Opinion
THE OPEN TABLE
The Mother Lode's opinion column. He votes the country, not the party.
From the column
The Open Table
We Did Everything Right. Where's the House?I'm 26, I rent, and I did the list I was handed — school, work, savings, patience. The median first-time buyer in America now closes at 40.→College Sold My Generation a Receipt It Won't HonorCollege sold my generation a receipt — pay this, owe this, get secure — and the seller refuses to stand behind the amount. The average borrower left owing $29,560.→The Dating App Gets Paid When the Date FailsMicah Reed is 26 and rents, and dating now runs through an app paid by the month. Match and Bumble collected $4,551 million in 2024 and counted no couples.→AI Is Eating the First Rung of Every LadderMicah Reed's first job taught him the work by starting small. The tools take the small work first, and young workers in exposed jobs stand 19% behind.→I'm Paying Full Price for 81 Percent of a RetirementMicah Reed is 26, works, and pays into Social Security with every check. The program's own trustees project the money runs short in 2034, when taxes cover 81 percent of promised benefits.→Child Care Runs $13,128 a Year, and the First Kid Keeps WaitingMicah Reed is 26 and rents an apartment he can almost afford. Child care averaged $13,128 a year in 2024, and the average first-time mother is now 27.5 — the family keeps starting later.→The Family Plan at Work Carries a $26,993 Price TagMicah Reed is 26, works for a living, and his coverage comes with the job. KFF's 2025 survey of employers prices the average family plan at $26,993 a year, and the worker's share comes first.→
Micah Reed · THE OPEN TABLEOpinion: the argument — housing, degrees, dating, the first rung of the job ladder, and everything else his generation was promised and priced out of.