Society: Where Are The Demonstrations Against Youth Supremacy?

 

(Drivebycuriosity) -  There is a lot talk about discrimination & race and there are many demonstrations against white supremacy. But there is a group which is also discriminated and nobody seems to care - the elderly. Are there demonstrations against the cult of the youth? Who rallies against youth supremacy?

Generally people fall in disgrace when they are aging and loosing the appeal of youth. People who have crossed the 50s have fewer chances on the job market. The number of available jobs is shrinking. Most employers seek young talents. 

A study by the San Francisco Federal Reserve confirms that, all things being equal, employers routinely favor younger applicants over older candidates (cbsnews). “There is some evidence that people are penalized for age because of looks” declared David Neumark, an economics professor at the University of California Irvine and co-author of this study.

It seems that discrimination of the elderly is replacing the discrimination of colored people. The media are trying to create a negative sentiment based  on envy and resentment. Many young journalists are polemizing against the elderly.  Bloomberg states "The Old are eating the Young" and complaints that the rising number of retirees is a "growing burden on future generations" (bloomberg). "The Atlantic" cries that "the Grandparents are stealing from the Grandchildren" (theatlantic). "Vox" laments that the "Babyboomers screwed America" (vox). They claim that the generation born between 1946 and 1964 bankrupted a rich dynamic country.

Really, did America go bankrupt? American incomes & wealth are on record highs, much higher than in the 1960s ( see chart above worldbank ). Even excluding inflation (calculating in constant Dollars) US per apita incomes more than doubled (united-states.reaproject.org).

The baby boomers build the capital basis for today`s wealth by working, saving money and investing. The retirees deserve their pensions because they had financed them. The baby boomers build the economy, the corporations & the infrastructure, which generates today´s incomes, they financed the schools & universities which deliver knowledge to current and future generations. Today´s - and the future - generations are living (and will live) from the capital their ancestors build.