A Yale professor says America is now an 'oldigarchy'--and Boomers on LinkedIn are enraged

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

I’m 42; Samuel Moyn is 54. When we talked about his new book, Gerontocracy in America, it felt less like an interview than a conversation between two people who’ve learned to live with the price of telling older, richer people something they don’t want to hear. Maybe Moyn was trying to give me advice when I asked him to describe what it’s like to write non-fiction that leaves a mark.

“I tend to write books that get a lot of blowback,” said the Yale law and history professor, clad in a navy-blue, school-branded T-shirt, zooming into the call from the wood-paneled head of college office in New Haven. He noted that a friend of his even told him he is always “antagonizing people,” but “this is on a different level.”

The fights have tended to be “smaller” and “more scholarly” than what he calls the oldest, richest class of citizens in the history of the world. “But I’m kind of a gadfly,” he shrugged. “That’s my career.”

It’s because Moyn has written what may be one of the most polarizing political books of the year: an indictment of America’s quiet slide into generational inequality, in which older, disproportionately wealthy voters and homeowners shape the economy — and America’s democracy — to their advantage while insisting they’re really the ones who are under siege. His core argument is simple and backed with data: “the rich today are old, to an astonishing extent.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/a-yale-professor-says-america-is-now-an-oldigarchy-and-boomers-on-linkedin-are-enraged/ar-AA27KhO9

I'm a boomer and I believe the professor is correct.

[struggle4progress]

1. meh. gadflies ...

[PatSeg]

2. I don't know

That is painting a generation with a very broad brush, something I've seen a lot of in recent years. I'm a boomer and I am far from rich, I live off of Social Security. Most of my boomer friends aren't very well off either, many struggling to pay rent and medical bills.

Maybe the professor needs to get out in the real world and meet actual people. I've really grown tired of generation wars, with everyone casting the blame somewhere else and often on entire generations. Personally, I prefer to deal with people as individuals, not as part of a particular generation.

[MustLoveBeagles]

5. I'm not a fan of broad brushing

There's good and bad in every generation.

[PatSeg]

10. Yes, any demographic will have good and bad

Tagging people according to a particular generation is right up there with sexism, racism, nationality, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, etc. It limits and dehumanizes people.

I guess a lot of people either didn't read or have forgotten the Dr. Seuss book about the Star-bellied Sneetches. Or worse, they didn't get it.

[Ziggysmom]

3. Technically I'm a boomer and I hate and ashamed that in 2024

Voters 50-plus put their weight behind Republican Trump over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. These voters favored Trump over Harris, 52 to 47 percent, according to AP VoteCast.

https://www.aarp.org/government-elections/election-analysis-older-voters-2024/

[ProfessorGAC]

4. I Read The Article

I'm also a boomer.
I see lots of broad conclusions & conjecture disguised as analysis.
One of his solutions is appropriation of wealth. Does not come close to defining at which point wealth is appropriated.
Also missing is any interaction between working longer than necessary as a function of chasing wealth & power and a simple life necessity.
If those two subgroups were separated, I believe it would damage his thesis.
Color me unimpressed.

[onenote]

6. Does he think this is the first time "older, disproportionately wealthy voters and homeowners" shaped the economy?

[walkingman]

7. I'm a boomer age 75. My impression based on my life experience is that

Last edited Sun Jul 12, 2026, 05:31 PM - Edit history (1)

the "Greatest Generation", my parents, left me and my generation a world of opportunity. Their personal struggles of growing up during the Great Depression and WWII, made them very appreciative of the changes that FDR and a Democratic Party provided for them.

Examples - Affordable education, great infrastructure advancement (interstate hwys, reliable power grid, public utilities), safety nets (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security), taxed the wealthy to pay for post WWII debt, supported unions, pensions, fair housing laws, and the Civil Rights Act, that finally gave ALL American full participation in our political system were all attributable to this generation because they did not want their children to suffer as they did.

Thanks to my generation (Boomers) and the children we raised, we are worse off because we were not willing to make simple sacrifices. We ignored Climate Change, began to cut social programs, demonized trade unions, willingly and knowingly ran up huge debt, and even after ending the Cold War, the so-called "Peace Dividend" was squandered. Instead of cutting defense spending we increased it, went on a crusade of deregulation, pushed for globalization, and began what seems to be never-ending terrible foreign policy interventions.

However, both Millennials and Gen Z are both larger than the Boomer generation. That gives me hope. Once they realize that it is their world, and they have the power to make us a "more perfect union" by uniting it will happen. It is time for them to take charge, and I am more than ready.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL ☮

[CTyankee]

8. I agree with much of what you say but no generation is going to be perfect in every way.

Now in my mid 80s I have seen progress from my own parents and their generation and mine. We are better informed, by and large, and more liberal in our thinking. Every generation has its own set of challenges. Ours is not only to be better but not to lose what we have that is so valuable NOW.

[Raftergirl]

9. Maybe it's because most if us boomers have had 50 years to accumulate our wealth. My 97 yr old mother has

had 77 years to accumulate hers.

Are we supposed to sell all our assets and give the proceeds away?

Someone told me the other day I need to sell my house so a young family can have it and I should move into a condo, Even if I had to sell my house at a loss!

Of course, it wouldn’t sell at a loss, since I’ve been in my starter home for 35 years.

I’m so tired of hearing this stuff. We sacrificed, saved, invested, and worked our butts off for 50 years to get where we are today. Most everyone I know has done the same.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

11. Things like tuition and housing are a lot higher now than when we were young

When I went to college in the mid 70s one could work a minimum wage job and afford tuition.

That started to change in the 80s. In 1981, the last time the GOP controlled the governor's mansion and both houses of the Washington state legislature, tuition was effectively doubled. It's been raised several times since then.

If one is to get a four-year degree, they can amass quite a debt if their family isn't wealthy.

The simple fact is they do have it harder. I don't know why folks take it personally when that fact is pointed out.

[orthoclad]

13. They have it harder because the ruling class

wants to monopolize education, reserving it for those with generational wealth.

They're hoping AI will gut white collar employment, with limited slots in the C-suites for people like the Trump kids.

[orthoclad]

12. Manufacturing generational conflict is oligarch strategy

How old is Musk?

The ruling class learned from the "don't trust anyone over 30" spiel, just like Bannon studied Lenin and the CIA studied Che. This is a distraction strategy in the divide-and-conquer category.

The ONE factor to focus on is the wealth divide. Plenty of middle-aged billionaires to go around.