I seriously doubt my children will be better off, if you're measuring "better off" in terms of material wealth. Short of some amazing fluke, I don't see a path for that.
Instead, I'm just hoping for a more realistic "happy & healthy".
Instead, I'm just hoping for a more realistic "happy & healthy".
That is wealth. That guarantees wealth over time if basic mathematical principles pertaining to living on less than you make and investing into compounding streams are adhered to over time.
Another way to look at it is home ownership becoming more of a pipe dream for newer generations. More investment will be needed in order to participate and reap from the housing market. This is over a basic human need of shelter.
Home ownership is an easy problem to solve. We need to build more property and develop and redevelop existing properties. We need more investors, more builders, more construction, more new shopping malls, more infrastructure spending, larger infrastructure products. We can print fiat to fuel this because it's tied to real economic gains and the increased movement of all commodities.
It is not a choice between treating real estate as investment vs a basic human need of shelter. When you properly allow supply to meet demand by getting out of the way of construction and investment and business to build the products (the houses), the supply will rise to meet the demand. Some places have artificial blockers on the ability of supply to rise to meet demand.
Most of the United States does not have this problem because of how giant a landmass it is and how much open space there is to continually develop, redevelop, and reforst over the coming thousand years.
Discipline is essential, yes, but equally as essential is just plain getting lucky.
This will become much more apparent and visible with ChatGPT fueling everyone and boosting those who are diligent, disciplined, focused, and in love with their craft(s).
There won't be any more of these excuses around luck for long.
I don't see how the likes of ChatGPT can possibly change that reality. But I suppose that we will see!
If you cannot see the results ChatGPT will bring to the human species, then you are not able to see clearly at all, let alone to render judgment on the nature of the United States and how hard work and future-thinking play into success and how luck does and what luck is.
Luck is just when preparation meets (endlessly abounding) opportunities. America is the Land of Opportunity. You can come at me with the luck talk when opportunities dwindle and when the majority of the species is not stagnating by not making the most of what it already has.
I suggest you go look at the objective long-term data and stop letting negative spin from click-driven media and politicians trying to drive their various agendas rob you of reality.
It's because I'm thinking about my children's well-being. That's near-term, local stuff. That the long-term global trend is going up doesn't mean the short-term local trend is also going up.
Also, I'm comparing my children's standard of living to my own. I'm not comparing my children's standard of living to that of past eras.
> stop letting negative spin from click-driven media and politicians
You're assuming quite a lot about about me here.
If every segment of society would agree that they rate as "reasonably happy/satisfied" then I'd agree that your assumed standards actually mean something, but that's just not the case. And we don't have great historical satisfaction data to compare with.
Both are useful to measure.