Young Americans' Shrinking Opportunities

Scott Galloway believes that economic inequality in America has created a crisis where young people are increasingly unable to form families and experience the fulfillment that he and his peers enjoy. He sees this as a fundamental tragedy of modern American society despite its technological and economic growth.

• The prosperity gap is widening dramatically in America:

  • "The future prosperity is here, it's just not evenly distributed"
  • "The majority of young people, it's not within their reach right now to think about finding a mate and having children"
  • "Sixty percent of 30-year-olds used to have a child in their household forty years ago, now it's 27%"

• Young men are particularly struggling with relationships:

  • "If a man hasn't cohabitated or been married by the time he's 30, there's a one in three chance he's gonna have a substance abuse problem"
  • "Fifty-one percent of men eighteen to twenty-four have never asked a woman out in person"
  • "Loneliness really does take a bigger toll on men than it does on women"

• The wealth gap is creating a class of "transnational oligarchs":

  • "Income inequality is only getting worse"
  • "A small emerging cohort of what I call transnational oligarchs... gets exponentially richer"
  • "The number of millionaires in the United States has doubled since 2020"
  • "The number of billionaires has gone from 500 to 2,500 in ten years"

• These wealthy elites are disconnected from national interests:

  • "They no longer have a vested interest in the health of their host nation"
  • "They have their own schools, they have their own rights"
  • "If they start rounding up Jews in the United States... I can peace out to Dubai or Milan"

• Political solutions should focus on helping younger generations:

  • "The unifying theory of everything... politics should be a series of programs that help anyone under the age of 41 meet people more"
  • We need "third places" for young people to connect