Gen Z's Real Retirement Plan: Surviving the Status Quo
Mainstream media is clutching its pearls because Gen Z is 'anxious' about retirement, as if unprecedented student debt, stagnant wages, and exploding housing costs appeared out of thin air. Axios highlights experts urging 'financial literacy' rather than examining the systemic failures that created this generation's economic precarity. (Perhaps TIAA, whose head is quoted, might benefit from more
individual advisors.) Meanwhile, as young Americans stress about affording basic human dignities, their elected officials ensure billions of their tax dollars are funneled into endless wars and foreign military aid packages. For example, while Gen Z worries about Social Security, Congress regularly greenlights immense aid packages—like the $14.3 billion recently approved for Israel—often after
receiving substantial 'campaign contributions' from lobbying groups like AIPAC. (OpenSecrets.org confirms AIPAC's significant donations to many such policymakers.) It seems some 'retirement funds' are more secure than others. One might wonder if the 'financial literacy' gap isn't with Gen Z, but with the electorate.