WSJ Poll: “Those in the wealthiest classes have lost faith that an economy that has benefited them can lift future generations. Some 86% of people who call themselves upper class or upper-middle class say they lack confidence that life for their children will be better than theirs has been.”
“That’s up from 64% in a 2019 survey and shows a level of pessimism that matches the views of less-fortunate groups.”
And yes, a 2023 WSJ/NORC poll already found that about 78% of American parents overall were not confident their children’s generation would be better off than them financially, the lowest score since the poll’s inception in 1990.
Bad news: Pessimism among affluent Americans increased by 23% – now they are just as negative about their kids’ economic futures as everyone else. These beliefs are also part of a larger trend in upward mobility in the u.s.
Why?
More recent studies show that an increasing number of affluent American families also feel it is now “much harder” to build wealth due to factors like inflation, higher interest rates for borrowing money, greater instability in the stock markets, and other external threats, including extreme weather events like hurricanes and wildfires, affecting their property values.
The U.S. isn’t alone, a 2024 Pew study of affluence showed similar statistics from parents with high income levels in other developed nations. Parents in those developed nations believe their kids will have lower incomes than they do.
That is concerning since the wealthier tend to be so much more optimistic.
Is the “American Dream” alive today or has it become a lot easier to achieve?
Is upward mobility achievable today?
Fact: Public opinion, economics, and even many billionaires agree that achieving wealth is seen as more challenging today than ever before by previous generations.
Opinion:
- In some ways, perhaps wealth is subjective, as someone with few wants can have a very content lifestyle. In fact, recent wealth‑perception surveys show about one in five Americans consider themselves wealthy, BUT most equate wealth with basic financial security rather than luxury these days.
- As someone who, as a single person at 28, purchased a home in 1999 for 137,000, I am concerned the dream might be out of reach for young people. My home is worth over 500K now (which is good), but you can’t find homes in my area for less than 350K. That’s quite a bit of money for someone young and single and scary. If I were 28 today, I’m not sure I could afford my home so long as I was still single and couldn’t combine my income with a wife’s.
- Why does it seem that individuals such as Donald Trump who are billionaires, continue to pay minimal amounts of income tax? In general, it appears that we have shifted the burden of our tax load from the top (ultra-wealthy) down into the middle-class and moderately affluent, while providing no tax relief for those at the top of the economic scale. As such, trickle-down economics does not seem to be working.
