A Surprise Argument

John Stossel is known as a contrarian who makes arguments contrary to prevailing narratives. But his latest column might come as a surprise even to conservatives.

Photo credit: CBS

John Stossel is known as a contrarian who makes arguments contrary to prevailing narratives. That’s because he bases his argument on facts. But his latest column might come as a surprise even to conservatives. His thesis: That young people who whine that greedy capitalists have made their lives harder and more expensive than those of Baby Boomers actually have it much better than their grandparents did.

Stossel starts with the famous meme, “A family could own a home, a car and send their kids to college, all on one income,” and sets out to disprove it. For instance, a married couple in the 1950s could maybe afford a starter home, but it was much smaller than the homes today’s young people expect, and didn’t have the luxuries, from dishwashers to central A/C.

People back then also didn’t spend money on things we take for granted. For instance, dining out was for special occasions, and few took vacations when a cross-country airline ticket cost $1,000 in today’s money (these days, that trip costs only about $300. Thanks, capitalism!) We also suspect that our grandparents would have had a stroke if someone charged them $5 for a cup of coffee. And in 1963, a color TV cost $500, which is over $5200 in today’s money -- and the screen was a massive 24 inches!

The idea that pay was higher and jobs were more plentiful is also false. Adjusted for inflation, people are paid better now: the typical 25-year-old today makes 50% more than his Baby Boomer counterpart. And the unemployment rate in 1963 was nearly double today’s.

Stossel admits that adjusted for inflation, a college education does cost nearly four times more today (we blame government subsidies for driving up the cost), but most people back then didn’t go to college, and about half the workforce didn’t even finish high school (of course, they probably learned more in high school than colleges teach today. Here’s a sample of what you get for your tuition bucks these days…)

And it’s true that cars cost more today, but Stossel argues that today’s cars are safer, more comfortable and last twice as long (we’d argue on that point: an older car could last a long time if you knew how to take care of it, which didn’t require a computer science degree. If you’re on a budget and want a good car, buy an older one and fix it up.)

But we have to admit that when he concludes by rewriting that famous meme above to make it more realistic, he’s spot-on.

RELATED: Video of the Day! A Trump-hating leftist couple called into financial podcaster Caleb Hammer’s show for advice on moving to another country because they hate everything about America and want to escape the Trump “regime.” The more the stunned host talked to them, the more obvious it became that they knew even less about other nations to which they were thinking of moving than they do about America, if that’s possible. His advice to them should’ve been, “Unless you’re a wealthy celebrity who’s ungrateful for the success America gave you and are rich and famous enough to avoid being thrown in prison for your social media posts, just stay here.”

---

This article is for paid subscribers only. Thank you for supporting us.