| I see this a lot as someone that came from a solidly middle-class background (parents were a teacher and secretary) and went to a "highly-ranked" university with plenty of upper-middle or upper class students. I work in the same jobs as my peers, but there is a clear wealth difference in how our lives are spent. We have a nice house in a good neighborhood, but our peers have very nice houses is some of the best neighborhoods due in large part to down payment gifts, gifts for remodeling, etc. We can both afford the mortgage payment, but the down payment would take us probably a decade to save for. On vacations, we'll drive a couple hours away with the kids, while our peers will fly to Europe and spend two weeks since they pay for the flights and their parents pay for lodging and food. And then there is family support. Some of my peers have parents who bought second (or third) homes to be closer to their grandchildren, or will pay for the very nice private school, etc. It's taken me a lot to not very bitter about this -- and I'm clearly still a little bitter -- but I also know that we will likely be in a position to offer some of this support to our kids in 20+ years. |
Wealth inequality has been increasing for decades, if the trend continues and nobody does anything the wealth gap could easily become so large that you might not be able to provide any meaningful support to your kids, and even if you manage to, your children won't stand a chance to provide it to theirs in 40+ years.
Many of our current rights are only there thanks to bitter people.