The Financialization of Despair
Zoom out for a second: the media is currently touting Gen Z's turn to stock market investing as a savvy adaptation to modern finance. JPMorgan Chase Institute, for instance, suggests trading apps and a strong market are simply drawing in the under-40s. One might almost believe this was a choice, a bold stride into financial independence, rather than a forced hand. This isn't a new phenomenon; it's
a recurring chapter in a much older story. Think of the 1920s, when a credit-fueled boom saw everyday Americans pour savings into an overheating stock market because other avenues for wealth accumulation were shrinking. Or, more recently, the housing market bubbles of the mid-2000s, where accessible mortgage credit was pushed onto those who couldn't afford traditional homes, culminating in the
2008 crash that wiped out trillions. Now, with housing prices decoupling from wages at historic rates – a median home costs 7.5 times the median income in some major US cities, up from 3 times in 1980 – the current generation faces historically unprecedented barriers to homeownership. They are being pushed, not pulled, into riskier ventures. The media's framing as 'market accessibility'
conveniently sidesteps the systemic failures creating this 'opportunity.' It's a double standard: when the poor gamble in state lotteries, it's a moral failing; when the young gamble on volatile stocks out of necessity, it's called financial literacy. This pattern exposes the ongoing financialization of everything, where basic human needs like housing become unaffordable, forcing capital into