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The USA Is World #1... In Young Adult Income Inequality

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Think young adults in Mexico, Thailand, Philippines, and Russia have it tough? Think again. 20-24 year-olds in the USA have an average gross income over 40% below the national average. That is the worst disparity in the world... USA USA USA!!

 

 

Source: Goldman Sachs

 

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Thu, 12/18/2014 - 20:53 | 5570861 HedgeAccordingly
HedgeAccordingly's picture

Those with brains likely earn the most $.. employing those with smaller brains.. what is intersting is the fact USA is so rich and divided the lower classses are complacent because they know nothing else but struggle..

http://hedgeaccordingly.com/2014/12/pacific-investment-management-compan...

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:01 | 5570898 Ass Burger
Ass Burger's picture

That's probably the least true thing I've ever heard.

How about: those with rich parents who attend prestigious schools due to legacy rather than grades and who exit college debt-free and with abundant graduation gifts and then receive allowances and inheritances earn more $.

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:36 | 5570995 PirateOfBaltimore
PirateOfBaltimore's picture

What if I graduated college (my dad was first generation in his family to do so and he had immense debt) graduating debt free because my parents were responsible and saved.  My dad busted his ass and traveled most of my childhood to provide that. Yes, I went to my dad's school but I had the grades, AND it was a good deal. not an ivy.

 

No allowance though. Been employed at more than median income since graduation and doubled my salary over the past 5 years. I'm a techie. I have skills. Real and valuable skills.

 

So do you hate me because my family is the legitimate American dream, perhaps one of the few left? From no college, to college & grad school w debt, to college with no debt, generation by generation. No trust funds here. 

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 22:02 | 5571059 PirateOfBaltimore
PirateOfBaltimore's picture

Oh, and I had a job offer in hand during the fall of my senior year when Lehman was collapsing. And I still work there. Being good at what you do is recession proof.

 

Bitchez.

Fri, 12/19/2014 - 02:54 | 5571582 kareninca
kareninca's picture

"Being good at what you do is recession proof."

Wow.  I mean wow.

What planet do you live on  -  Planet Wishful Thinking?

The hubris of techie dudes who get a job out of college, lasts until they are a little older and become the next round of techie road kill; Silicon Valley is stuffed to the gills with them.  Get back to us from your job in an Apple store in 5-10 years.  We can hear about your divorce then, too, and how you were taken to the cleaners after you lost your high salary.

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:49 | 5571035 Escrava Isaura
Escrava Isaura's picture

 

 

“Just remember the real world is the offline one. Spending too much time on line and around technology you’ll start believing anything is possible. It’s not” Occident Mortal, at Zero Hedge

 

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:56 | 5571051 PirateOfBaltimore
PirateOfBaltimore's picture

I also do construction around my place, build furniture, weld, and do electronics projects (not just programming) if you're implying tech skills aren't real, or that I'm somehow pidgeon holed.

Fri, 12/19/2014 - 00:50 | 5571454 Escrava Isaura
Escrava Isaura's picture

 

 

The problem is that when the current system fails, it will collapse very fast. And in a much near term that most expect. When it does, energy grids will follow. Adding more tech will just make the energy problems worse.

 

Get this over your heads: At the next collapse there won’t be any more comebacks because:

1) The next financial failure will bring down the nation’s Central banks, thus their currencies

2) There won’t be growing coal and oil production. The contrary will be happening; we will need to save whatever we have left

 

I believe with every fiber of my being that our collapse will be a consequence of multiple failures that will lead us to a catastrophic decline.

I could go on about our corrupted institutions. And once at it, take on our mystical delusional religions; but those would be a waste of time.

However, the foolishness that our education system feeds your children, that should concern you.

 

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 23:17 | 5571282 cynicalskeptic
cynicalskeptic's picture

Doing 'the right thing' is a rarity these days - Do well in school, save for college, work hard.....   Wife and I were first in families to go to college - worked our tails off and waited to have kids.  They were top of their HS classes and going to top schools - no debt.  They could go to 'lesser' schools but the game IS rigged to a certain extent and things like that DO matter to a degree.

Too many people want something for nothing - too many ARE diumb as rocks and barely get out of HS, waste time in college and are lazy as hell when they finally start work.  Too many that grew up with everything expect it all to be handed to them.   BUT having said that those born on second base or third DO start out with advantages the rest of us did not have.  That head start in life MAY get you through if you've got a trust fund or DO actually work hard.  If you expect to coast through life you'd better have one hell of a trust fund (with oversight to keep you from blowing through it) or a cushy job in a family owned company that employes talend to actually do the real work.  I never ceae to be astounded at the advantages that some start out life with BUT many do manage to blow it anyway.   

Nonetheless I'm still astounded at how many people believe the propaganda and think they 'deserve' moar.  Pretty common with the 'haves' who never move ourt of their 'starter' Mc Mansion who thought they were 'in the club' and set for life but found out otherwise.  BUT you see it with everyone Most of my working class family did well enough through the 50's and 60's - far better than their parents - and got spoiled.  They bought the meme and thought sending kids to college was enough - without really understanding anything.  WTF?  A philosophy degree isn't going to get you anything.  A 'business' degree from some half assed college is worhtless.  And if you're too damn lazy to really WORK - well forget it.  Those same relatives resent like hell anyone who DID get a 'good' degree, worked hard and succeeded.  They'll never understand - they've been dumb and lazy for too long.

I'll concede that working hard and 'doing the right thing' will not necessarily guarantee you anything either.   One bad piece of luck - bad health, a crappy employer, whatever - can screw you big time.  Have seen it happen to friends.  ONE major problem can screw your life permanently and too often you have NO control over things.   The old corporate contract is gone and you can kill yourself for a bad employer and get fucked.  Not a huge amount of opportunities to do very well on your own these days - you've got a better shot at choosing a good career and working for a 'good' employer (few as they are).  Save your money and live below your income - you'll get punished for doing so but be far better off than all the overspenders in the long run.  Invest in your kids and raise them to do well and work hard.  Give them a debt freee education and a help out with a nest egg and they'll be light years ahead of their contemporaries.

 

 

Fri, 12/19/2014 - 01:17 | 5571497 MiddleClassWhiteBoy
MiddleClassWhiteBoy's picture

So what? Your kids most likely will end up as worthless middle managers doing big corporates dirty work. Oh wait or they'll become a worthless lawyer or an arrogant overpaid oversubsidized by .gov Medicare tax us to death MD! College is a waste of money nowadays. Your kids will be crushed by the coming global collapse. The only people to persevere through it will be those young people who are resourceful, creative, and can make money outside the normal economy. Teach your kids how to make a buck without working as an employee and you'll do more than you ever could by putting them through college. Case in point, if you were to lose your job tomorrow what is your back up? Instead of collecting gov cheese what would you do to generate a dollar or more? Those are the people who are going to survive the future!

Fri, 12/19/2014 - 00:47 | 5571452 lester1
lester1's picture

Wait until your techie job is outsourced to India.. Then what?

Sat, 12/20/2014 - 14:21 | 5575683 PirateOfBaltimore
PirateOfBaltimore's picture

Remember that fear mongering from year ago?  Didn't work so well.  We've tried working with consulting firms here over the last 2 years and can't even effectively outsource to US companies.  People suck at building software without knowing the underlying business.  Ours is a weird niche.  Adding a language barrier only makes it worse.

Fri, 12/19/2014 - 01:07 | 5571489 MiddleClassWhiteBoy
MiddleClassWhiteBoy's picture

So you got yours .... Good for you! What about the other millions of American twatter 20 year olds???? Are you doing anything that helps your fellow peers out? Making a difference? You and your self absorbed economic attitude doesn't exist in a bubble. You made it good for you! Daddy and mommy saved and walked uphill both ways to work in blizzard conditions so Johnny could become an IT techno geek with skeelz! That doesn't change the fact that your generation is completely f$&@ed and/or you guys will be living under so much corruption and tyranny it will make third world Muslim countries feel like 1776. What iota of a differnce does you or daddy make in creating jobs? That's what this country needs is JOB creation!!!! We don't need more f$&@ing techies and worthless high technology etc. there are already too many unemployed fat asses hangin out in Apple stores buying crap they don't need with money they don't have. We don't need more college grads. We need entrepreneurs. Small businesses! Manufacturing! And a youth movement that gives the middle finger to our trade policies !

Fri, 12/19/2014 - 08:46 | 5571945 Moe Hamhead
Moe Hamhead's picture

That's not the norm.   It's the exception.  No one ever made anyone dick-around on borrowed money while going to school until they ran out of options.

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 20:55 | 5570862 Ahoy Polloi
Ahoy Polloi's picture

But I thought that most 20-24 yo's in the US were Mexicans???

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 20:55 | 5570870 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

You're supposed to say that in Spanish you racist!

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 20:57 | 5570875 Ahoy Polloi
Ahoy Polloi's picture

Ba Ba Booey!

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 20:57 | 5570880 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

"...para español oprima dos."

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:01 | 5570888 Ahoy Polloi
Ahoy Polloi's picture

I'm pushing... I'm pushing it real good...

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 20:53 | 5570864 goldhedge
goldhedge's picture

cry me a river.

Fri, 12/19/2014 - 06:03 | 5571697 goldhedge
goldhedge's picture

You down voters can get a job.  Oh and did you vote?.

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 20:55 | 5570866 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Just don't tell those U.S. young adults or they might burn down Marriner S. Eccles and storm the Bastille - once they check their Facebook and take that selfie.

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 20:57 | 5570873 Ahoy Polloi
Ahoy Polloi's picture

The pay for holding someone's place at the Apple store queue has evidently gone down

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 20:56 | 5570872 nmewn
nmewn's picture

I don't understand, doesn't our fine universities sell their personal info to banks so they can get five credit card offers a week?

Its just like money, ain't it? ;-) 

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 20:56 | 5570876 ZeroPoint
ZeroPoint's picture

Gosh, how are those youngins going to pay their Obamacare premiums?

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:02 | 5570908 firstdivision
firstdivision's picture

Just buy stocks and you'll be a gazillionaire as the market is finally functioning as a perfectly rational and free capitalist market should. http://finviz.com/futures_charts.ashx?t=ES&p=d1

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:08 | 5570916 BullyBearish
BullyBearish's picture

Sad...the future of our once-great country is not bright, but hey, when can I see a comedy about the assination of a certain middle eastern country?

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:13 | 5570929 kowalli
kowalli's picture

we outnumbered some folks

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:13 | 5570935 Bear
Bear's picture

What do I need money for? I have an iPhone, Twiter, Facebook, plenty of sex and I'm gettin a new XBox for XMas

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:31 | 5570983 Clarabell
Clarabell's picture

Jerking off is not sex.

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:38 | 5571002 hairball48
hairball48's picture

Says who ?

:)

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:14 | 5570939 Moe Hamhead
Moe Hamhead's picture

Don't worry, spring is right around the corner.  Once that lawn greens-up, there'll be plenty of work.

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:26 | 5570963 BaghdadBob
BaghdadBob's picture

Long STI Antibiotics....

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:30 | 5570973 SidKhadak
SidKhadak's picture

Why the entire Western Media including ZeroHedge backed out the Peshawar Attack ?

 Continuation of Colonial British Strategy for the Subjugation of the Subcontinent

http://greatgameindia.com/peshawar-attack-the-empire-strikes-again/

The recent attack in Peshawar following the blueprint of the ongoing disintegration of Pakistan is not just a matter of penetration of the military and the intelligence services by forces friendly to the Taliban, but is the direct result of Colonial British Strategy—with the help of U.S.-based co-conspirators—to partition the country into a potpourri of ethnic entities.

The break-up of Pakistan’s westernmost wing is evidently backed by the colonial forces, and their adjuncts; it would establish an unstable state that would depend wholly on Western powers for its survival. That would cut off both India and China, in particular, from land access to the Central Asian oil and gas fields, as well as from Iran. Over a period of time, it would also endanger Russia’s southern flank.

PeshawarAttack Continuation of Colonial British Strategy for the Subjugation of the Subcontinent

http://greatgameindia.com/peshawar-attack-the-empire-strikes-again/

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:36 | 5570991 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

They must have made some bad life choices....

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:39 | 5570997 hairball48
hairball48's picture

Amazing since most, or many anyway, are living at home with parents paying little or no rent.

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:42 | 5571013 The_Dude
The_Dude's picture

And just this morning, National Propoganda Radio told me Millenials are savers and don't like to invest in the stock market.....but they made a smart decision to invest hundreds of thousands of fiat in their edumacation.  (Make sure not to finish the story with anything about a dead economy with no prospects..)

Fucking unbelieveable the spin these control freaks will go to in order to hide reality from the sheep.....

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 21:44 | 5571023 whackedinflorida
whackedinflorida's picture

This is absurd.  The poorer countries have the least income "inequality," while the richer countries have more of this "inequality."  Just an obvious manifestation that, in a developed country, as you get older, you are able to leverage capital, scale, technology, and hyper-specialization to earn more.  In a poor, underdeveloped country, not so much.   

How about comparing the average Filipino young adult (apparently "first" or the "best" in whatever this chart is supposed to represent) to that of a young adult in "last place" USA.  I doubt a just-over-the-border Mexican would trade places. Let alone your average white kid. 

Better question - why is the squid publishing this nonsense? 

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 22:30 | 5571141 rex-lacrymarum
rex-lacrymarum's picture

I think you are quite correct in your assessment

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 22:48 | 5571186 Minder For Priapus
Minder For Priapus's picture

Only if you are old or lucky enough to have been able to catch hold of the rungs of a decent ladder, and to begin building up said capital. Even those in their 30's, after 10yrs plus of minimum wage labour and punative rents are hardly going to be oozing leveragability! People are astonished when I tell them my hourly rate in a UK factory in 1990 as a kid was £7.50, I'm pretty certain that wages here haven't moved one iota in 20yrs, maybe down a little.

As for trading places, how many would be trading with any western kids if the truth were told on TV/Film, and the foreign kids were basing the choice on that? Not so many I assure you.

 

 

 

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 22:58 | 5571212 Dre4dwolf
Dre4dwolf's picture

Exactly, income in-equality is not a problem when the entire population of a nation is eating dirt cookies.

I bet HAITI has some of the best income inequality statistics. . . yet they are literally eating dirt for breakfast lunch and dinner and getting in debt to buy MUD to bake cookies <.< . .  .

 

Better to be broke relative to a multi billionaire than be broke relative to your neighbor covered in pigeon poop and colt 45.

 

Fri, 12/19/2014 - 03:49 | 5571616 Hobbleknee
Hobbleknee's picture

Exactly. The graph really shows that in other parts of the world, adults barely make more money than idiot kids with no experience.

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 22:26 | 5571130 silverer
silverer's picture

When you think about it, who really wants to man the stations of an abandoned ship?

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 23:05 | 5571202 Dre4dwolf
Dre4dwolf's picture

Its because everyone is sooo rich , that the richest among us just eclipse even the rich.

 

You have to look at the value of return to the earner.

 

Someone who makes 100,000$ a year, pretty much lives the same lifestyle as someone who makes 150,000$ a year.

Someone who makes 500,000$ a year, pretty much lives the same lifestyle as someone who makes 1,000,000 a year

Someone who makes 1,000,000 a year, pretty much lives the same lifestyle as someone who makes 10,000,000 a year.

And it gets progressivly worse.

Its a factor of diminishing returns.

As you begin to earn more than 100,000$ every dollar over 100,000$ earned starts to lose value relative to the effort required to sustain that level of income. . . at that point there is nothing left to do but gamble with your income after you have accumulated all the wealth you can, and gambling that often with no consequences (because you have a steady high income) guarantees on a long enough time-line that your gambling will pay off BIG.

 

Which is why people with 100,000,000 $ can easily hit 500,000,000$ pretty fast.

 

Opposed the the guy making 20k a year, hes pretty much never going to have enough disposable income to gamble on investments and hit it big.

 

Over 200k a year, there pretty much is no point to earning money unless you intend to gamble every penny of it . . .  to make more $$

-----------

 

The issue is not income inequality as a whole.

Its that there are HUGE BARRIERS TO ENTRY and the Free Market is NOT FREE its a controled "game" and young people do not get a fair shake/fair start there are really no options other than starting your own business to making any $$$$.... and the economy tends to reward jobs that are quite frankly boring, and pointless, jobs that create meaningless stacks of papers that no one reads . . .  for the sake of saying "we filed it and we complied with regulation", good job, you created a law, that forces companies to employ people to do nothing but fill out pointless forms  . . .  that . . . no one reads . . . 

Having a job used to mean feeling fullfilled, to feel like you contributed to society to feel like you added value to the world.

That value and meaning has been sucked out by banks and financial fraud writing our laws . . . you have schools teaching kids to get a job in govt filling out forms.

 

TEACHER: "what do you wana be when you grow up timmy?

TIMMY: "A SPACE EXPLORER"

TEACHER: "NASA WAS SHUT DOWN SORRY YOU ARE STUCK ON EARTH, BUT YOU CAN GROW UP TO FILL OUT THESE STACKS OF PAPERS AND EARN 60k a year!"

TIMMY: " I don't want to grow up , ill just sit here and smoke pot and play with these legos, you guys fucked the entire planet up"

 

Its like god gave us this playground with a sand-box, and we took the sand which was dynamic and fun to play with and poured glue into it and formed it into a giant solid block, that no one can play with, so we all stand around and just look at this stupid block. . . and when someone mentions how stupid it was to destroy our only entertainment on this forsaken planet, they get shunned ^^ . . .  and you have the one idiot who says stupid crap like "I like the block". . . 

 

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 22:55 | 5571204 jez
jez's picture

"20-24 year-olds in the USA have an average gross income over 40% below the national average. That is the worst disparity in the world"

If markets were free, which they are not, I'd say that this suggested that 20-24yos in the US are less skilled or otherwise less employable than 20-24yos in any other country.

Or that their job negotiating skills are the worst in the world.

Or that they have the least desire to work amongst the world's 20-24yos.

Or possibly some other hypothesis that doesn't come to mind for the moment.

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 23:11 | 5571264 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

American yutes are the most generous and selfless ... there's more to life than money, y'know.

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 23:16 | 5571279 Minder For Priapus
Minder For Priapus's picture

In the boom years the .gov gave out free chips to anyone with a job (everyone) to play in their casinos, and you couldn't lose, you got your cut they got theirs, everyone was happy but only the .gov realised there were only so many chips.

As the chips run out they tightened up the casino entry rules, so fewer could participate and win.

Culminating in the fact that there were no chips left at all. So they ordered new ones, four or six times as many as had ever been gambled before, and restricted entry to 0.1% of population.

Meaning, ultimately, that the £1000 you won in the casino with your £200 in 1995 has been devalued back to it's original £200 and being subject to exponential inflation and tax in the interim period.

Simples! Everyones a loser!

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 23:21 | 5571296 DeusHedge
DeusHedge's picture

yu got it cookin

Thu, 12/18/2014 - 23:36 | 5571322 Fuku Ben
Fuku Ben's picture

Plus I read recently that 1 in 3 have a criminal record making it even harder to find work

There's limited demand for snitches, false flag patsies and cutouts by the boys in blue and fedgov

Organized crime is hiring though

Fri, 12/19/2014 - 00:10 | 5571393 fibonacci's claus
fibonacci&#039;s claus's picture

what better than getting re-hired at your old job .............  the boss telling you your re-hired, but at half the wage you were making 6 months ago.

nice

Fri, 12/19/2014 - 04:43 | 5571659 gwar5
gwar5's picture

Our billionaires are bigger than their billionaires.

Fri, 12/19/2014 - 06:30 | 5571717 craus
craus's picture

Yeah but young adults can get the jobs around at fast food easier than old fogies.

Fri, 12/19/2014 - 08:22 | 5571849 AdvancingTime
AdvancingTime's picture

Adding to the woes of the young is that an American born in 1945 can expect nearly $2.2m in lifetime net transfers from the "state" far more than they pay in, and far more than any previous group. A study by the International Monetary Fund in 2011 compared the tax bills of what different age citizens pay over their lifetime with the value of the benefits that they are forecast to receive.

To put this all in perspective remember if someone works for forty years earning an average of  $25,000 over their life they earn only one million dollars. The boomers are leaving a huge bill. Those aged 65 in 2010 may receive $333 billion more in benefits than they pay in taxes.This is a heavy burden to place upon the young. The article below delves deeper into this subject and outlines the three ugly ways this can play out.

 http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-young-will-be-burdened.html

Sat, 12/20/2014 - 12:42 | 5575473 Shizzmoney
Shizzmoney's picture

I'd love to see 25-34 vs 45-59.  I bet that is a blood bath, too.

Mon, 12/22/2014 - 13:56 | 5581540 redgar
redgar's picture

I have no idea what Durden is inferring from this graphic. It makes perfect sense to me. The U.S. is fortunate enough that they don't have to send young people off to work right away. Because of wealth, young adults can afford to defer entering the workplace and instead can go to school (or in some cases live off of their parents.

In many other countries the youth need to start working sooner so that the family can eat. This chart doesn't show what is wrong with America at all. It reflects decisions that young people can afford to make due to the affluence of the USA compared to other countries.

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