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The World Socialist Web Site, publication of record of the ICFI (SEP), on May 24th released a report about the grim situation many millennials face:
The stock market is booming, and President Donald Trump is boasting at every turn that the unemployment rate is lower than it has been in five decades.
However, the working class, the vast majority of the population, is confronting an unprecedented social, economic, health and psychological crisis. The same processes that have produced vast sums of wealth for the ruling elite have left millions of workers on the brink of existence.
Perhaps no segment of the population reflects the devastating consequences of these processes so starkly as the generation of young people deemed the "millennials," those born roughly between the years 1981 and 1996. More than half the 72 million American millennials are now in their 30s, with the oldest turning 38 this year.
A recent exposé by the Wall Street Journal noted that millennials are "in worse financial shape than prior living generations and may not recover." The article, "Millennials Near Middle Age in Crisis," [paywalled] concludes by stating that people born in the 1980s are at risk of becoming "America's Lost generation."
Selected bullet points from the WSWS article:
- Millennials have taken on 300 percent more student debt than their parents' generation. [Source: The College Board, Trends in Student Aid 2013]
- By 2014, 48 percent of workers with bachelor's degrees are employed in jobs for which they're overqualified. [Source: Labor Economist Stephen Rose, published by Urban Institute.]
- The number of workers in the United States participating in the gig economy is expected to triple to 42 million workers by 2020, and 42 percent of those people are likely to be millennials. [Source: Freshbooks]
- Between 1978 and 2017, according to the EPI, CEO compensation rose in the US by 1,070 percent, while the typical worker's compensation over these 39 years rose by a mere 11.2 percent.
- In the 40 years leading up to the recession, rents increased at more than twice the rate of incomes. [Source: Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.]
- One in 5 millennials say they cannot afford routine healthcare expenses. Many of these millennials are uninsured because of the cost. An additional 26 percent say they can afford routine health-care costs, but only with difficulty. [Source: Harris Poll]
- Men and women in their thirties are marrying at rates below every other generation on record. [Source: The Atlantic, "The Death (and Life) of Marriage in America"]
- It is predicted that most millennials will not be able to retire until age 75. [Source: NerdWallet analysis of federal data]
The report concludes, "Far from becoming the 'Lost Generation' predicted by the Wall Street Journal, this generation of workers carries within it an enormous source of revolutionary potential."
[Ed. Note. I debated whether or not to run this story given the partisan source for the article, but the list of references suggested it was more than a simple opinion piece. So, are things really as grim as portrayed here? I'm too old to be a millennial, but have both personally experienced as well as witnessed many others facing the same trends listed here. Where do things go from here?]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Valkor on Monday May 27 2019, @08:35PM (25 children)
apparently i'm the only millennial on this site? albeit begrudgingly do i claim that cohort...
yes, the economic situation really is this bad. i straight up will not be able to retire. inflation is so fast that without investments, that alone will be what kills you. guess who doesn't have any solid investments?
personally i got lucky with healthcare, and got in on some socialized healthcare program my state started. no clue how long it'll last, but for the past few years i've been safe. things were much different before i *lucked* in to this (it was a lottery to get in, not based on income or other bullshit).
i knew a degree was a bad idea, so instead i wasted those formative years with some woman that left me for no reason. honestly, i probably won out on the exchange. no debt and a broken heart aint so bad. i do wish i had the social connections that college provides, that's for sure one aspect that is worth paying for, but there are tons of social clubs i could pay for if it really bothered me (the Masons spring to mind instantly). also, WITHOUT a degree, i have been turned down for jobs as being overqualified, so that's bullshit on the source's source in the article. i would imagine plenty of recruiters go with "overqualified" instead of "smells like ass" as to why they didn't hire them. maybe i forgot deodorant that day?
oh, i also very much want to eat the rich. i'm fairly certain, along with those of my generation, that the solution to the corruption causing our problems is guillotines. we have straight up oligarchies running the show in many offices, here in Kentucky we're poised to have two families retain control of our state government this election. i still wonder what eldritch powers are keeping McConnell alive. so yeah, we're pretty fucking done with making the rich richer.
further in to the 'boss makes a dollar, i make a penny' territory, i haven't had a legitimate raise in pay in over a year at my current day job. sure they've fucked around with how we're paid, but there is never a marked increase. it's just accounting tricks to appease the bean counters. when i spoke to the powers that be about this, i was straight up laughed at for asking for a raise after a year of getting shit done. suffice it to say, that response has greatly affected my decision making on the job.
i need to make more money so i can take a vacation to get away from it all so i can come back refreshed able to make more money so i can take a vacation to get away from it all so i can ......
(Score: 3, Interesting) by stretch611 on Monday May 27 2019, @08:54PM
With any luck, maybe the idealism of Star Trek combined with the Force of Star Wars will overtake the evil of the dark side of McConnell.
Beam me up, Kentucky? George Takei tweets he's 'tempted' to take on Mitch McConnell [usatoday.com]
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday May 27 2019, @09:01PM (14 children)
A lottery? Seriously? How the hell does that work?
Presumably a fair chunk of taxpayers' money going towards subsidizing that but you have to get lucky to get the benefit? That's just weird.
You should think about leaving, if you can save up enough money to do so. Not just leave Kentucky, but emigrate.
Come to a country that mandates 4 weeks holiday per year and supplies the healthcare you need, not what the insurance industry decides they ought to pass on.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday May 27 2019, @10:10PM (13 children)
I have and am considering that myself. I'm in the process of confirming (with a passport) my Irish citizenship which would allow me to live/work in most places in Europe.
But leaving behind family, friends and your home isn't something to do lightly. Personally, I'd like to improve things here in the US, but that seems increasingly less likely. Sigh.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday May 27 2019, @11:39PM (12 children)
From what I understand Ireland is a great place to live and work, if you don't mind the weather being what it is.
Whenever I encourage an American to emigrate, you always give the whole "friends and family" excuse, but frankly it's not that big of a deal.
I have emigrated twice myself (three times, if you count coming back to where I started) and two of those were in the pre-internet days. All that happens is that you wind up with a bunch of places to stay the next time you travel, and sometimes you wind up with some overseas friend sleeping in the spare bed while they travel.
Seriously, it's a big world out there, and things like 4 weeks annual leave and proper healthcare are really nice. With the paid time off, and extra money you can fly home every year anyway to see your family.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday May 28 2019, @12:27AM (11 children)
I said that "it's not something to be taken lightly."
I did mention that I am moving forward to ensure that I *can* do so if I choose, right? Perhaps your family isn't important to you, but mine (a large group of really wonderful people) is to me.
What's more, I have an affinity for my home and would like to make it a better place. Not just so I'm better off, but so all of us can be.
That said, I've done quite a bit of traveling around the US and around the world. There are many countries which have wonderful places to live. There are many places in the US (and other countries) that are horrible places to live. I may well move out of the US, but it won't be without reservation. Sure, I can always come back, but I have a rent stabilized [nyc.gov] lease that has me paying half what my neighbors do, in one of the most expensive (and fabulous -- you should come visit) places on the planet.
In any case, I appreciate your point of view, and if I didn't concur in some respects, I wouldn't even be considering moving out of the US.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday May 28 2019, @12:59AM
You're quite right. I'm not that close to my family, although we get on fine, we're just different people really.
I have been to New York, and you're right, it's an amazing place.
As that great philosopher Huey Lewis once asked: "Where else can you do half a million things, all at a quarter to two?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @01:46AM (9 children)
Rent controls are fail and Ireland has a dipshit, globalist taoiseach that makes de Blasio look sane. Consider moving to a red state instead.
(Score: 4, Funny) by NotSanguine on Tuesday May 28 2019, @02:35AM (8 children)
I'd rather have my tonsils extracted through my ears. Mostly because of people like you.
I've traveled all over the US and have lived in a bunch of red states. About the only thing you have going for you is Waffle House, and that's not nearly enough.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @03:21AM
I've lived in red states (TX, MO, AK) and blue states (CA, NY and briefly in WA).
Go to a party in a blue state, "What do you do?" is the question. In the red state, "Who do you work for?"
The difference is subtle but reveals a lot.
Blue states were absolutely fabulous, IF you have a lot of money to throw around. Red states are fabulous if you value your space and cheap food.
It's ironic to the core.
Something is seriously fucked up in this country.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 28 2019, @06:09AM (4 children)
Not agreeing or disagreeing - but that's a helluva funny line!!
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday May 28 2019, @07:29AM
Smothered and covered, motherfucker! :)
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday May 28 2019, @07:44AM (2 children)
Oh, wait. Were you talking about the tonsils and not Waffle House?
I can't take credit for the bit about the tonsils. That's JMS [wikipedia.org] all the way.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 28 2019, @09:23AM (1 child)
Smother and cover the tonsils, and we're all set, LOL! You can't take some damned Polski seriously, can you? 'Specially one from Newark. WTF ever came out of Newark?
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday May 28 2019, @05:32PM
The next president of these younited states, Cory Booker.
Oh, and you're welcome.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 28 2019, @10:17AM (1 child)
Man, you're seriously underrating the Waffle House.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @12:10PM
> seriously underrating the Waffle House.
Never been to one. A quick Goog suggests that they don't serve real butter or real maple syrup.
Without those ingredients, there's no point in even considering a waffle/pancake restaurant.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday May 27 2019, @09:21PM (3 children)
Um... You're not supposed to get one at all unless you either earn one by increasing your value to the company or it's a reasonably expected regular cost-of-living raise once every year to three years. If you didn't get the latter you have reason to bitch and should do so but people don't merit a raise just for existing.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 28 2019, @06:21AM (2 children)
*sigh*
Disagree. Whatever happened to lengevity raises? It was once recognized that unless a guy is a complete idiot, he will get better at his job as he continues to perform that job. I see people being hired at minimum wage, and five years later, he's still making minimum wage. WTF? And, forget about promotions to higher paid positions. Unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labor are locked in place, while management "recruits" from their circle of family and friends. Craftsmen have it little better - we aren't welcome in the ranks of management, despite the fact that we are often times better qualified to manage than the idiots brought in.
The labor pool is being openly exploited, as near as I can see. Management is doing an end run around most of the gains that labor made in the last century, and labor is powerless to stop it.
And, reminder: I am most certainly NOT a union man! I don't WANT to see unions regain all the power they have lost. I just hate seeing the working man screwed over so badly.
(Score: 1, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 28 2019, @10:23AM (1 child)
I thought I covered that with "unless you either earn one by increasing your value to the company...". Getting better at your job is part of that but it's not worth a raise if it's not noticeable.
Labor didn't make any gains in the last century. It in fact became astoundingly less willing to work. Most improvements in a clock-punching laborer's ability to produce are entirely down to management. They made the decisions that increased productivity, labor just showed up and did what they were told.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 28 2019, @10:52AM
You may have covered "unless you either earn one by increasing your value to the company", but the corporations aren't covering that today. I see management regarding workers as plug and play - you plug them in, if they work, fine, if not throw them away, and try another. I do NOT see longevity raises. If anything, when a worker does contribute something above and beyond, I see some cockbiter in junior management taking full credit, and doing his best to discredit the worker who has made a contribution.
May I suggest that you re-read Upton Sinclair's 'Jungle'? Labor made enormous strides in the first half of the last century. Unfortunately, like any other base of power, they accumulated too much power, and eventually became as corrupt as the corporations they were fighting. Insert something something Neitsche here, as you gaze into the abyss.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by krishnoid on Monday May 27 2019, @11:38PM (2 children)
If you're the millenial on this site, you're also the Facebook generation, and those following you are growing this pool. A lot of the oligarchies are significantly backdated in their technology use, meaning any communication they do, you and your cohort (and those coming of voting age every year) can do two orders of magnitude faster, and hopefully with a more peer-to-peer mentality. My take is that everyone in your cohort needs to internalize that:
You and your cohort have the tools to argue these perspectives faster than any Gen-Xers or older could have dreamed possible. Just don't conflate speed and quantity of argument with measurable progress towards a goal. Hopefully this provides a way to serve your cohort's interests without using guillotine use. It's messy, requires maintenance, and doesn't scale as well.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday May 28 2019, @12:45AM (1 child)
Facebook doesn't have anything that we didn't have decades ago on other platforms. Most of the functionality and format were already there with the BBSes, actually. As a popular, readily usable form Yahoo Groups had that in the 90's. The one thing that Facebook did better was its recruitment mechanism. That's it.
Also, when you're talking about oligarchs they don't really give a crap about the specifics. They have guys for that. What they have are real interests, you know, oil wells and shipping companies and telecoms, the stuff that you depend on unwittingly every day of your life. If they perceive a threat to those interests, they make a phone call to a fixer, who subcontracts to subject matter experts, and they do the necessary. All the oligarchs need to be to stay on top is utterly ruthless, and they are.
Here's the reality: you're not going to fix the system by using the system. The oligarchs own that system top to bottom. If you win a political office or two, they tie you down with the legal system. If you win in the legal system, they buy companies who bribe the politicians who change the rules of the game, and they win again.
Things do change when political upheaval breaks out, or when technological change happens faster than the oligarchs can, or want to, change. Napster caught the Recording Industry unawares, but we have all seen how they were able to use the courts and the politicians to try to throw enough sand in the gears of change to survive. More dramatically, digital cameras utterly killed Fuji Film and Kodak. But those opportunities don't come along every day, and are not easy to predict. Sadly, many of the chances to disrupt the status quo are short-circuited because their agents decide they want to be rich more than they want to change the world.
So that's my takeaway: change the world, or get rich. When the moment of decision arrives, will you choose to become just another rich asshole, or make the world a better place (even if it wins you no fame)?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @08:43AM
Come on, admit it. Geocities was so fabulous it was disruptive.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 28 2019, @11:25AM
The death penalty is universally unethical, even for the idle rich. Everything you are talking about can be done by simply limiting wealth and limiting capitalism, and with debt jubilees and a 9x% tax on inheritance over one years salary. Anything resulting in a complete collapse would end up looking more like the walking dead or worse, will only result in a new hierarchy that is essentially the same.
We need an evolved system, not a historical replay from the battle of hastings.
Even writing what you just did is enough to get you flagged as a potential leader of a movement and you will encounter in your future very friendly people who really want to be part of your life, and they will be undercover fbi agents and they will undermine everything you do, all of your relationships, your work, your finances your family.
Things are the way they are because they have been doing this to every potential leadership element not born into the upper classes and thus controllable, likely for over a century, but now they are getting precise.
The united states is not what you think it is, the fbi is not what you think it is. A military regime rules the united states and what you see as a government is kabuki theater. Israel has the pentagon over a barrel and is giving the orders so they can expand their territory, not unlike the 3rd reich(exactly like the 3rd reich), the united states is a client state. Their wargames and other simulations REQUIRE that no one rock the boat at any cost so that soldiers and bombs are shipped into theater on schedule and hedge funds can maintain 7% growth(to pay on their debts...)
That I survived so long to tell you this is a miracle I have worked, but I write this from outside of the united states and this still puts me at risk.
It's down to a science, look up zersetzung.
With this information, improve as much as you can but first do no harm.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday May 29 2019, @12:12PM
One of the weird things I often see is this insistence that health care benefits, especially at the inflated levels present in the US, is somehow more valuable than solid investments. Sure, there's potential for some preventative and emergency care whose benefits can last a lifetime. But we already know US health care is grossly inflated and the benefits can go away at any time. Meanwhile "solid investments" are much more likely to stick around.
I don't think retirement as portrayed in myth is actually that good an idea in the first place. But sounds to me like you could be doing more for your future rather than your present even in today's relatively weak economy.