Who Really Had It Worse: Boomers or Millennials?

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0:32Fearing Iranian retaliation, Saudi Arabia tries to push the U.S. to give up its Hormuz blockade. Plus, a pair of congressional resignations as Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzalez agree to leave the chamber. And we'll crunch the numbers on millennials' claim that they got the short end of the economic stick. They were not wildly different, which may surprise some people. The complaint that millennials today are making way less than boomers just doesn't really bear out in the data. It's Tuesday, April 14th. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

1:15Saudi Arabia is pressing the U.S. to end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, fearing that the move could trigger Iranian retaliation and the disruption of other key shipping routes. Saudi Arabia was recently able to get its oil exports back to pre-war levels by piping it across the desert to the Red Sea. However, we report that officials there worry that Iran could lash out against the blockade by attacking the Bab el-Mendeb Strait at the mouth of the sea. Iranian-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen severely disrupted traffic through that strait during the Gaza War, but have thus far largely stayed out of the current conflict.

1:52Instead of risking a Houthi entry into the fight, Saudi officials are urging the U.S. to return to the negotiating table with Iran, with Gulf officials saying that although the warring sides are publicly maintaining hard lines, the combatants are actively engaging with mediators. Global markets are higher and oil lower this morning on hopes of more talks. Meanwhile, the Iran war is starting to show up in Chinese economic data, posing a threat to one of the country's major growth drivers. I spoke to Asia economics reporter Hannah Miao to learn more. We just received China's export data for March, which showed a 2.5 percent growth from the year earlier.

2:30And that was down sharply from a 22 percent increase for January and February. So this could be an early sign that the war in Iran is weighing on global demand, which could really threaten a key growth driver for China's economy, exports. Hannah, I know trade between China and the Middle East isn't huge compared to some of their other big export markets, and yet it had been growing. And then March came along and we saw the data contracting there. What's the significance of that? That's right. The Middle East was one of the regions where Chinese exporters were finding new customers and growing their trade amid a downturn in trade with the U.S.

3:11due to tariffs. So that really puts into question one of those markets where you could potentially try to get more exports. And in general, the bigger question is what the war in the Middle East will mean for global demand for Chinese products. On one hand, there's a lot more interest now in Chinese renewable energy products like solar panels and EVs. But on the other hand, energy prices could weigh on consumer demand. And it might cause customers to pull back on orders. And it's adding to costs for Chinese manufacturers, which could weigh on their profit margins as well. So it's a bit of a mixed bag in terms of what the outlook looks like.

3:53And like many other places in the world, it really depends on how long this war lasts and how severe it is. That was Journal reporter Hannah Miao. While also seeing a hit from the war, our luxury goods sales. Louis Vuitton owner LVMH, an industry pacesetter, is reporting a revenue drop in its fashion and leather goods business, with the war souring hopes of a rebound in high-end purchases. And we won't have to wait long to get more updates from the luxury industry, with Gucci owner Caring providing a revenue update today, followed by Hermes tomorrow.

4:28A pair of congressmen are giving up their seats. California Democrat Eric Swalwell and Texas Republican Tony Gonzalez say they will both resign instead of facing potential expulsion votes when Congress returns to work today. Swalwell and Gonzalez face accusations of sexual misconduct, which their colleagues argued disqualified them from office. And the scrutiny of lawmakers may not end there, as calls mount for Florida Democrat Sheila Sherf-Louis McCormick and Republican Cory Mills to also step down following months of scrutiny from House investigators. Sherf-Louis McCormick has pleaded not guilty after being indicted for allegedly stealing$5 million that was improperly sent to her family's health care company, while Mills has called domestic violence and campaign finance allegations against him absolutely false.

5:18Posting on social media, New York Democrat Nydia Velasquez called for both to be expelled, as did South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace. I'm holding everyone to the same standard. I told the speaker this weekend we have four members, not just Tony Gonzalez. It's not just Eric Swalwell. We need to clean house. Parents in L.A. can breathe a sigh of relief this morning after a late night breakthrough in talks to avert a strike that could have paralyzed the country's second biggest school district. Details are still being finalized. Our Paul Kiernan in L.A. said the negotiations came down to the wire.

5:50The Los Angeles Unified School District has been in mediation talks with SEIU Local 99 over issues including employee pay and hours. The union, which has around 30 ,000 members in L.A. Unified, had rejected an offer from the school district of a 13 percent raise spread over three years. A strike would have seen the closure of more than 1 ,300 schools serving nearly 400 ,000 students. And Canada's ruling Liberal Party has secured a majority in the country's parliament after notching wins across a slate of special elections held yesterday. That result hands Prime Minister Mark Carney the ability to aggressively pursue a policy agenda aimed at rebuilding the struggling Canadian economy, including by pushing forward on promised infrastructure and resource projects.

6:38President Trump's trade policies have further boosted Carney's popularity since he won election a year ago, with liberals also convincing five members of opposition parties to join the government in recent months. Coming up, can economic data finally settle the debate of who had it worse as early adults, baby boomers or millennials? We'll ask after the break.

7:02WSJ's Take on the Week gives you a leg up on the world of money and investing. We cut through the noise and dive into markets, the economy and finance. I'm Telus Demos. And I'm Miriam Gottfried. We break down the big trades, speak with the key players. And find out what's important for investors in the week ahead. Subscribe to WSJ's Take on the Week wherever you listen to podcasts.

7:29And finally, who really had it harder, baby boomers or millennials? It's an age-old debate between parents and children over which generation got the short end of the stick in trying to build a comfortable life. Personal finance reporter Joe Pinsker has been looking at whether there's any data that can settle the debate, things like wages, student debt, and housing prices. And he spoke to our producer, Daniel Bach. Joe, this seems like a really tough question to answer. So how did you go about it? Yeah, there are so many components that would go into this question of who had it harder financially.

8:00we chose to look at a few key areas that people would think about, specifically in the age ranges of the early decades of adulthood. Some of the data cut sort of cleanly starting at around age 25, and then it takes you through mid 40s. The oldest millennials are now 45. So that's kind of where the data stops. And what do you find out about wage growth for both generations? Yeah, when you're comparing how baby boomers and millennials wages compared when they were a similar age. And yes, of course, we're adjusting for inflation here. They were not wildly different, which may surprise some people.

8:36The complaint that millennials today are making way less than boomers just doesn't really bear out in the data. One interesting side note, which a professor at MIT, Nathan Wilmers, made to me as I was reporting the story is that part of the frustration that millennials have might be a reaction to the fact that the economy has been growing faster than their wages were rising, at least for the early part of their careers. And so some of the frustration around earnings might have to do with this feeling of not sharing in the gains that are being spread more widely throughout the economy. Yeah. And one thing that really builds generational wealth is the ability to buy a house.

9:11How did the generation stack up? Yeah, this is a really interesting question. Millennials who are trying to buy a house today have a really tough time. Prices have gone up a lot. Rates are higher than they were a few years ago. However, if you go back to that early 80s period when mortgage rates were really high, affordability was actually even worse for baby boomers when they were a similar age. That said, I think one of the points that stuck out to me in reporting this story is that generations are these easy labels that we put on tens of millions of people. And there's so much human experience that that captures in it.

9:47So there was a segment of baby boomers who did have it tough buying a house in that period. But you look later on in their age group, you go into the 90s, people buying a house, it was actually more affordable. And the same is true of millennials. It's tough to say in a big picture exactly who won or who lost, but also just within each generation, there's a bunch of variation. And what about student debt? How do millennials and boomers compare when it comes to paying back student loans? Yeah, this is obviously a huge area of difference between millennials and baby boomers, the cost of college increased so much between the time that the two generations were in school.

10:22And partially as a result, the student debt balance that people came out of school with was just much higher for millennials. That said, if you zoom out, millennials' average wealth and median wealth was higher than boomers was at the same age. And that's even accounting for inflation and accounting for the student loans that we were just talking about. Well, that's quite interesting to hear because there's this narrative that we've been hearing for so many years that millennials have been shortchanged, right? Yeah, I think this has actually kind of snuck up on people. Over the past five, seven years or so, millennials' finances have actually gotten a whole lot better, and their household net worth has climbed above what baby boomers was at a similar age.

11:02And that's true on average. It's true at the median. I think that there are a lot of parts of that early narrative that have still stuck around with how we think about how this generation is set up. That's Journal Personal Finance reporter Joe Pinsker. Joe, thanks for this. Yeah, thank you. And that's it for What's News for this Tuesday morning. Today's show was produced by Hattie Moyer and Daniel Bach. Our supervising producer is Sandra Kilhoff. And I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with a new show. And until then, thanks for listening.

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