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What's your basis for believing this? In 1926, roughly a third of Americans worked in agriculture. I can easily imagine young people complaining at that time that old people owned and controlled all the best land in the United States.
Of course, I don't know one way or another. But I do know that in a free market economy, there are always capital goods and other resources in short supply. And that, logically, older people frequently have had a better chance than young people to acquire and accumulate those resources.
In 1926 the median American was around 26 years old. Thanks to the baby boom, the median wasn't much older in 1970, 28, and was 30 in 1980. Today, it's 39, and will likely be over 40 by 2030. The old have never been so proportionately numerous.
This is aggravated by the fact that economic growth has been declining since the 1980s, and especially since the end of the 90s. Barring 2021, all but the oldest Millennials ever experienced 4% GDP growth as a member of the labor force. All but the youngest of Gen Z have never experienced 3% GDP growth in the workforce, again barring 2021.
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Elderly didn't have the benefit of the modern medical infrastructure where you have a great chance of toddling around in pretty solid health at 70 compared to where you were. Look at the recent presidential stock.
Inheritances are coming later and increasingly past the ages that facilitate real meaningful innovation from the recipients. The laptop jobification of the economy means there's way more scope to just hold on to roles into dotage years.
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