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The Wall Street Journal reports the U.S. government is lavishing spending on people over 65, while giving working adults and children the very minimum of help.
“Demographics, rising profits and soaring asset values have together wrought a quiet transformation in the American economy. Much of it is now in the hands of the elderly,” said WSJ Chief Economics Columnist Greg Ip. “As of the third quarter of last year, people 70 and over controlled roughly 39 percent of all equities and mutual funds owned by households, compared with 22 percent in 2007, according to Federal Reserve data. Their share of net worth — assets minus debts — was 32 percent, up from 20 percent two decades earlier.”
The numbers reveal that U.S. leaders keep “pouring resources into making the elderly comfortable and happy” when the elderly are already naturally predisposed to benefit. Seniors, after all, are largely out of the job market, so there’s no fear for them of being replaced by AI. The majority also own their homes, often debt-free, even as homeownership has plummeted for 35- to 64-year-olds. And while most Americans live in terror of doctor bills the elderly benefit from publicly funded Medicare — made possible by younger generations.
Retirees have much lower incomes than people with paychecks, but thanks to programs such as Social Security and Medicare, elderly poverty is much lower than for the overall population.
“ … [I]n 2019 the federal government spent more than $29,000 on everyone 65 and over through Social Security, Medicare, civil service and military and retirement benefits, five times what it spent on every child under 18,” said Ip. “… By 2023, spending on each elderly person had risen 19 percent after inflation; on each child, just 2 percent.”
Add to this the fact that President Donald Trump’s 2025 Big Beautiful Bill included a tax deduction of up to $6,000 for people 65 and over, in addition to the generosity of past administrations, and you’ve got a recipe for righteous aggrievement among the 30-something crowd and everybody else.
“The cost is swallowing the budget,” said Ip. “Federal spending on elderly programs has risen from 6.9 percent of gross domestic product in 2007 to 9.4 percent last year and will reach 11.3 percent in a decade, the Congressional Budget Office projects.”
If you’re looking for the seed of intergenerational resentment, Ip says you’ve found it.
“Elderly programs, plus interest, are the primary driver of the gaping budget deficit. By 2032, Social Security will no longer be able to pay full benefits,” said IP. “ … If you think the young are anxious now, just wait.”