[ConservativeStatement]

What a terrible, sexist, bigoted and homophobic response by the woman at the Brookings. Is she labeling men as lazy?

[Texas_Jarhead]

"The report also found that between 1947 and 1974, productivity, or output per hour, and median family income, adjusted for inflation, both roughly doubled. Between 1974 and 2000, productivity rose 56 percent while income rose 29 percent. Between 2000 and 2005, productivity rose 16 percent while median income fell 2 percent, challenging "the notion that a rising tide will lift all boats," the report says."

[the invisib1e hand]

men in their thirties are lazy, from what i've seen (speaking as a man in his forties).

I've watched 'em sit around all day and talk about "survivor" and "american idol" as though such things...matter.

***

A man entertained is a man emasculated. (you heard it here first).

[alice_in_bubbaland]

Not my future son in law...graduated last week Suma Cum Laude, starting at 80K+ next week. A real go getter!

LOL! I call him "The Donald"!

[AuntB]

And on top of it, everyone in that age group seems to have a student loan to pay off.

More and more facts are coming out just how the middle class is taking a hit, for various reasons.

[David_G_Burnet]

Dude ! Where's my bong?

[babygene]

I don’t know... I did much better than my dad, but then, I didn’t live through the great depression like my dad did. Somehow I think they didn’t factor that in.

[avenir]

One generation works hard and struggles to succeed, succeeds, then proceeds to ruin the next generation(s) through spoiling: “We want our kids to have it better than us.”

So much expectation of a “better” life is built on mollycoddling. Real struggle is required for a person to grow up soundly.

[Popman]

In 2004, the median income for a man in his 30s, which is a good predictor of his lifetime earnings, was $35,010, the study says, 12 percent less than for men in their 30s in 1974 — their fathers' generation — adjusted for inflation.

Two things come to mind.

1. The generation they are comparing this generation earned their money during the 80's. The most prolific longest economic boom in generations

2. They are comparing mens income rather than household income. With the advent of the working mother, dad is not available to make as much money as he possibly could, picking up household, child rearing duties.

[raybbr]

ping for later

[Gritty]

Bill Beach of the Heritage Foundation said increased immigration also could have pulled down median wages, as most immigrants at first earn less than native-born workers

Well, it was the last sentence, but at lest they got it in.

With 12-36 million illegal aliens diluting the workforce and undercutting wages and increasing the costs of those native working Americans who pay taxes, it is no surprise American citizens - especially on the lower rungs and in the manual trades - are either losing their jobs or working for much less than they used to.

For example, meat cutters in beef packing plants earned over twice as much 25 years ago than they do today, not adjusted or inflation. Now the meat packing industry is full of illegals making $9.50 and hour instead of Americans making a good living at the old $21 an hour.

Sweet deal for the packers, but a bummer for an American male trying to raise a family.

[Reeses]

Why doesn't Pew report how much lower total taxes were 30 years ago? If someone tax deferred much of their income into a 401k and is now paying current tax rates on it, was it a smart move?

30 years ago nobody could afford a home supercomputer, cell phone, flat big screen color TV with 200 channels, internet access, cars with airbags, GPS navigation, or get treatments for many diseases. Life expectancy was shorter. Due to technology advances, many times a byproduct of military research spending, the quality of life is better now.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Ping to the Xer list...

[Wheee The People]

Irrelevant study...women now take up much of the work force and are doing MUCH better than their mothers (at least in monetary value)

[speekinout]

I read the whole article, and it never distinguished background factors. For example, 30ish “men” who were brought up by a single teen-aged mother, and schooled in inner cities should not be in a class with suburbanites. Any statistics that don’t separate the two are meaningless.

[Chickensoup]

Not as many thirty year olds are married and established as there were in their father’s day. Nothing like a wife and kids to turn a slacker in an earner.

[syriacus]

Housing and utilities are much more expensive nowdays, but a little money buys a lot of goods such as clothing and electronics today.

[Turbopilot]

They haven’t closed the colleges, or the trade schools, or any of the other postsecondary education options. They also haven’t prohibited anyone from going into business for himself. And there are no end of commissioned sales jobs with no outwardly imposed cap on earning potential.

All this study could possibly show is that the average work ethic of a given 30-year-old man is less than the average work ethic of a given 30-year-old man 30 years ago; it indicates nothing about the earning potential of any individual 30-year-old man. And without correcting for the influence of illegal aliens working under the table or women in the work force in greater numbers, it doesn’t even show anything about the average work ethic.

[Rodney King]

Maybe if we just elect a Republican congress and President they will reduce the incredibly high cost of government that is dragging down the private sector. Oh wait, we tried that already.

[napscoordinator]

I don’t! I am in my thrities and make more than my father did when he was in his thirties. My father did not go to college until later in life. Most of his generation (he is 60) did not go to college directly out of high school due to Vietnam. My Dad went into the military directly out of high school as did most of his friends and family members.

[Mr. Jeeves]

The findings suggest "the up escalator that has historically ensured that each generation would do better than the last may not be working very well," says the study, which was scheduled for release Friday.

You know, one does much better in life when he or she:

1) Pays no attention to what everybody else is doing.
2) Pays no attention to what everybody else thinks he or she should be doing.

I don't think there is a self-made person out there who gave five seconds' attention to how "unfair" life is, or worried one bit about what other people have that they don't.