The trigger

If you have a pissy, houseless GenZ living in the basement, don’t invite Rebekah over for a beer. She’ll trigger them crazy.

R’s a bank economist who may also end up as a burning effigy outside the offices of Generation Squeeze. She’s just proven, categorically, concretely, statistically, that the kiddo moaning, weeping and gnashing over the sad state of society is indulgent and wrong. Everything’s okay. Really. Better than okay. We’re all richer than we thought.

Her analysis (more in a moment) comes at a dark time. You know why.

Exit polls done after last week’s US election asked people, “Are you better off now than four years ago?’ Fully 45% said no. It was the highest number in polling history. And so Trump won.

Ironically, the US economy has been the best-performing in the world since Covid. Unemployment is near a 50-year low. Inflation has been corralled from 9% to 2.6%. Financial markets have surged to record highs. Wages and income gains are running at double the cost of living increase. Job creation under Biden was historic and corporate profits have been robust.

But, nope. The gap between reality and perception was too wide to leap. The guys in charge of the country and the economy were swept out to sea. Now polls indicate the same will happen here.

What do young people in Canada think?

Apparently that Boomers are handing them a used-up world in which the next gen is disadvantaged and plundered, unable to finance a home, have a decent career (without going to work, of course), afford a family or live a lifestyle remotely similar to that of their parents. Baby boomers, they say, were born on third base. They won the birth lottery. Then they ran up real estate values, ate the climate, indebted the nation and now will die happy knowing their kids will be taxed into the dirt and are already sporting bald spots and love handles.

But wait. Here’s Rebeckah. Not so fast, she says.

Based on the just-published ‘2023 Survey of Financial Security’ (StatsCanada), the economist paints a picture of exactly where Canadians are financially, and by age. “The picture is remarkable,” she concludes. And, like Americans, we appear to be suffering from a sense of unrealistic entitlement, while having had our brains warped by the social media assault of doomers, grifters and oppo politicians.

Here are her data points. (Only proceed if you are seated, and well hydrated.)

• Younger households (under 35) have almost tripled their net worth since 2019.
• The median net worth of all of us soared by a third compared to pre-pandemic Before Times (inflation-adjusted). Our wealth grew 8% a year.
• Kids can’t afford houses? False, she says. An increasing share of under-35 households own – up 9% since Covid to 44% of the entire group. “Contrary to much hype, an increasing share of young (and youngish) households have a stake in housing markets… A greater share of younger households also acquired secondary real estate assets, whereas the general population saw a pullback.”
• The Boomers did far better when they were younger than kids today? Nope, says R. “Today’s Gen Zs and the younger tail of Millennials (those <35 yrs) enjoy a higher net worth than the Boomer population in 1999—mostly aged 35–44 yrs at that time.”
• Real estate continues to dominate balance sheets, at 47.5% of total net worth.
• “Canadian households have never been wealthier across the ages.” That is a statement backed by hard data. Of course, the older people get, the wealthier they become. As always.
• Beyond real estate, “the growth in financial assets (non-pension) was outstanding. The median household value of financial assets outside pension plans soared by 60% since the last survey, equating to an average annual pace of growth at 13%.” Thank you, Mr. Market.
• “And the biggest relative gains in financial assets outside pensions accrued to younger households. Albeit from a lower base, the under-35 cohort saw a near-doubling in financial assets since 2019”

Well, this is what the numbers show. The data has no political bias, no emotional bent, no agenda. It’s just fact. We are wealthier than ever. Younger households have grown net worth dramatically. Real estate ownership rates are rising, and net worth is actually higher for the kids than it was for their parents at about the same point in life.

How can this be so at odds with perception? With the Canada-is-a-failed-state rhetoric thrown around the steerage section with irresponsible abandon? Is the sense of entitlement so great in this country that 30-year-olds feel cheated when they have less – right now – than their 65-year old parents possess? Are people that susceptible to the misinformation, lies, exaggerations and falsehoods endlessly thrown at them on X, Insta, FB, Telegram or (shudder) Truth Social?

Beats me. I just come here for the dogs.

But it seems the more defeated you feel, the more vanquished you’ll be. And used.

About the picture: “Please no more photos of Chrystia Freeland…kill me now,” pleads ROb. “See attached photo of Rex…the one true friend (and branch manager) who keeps us anchored here in Hamilton.”

To be in touch or send a picture of your beast, email to ‘garth@garth.ca’.

Source: https://www.greaterfool.ca/2024/11/15/the-trigger-2/