TJ Walker explains why young Americans think the economy is bad despite low unemployment and a strong stock market. He blames inflated political promises, structural spending that favors older generations, and high student debt and housing costs for younger people. Voting, not social media, is how young people can actually change policy.
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Ultimize. You ever notice how expectations matter more than reality? Because right now you've got 81% of young Americans say the economy is bad or terrible. This according to reporting from The Hill based on a Generation Lab survey. And here's the weird part. Objectively, the economy they're reacting to wasn't the apocalypse they were sold. Inflation had been coming down and unemployment has been low. The stock market has been booming compared to most of our allies. Inflation here in the United States was actually lower the last handful of years. That's not propaganda. That's just basic math and numbers. But let's talk about what really happened because this isn't really about the economy. It's about expectations. President Donald Trump spent years telling people, that the economy under Joe Biden was basically the economic version of a burning dumpster floating down a river of gasoline. The worst ever, a disaster, a catastrophe. And then he didn't just say he'd improve things. He said he turned back time. He would lower prices, bring them back to where they were years ago. Well, that's not an economic plan. That's a time machine with better polling numbers. So now reality shows up like Hey, things are okay-ish and everybody's furious, or at least young people are. Why? Because expectations were set at Disney World levels. Imagine telling your kids, we're going to Disney World for 5 full days. You go, you drop, what, $10,000 or $12,000? You mortgage your future for a mouse. Then you have 3 incredible days, rides, fireworks, churros, the whole deal. And then on day 3, the end of day 3, you say, all right kids, time to go home. Are they grateful? No, they're in the backseat like tiny union organizers. You promised us 5 days. They don't care that none of their friends went at all. They don't care that it was amazing and expensive. All they know is expectation, 5 days. Reality: 3 days. Conclusion: betrayal. That's the economy right now. Now layer on something else. Young people aren't dumb. They're looking around and doing the math on the system. Roughly 2/3 to 3/4 of federal spending is tied to individuals, goes to old people, old Americans, people like me, frankly. Think Social Security, Medicare, all of that. That's not conspiracy. That's demographics. And then there's the indirect stuff. Mortgage interest deductions, great if you own a home. Thankfully I do. Thankfully I do. It's fantastic. But if you're 25, you're like, I can't even afford a parking space, but I'm glad we're subsidizing someone's 7th bedroom. Older generations, they went to college when tuition was manageable, sometimes practically free. Today, you graduate with debt so big it feels like you financed a small European country. Healthcare expensive, housing insane, wages playing catch-up. And just when you're thinking, all right, I'll grind, I'll work hard, the biggest companies in the world come in like, actually, we're going to let AI do that stuff. That's a tough pitch. Welcome to adulthood. You're in debt, you can't afford a house, and your replacement is software. Of course people feel screwed. That's not irrational. That's a completely logical emotional response. But here's where I'm going to sound like the tough, slightly annoying voice in your head. Young people, if you want to change, you have to vote, not tweet. Not just post a 9-part TikTok series explaining why everything is broken. Not go to a protest where everyone already agrees with you. You have to vote because here's the secret older Americans figured out decades ago. You don't get benefits because politicians love you. You get benefits because politicians are terrified of you. Senior citizens vote. They vote consistently. They vote like it's their part-time job with a pension, and magically they get Social Security protected from things like inflation. Your paycheck doesn't. They get Medicare protected. They get every politician treating them like VIP customers. Young people, historically low turnout every cycle. So politicians look at them and think, huh, why am I prioritizing someone who won't even show up? It's harsh. It's not fair, but it's how the system actually works. You can have a decent economy and still have furious people if you lied about what they were going to get. That's the Disney World problem. Promise 5 days, deliver 3. Even if it's amazing, people will feel cheated. That's what happens when politicians promise to turn back time on prices. Reality can't compete with fantasy, and voters punish you for it. If young people want a bigger share of the pie, the federal government pie, there's one brutally simple step. Vote. Senior citizens didn't get all the benefits by accident. They got them because they showed up every single time. Presidential years, mid-year midterms, off-year elections. You can complain, or you can become the group politicians are afraid to ignore, but you don't get to do just one or the other. So yeah, the frustration's real, the pressures are real, The system is tilted in a lot of ways, but expectations matter, narratives matter, and participation matters even more. Because in the end, the people who show up decide what the economy even means. Okay, I want to thank so many of you for showing up today. Again, this is Filtered with TJ Walker. I'm your host. I appreciate you being here today. What we do here every day is talk about the top stories of the day, and then we analyze it through the lens of communication skills, personal development skills, and ultimately truth, or at least my version of the truth. I appreciate you being here. Lots more to come. Stay tuned. I'll be honest with you. Most people don't have a learning problem. They have a consistency problem. They'll watch something, listen to something, get fired up for a day, and and then life takes over and everything resets. That's exactly the gap I'm trying to fix with Ultimize. So if you're getting something out of this show right now, go to ultimize.com, U-L-T-A-M-I-Z-E, and get a free course. There's one on communication skills, one on building better habits. And the whole idea is to make this part of your daily routine, not a one-time thing. It's simple. It's free and it actually works if you use it. Ultimize.com. Ultimize.
