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Comment by ctvo | Hacker News Reader

> But to say society is making success impossible is simply untrue - I see so much opportunity and so many upcoming people all the time.

It's not impossible. It's harder than it was 20-50 years ago. Real wage growth has stagnated since the 1970s. The cost of higher education has grown at a faster rate than wages can keep pace. Young people (those under say 35) can't afford to buy homes, with the rate of home ownership amongst this age group dropping by ~20% since 1993. The median age of a home owner is now 56 years old, the highest it's ever been.

It takes but a moment to look up these things and realize there are systemic issues at play, but no, continue to share anecdotes and hyperbole.

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> It's harder than it was 20-50 years ago.

I think you and the person you're responding to are dealing in absolutes. In some ways it is harder, but in others it's easier. The world's knowledge is literally at people's fingertips now. Almost any creative skill someone has can be leveraged to make money. In many ways it's the easiest it's ever been to start a business or make money.

But, as you mention, homes are priced insanely high. The flight to the coasts has caused anything within 50-100 miles of the ocean to go crazy price wise. That is much harder on people.

Healthcare is a mess. One of the biggest small business unlocks the US gov. could do is pass universal healthcare. So many people are tied to companies for healthcare, and boom we would see if we could break that tie would be like the tech boom all over again, if not greater.

>But, as you mention, homes are priced insanely high

Homes in some areas are higher. Others they have increased with inflation and are more affordable due to lower interest rates.

The "life is so hard these days" crowd is living in a bubble. They live in a coastal city and have debt from their expensive school that they may be struggling to pay back. [Not coincidentally this describes lots of the media].

Reality is that the majority of people don't go to college. And the majority of those that do graduate with reasonable debt into jobs that pay well enough to pay it off. Simply put, it's easier to live today than virtually any other time in American history.

> So many people are tied to companies for healthcare...

If the US passed some sort of halfway decent universal healthcare bill, then I would walk of my job that same day.

> The world's knowledge is literally at people's fingertips now. Almost any creative skill someone has can be leveraged to make money.

There are two ways to read this sentence. One optimistic, people can monitize their skills! The other pessimistic, anyone with the same skills as me can easily compete with me. Thats why it seems that skills that are highly specialized are rewarded most these days. And the average joe doesn't have highly specialized skills, otherwise they wouldn't be average. And if prices are a race to the bottom through vigorous competition, you will find that the largest capital owners will be the biggest winners, since they already have a leg up.

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