuse
9:38
to sell, even at extortionate prices, blocking supply and inflating prices.
9:42
And somehow they're still blaming their children for “not working hard enough.”
9:47
Chapter 3: The Degree Tax
9:49
Boomers didn’t just lock the younger generations out of housing,
9:52
they also made them pay for the privilege of competing.
9:55
In 1981, a kid slinging chicken buckets at KFC made $3 an hour. It was fine,
10:01
he could still go to college. Today, it’s a whole different story.
10:04
Wondering what changed?
10:05
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Social Security Administration subsidized college
10:11
for young adults with deceased, disabled, or retired parents. It was equivalent to about
10:16
$32,000 today. Since a lot of Boomer parents had served in America’s world wars,
10:21
that federal program helped a lot of Boomers go to college. It ended in the 1980s,
10:27
so for those who could enjoy it, they got in…
10:29
Then they closed the door.
10:31
Federal subsidies went a long way at the time, because college was far,
10:34
far more affordable. Average public 4-year tuition in 1963-64, adjusted for inflation,
10:41
was just over $4,900. In 2022-23, it had risen to just under $14,700. That’s a 197% increase after
10:53
inflation is already accounted for. The cost of college tripled in real purchasing power.
10:58
Through the 1990s, colleges cost roughly 18% of one’s median household income. Today,
11:04
public university tuition costs about 35% of median income. Tuition has doubled over
11:10
the span of two decades. Private universities today cost 137% of
11:15
median income. That’s more than an entire year’s salary, before taxes, naturally.
11:20
In 1970, 250 hours of minimum wage work covered a year of public college tuition.
11:26
By 2020, it took over 1,000 hours.
11:30
At Penn State, it took 19 weeks of full-time work to pay off college tuition in 1985. But by 1995,
11:38
the amount of time a student would have to work rose to 29 weeks. In 2014,
11:43
it had skyrocketed to 57 weeks. Exactly 3 times longer for the same degree at the same institution
11:50
Boomers attended college when taxpayers picked up most of the tab. Then they slashed public funding.
11:56
The rest got dumped onto the students and their parents.
11:59
It gets even worse.
12:00
Federal student loan debt has more than doubled since 2007. Gen X carries the
12:05
highest balances per borrower at roughly $44,300. Millennials aren’t far behind,
12:11
averaging about $40,400. Even Baby Boomers, the generation that largely attended college before
12:17
student debt even existed as a mass phenomenon, averages $41,900 among those who still hold debt.
12:24
But here’s the asymmetry that matters:
12:26
In 2021 only 6.6% of Boomers carry student debt, compared to roughly
12:32
25.5% of Millennials. Today, total student debt for Gen X stands at about $600 billion.
12:38
The Boomers got subsidized education. They cut the subsidies. They made degrees mandatory for
12:44
a decent living. They made degrees cost more than your income. Then they became the lenders.
12:49
But surely they funded the government that could have helped, right?
12:53
Right?
12:54
Chapter 4: The Tax Heist
12:56
It’s 1981 and President Ronald Reagan has just walked into the Oval Office with a plan. The top
13:02
tax rate at the time - what the ultra-wealthy are paying - is sitting pretty at 70%.
13:07
By the end of Reagan’s first term, it’ll be down to 50%. By the mid-terms of his second?
13:12
28%. They cut it in half, then cut it in half again. It was called trickle-down economics.
13:18
Except nothing trickled downward but the bill.
13:21
The national debt under Reagan tripled, going from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion. That’s like maxing
13:29
out three credit cards and telling your kids they’ll figure it out. The federal deficit hit
13:34
6% of GDP. The government lost 9% of its entire revenue stream in the first few years. Reagan’s
13:40
tax cuts have added over $10 trillion to the national deficit since being implemented in 1981.
13:46
But there’s more.
13:47
When President George W. Bush came around in 2001, his tax cuts cost an estimated
13:52
$1.7 trillion over ten years. The top 1% - the hedge fund managers
13:58
and CEOs - got an average annual tax cut of $57,000. For doing nothing.
14:03
By 2018, Bush’s tax cuts were adding $500 billion to the deficit every year.
14:09
Without those cuts - and without the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and
14:12
Afghanistan - the debt-to-GDP ratio would have stayed under 50%. Instead, it hit 70%.
14:18
He basically financed two wars and a financial crisis on a credit card… and
14:23
left it on the kitchen counter for Millennials to clean up.
14:26
Then President Trump walked in like he was hosting the Apprentice. In 2017,
14:30
his tax cuts added another 1-2 trillion to the national debt. Back then,
14:35
experts were projecting that within a decade, 83% of the benefits would be
14:39
going to the top 1%. The corporate tax rate got slashed from 35% to 21%. Permanently.
14:46
Meanwhile, your payroll taxes stayed roughly the same.
14:50
Tax cuts didn’t cause America’s debt explosion on their own. But serious budget projections
14:55
show they probably account for tens of trillions of dollars. About a quarter
15:00
to a third of today’s debt relative to GDP. In other words, the debt crisis had many causes,
15:06
but its rapid acceleration was largely driven by these policies.
15:09
Since 1980, the national debt as a share of GDP has quadrupled. And in 2024,
15:16
just paying the interest on that debt–$881 billion–will cost more than the entire
15:22
defense budget. We’re spending more on interest than on the actual military.
15:27
That’d be like paying more for your credit card interest than your monthly rent.
15:30
The generational scam rests in the fact that since the 1980s, the vast majority of all growth in
15:36
domestic spending went to entitlement programs for seniors. The federal government typically spends
15:42
$6 per senior for every $1 spent on a child. Americans over 65 now represent roughly 17% of the
15:49
population yet expenditures for Social Security and Medicare now dominate the federal budget.
15:55
The rich cut their own taxes from 70% to 28%. They borrowed $20 trillion against
16:01
Millennials’ future, and called it ‘prosperity.’ Then they handed them
16:05
the bill, with $881 billion to $1 trillion in annual interest.
16:10
But don't worry. At least they're financially secure in retirement, right?
16:14
Because they definitely didn't screw you there too.
16:17
Chapter Five: The Retirement Bait-and-Switch
16:19
Here's how pensions used to work.
16:21
You’d show up, you do your job, and when you retire, your employer sends you a check every
16:26
month until you die. It was called a defined benefit pension. The company took on the risk
16:31
when they hired you; the company manages the investments; you get guaranteed income for life.
16:36
That's what Boomers got.
16:38
Sometime in the mid-1990s, something magical happened.
16:41
Companies discovered they could transfer all that risk onto you.
16:45
Enter the 401(k). You fund it. You manage it. You absorb the losses when the market
16:50
crashes. And there's no guarantee you'll have anything when you retire.
16:54
Depression-era babies–the generation before Boomers–averaged $6,000 in pension income.
17:00
Gen X? They'll average $2,000. One-third. Only 25% of Gen X will even have a pension.
17:06
80% will rely entirely on 401(k)s that they raided during emergencies.
17:11
What’s highway robbery is the fact that Gen X will need $1.1 million for a comfortable retirement.
17:17
They’re on track to have about $700,000. That’s a $400,000 shortfall per person. And 24% of them
17:24
have already borrowed from their 401(k) just to survive emergencies, debt or rising costs.
17:30
Meanwhile, only 40% of Boomers have adequate retirement savings at all.
17:34
More than half of them will run out of money. But here’s the thing.
17:38
They don’t need savings.
17:39
They have guaranteed Social Security and Medicare that you’re funding through payroll taxes. Boomers
17:45
retired with guaranteed pensions. They then proceeded to dismantle the pension system.
17:50
They told you to “invest wisely” in a 401(k). Then they crashed the market in 2000. And
17:55
again in 2008. The people with guaranteed income eliminated it for everyone else.
18:01
And now? Now they’re owed entitlements.
18:04
Chapter Six: The Demographic Time Bomb and the Bill that Never Stops
18:08
Every single day, 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 and age into Medicare. Every. Single. Day. That's
18:16
like filling a college football stadium every week with new retirees who need government healthcare.
18:22
Here’s the problem with that.
18:23
Social Security and Medicare were designed when people lived shorter lives.
18:27
The assumption was maybe they’d have 10-15 years of retirement.
18:31
Boomers today? They're living 20-30 years plus after retirement. They're
18:35
collecting benefits for twice as long as the system was designed to handle.
18:39
The math, once again, is apocalyptic.
18:42
The Medicare Trust Fund is predicted to go bankrupt by 2033. Less than a decade away.
18:47
Taxes will only cover 89% of scheduled Medicare benefits. A retired 65-year-old
18:53
couple now faces $275,000 in out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, and that's not even
18:59
including long-term care. Only 50% of Boomers will be able to afford their own healthcare.
19:04
But wait, you're thinking, won't they pass down their wealth to help? The "Great
19:08
Wealth Transfer," right? $68-84 trillion supposedly coming to younger generations?
19:14
The reality is that in 2024, 91 heirs inherited $297.8 billion. Most of it
19:22
went to people who were already wealthy. Middle-class inheritance? Obliterated
19:26
by healthcare costs. Again, just 40% of Boomers have adequate retirement savings,
19:31
which means they'll be burning through assets just to stay alive.
19:35
So now let's talk about those healthcare costs.
19:37
In 1970, total U.S. health spending was $74.1 billion. By 2024? It was up to
19:45
$5.3 trillion. Healthcare is now 18% of our entire GDP. Per capita spending went from
19:53
$353 per year in 1970 to around $15,500 in 2024. A seven-fold increase in real terms.
20:03
Your health insurance premiums are up 342% since 1999. Your wages? Only up 119%. You're
20:12
paying way more for worse coverage while hospital prices have doubled since 2006.
20:17
And here's the political lock. Boomers are the largest voting bloc.
20:22
They actually show up to vote. Social Security and Medicare are politically untouchable. The
20:26
Congressional Budget Office admits revenues aren't sufficient to cover the costs.
20:31
Basically, they voted themselves benefits designed for 10-15 year retirements. They
20:36
underfunded the system while cutting their own taxes. And Millennials,
20:40
their kids, and their grandkids will be paying for it forever.
20:44
So where does that leave you?
20:45
Chapter Seven: Why You’re Broke–And Will Stay Broke
20:49
Well, let’s tally the damage. Minimum wage today is worth only half of
20:54
what it was in 1968. Housing costs are 133% higher relative to income. College is nearly triple what
21:01
it was after adjusting for inflation. Pensions have disappeared. Taxes on the wealthy have been
21:06
cut from 70% to 37%. The national debt is over $38 trillion… and still climbing. More than half of
21:14
Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck. It’s a grim picture.
21:17
But it wasn’t by accident. It wasn’t down to Millennials’ undying love for
21:21
avocado toast. This was a systemic dismantling executed by the Baby
21:25
Boomers. The generation that climbed the ladder, then torched it behind them.
21:29
They bought homes at 3x their income and made them cost 5.6x. They got education at 18% of income and
21:37
made it exorbitant. They had pensions guaranteed and eliminated them. They cut their taxes and
21:43
exploded the debt. They voted for restrictive zoning and locked in untouchable entitlements.
21:48
Every policy benefited them. Every cost was pushed to the ones they’ll leave behind.
21:53
The American Dream didn't die of natural causes. It was murdered by the Boomers.
21:58
And they're still holding the murder weapon: 51% of all American wealth.
22:02
What happens to the world they leave behind? Find out in ‘THIS
22:06
Will Happen After Baby Boomer Generation Dies Off’. Or click on this video instead.
