Generation Uphill
&gt; Throughout human history, the old have subsidised the young. In rich countries, however, that flow has recently started to reverse. Ronald Lee of the University of California, Berkeley, and Andrew Mason at the University of Hawaii measured how much people earn at different ages in 23 countries, and how much they consume. Within families, intergenerational transfers still flow almost entirely from older to younger. However, in rich countries public spending favours pensions and health care for the old over education for the young.<p>Speaking in broad strokes (i.e. I&#x27;m sure there are plenty of individual examples to the contrary) the baby boom generation is the most selfish generation in recent history, voting to cut taxes and benefits for government and societal services after they had gotten their full use out of them.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.seattletimes.com&#x2F;seattle-news&#x2F;yes-summer-job-paid-tuition-back-in-rsquo81-but-then-we-got-cheap&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.seattletimes.com&#x2F;seattle-news&#x2F;yes-summer-job-paid...</a><p>&gt; What really made me feel ancient is that the 1981 UW student guide shows the Med school charged only $1,029 a year back then. Today: $28,040!<p>&gt; The reason a summer at KFC could pay for a year of UW med school in 1981 isn’t that we were so hardworking and industrious. It’s that taxpayers back then picked up 90 percent of the tab. We weren’t Horatio Algers. We were socialists.<p>&gt; Today, the public picks up only 30 percent of UW tuition, and dropping.<p>Imagine what would happen if young people actually voted.