A small consolation of sorts, but if you give a generation or two nothing but positive, record-breaking &quot;middle class&quot; economic growth you wind up with Baby Boomers - years that followed a great war and for Americans the greatest economic surge perhaps on record. This is a generation whose parents were raised through the Great Depression and had every material childhood desire whittled down to stubs in mass poverty. Then you give this same generation an adult livelihood and independence with the mass advertising boom with call to actions revolving around &quot;you <i>deserve</i> &lt;product&gt;&quot; this does not promote the most selfless of actions.<p>Time and time again I&#x27;ve been hearing baby boomers complaining about how young people today aren&#x27;t &quot;working hard enough&quot; along with them being &quot;so entitled&quot; and pointing to Zuckerberg and random stories about kids selling start-ups for millions as if these are all somehow available to them and that they&#x27;re being turned stupid by technology instead of &quot;hard work&quot; (this is fairly standard rhetoric not just for conservatives of the generation but even fairly moderate folks in my own experience at least). Then they tend to talk about how hard they worked when they left high school, bought a house, and lived well while saving judiciously similar to the lifestyle choices made in the Millionaire Next Door book.<p>Setting up a generation with unrealistic economic expectations is perhaps one of the biggest double edged swords the US has wielded in its history. Great for positive energy and all, but perhaps it wasn&#x27;t entirely a net positive across several generations.