Why can’t I afford life? Boomer prosperity is masking a weak economy.

We have only two weeks until the midterm elections, when American voters will decide whether to give President Trump’s party or his Democratic opponents control of the House and the Senate.

For most Americans, this election is about the cost of living, and it’s no wonder why: Inflation rose by 0.6 percent in September and is up 3.7 percent this year. Half of that is due to the rise in energy costs. Wholesale inflation surged by 1.3 percent and is now at its highest level since December 2022.

The number of homes sold this year has plummeted to its lowest level since 2014, and that is no surprise either. Who can afford to buy a house in this economy?

Although Trump keeps insisting that this is the “Golden Age of America,” millions feel absolutely strapped due to the exploding cost of living, with which wages have simply not kept up in many key categories. Home prices are up nearly 60 percent. Rent is up 33 percent. Groceries are up 32 percent. Electricity is up 46 percent. Gas is up 69 percent. Health care is up 20 percent.

These just aren’t budget items you can opt out of. In other words, Americans don’t just feel broke — they are broke.

But not all Americans are broke. New data out of the Federal Reserve found that between 2022 and 2025, the real net worth of the average American family rose by only 2 percent. But for the richest and oldest Americans their net worth skyrocketed by more than 30 percent. Wealth increased by 37 percent for Americans 75 and older, while it declined 23 percent for people under 35.

Just think about that: Young Americans just getting started in life saw a 23 percent decrease in their net worth, whereas the oldest Americans — the most well off, the most secure, those having retired after spending a lifetime building wealth — saw their own net worth increase by nearly 40 percent.

The median net worth of the oldest households in America jumped from around $366,000 to just over $500,000 over the last three years, whereas for Americans under 35, it fell from $42,000 to $32,000. And in the course of losing nearly a quarter of their wealth, younger millennials have to struggle to pay off twice as much debt as Boomers.

In short, your parents are millionaires, and you can’t afford rent.

Americans 55 and over are now worth $140 trillion — roughly three-quarters of the nation’s net worth — even though they represent less than one-third of all Americans, according to a Bank of America Institute analysis . Of course, not all older Americans are so fortunate. One-third of Boomers have no retirement savings. The wealthiest 10 percent control 71 percent of Boomer wealth.

Their prosperity is concealing a much weaker economy overall. The top 10 percent of spenders now account for more than half of all consumer spending.

And Boomers have been famously reluctant to move out of their homes, resulting in a massive housing crunch that has been keeping millennials out of homeownership and driving up the cost of homes by 55 percent since 2020. Empty-nest Boomers are now sitting on almost 30 percent of homes with three or more bedrooms — nearly twice the rate of Millennials with kids.

And the oldsters are about to get even more help with a cost of living adjustment to their Social Security benefits, which are set to increase by 3.6 percent in 2027, boosting the average retiree’s annual benefits by $900.

Our economy has become an upward funnel of wealth from struggling young people to secure and prosperous old people. The most strapped generation is paying for the benefits of the least strapped, with no guarantee they will get similar benefits in their old age. Social Security, which young people are now paying for, will likely be bankrupt by the time they need it.

Young families just starting out are also buckling under crushing medical bills while paying for the Medicare used by older and much richer Americans.

This intolerable state of affairs explains why so many young people have given up on capitalism altogether and want to give socialism a chance.

So which party has a better plan for addressing this problem and getting you a fair shot at the American Dream? The bad news is, the answer is “neither.”

The Democrats’ big plan to get down the cost of energy is to ban fossil fuels. Their big plan to make health care affordable is to make you pay even more for overpriced and suboptimal ObamaCare-subsidized health plans that you don’t even use. Their big plan to get down the cost of groceries is non-existent.

But it’s not clear that Republicans party have much of a plan for these things, either. Trump is not campaigning like he has a plan to address these problems, or like he even understands them. He spends his rallies touting the Golden Age of America, calling us the “hottest country around” and declaring the affordability crisis a “hoax.”

Taking seriously the injustice of an economy that forces those with the least to subsidize the lives of those with the most is absolutely essential for any politician hoping to succeed in 2026, 2028, and beyond.

Batya Ungar Sargon is the host of “ Batya !” which airs Saturday nights at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on NewsNation, the nation’s fastest-growing cable news network and a sister company of The Hill.