f you were at least five years old when 9/11 happened, that day has been the most significant political influence in your life. The fear and anger and dread of that attack changed national psychology. Americans were left stunned: “how could we let ourselves be attacked?!”

That was followed closely by the blundering decision to invade the wrong enemy, Iraq: “You mean we couldn’t even figure out who to pay back?!”

Cynicism was understandable.

So now, for those roughly under the age of 30, there are no real “good old days” to remember. Thus, to many younger people, the future is rigged, unfair and hopeless. And they don’t see our divided government as something capable of changing that.

For a moment, it didn’t seem this way. Many observers were heartened in 2020 election when so many young people turned out--to turn out Trump. Seemed like they were finally connected. The 18-to-29 vote leaped from 44% in 2016 to 55%—a huge 11 point leap. And that optimism remained high leading up to the midterms, as backlash roiled against the revocation of abortion rights. The young would certainly turn out again—maybe even sronger.

But they didn’t. Quite the opposite. The abortion decision definitely motivated their parents and grandparents…and led overall to disastrous results for Republicans. But the young vote was not a meaningful factor. A dismal 23% bothered to cast a ballot--a record low for a midterm election in American history.

So, what happened? Let’s deal with just three realities that are disconnecting young people from voting…and maybe proving their point that things are, indeed, much worse now.

(1) Wealth

“Income inequality” is a misleading calculation. People like Elon Musk can report virtually no income, while still being among the richest two or three people on Earth. Wealth inequality is a much better tool, since it adds investments…mansion, yacht and airplane ownership…as well as what Daddy and Mommy left in the trust fund.

Wealth inequality is not new, but it’s getting worse every day. Consider the lowest third of people between 18 and 29: the median net worth for them is a negative number. They’ve got less than nothing.

By comparison, now consider all the people in America aged 45 and up. The median (halfway point) of wealth for them runs from $452k to $800k (it varies by age subgroup). If you are a young person today, it’s hard to see a path to reach that kind of wealth.

And just for kicks, let’s look at median net worth for the very top 1%, aged 45 and up. Their median wealth is at least eight figures—minimum $10,000,000. At 18, somebody might believe his startup idea will buy entry into that 1% club. Ten years later, that hope is gone.

Let’s put a cap on this point. America is home to about 750 billionaires—they would comfortably fit in a high school gym to watch a basketball game. Those 750 people represent 18% of the entire U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In other words, less than .000025 of the U.S. population owns nearly a fifth of everything.

Is it any wonder that half of all people aged 18-29 think billionaires are bad for America? Just call me young at heart.

In more real world terms, there are two significant inequality impacts affecting young people—and society:

Housing. Some 70% of Gen Z’ers and Millennials say they’re concerned about affordable housing. A third of people without a college degree aged 25-to-34 live with their parents or other older family members. The reason is not a mystery.

If you make $100,000, five years ago (before interest rates spiked), people with that income could afford a mortgage on 64% of houses for sale across America. Today, that number is 39%. And this isn’t just an L.A. or New York City problem. Right now, the markets where it’s hardest to find a house with that income are El Paso, Boise and Spokane. There just aren’t enough listings to go around.

Renting doesn’t offer relief. A full-time minimum wage employee can afford a one-bedroom apartment in only 7% of all American counties.

Kids. If you’re struggling with college loans and paying for rent and groceries, do you know what’s a great way to help make ends meet? Don’t have kids! Most estimates put the cost of raising a child from birth to age 17 at $300,000—not counting college costs after that. And childcare in many places is more expensive than in-state college tuition.

Predictably, fewer young people are becoming parents. (More here.) The U.S. birth rate was already dropping precipitously before COVID, and the pandemic didn’t help. U.S. annual births per 1,000 women were over 120 in the 1960’s. Today that number is less than 60. That’s not enough to maintain current population or support the national “safety net.” Younger voters know this. They’re not expecting a Social Security check to be there when they’ll need it.

Not having kids may well be a sound and necessary financial decision for people of child-bearing age, so I’m not here to judge. But personally, it makes me sad to think of them losing what is an irreplaceable source of joy in life—raising kids.

(2) Violence

If the “children of 9/11” grew up in an atmosphere of lingering trauma, things can only feel worse now. We are averaging almost two mass shootings per day (“mass” defined as four or more victims aside from the shooter). The national response is to buy more guns. That doesn’t seem to be working.

Meanwhile, the purported “liberals” running Hollywood make things worse. The “entertainment” they spew out gives new meaning to the term “blood money.” At one time, every gun fired on a TV or movie screen resulted in “only a flesh wound.” You wouldn’t see even a spot of blood. Today, we witness “entertainment” where the bigger the gun and the bloodier the gore, the better. One study showed much more gun violence depicted in movies rated “PG-13” than the supposedly much stricter “R”. It is important to prevent young minds seeing an exposed woman’s breast…but just fine to watch her throat being slashed. Meanwhile, many violent video games increase the impact exponentially—“see how cool it is to blow that dude away!?”

We, as a nation, say we abhor violence--but we sure spend a lot of money to marinate in it.

(3) Human Contact

This last one is the “softest” factor…not as easily quantified. Society is moving away from human contact, resulting in an “epidemic” of loneliness and isolation. The surgeon general has labeled it a public health crisis, and said the threat to individual health is similar to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.

Here are a couple relevant stats: a Harvard study foud that 61% of people 18-25 felt lonely “frequently” or “almost all the time.” Separately, the Center for Disease Control says that 63% of people in this age group suffer from symptoms of anxiety and depression. If this does not make you sad, please don’t let me know.

Why is this happening?

Social media. To be sure, the pandemic accelerated the isolation. In particular, working away from home (and away from other humans) seemed to take us over a tipping point. I appreciate the “freedom” that remote work offers…but I also see an emotional subtraction that can comes with that freedom. Complaining with others about the boss…negotiating a pay raise…asking a person from the office out on a date—or even being rejected by that person—are things that do not play out nearly the same way on a Zoom call. The lack of face-to-face contact=alone.

Remember how Facebook promised the ability to reach your distant aunt or connect with a long-lost high school friend? That happened so nicely at the start. But the arrival of social media platforms also unleashed hordes of anonymous banshees. Some were unknown Russian trolls. Bullies are hard enough to handle face-to-face, but when they operate behind your back online, there is no recourse. The damage stings…and lasts—and it isolates.

The impacts are now well known. According to a UCLA study, 9% of high school students report attempting suicide. (Sigh…)

Online seclusion. Humans are compelled to find a partner to enjoy romance. The online world makes that process faster but less human. More than 25 million Americans look for mates on dating apps. Simply swiping left is replacing random interactions and blind dates. (Yes, I know, many online searches result in happy relationships.) But still, they begin in isolation. You scroll through a wide selection…but don’t see or hear or sense actual people in person. The human intuition triggered by a glance or a posture is subtracted.

And some people online come to equate “love” with porn, which is all silicone and submission with the romantic appeal of screwing in a light bulb. There, you can find someone “perfect”, but no real mate could ever live up to that illusion. The advent of artificial intelligence and Apple’s “augmented reality” headset only promise to make all this worse.

Division. To settle disagreements, the best remedy is to sit down and talk things out; human-to-human conversation. Yet all the central elements in our national divide—politics, climate collapse, tax policy, immigration, gun laws, etc.--are set to boiling online…retarding any real chance of agreement.

An almost too-on-the-nose example of what can go wrong when online intrudes happened in 2020 with the Iowa caucuses. That state features the almost swooningly nostalgic process of gathering actual voters in person in more than 1,800 locations, including school gyms and church basements. Upon entering, like-minded fans of a given candidate congregate. They then listen to arguments and persuasions from attendees backing other candidates. Some people will change their minds and physically move to sit with their new choice’s group. After that, a final count is conducted.

That’s all great, but in 2020, Iowa decided to “modernize.” Voters went through the same process, but the reporting methods changed. Instead of everyone using a phone to call in the tallies, precinct chairs were advised to download an app and use that to report their results. Only a quarter even tried—and they regretted it. The online tech tanked. Results that typically took a couple hours of phone calls spread all the way into the middle of the next day, leaving everyone aggravated—and many charging “election interference” and “vote tampering.” According to one veteran party chairman, the move away from simple human voice contact was “a total disaster.”

like to close with solutions—but this has gone long enough already. I’ll save one strong suggestion for a future post.

But for everyone my age who likes to hum the old song, “what’s the matter with kids today”…it just may be that we’re singing the wrong tune. Things right now are far different and more daunting for many young people than anything since the Great Depression.

Mayb we need to listen better to them. And maybe they should think about how their world will evolve if they don’t take to the polls—and start taking action.

Issue 23

The Youth / Government Divorce

(1) Wealth

(2) Violence

(3) Human Contact