When I was a hill staffer, a VCer told me that 500k was the new middle class. I nearly lost my mind, that was 10x my pay. But if you’re using “middle class” as a metaphor/metric for success in America (as it once was advertised) then Gen Z seems to agree. Our info environment is so warped. - ThreadSky

tonystark.bsky.social • 131 days ago

When I was a hill staffer, a VCer told me that 500k was the new middle class. I nearly lost my mind, that was 10x my pay. But if you’re using “middle class” as a metaphor/metric for success in America (as it once was advertised) then Gen Z seems to agree.
Our info environment is so warped.

Comments

mollynlanguage.bsky.social•131 days ago

apologies for being stupid but what's a VC?

tonystark.bsky.social•131 days ago

Venture capitalist!

mollynlanguage.bsky.social•131 days ago

oh 🤮

chorongomon.bsky.social•131 days ago

Gen z really lives in lala land

chorongomon.bsky.social•131 days ago

Poor kids. They're cooked

traltixx.bsky.social•131 days ago

Using the BLS inflation calculator, the Boomer and Gen X numbers come out to ~$1 million+ in 2024 spending power. Gen Z numbers come out to $800K+ in 2024. Only millennials have a yearly income entirely nowhere near $1 million ($350k).

This is either odd or expected based on your priors.

thedude1.bsky.social•131 days ago

That's for like the Bay Area

tonystark.bsky.social•131 days ago

Which is the lifestyle that dominates social media, and most certainly does not reflect most places in reality

thedude1.bsky.social•131 days ago

It would be like around 150k for 95% of America

sababausa.bsky.social•131 days ago

Is this finding replicated?

Apparently this is from an online Empower survey with the raw data not published, and the precise dollar amount makes the number look like a mean—maybe screwed by some outlier responses?

https://www.empower.com/the-currency/money/secret-success-research

tonystark.bsky.social•131 days ago

Economically, obviously 500k is not middle class. But narratively, that is what Gen Z views as the metric to see themselves as successful, as boomers once saw the middle class standards of living as success.

tonystark.bsky.social•131 days ago

This is obviously unattainable, and so therefore what you’re going to see (unless the narrative is changed) is that everyone of that generation is permanently unhappy with their lives. Which is something people usually talk about for things like partner standards of beauty, sex, etc.

tonystark.bsky.social•131 days ago

This does lend to @whstancil.bsky.social theory about vibes and the info environment becoming the dominant medium for driving voting patterns and discourse. And it’s an uphill fight bc even when you try to change the discourse/vibes, those changing only want to transmit, not receive new data.

tonystark.bsky.social•131 days ago

And good luck trying to tell America to settle for less, that’s not really culturally what we do (or at least think we do).

rileypilot.bsky.social•131 days ago

During the dockworker strike I said that dockworkers making 200k now is like my not college educated father making 85 - 90k in the 90's... he was able to carve a life out, but it took it's pound of flesh out of him.

I got dragged for it but it was literally just math.

caitesq.bsky.social•131 days ago

I make way less than 200k and I feel like I’m doing pretty well. Do you mean just that the work is so physically demanding?

hicarolbutler.bsky.social•131 days ago

In the 90s the median income was like $35k. I’d say 70% of Americans have work that takes at least a pound of flesh out of them. Probably more. And the bottom 10% have miserable stressors. (PS under Biden the median income took a surprising jump to nearly $80k. I fear that won’t hold under Trump.)

accidentalflyer.bsky.social•131 days ago

500K is quite attainable if you go to the right college then join the right industry (private equity, investment banking) and manage to survive for about 10 years (still early 30s!) 30 somethings in those industries all take home about at least that a year.

davidalman.bsky.social•131 days ago

I have friends in consulting who were making $200k as 25 year olds and they were worried about “pursuing passions” because of the “financial hit”

I thought, “wow, I know a dumb person!”

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