By The Oregonian Editorial Board The Oregonian
It is as near a bedrock truth as we have that most Americans build assets in their lifetime despite cyclical swings in the economy. Careers start small and end bigger, or at least higher-paying. Houses are purchased and mortgages are paid off over decades as equity soars -- creating a happy multiplication of wealth. Meanwhile, children are sent into the world with similar expectations.
But the first sign that this truth could be seriously shaken over the long term comes in the form of an analysis showing households headed by adults age 65 or older possessed net worth 47 times greater than households headed by adults under the age of 35 -- more than double the gap of six years ago and five times greater than 25 years ago.
There is little question the stalled economy, while hard on most everyone, has seriously punished the young. They take on more college debt than ever, scramble for fewer jobs and pay mortgages on homes purchased in the years immediately preceding the housing bust and whose values have plummeted since. But the downturn only widens a gap occurring over decades, Pew Research Center investigators found after mining data from the U.S. Census Bureau and elsewhere.
The findings are disturbing. They test the durability -- or is it illusion? -- of the American dream.
Our economy and the life expectations built around it have for so long shaped the American character and domestic policy, whether for investment in public education or entitlement programs for the elderly. Social Security , for example, accounts for 55 percent of the income of households headed by adults age 65 and older -- a figure that could raise an equity eyebrow in light of the Pew findings and which has remained unchanged since 1984.
But things we once held to be so aren't quite so anymore. Swift demographic and social changes among America's young have helped pry open the wealth gap, with delayed entry into the labor market and delays in marriage, coupled with more minorities and single parents, among them.
Poverty overall, meanwhile, is on the rise. Yet the federal measurement of poverty is challenged for failing, among other things, to distinguish between things so basic as living costs in urban centers and rural areas -- and for failing to reflect the value of social safety net programs, such as food stamps, that bring relief.
Now a supercommittee in Congress will in some measure reset the nation's spending priorities by deciding what programs should be cut as it proposes to slice $1.2 trillion from federal spending.
This will be hard. It's not just math anymore. And thankfully, it won't be all plumage -- a replay of the ideologic opera played out when Congress hit deadlock over the summer.
This time it's about our destiny.
What we want for our young people. What it means to grow up in America.
What we want for our elders. What it means to age in America.
For what is hope attached to?
Some say education. Others say a society with the decency to see after the health and well-being of all its members, no matter the age. Others yet say both and more.
Paying for hope is on the table. The discovery of America's widening gap in net worth is a harsh signal that balance must be reclaimed. Our leaders have nothing less to do now than restore faith in their actions as centered on closing the gap -- and keeping the dream alive.
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