There is much in this article that resonates with me, particularly the observation that timing increasingly matters more than effort.

A generation ago, a young couple with ordinary jobs could reasonably expect to buy a home, raise a family and build a modest level of security. Today many young people work just as hard, stay in education longer and carry greater debt, yet find themselves permanently locked out of ownership.

But I am less convinced that entitlement is the primary problem.

Most young people I meet are not demanding a life of luxury. They are asking for what their parents considered normal: somewhere affordable to live, secure employment, the possibility of raising a family and a belief that hard work will eventually be rewarded.

That is not entitlement.

That is aspiration.

The deeper problem is that we have created an economy where asset ownership increasingly determines opportunity. Those who got on the ladder early have often done very well. Those who arrived later are told to work harder on a ladder that has been pulled several feet off the ground.

In The Pitchforks Are Coming, I argue that this is where much of today’s anger comes from. Not envy of success, but the growing belief that the rules no longer work as advertised.

A healthy society should encourage ambition, enterprise and personal responsibility. But it should also ensure that the next generation has a realistic path to achieve them.

Because when people do everything right and still cannot get ahead, the problem may not be entitlement.

The problem may be the system itself.