By Steven Kritz at Brownstone dot org.

It is generally acknowledged that the Baby Boom generation (of which I am a member) has been the most successful, socioeconomically speaking, in the history of this planet, and the prospects for the generations following to match or surpass us are not looking good. As a confirmation of the disparity, I recently read that while Baby Boomers make up approximately 20% of the current US population, they possess more than 50% of the wealth.

In speaking with others of my generation, I have come to realize that very few Baby Boomers have even a modicum of insight as to how that success happened. The typical pabulum that I get from my peers is that they got their education and worked hard, implying that it should be no different for the younger generations.

To be fair, I can see several historical and sociological factors that would lead Boomers to think this way. First of all, many of our parents pounded into our heads from an early age that going to college was the key to success. Some things just don't change from generation to generation! In fact, when Boomers entered the work force en masse during the 1970s, we were the largest new worker cohort in the history of the country, and approximately 30% of us had a college degree, up from, at most, 10% for previous generations.

However, despite our educational advantages, the 1970s was a disastrous time economically for everyone, but especially for those entering the workforce, and those permanently leaving the workforce, due to retirement or disability. We were plagued by two recessions, two huge oil shocks, and stagflation. Engineering as a career was absolutely dead. Add the extremely challenging geopolitical environment both at home and abroad, and we experienced an era when it was virtually impossible to get ahead solely through one's education and hard work.

I was able to sidestep much of this, at least socioeconomically speaking, even though my dad had suddenly and unexpectedly died at the age of 42 in mid-December 1969. That's because I spent the first three years of the 1970s finishing college, the next four years in medical school, and the final three years of the decade as an Internal Medicine resident. In those days, the cost of living, including college and medical school could be handled without too much difficulty, and the pay as a medical resident was sufficient for me to have a very nice apartment in Brooklyn, while also being able to save some money. As such, I didn't enter the "real" workforce until the middle of 1980.

The timing for me was near perfect! Beginning in the middle of 1982, the greatest economic boom in history launched, and due to significant gains in the areas of racial equality and women's rights, all groups participated. In fact, every quintile of household income set a record in all but two or three years of this boom, peaking in 1999.

Given that the 1980s and 1990s were in the wheelhouse of every Baby Boomer's working career, I could see where the attitude would be that getting an education and working hard would lead to success. Extrapolating this thinking to the younger generations, it would make sense for Boomers to believe that the younger generations, having an even higher percentage with a college degree, just need to keep working hard and they will also achieve the same level of success. However, there are several major flaws in this thought process.

Some of it stems from the fact that the Boomers were the first "me" generation. It resulted in an inability to see the world from other than a personal bubble that was easily filled with nonsense. One of the things that has been completely missed by the Boomers is that Gen X, which is currently in its peak earnings years, has not, and never will catch up to the Boomers in terms of wealth accumulation.

Carrying this train of thought further, one might ask the following questions: (1) Are Boomers smarter than the generations that followed? I'd say no, exce...