70% of Millennials Are Living Paycheck to Paycheck: Survey:
Millennials' wallets are rather skimpy.
Seventy percent of the generation said they're living paycheck to paycheck, according to a survey by PYMNTS and LendingClub, which analyzed economic data and census-balanced surveys of over 28,000 Americans. It found that about 54% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, but millennials had the biggest broke energy.
By contrast, 40% of baby boomers and seniors said they live paycheck to paycheck, the least of any generation. Living paycheck to paycheck reflects economic needs and wants just as much, if not more than, incomes or wealth levels, according to the report. Age and family status also factor in greatly. This explains why millennials, who turn ages 25 to 40 this year, are struggling.
[...] It doesn't help that millennials have faced one economic challenge after another since the oldest of them graduated into the dismal job market of the 2008 financial crisis. A dozen years later, many are still grappling with the lingering effects of The Great Recession, struggling to build wealth while trying to afford soaring costs for things like housing and healthcare and shouldering the lion's share of America's student-loan debt.
The pandemic threw yet another wrench into their plans by giving them their second recession and second housing crisis before the age of 40. The report acknowledges that the pandemic played a major role in that stretched thin feeling.
[...] It seems, then, that it's a combination of external economic circumstances, a precarious life stage, and some spending habits that are leaving millennials feeling strapped for cash.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @05:53AM (13 children)
Wait until CLOT SHOTS really start killing those DUMB enough to take one when FLU SEASON kicks in Oct-March or so!
I hate to say it, but it makes you PITY THEM for being SO f'ing dumb!
Pure SUICDE like "DeathMonkey" suicided himself vs. me ASKING FOR IT here lol https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45162&page=1&cid=1182286#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
Especially vs. a COMMON-COLD being put out as some "plague" when they CAN'T SHOW YOU A "COVID 19 VIRUS" under an electron microscope!
When THE PCR TEST was invalidated! Especially by Kary Mullis the INVENTOR of it stating it proves nothing when it is turned up past iirc 24 cycles, which it WAS, to create FALSE POSITIVE results that ROPED DOPES IN for the next point:
When the WHO changes the DEFINITION of "pandemic" from NUMBER OF DEATHS vs. NUMBER OF CASES to make a herd stampede in panic (herd of stupid sheeple).
Please: ENJOY your periocarditis, myocarditis, brain aneurisms or lung CLOTS if not cancer or sterility from your "FINE VACCINE" (which doesn't even WORK, lol - except to tune you into RADIO STATION "WKILL", lol - can't happen soon enough & it will soon, bank on it).
* They KEEP "downmodding" this post, but I just put it up again, lmao as I do - there is NO STOPPING FACT or me, get used to it, losers.
EVERYONE knows it: Even the "DemonRATS" who were proven to have CHEATED in Maricopa county Arizona - all "their kind" KNOW how to do is cheat, lie, steal (& produce zero with their do-nothing TROLL LEACH LIVES).
Nicest part of it though? It shows & they fool NOBODY but themselves - Satan's LITTLE PAWNS, & nothing more.
APK
P.S.=> SOCKPUPPETEERING DEMONRATS DELUDING THEMSELVES attempting to "FOOL" others, only FOOLING THEMSELVES? SOYLENT NEWS' OWN moderators/admins here KNOW it goes on, big write up here on it in fact https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/08/19/0211237 [soylentnews.org] on downmod bombing opponents/upmodding their many sockpuppet accounts etc. who "downmod bomb" others when they are BLOWN AWAY by FACTS - you know - like Ivermectin is a solution that not only works but was AWARDED & noted as such since the mid 1990's for HUMAN BEINGS TOO iirc)... apk
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:01AM (2 children)
Hee hee Let's see how many posts you can make before being locked out again.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:12AM (1 child)
you must be new here or to slashdot. There is no way to stop APK on a rampage. Why should we? He only states facts covid sockpuppet cuck clucks can't beat https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45187&page=1&cid=1182630#commentwrap [soylentnews.org] you piss him off? Every page of every article will be fllooded by him in seconds by autoposting bot.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:30AM
We'll see what happens by tomorrow. Soylent should be able to catch this stuff by now.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Subsentient on Wednesday September 29 2021, @08:08AM (1 child)
Ahh, good to see some nice extensive trolling going on again, this time with a heaping serving of mental illness on the side. Keeps life interesting.
APK, you're crazier than a shithouse rat, and that's coming from me.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @09:02AM
It's not APK's fault you took a covid clotshot dummy! Don't quote HEINLEIN either. APK renshawed you Thorby Baslim https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45187&page=1&cid=1182623#commentwrap [soylentnews.org] "APK:Straight outta compton" pure & even though you have 2 severe deficiencies - BALLS & brains & per the DooRs & Jim Morrison APK's got YOUR WORLD, wrapped up, inside a plastic box: WHY? See subject line above! APK' = Crazy like a "20th Century Fox" & you WISH you were him. Admit it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @02:29PM
I would like to apologize for my AC brethren here.
It seems he has been off his meds and reading conspiracy theories again.
I fear it wont be long before he's saying we didn't land on the moon and that trickle down actually works.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @04:37PM (5 children)
The injustice here is that loser boomers like APK seem to have enough accumulated wealth in their families to scrape by, but millennials are stuck under mounds of debt and face an uphill battle.
Case in point, APK hasn't worked in over a decade. But he got a house from his daddy as a gift and bought it for $1. APK didn't earn that house, nor has he earned the money that he's using to financially support himself. APK doesn't have a job and he's not making useful contributions to society. He spends his life sitting in his $1 house, raging against the world because he thinks he's the victim of massive injustices. In reality, the system has allowed him to mooch of accumulated wealth from his parents and perhaps earlier generations.
Meanwhile, millennials who actually work hard and want to be successful are stuck under mounds of debt and worse job prospects. In the past, a person could stay with a company for a couple of decades, earn promotions, and work their way up the ladder to high paying jobs. That's mostly a thing of the past. Now, if you want to get ahead, you probably have to apply for other jobs and move around to other companies. That also carries significant risk, if your current employer wants to retaliate against you. Entry level jobs often require college degrees whether the degrees are actually necessary to do the job. Getting a degree often requires incurring massive amounts of debt as college becomes increasingly expensive. In other words, millennials are entering the workforce already under massive amounts of debt. Adding the financial instability right now and the Great Recession further sets back millennials.
We could solve these problems and make society more equitable. And by equitable, I mean that people get ahead for hard work, being good at their jobs, and doing useful jobs. We could do things like cancelling federal student loans and making college free. It makes sense because a college degree is now required for many jobs, whereas a high school diploma was the standard in the past and high school was free. If a college degree is generally required, then make college free, and cancel the student loan debt for those who have already gone to college.
None of this will happen, though. Boomers like APK tend to be conservative and staunchly oppose things like cancelling student loan debt. Those whose families have accumulated wealth can avoid going into debt to begin with, giving them an advantage. It's not because they earned the advantage, but because they come from wealthy families. Right wingers like APK and others who have accumulated wealth take the position that they have what they want, so forget about everyone else. They block proposals that could make the system fairer and provide equal opportunity. It's because they're greedy and selfish.
It's wrong that APK can afford to spend his life sitting in his $1 house, angrily spamming websites nonstop, while millennials who work hard are living paycheck to paycheck.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:11PM (1 child)
Very true, human greed keeps sending us on a cyclical journey through history. We keep getting self-important sociopaths that think they can control humanity, bend the human machine to their will, and then they create a culture of greed to rope others into helping them dominate. Eventually things get so bad that the peons rebel and lots of people die.
Why can't greedy aholes just be happy being rich instead of world destroying wealthy?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @09:03PM
Why? Because you lazy peons refuse to accept that the rich are better than you are. Stop ruining everything by complaining and get back in the kitchen.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @09:50PM (1 child)
I'm retired & close to 60 yrs. of age is why & I worked for decades as a Software Engineer/Programmer Analyst (in the Fortune 500 @ times) & before that as a Network Admin & field tech before it while in school so quit TRYING to "put me down" w/ LIES loser - you shot your shitbag LIAR mouth off LIBELING me only to have me BLOW YOU AWAY for it, not that a SLINKING CREEP like YOU cares since you HIDE BEHIND AC POSTS & don't ID yourself - believe me, IF I met you in person, I swear to CHRIST I'd BUST YOUR TEETH OUT for your bs bitch!
I did not get it as a "gift" or FREE, I did pay for it (you'll NEVER KNOW how much, lol but it was a good deal + I knew the place for decades & worked on it, solid shape) & have spent what it was initially worth (maybe 50k) easily on it since I got it & that's in HOME IMPROVEMENTS (nevermind F'ing NY property taxes, some of the highest in the nation, outrageous by comparison to other places (like 4x more)).
Chump, I earned it & have IMPROVED IT - so DO YOU OWN YOUR OWN HOME bitch?
I asked you that repeatedly in the link in my p.s. below and YOU RAN - you are a worthless little JEALOUS creep imo & I am SURE that of others who replied to you judging that after reading them, lol
WTF? Are you NUTS?? Read my 1st response above to you: I made a LOT OF MONEY in a near 24++ yr. career in computing professionally in the capacties & titles I wrote above you F'ing LIAR piece of jealous shit & I earned the 2 degrees I have (MIS & CS) before that PAYING OUT THE NOSE for both (to the tune of what would be whatever 18k U.S. Dollars is today since that was my student loan debt (my guess in today's money? Around 50-125k??).
Actually I'm a VERY HAPPY GUY - bills are paid, I have what I need in "toys" & properties - too bad YOU AREN'T, clearly, based on your "MILLENIAL CRYING", lol - life's NOT FAIR cunt: Get used to it & prepare in your youth via skills &/or EDUCATION of somekind that's called for in today's world vs. CRYING like you!
Mooch? I've only received $400 from a death of my grandmother in 1995 or so & THAT is all period (my family is poor to middleclass overseas immigrants that migrated here in the 50's - 60's NOT RICH FOLKS, but earned their monies by working for others over decades) - that's NOT a lot of money, liar.
I can be honest here - you can't - not even with yourself.
APK
P.S.=> NOW for the FUNNIEST PART: The dimwit above also tried to "shame me" & FUCKED UP BIG here https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45162&page=1&cid=1182494#commentwrap [soylentnews.org] with bs? Actually MADE ME another $50 on a tax break I never got a check for - I dealt w/ it in Dec 2021 w/ my city's tax bureau, had it taken care of (for $57) & lien removed BUT THE COUNTY WEBSITE is "stale data" (for F'ing 11 months now? Please - they are NOT linking up their sites to the mainframe, which IS DOABLE via middlewares for it, I spent a career largely doing that to IBM midranges like OS/400 on AS400) & will be corrected in 7-10 days from now BUT again, they found an ERROR on THEIR END & I was credited w/ a $50 CHECK being sent to me no less SO THANKS TROLL - you ACTUALLY DID ME A FAVOR stupid (in trying to "shame me" you got me to look & voila, you GOT ME PAID, lol - I love it)... apk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @06:08PM
See my subject line above & what I stated on stale data the troll scumbag I am trashing above in the p.s. in the post I am replying to & THIS https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45162&page=1&cid=1183139#commentwrap [soylentnews.org] clearing MY GOOD NAME as a GOOD USA CITIZEN doing my "civic duty" paying my taxes vs. that IMBECILE you "upmodded" here LYING and using STALE DATA lol (he did so by sockpuppets obviously for his "upmod", & your admins here KNOW YOU SWINE DO IT via sockpuppet accounts galore around here too as I've noted in my other posts as proof of that also) is in the crapper after that link!
Corrected in less than 1 day's time in MY FAVOR on multiple fronts! No way could I have done that in 1 day IF I had to pay - too much time in bank transfers & verifying on THEIR END as to my already having paid up or not (I did in Dec 2020), I already did & this is the proof!
* LMAO - NOT ONLY DID THAT MORON FAIL BADLY but additionally HE GOT ME PAID ANOTHER $50 for errors the county made in my favor in credits not being applied to me as well as correcting their stale data that made me look bad (& that the jealous little troll who is "attacking me" only to fall FLAT ON HIS FACE with now, as well my county now also getting a BETTER ARCHITECTURE FROM "yours truly" on HOW to keep their data up to date also from me...)
APK
P.S.=> Double BONUS & yes "The Lord works in MYSTERIOUS ways" in my favor vs. the scumbags around here (especially the jealous little "ne'er-do-well" others here are even telling to STFU since he projects he is a worthless failure and JEALOUS AS HELL of anyone that's successful in life)... apk
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @09:53PM
Chump I've done this on the SIDE of working in computers - PROVE YOU HAVE DONE BETTER:
Windows NT Magazine April 1997 "BACK OFFICE PERFORMANCE" pg 61
(For SuperSpeed.com PAID CONTRACT (wrote SuperCache 40% performance boost) & SuperDisk finalist @ MS Tech Ed 2x in a row 2000-2002 HARDEST CATEGORY: SQLServer Performance Enhancement)
WINDOWS MAGAZINE 1997 "Top Freeware & Shareware of the Year" issue pg 210 #1 entry
PC-WELT FEB 1998 pg 84
WINDOWS MAGAZINE, WINTER 1998 pg 92 MUST HAVE WARE
PC-WELT FEB 1999 - pg 83
CHIP Magazine 7/99 - pg 100
GERMAN PC BOOK Data Becker "PC Aufrusten und Repairen" 2000
HOT SHAREWARE #46 issue pg. 54 2001
Paid for article @ PCPitstop in 2008 http://pcpitstop.com/news/winners.asp [pcpitstop.com]
UltraDefrag64 Process Priority Control credited by lead devs of it in the programs credits section.
APK Hosts File Engine 10++ 32/64-bit is hosted & RECOMMENDED by Malwarebytes' hpHosts http://hosts-file.net/?s=Download [hosts-file.net]
* Each of which did well, even got me PAID w/ royalties for YEARS when my work was bought up by COMMERCIAL INTERESTS (by a certified MS partner) no less - have you?
APK
P.S.=> See my subject & PROVE you've done MORE, BETTER & EARLIER than I have you shitbag LIBELOUS lying little CUNT - you'll "Run, Forrest: RUN!!!" like the FAILURE crybaby you are... apk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @07:48PM
Someone forgot to take their Antipsychotics today
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @05:58AM (40 children)
Or are they nothing but a bunch of woke little snowflakes?
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:07AM (7 children)
The real question is what the fuck did boomers do that was productive?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:24AM (1 child)
Well,we tried to elect Bob Dole back in '96... woulda saved the country...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @04:21AM
Troll
I absolutely love watching you dumbass moderators waste your points. You sure are easy to trigger. C'mon! Show me some of that outrage!
(Score: 3, Touché) by Opportunist on Wednesday September 29 2021, @07:00AM (3 children)
Well... they produced Millenials...
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 29 2021, @03:36PM (2 children)
I love how they were the ones handing out all those participation trophies that are now the root of all evil.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @09:06PM
It was the boomers' idea to do that shit. Nobody over the age of 2 is fooled by a participation medal - what, you think kids don't know a piece of plastic handed to them out of a black trash bag is worthless? Yay I got a plastic trinket that doesn't do anything. The smart kids used them for target practice.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday September 30 2021, @12:32AM
They handed out participation trophies because they didn't want to deal with their disappointed kids. So everyone's a winner, that way the kid doesn't sulk and cry and be a nuisance.
Don't expect that anything coming from a boomer isn't for their own benefit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @09:54PM
They probably created you or created the people that created you.
But I do agree that the creation of you wasn't very productive.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:15AM (2 children)
Human fails the lot of them! APK proves it here https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45187&page=1&cid=1182630#commentwrap [soylentnews.org] as we await those dumbcuck COVID cuck clucks deaths.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @07:20AM (1 child)
Come to Daytona Beach, I think you need a real hug.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 30 2021, @06:45AM
It's too early to come to Daytona. Wait for all the bikers to get there first. Mid-October at the earliest, I think.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:22AM (17 children)
I don't want to deny the effects of crises on the affected people, but from my non-American perspective, Americans living paycheck to paycheck is the powerhorse of the American economy. Low savings rate, huge consumption, huge innovation to feed this consumption, huge economic growth.
The opposite is Japan, with low consumption, high savings rate, no growth.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Opportunist on Wednesday September 29 2021, @07:07AM (16 children)
Huge consumption is a has-been. That's not really here anymore. That's why the economy is as mediococre as it is. Americans did consume like crazy while they could. The problem is that they can't anymore.
Living paycheck to paycheck is ok and works as long as that paycheck is steady and reliable. That used to be the case for a lont time in US history. You could rely on having a paycheck for the foreseeable future, sure, shit happened but in general, as long as you didn't fuck up badly and got fired and your boss didn't fuck up badly and the company goes under, it was smooth sailing. That's simply no longer the case.
The US work situation was always hire and fire, and the workplace mobility of the average American sure was higher than in, say, Europe, where for the longest time working from apprenticeship to retirement for the same company was very common. And certainly higher than in Japan where the idea of the salaryman who considers his comapny his second, and maybe even often first, family, thrived. But working for years, even decades, for the same employer was common.
How many people do you know that can still say that?
Safety, especially social security, isn't there anymore. Living paycheck to paycheck is allright if you can rely on this next paycheck to be a given, but it's highly different when that next paycheck is a hopeful maybe, or even a worrying hopefully.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @07:43AM (1 child)
For a long time ending not that long ago if you saw someone that moved around employers, that was considered a red flag. Now if you see someone who hasn't switched employers, that is considered a red flag.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @11:56PM
> Now if you see someone who hasn't switched employers, that is considered a red flag.
Hey, I work for myself, you insensitive clod!!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by driverless on Wednesday September 29 2021, @08:20AM (12 children)
I have nieces and nephews who are millennials and they still consume like crazy even though they can't afford it. I realise I'm sounding like an old fart here but when you see a couple's plans that started as "save some money, put down a deposit on a house, get married, start a family" turn into "go on a trip to Europe, go on a cruise, start a family, buy a large-screen TV and new car and iPhones and laptops and ..., um, complain about how we don't have any money" then this tends to put a bit of a cap on the amount of sympathy I'm willing to extend. Had a Chinese boarder for awhile who had saved enough for a deposit on a house before he'd even left China, he worked all the hours in the day, didn't buy anything that wasn't absolutely necessary, and last time we talked owns two, possibly three by now, houses and is living comfortably for the cost of living a bit frugally in his 20s.
My neighbour was a financial planner who would go to families in debt and help them with their finances, she eventually gave up when she realised she was just wasting her time, she'd show them how they could live well within their means (do you really need a $100/month phone plan for every person in your family including your four kids, and a new iPhone for everyone every year?) and even have money left over to save for a house and they went straight back to throwing money around like it grew on trees ("of course the kids all need brand new iPhones, how else will they be able to call us to pick them up from school in the SUV we've just put a deposit on?").
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Wednesday September 29 2021, @02:11PM (2 children)
The problem is that it ain't sustainable. Total consumption used to be something we could do. From cradle to crave. Yes, we went out of this life with little in terms of savings, but hey, who gives a crap? People would spend, but their income would keep them afloat. Maybe barely, maybe comfortably, but they would get by and continue spending.
The problem is now that this ain't the case anymore. Your niece and nephew will eventually hit their credit limit, that is, the point when nobody will let them spend on more debt anymore. And that will affect more than your your niece's and nephew's comfort, because the economy is dependent on them being able to spend. if nobody spends money and consumes, then companies don't get money for their goods.
Our economy is fully dependent on peoples' ability to spend money. And we're desperately short on that kind of people. Not that people wouldn't want to keep our economy rolling. They'd love to. They just can't afford to anymore. And that creates a vicious cycle. Because fewer people spending money means less goods and services being requested meaning fewer goods and services being produced meaning fewer people being needed to produce those goods and services, meaning fewer people having jobs, meaning fewer people getting money from working, meaning fewer people having money to spend on goods and services, meaning fewer people spending money...
(Score: 4, Interesting) by driverless on Wednesday September 29 2021, @03:56PM (1 child)
They hit their credit limit a long time ago, and then depended on their parents for money. They've been insulated from financial reality, and having to take responsibility for things, for their entire lives.
Thing is, it is a lot harder now to make your way in life today, I'm not denying that. However, there are also an awful lot of people who expect to be able to live beyond their means because someone else will bail them out and/or because they've never had to consider not living beyond their means. When I was a kid, blah blah, 26 hours a day, blah blah, uphill both ways, blah blah, only the shirt on my back, blah blah.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @07:22PM
Agreed. There seem to have been several generations feeling entitled to literally mortgage their lifestyles onto the backs of subsequent generations, then throw their hands up and shed crocodile tears as they feign sympathy and can’t deny how much harder life is now as a direct consequence of their own avarice, then scold people for their financial state because of $2 avocados and $200 “big screen TVs.”
So, I really don’t blame younger generations for getting a bit of a case of the fuck-it’s when they should really be expressing an acute case of the fuck-yous.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @02:30PM (1 child)
I'm Gen X. I have five younger siblings, one other Gen X and four Milennials. The only ones with high end smart phones received them as gifts. All five use pay-as-you-go phone service. Only one has a gaming console, he got that as a gift. None have paid television service. None take vacations. None have SUVs or pickup trucks, none bought their car new, three have used cars with no payments. All four Millennials are living paycheck to paycheck, all five are buried in student loans.
I'm Gen X. I'm paying $90 per month for a combination of streaming services, $120 per month for family cell service, we have a Playstation, and my family members all have refurbished top-of-the-line smartphones. We have a 55 inch UHD TV that was $400 when we bought it. It sounds extravagant, doesn't it? Here's the thing: I spend over $1,500 a month on health care between insurance and copays. I spend $2,500 a month on the mortgage and utilities, and our house isn't that big. Ten years ago I was spending $1,500 a month on daycare. Twenty years ago I didn't have daycare costs but I was spending $800 a month on student loans. Now I'm not covering daycare or my student loans, but next year my oldest starts college.
So you can cut my streaming services, you can refund me the money for my family's phones and cancel our phone services, you can cancel my twice-a-month family dinner out, you can cancel my six family trips to the movies a year - and you're going to save me much less than a month of my regular living expenses. For the most part, it's not extravagance that's the problem. Health care, mortgages, and student loans are just too damn expensive. When my Boomer dad went to college he worked third shift in a factory and took classes during the day, and the factory income let him pay his own rent, pay cash for a new car, and pay cash for his tuition. Can you imagine doing that today? That's the difference between 1971 and 2021.
Now, vehicle purchases are different. People routinely overspend there. But if you read other headlines, Millennials aren't nearly the car fans that Gen X and Boomers are. People are calling it a cultural shift, but I guaran-fucking-tee it's not some change in interests and ideals. It's just the realization by most Millennials that after they pay the rent and the medical bills the only Mustangs and Escalades they can afford is in the Walmart toy section.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 29 2021, @03:43PM
Retirement planning: Millennials are stashing money away earlier than Gen Xers and Baby Boomers [usatoday.com]
Millennials Now Saving More Money Than Their Parents According to Zip [prnewswire.com]
Are Millennials the Greatest Generation of Savers? [synchronybank.com]
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 29 2021, @03:40PM (2 children)
Haha, cruises?????
If there's one thing I know about Millennials it's that they love being shoved into tiny quarters with a bunch of annoying kids, shitty buffet food and old people!
(Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday September 29 2021, @04:02PM (1 child)
It was around the Greek islands, AFAIK that's the standard way to see them, some tour package they booked.
My parents went on a cruise too before they got married: A thermos of tea on a ferry across the harbour. That's the difference between living within your means and living beyond your means.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @11:27AM
I wrote this elsewhere, but I have four younger brothers that are Millennials and entertainment - including smart phone payments, smart phone plans, streaming services, gaming services, trips to the movies, and coffee from coffee shops - take up less than $50 a month each for three of them and less than $100 a month for the fourth. Rent, health insurance, and student loan payments take about $2000 a month for each. They don't go on vacations, and didn't go on vacations before the pandemic. The ones that have high end smart phones got them as a gift.
So tell me how cutting out entertainment would solve their financial problems.
I know there are people spending money they don't have on vacations, or on a brand new pickup truck, or whatever. But there are millions of Millennials that are doing everything by the book, and then they have Gen X'ers and Boomers standing there and saying, "Back in my day, we walked uphill in the snow barefoot to school, both ways. If you just canceled your $8/month Netflix subscription and sold off that $400 TV, all your financial problems would be over, whippersnapper!" Aside from vacations, entertainment is far cheaper now relative to minimum wage than it was fifty years ago. Everything else has gotten more expensive, and for the most part that's what's burying Millennials. And telling someone up to their eyeballs in medical debt or student loan debt that cutting out the last things in life they enjoy is a pretty asshole thing to do.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:12PM
It's been a thing lately with stories about how Millennials don't want "stuff," but "experiences," [amazonaws.com] and go on to talk about taking a "sabbatical" year and traveling the world or whatever. I agree, it does cap the sympathy, especially for the ones who overtly let you know that they are not "consumertards" and eschew materialism, then complain about how they can't afford a house (especially when they've limited their searches exclusively to walkable to work, the barista, etc.).
(Score: 2) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Wednesday September 29 2021, @10:12PM (2 children)
So that happens over and over, but I wonder how common it is compared to the people who have nothing left after urban rents, copays, and student loan payments.
(Score: 2) by SunTzuWarmaster on Thursday September 30 2021, @03:15PM (1 child)
Thus far - in my life - I legit know mmaayybbee one millennial where the wounds were not self-inflicted. I'm a millennial (technically, on the edge). I had roommates - because, like, rents' high, bro. Division works. Just go ahead and suggest the idea of roommates to a crowd of young-people. Suggest eating 0 meals outside of the home for a week. Go ahead. They backlash at it SO HARD it makes my head spin.
...and I keep coming from the "and I am a millennial and I did these things" perspective. You want the real hate? Be older and watch the media-brainwashing-anti-boomer-rhetoric set in. Nevermind that almost all boomers had roommates. Nevermind that most of their parents didn't have their own bedroom growing up. No no no - the boomers had it nice and cozy and were buying whole houses for themselves at 18 with some trade-job or something?
The good news is that the Zoomers, after watching the millenials fuck it all up, got a freaking clue. They are savvy with their money and time and looking to make good bets on their future.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @04:50PM
>Muh anecdotes about a nonsensical construct
Yeah, yeah... I lived in an unfinished basement to save up enough cash to pay for college outright and then some emergency funds on top. My friend is doing the same right now, sans college. Two other friends are living with their parents as well. We're all millennials.
The real fuckin' problem is the "American Dream" bullshit. Multigenerational households are the solution. This shit where you've got everybody running about trying to buy a fucking house but there's only enough to satisfy a fraction of the demand... Well that doesn't bode well. Of course thanks to the "American Dream" shit, none of the fucking houses built are suitable by default so that's nice. When and where they are, the costs are so exorbitant it's improbable for any working class schmuck to even consider, or be considered for the purchase with a small handful of exceptions. In the rare case you can find something tenable it's in an economically despairing locale. So you're left to the sharp teeth of the rentier, and they'll bleed you dry. But that's capitalism, you've gotta generate passive income for the idle wealthy minority so they can laze about playing golf and patting themselves on the backs, and patting the backs of their cohort for "added value" which is ultimately extracted from the reduced quality of life of the people which are their victims.
It worked for a momentary little blip, but it was such a visible, such an exploitable system - once the teeth were set in the parasite was as good as burrowed. Now you choose usury or poverty, play at lottery odds for sustainability in any meaningful sense, and if you're defined as a winner you're made to be a loser by systemic oppression until you reach the highest echelon of society, at odds with all probability, where your strata is so far above the others that the rule of the land is no longer applicable and all the worries of the mortal flesh, and the chains that bind are effaced as you soar above the deplorables.
"We may say, by the way, that success is a hideous thing. Its counterfeit of merit deceives men. To the mass, success has almost the same appearance as supremacy. Success, that pretender to talent, has a dupe,—history. Juvenal and Tacitus only reject it. In our days, a philosophy which is almost an official has entered into its service, wears its livery, and waits in its antechamber. Success; that is the theory. Prosperity supposes capacity. Win in the lottery, and you are an able man. The victor is venerated. To be born with a caul is everything. Have but luck, and you will have the rest; be fortunate, and you will be thought great. Beyond the five or six great exceptions, which are the wonder of their age, contemporary admiration is nothing but shortsightedness. Gilt is gold. To be a chance comer is no drawback, provided you have improved your chances. The common herd is an old Narcissus, who adores himself, and who applauds the common. That mighty genius, by which one becomes a Moses, an Æschylus, a Dante, a Michael Angelo, or a Napoleon, the multitude assigns at once and by acclamation to whoever succeeds in his object, whatever it may be, Let a notary rise to be a deputy; let a sham Corneille write Tiridate; let a eunuch come into the possession of a harem; let a military Prudhomme accidentally win the decisive battle of an epoch, let an apothecary invent pasteboard soles for army shoes, and lay up, by selling this pasteboard instead of leather for the army of the Sambre-et-Meuse, four hundred thousand livres in the funds; let a pack-pedlar espouse usury and bring her to bed of seven or eight millions, of which he is the father and she the mother; let a preacher become a bishop by talking through his nose; let the steward of a good house become so rich on leaving service that he is made Minister of Finance;—men call that Genius, just as they call the face of Mousqueton, Beauty, and the bearing of Claude, Majesty. They confound the radiance of the stars of heaven with the radiations which a duck’s foot leaves in the mud."
-Victor Hugo, Les Miserables
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 30 2021, @06:49AM
Define "long time". 60 years? 80? Even at the height of the union days, it wasn't the case for the majority. Union jobs are great, if you can get one. Even in a strong union city or state, non-union workers outnumberd union workers, probably 2 or 3 to one. Meanwhile, right to work states didn't reap union benefits.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Opportunist on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:58AM (10 children)
Depends. You got a job for them? And I don't mean Uber driver, I mean a job where their expense is more than covered by the money you pay them.
I'm a boomer. Ok, I'm a Gen-X, but I'm older. I got lucky. I got a job. Back when it was still possible to get one that pays the bills. Now I am older, have experience, am good in what I do and what I do is highly wanted in the job market. I tell you what you pay me, and you're glad that I graciously allow you to pay me for my illustrous presence. But that's me. That's not the 25 year old who just managed to get his degree, has a higher debt around his neck than he can ever hope to pay back and who has zero work experience.
Yes, special snowflake Millenials exist. The gender studies majors who now lament how The Man (both government and the patriarchy, which is the same anyway, ain't it) keeps them down and doesn't give them a cushy 200k a year job for producing expensive pipe dreams. Just like the "just get a job" boomers (like, say, you) exist who know fuck all about the problem the current job market has for young people.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @07:40AM (9 children)
Whenever I would catch up with my one of my neighbors after her oldest grandkid graduated from college, she always complained about how he was stuck in the basement applying for jobs online instead of "pounding the pavement" to get one (Incidentally, after he got one she complained how it isn't a real job despite paying six figures to sit there and "clickity-klack" on a keyboard). She got laid off about one year later (before 2020) and the first thing she said to me the first time she saw me was "{major_company} blackballed me because I went to get a job in person! And {different_company} shooed me out the door and told me to apply online! Can you believe that!? And then you apply online to all these places and hear nothing back." Took all my restraint not to laugh in her face.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Opportunist on Wednesday September 29 2021, @11:51AM (8 children)
Why restrain yourself? Your neighbor is a moron and finally got a healthy dose of reality check. Welcome to the real world of today, it's not the world of the 1950s.
(Score: 4, Informative) by EEMac on Wednesday September 29 2021, @02:11PM (2 children)
One of our (elderly, retired) neighbors told us how she started with a degree in chemistry. Right after she graduated, she happened to be in {random company} for unrelated reasons, chatted with the CEO-equivalent, and got hired as a computer programmer making 3x a living wage even though she'd barely worked with computers before.
I graduated with an engineering degree. The college held a job fair, usually had 40-60 companies eager to hire. NO companies bothered to show up that year. Resumes sent out just got "we're in a hiring freeze, sorry."
You try not to take this stuff personally . . .
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday September 30 2021, @12:30AM (1 child)
Like I said, I was insanely lucky with my career life. But I wouldn't expect this to be the norm, I would actually consider it akin to a lottery jackpot. How people who were similarly lucky can be blind to how hard it is for others is kinda weird.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @10:01PM
His 'big break' was Intel in the 80s, who were hiring everyone they could for a few facility they were opening. He happened to graduate with an Associate's Degree, that just so happened to be in a skill they needed. He ended up getting unofficially scouted by 5-10 departments all trying to fill up positions so when the facility went online they could have 'full staffing'. He ended up spending 2 years burning through his savings renting in Silicon Valley to make sure he had that job when the other facility opened. Spent 15 years there before burning out with a tidy amount of stock options (which were then clipped by the dotcom crash and the sudden rise in health care costs... ~25k or more for a family of 4 by 2002 or so. Not including doctors visits, lab fees, etc which were 100-300 per visit.
He was also very much about 'working your way up by your own bootstraps' which worked out badly for me. I couldn't find anywhere that wanted to hire me as a teenager without a social 'in' (every kid who had a high school job knew someone who vouched for them, or a family member to get them an in) Then college was a combination of scheduling issues, nobody hiring, or everyone wanting employees who was a narc/corporate drone (I'd been advised not to let people have your SSN in the years prior to everyone demanding it due to identity theft concerns, slowly my values didn't match the reality of the job market, which wanted simpering toadies or ideologues for whatever kind of business it was. None of them were offering health benefits below 1-2 years with the company or working your way up to management level. Few offered more than a quarter increase in pay after a month or more, meaning switching jobs was a much faster way to pay increases than staying with a company (and these were formerly 'old' companies that used to have a good reputation, or franchisees thereof.) Some of these pay deficits have been remedied, some of the companies went out of business, and some are still crufting along at the bare minimums they can get away paying. But as for the millenials, of the ones I know the only ones with houses either recieved them from the premature death of parents, got lucky with an early 6 figure job, or barely managed to eke it out in thir 30s, between a six figure job and family assistance.
Me? I'm back living with my parents, may have a few out of town options once covid lifts, but otherwise am stuck working shit jobs because I never found that connect to get me in a good door (and the few attempts I had were all with persons or companies that were playing fast and loose with their legally required responsibilities, often dumping as much of that as they could on their bottom tier employees. I wasn't getting paid enough to keep rolling those dice, and being the quiet and 'dumb' looking type I heard enough or handled enough paperwork to know just how much better those places could have been paying their employees to shoulder that risk, but since they weren't, I just moved on until the jobs dried up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @10:26PM (4 children)
Staying on the good side of busybodies is usually a good idea so they don't decide to make you the target of their ill intent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @12:26AM
The entirety of the Republican party shows that to be a lie, being nice to busybodies doesn't help.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday September 30 2021, @12:35AM (2 children)
Sorry, putting up with idiots is what got us the flat earth morons and the covidiots. It's time we start smacking them down while they're still testing the waters.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @06:53AM (1 child)
You've obviously never had a vengeful neighbor. They can do a lot more damage to you than the flat earth morons and the covidiots.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday September 30 2021, @02:50PM
I am the vengeful neighbor, you insensitive clod!
But no, I haven't. In the areas where I live, annoying busybodies get priced out pretty quickly.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:03AM
Wait until CLOT SHOTS really start killing those DUMB enough to take one when FLU SEASON kicks in Oct-March or so!
I hate to say it, but it makes you PITY THEM for being SO f'ing dumb!
Pure SUICDE like "DeathMonkey" suicided himself vs. me ASKING FOR IT here lol https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45162&page=1&cid=1182286#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
Especially vs. a COMMON-COLD being put out as some "plague" when they CAN'T SHOW YOU A "COVID 19 VIRUS" under an electron microscope!
When THE PCR TEST was invalidated! Especially by Kary Mullis the INVENTOR of it stating it proves nothing when it is turned up past iirc 24 cycles, which it WAS, to create FALSE POSITIVE results that ROPED DOPES IN for the next point:
When the WHO changes the DEFINITION of "pandemic" from NUMBER OF DEATHS vs. NUMBER OF CASES to make a herd stampede in panic (herd of stupid sheeple).
Please: ENJOY your periocarditis, myocarditis, brain aneurisms or lung CLOTS if not cancer or sterility from your "FINE VACCINE" (which doesn't even WORK, lol - except to tune you into RADIO STATION "WKILL", lol - can't happen soon enough & it will soon, bank on it).
* They KEEP "downmodding" this post, but I just put it up again, lmao as I do - there is NO STOPPING FACT or me, get used to it, losers.
EVERYONE knows it: Even the "DemonRATS" who were proven to have CHEATED in Maricopa county Arizona - all "their kind" KNOW how to do is cheat, lie, steal (& produce zero with their do-nothing TROLL LEACH LIVES).
Nicest part of it though? It shows & they fool NOBODY but themselves - Satan's LITTLE PAWNS, & nothing more.
APK
P.S.=> SOCKPUPPETEERING DEMONRATS DELUDING THEMSELVES attempting to "FOOL" others, only FOOLING THEMSELVES? SOYLENT NEWS' OWN moderators/admins here KNOW it goes on, big write up here on it in fact https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/08/19/0211237 [soylentnews.org] on downmod bombing opponents/upmodding their many sockpuppet accounts etc. who "downmod bomb" others when they are BLOWN AWAY by FACTS - you know - like Ivermectin is a solution that not only works but was AWARDED & noted as such since the mid 1990's for HUMAN BEINGS TOO iirc)... apk
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:07AM
Wait until CLOT SHOTS really start killing those DUMB enough to take one when FLU SEASON kicks in Oct-March or so!
I hate to say it, but it makes you PITY THEM for being SO f'ing dumb!
Pure SUICDE like "DeathMonkey" suicided himself vs. me ASKING FOR IT here lol https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45162&page=1&cid=1182286#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
Especially vs. a COMMON-COLD being put out as some "plague" when they CAN'T SHOW YOU A "COVID 19 VIRUS" under an electron microscope!
When THE PCR TEST was invalidated! Especially by Kary Mullis the INVENTOR of it stating it proves nothing when it is turned up past iirc 24 cycles, which it WAS, to create FALSE POSITIVE results that ROPED DOPES IN for the next point:
When the WHO changes the DEFINITION of "pandemic" from NUMBER OF DEATHS vs. NUMBER OF CASES to make a herd stampede in panic (herd of stupid sheeple).
Please: ENJOY your periocarditis, myocarditis, brain aneurisms or lung CLOTS if not cancer or sterility from your "FINE VACCINE" (which doesn't even WORK, lol - except to tune you into RADIO STATION "WKILL", lol - can't happen soon enough & it will soon, bank on it).
* They KEEP "downmodding" this post, but I just put it up again, lmao as I do - there is NO STOPPING FACT or me, get used to it, losers.
EVERYONE knows it: Even the "DemonRATS" who were proven to have CHEATED in Maricopa county Arizona - all "their kind" KNOW how to do is cheat, lie, steal (& produce zero with their do-nothing TROLL LEACH LIVES).
Nicest part of it though? It shows & they fool NOBODY but themselves - Satan's LITTLE PAWNS, & nothing more.
APK
P.S.=> SOCKPUPPETEERING DEMONRATS DELUDING THEMSELVES attempting to "FOOL" others, only FOOLING THEMSELVES? SOYLENT NEWS' OWN moderators/admins here KNOW it goes on, big write up here on it in fact https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/08/19/0211237 [soylentnews.org] on downmod bombing opponents/upmodding their many sockpuppet accounts etc. who "downmod bomb" others when they are BLOWN AWAY by FACTS - you know - like Ivermectin is a solution that not only works but was AWARDED & noted as such since the mid 1990's for HUMAN BEINGS TOO iirc)... apk
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:17AM (1 child)
Wait until CLOT SHOTS really start killing those DUMB enough to take one when FLU SEASON kicks in Oct-March or so!
I hate to say it, but it makes you PITY THEM for being SO f'ing dumb!
Pure SUICDE like "DeathMonkey" suicided himself vs. me ASKING FOR IT here lol https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45162&page=1&cid=1182286#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
Especially vs. a COMMON-COLD being put out as some "plague" when they CAN'T SHOW YOU A "COVID 19 VIRUS" under an electron microscope!
When THE PCR TEST was invalidated! Especially by Kary Mullis the INVENTOR of it stating it proves nothing when it is turned up past iirc 24 cycles, which it WAS, to create FALSE POSITIVE results that ROPED DOPES IN for the next point:
When the WHO changes the DEFINITION of "pandemic" from NUMBER OF DEATHS vs. NUMBER OF CASES to make a herd stampede in panic (herd of stupid sheeple).
Please: ENJOY your periocarditis, myocarditis, brain aneurisms or lung CLOTS if not cancer or sterility from your "FINE VACCINE" (which doesn't even WORK, lol - except to tune you into RADIO STATION "WKILL", lol - can't happen soon enough & it will soon, bank on it).
* They KEEP "downmodding" this post, but I just put it up again, lmao as I do - there is NO STOPPING FACT or me, get used to it, losers.
EVERYONE knows it: Even the "DemonRATS" who were proven to have CHEATED in Maricopa county Arizona - all "their kind" KNOW how to do is cheat, lie, steal (& produce zero with their do-nothing TROLL LEACH LIVES).
Nicest part of it though? It shows & they fool NOBODY but themselves - Satan's LITTLE PAWNS, & nothing more.
APK
P.S.=> SOCKPUPPETEERING DEMONRATS DELUDING THEMSELVES attempting to "FOOL" others, only FOOLING THEMSELVES? SOYLENT NEWS' OWN moderators/admins here KNOW it goes on, big write up here on it in fact https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/08/19/0211237 [soylentnews.org] on downmod bombing opponents/upmodding their many sockpuppet accounts etc. who "downmod bomb" others when they are BLOWN AWAY by FACTS - you know - like Ivermectin is a solution that not only works but was AWARDED & noted as such since the mid 1990's for HUMAN BEINGS TOO iirc)... apk
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by Tork on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:23AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:28AM
Wait until CLOT SHOTS really start killing those DUMB enough to take one when FLU SEASON kicks in Oct-March or so!
I hate to say it, but it makes you PITY THEM for being SO f'ing dumb!
Pure SUICDE like "DeathMonkey" suicided himself vs. me ASKING FOR IT here lol https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45162&page=1&cid=1182286#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
Especially vs. a COMMON-COLD being put out as some "plague" when they CAN'T SHOW YOU A "COVID 19 VIRUS" under an electron microscope!
When THE PCR TEST was invalidated! Especially by Kary Mullis the INVENTOR of it stating it proves nothing when it is turned up past iirc 24 cycles, which it WAS, to create FALSE POSITIVE results that ROPED DOPES IN for the next point:
When the WHO changes the DEFINITION of "pandemic" from NUMBER OF DEATHS vs. NUMBER OF CASES to make a herd stampede in panic (herd of stupid sheeple).
Please: ENJOY your periocarditis, myocarditis, brain aneurisms or lung CLOTS if not cancer or sterility from your "FINE VACCINE" (which doesn't even WORK, lol - except to tune you into RADIO STATION "WKILL", lol - can't happen soon enough & it will soon, bank on it).
* They KEEP "downmodding" this post, but I just put it up again, lmao as I do - there is NO STOPPING FACT or me, get used to it, losers.
EVERYONE knows it: Even the "DemonRATS" who were proven to have CHEATED in Maricopa county Arizona - all "their kind" KNOW how to do is cheat, lie, steal (& produce zero with their do-nothing TROLL LEACH LIVES).
Nicest part of it though? It shows & they fool NOBODY but themselves - Satan's LITTLE PAWNS, & nothing more.
APK
P.S.=> SOCKPUPPETEERING DEMONRATS DELUDING THEMSELVES attempting to "FOOL" others, only FOOLING THEMSELVES? SOYLENT NEWS' OWN moderators/admins here KNOW it goes on, big write up here on it in fact https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/08/19/0211237 [soylentnews.org] on downmod bombing opponents/upmodding their many sockpuppet accounts etc. who "downmod bomb" others when they are BLOWN AWAY by FACTS - you know - like Ivermectin is a solution that not only works but was AWARDED & noted as such since the mid 1990's for HUMAN BEINGS TOO iirc)... apk
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:47AM
Wait until CLOT SHOTS really start killing those DUMB enough to take one when FLU SEASON kicks in Oct-March or so!
I hate to say it, but it makes you PITY THEM for being SO f'ing dumb!
Pure SUICDE like "DeathMonkey" suicided himself vs. me ASKING FOR IT here lol https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45162&page=1&cid=1182286#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
Especially vs. a COMMON-COLD being put out as some "plague" when they CAN'T SHOW YOU A "COVID 19 VIRUS" under an electron microscope!
When THE PCR TEST was invalidated! Especially by Kary Mullis the INVENTOR of it stating it proves nothing when it is turned up past iirc 24 cycles, which it WAS, to create FALSE POSITIVE results that ROPED DOPES IN for the next point:
When the WHO changes the DEFINITION of "pandemic" from NUMBER OF DEATHS vs. NUMBER OF CASES to make a herd stampede in panic (herd of stupid sheeple).
Please: ENJOY your periocarditis, myocarditis, brain aneurisms or lung CLOTS if not cancer or sterility from your "FINE VACCINE" (which doesn't even WORK, lol - except to tune you into RADIO STATION "WKILL", lol - can't happen soon enough & it will soon, bank on it).
* They KEEP "downmodding" this post, but I just put it up again, lmao as I do - there is NO STOPPING FACT or me, get used to it, losers.
EVERYONE knows it: Even the "DemonRATS" who were proven to have CHEATED in Maricopa county Arizona - all "their kind" KNOW how to do is cheat, lie, steal (& produce zero with their do-nothing TROLL LEACH LIVES).
Nicest part of it though? It shows & they fool NOBODY but themselves - Satan's LITTLE PAWNS, & nothing more.
APK
P.S.=> SOCKPUPPETEERING DEMONRATS DELUDING THEMSELVES attempting to "FOOL" others, only FOOLING THEMSELVES? SOYLENT NEWS' OWN moderators/admins here KNOW it goes on, big write up here on it in fact https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/08/19/0211237 [soylentnews.org] on downmod bombing opponents/upmodding their many sockpuppet accounts etc. who "downmod bomb" others when they are BLOWN AWAY by FACTS - you know - like Ivermectin is a solution that not only works but was AWARDED & noted as such since the mid 1990's for HUMAN BEINGS TOO iirc)... apk
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Opportunist on Wednesday September 29 2021, @06:52AM (23 children)
Read that again. Half the people in the US have exactly no reserves. Living paycheck to paycheck means that you can't put money away for anything unforeseeable. Car breaking down, you getting sick, having an accident, anything that can happen to anyone basically at any time means that they fall. If they're lucky, into a debt hole. If they're not so lucky, they're already in one from an earlier time.
Anyone who ever had any kind of training in business administration (and didn't have to go through the seemingly mandatory lobotomy when you actually try to get a degree in it) knows that this means they're eating into their capital. Their income only covers their running expenses, so anything that breaks down in their assets cannot be replaced and needs to either be bought by incurring debt, which they again cannot pay back, or it will have to stay broken.
This is not sustainable.
It basically means that 50% of your population are broke.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @07:33AM (13 children)
But it is so much more fun to shit on them and pretend it is some personal failings on their part.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Wednesday September 29 2021, @08:25AM (3 children)
It's not a black and white thing. People who are utterly terrible at managing money do exist. Saving money is a choice that has to be made and some will choose not to do it, even if they have the opportunity. This is one of the observations that supports the creation of things like pensions funded by employers or government. Of course, people who are utterly terrible at managing money exist in business and government as well and will occasionally run those funds into the ground while they were tasked with saving on others' behalf.
It would be great if we could rein in the corporate parasites that underpay employees at one end and then find creative ways to bilk the 'consumer' at the other end. But even if we did that, there'd be somebody impulsively throwing money around like Dmitri Fyodorovich, ending up penniless.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @10:56AM
Most people are terrible at managing money. And it gets worse in the developing nations. If you are working as a day labourer or in the informal sector, if you don't have a job for a day or two, you literally cannot buy food anymore. You know, bank accounts are not used by most people on the planet. It's cash only.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @02:43PM (1 child)
I posted this elsewhere, but one thing to remember is that a lot of the wasteful things people spend money on these days are dirt cheap next to the heavy expenses. Netflix is $9 (or whatever), rent is $900 if you're lucky. A used iPhone and a low end data plan costs $600 a year, student loan payments can easily be more than that a month. I make good money, but between health insurance for the family and copays I spend $25,000 a year (my employer pays $8,000). I can cancel my HBO Max subscription, sell my phone, cancel my phone service, and sell my 55 inch TV, it's not going to make a dent in those medical expenses.
Don't get me wrong, people bankrupt themselves buying huge trucks or taking extravagant vacations. But small luxury spending is not the source of financial problems for most Americans. Rent, health care, student loans, and other living expenses are, and there's not much you can do to reduce those.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @09:23PM
And then if they didn't buy them, you'd see even more of those "Millennials aren't buying X anymore!" articles in the media.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday September 29 2021, @12:26PM (8 children)
What's to pretend, Mr. AC? It's part of the price of democracy that when people are allowed to make bad decisions, people make bad decisions.
Blame others for one's faults is classic human behavior. But it doesn't fix anything.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @01:41PM (7 children)
We obviously need a -1 Asshole moderation option.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday September 29 2021, @02:59PM (6 children)
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @04:45PM (5 children)
Ok sociopathic asshole, typical of rightwingers.
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Wednesday September 29 2021, @05:34PM (4 children)
Two minute hates don't go far with me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @12:15AM (3 children)
You defend and promote the worst of capitalism, ignore problems, and pretend business as usual is just fine. You are a disciple of Reagan, and it is sickening not only in its greed but its absolute stupidity regarding the economy. Once you stop defending policies and practices that have been proven not only wrong, but amoral, THEN you will stop being insulted. Easier to pretend no one actually addresses your problems, such trolling bullshit and trumpian levels of narcissism denial.
/s thank you for driving away better users with your constant spew of pro-capitalist anti-science bullshit disguised as objective rational thinking, soon you rightwing nutters will have your echo chamber
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 30 2021, @12:51AM (2 children)
The "worst"? Like billions of people getting elevated out of poverty? There's something deeply wrong with your narrative.
Like what?
You're welcome! Funny how the "better users" have such chips on their shoulders.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 01 2021, @05:30PM (1 child)
So you're a one trick pony. Well, that isn't accurate. You've used many different tricks over the years, but you seem to only be able to remember how to use one at a time.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday October 01 2021, @05:38PM
A trick that elevates billions of people out of poverty. You don't need a second trick when you have that.
Vague accusations without even the slightest effort at providing evidence. How many years have you been peddling that narrative?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @07:55AM
I'm surprised they haven't moved to El salvador yet.
The pay is lousy there too but at least the weather's nicer and you might find some wealthy gringa sugar momma wanting to pay you in bitcoin to clean her beachside villa.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @12:58PM
It isn't, but it also can't all be blamed on external factors. Several of the millennials I know simply expand their spending to use any available paycheck. I'm not talking about low-wage jobs, either; I work in high tech and know their salary ranges. But if your first reaction to getting paid is to buy a newer, bigger phone, a nicer luxury car, a new TV, and go on a overseas vacation, then your lack of savings is not something I care about.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Wednesday September 29 2021, @02:05PM (6 children)
This situation isn't accidental, at all.
The first thing you have to remember is that the seams of the US economy came apart in the 1970's. Some of that was stagflation, some of that was the oil crisis, and some of that was political dysfunction that had been inherited from the late 1960's and Nixon in particular. Then along comes Ronald Reagan and the people he's fronting for, and says "I've got a plan for fixing this: We'll bust the unions, give big tax breaks to the rich, intentionally cause massive unemployment, and basically intentionally screw over everybody who isn't rich so that they never get an inflation-adjusted raise ever again." Wall Street skyrocketed, and that enabled Reagan to get away with it, and was even hailed as a hero by many, and the rich really liked not having to pay taxes anymore, so they poured money into movement conservatism to keep the racket going. The Democrats, who had for decades relied on the now-busted unions for their primary financial backing, got desperate for cash, and Bill Clinton came along and happily took rich-people money, and said "I've got a plan for fixing this: We'll keep all the stuff Reagan did in place, and add in getting rid of tariffs so companies no longer have to manufacture anything in the US anymore and deal with those pesky labor laws. But don't worry, we'll make it easier to borrow against your house if you own one, or your future if you're a teenager trying to go to college." And that helped Wall Street even more and fixed up the federal budget, so got away with that, so now Democrats and Republicans alike know that they can get away with screwing over the middle and especially the working classes without any political penalties whatsoever. And it's been that way ever since in the US, with both major parties making sure that the rich get richer and those who aren't rich have to pay the bill, and people who try to oppose those policies treated as fringe figures.
Meanwhile, the middle and working classes have made all the adjustments they can possibly make to try to function. Families that had previously made good union wages had to switch to non-union lower-wage work. Families that had previously had a non-working homemaker now sent her to work. Families that had previously been homeowners borrowed money against their home to try to make ends meet, until they lost those homes in the aftermath of the 2008 crash. Since blue-collar prosperity was no longer a viable option, and we'd conveniently gutted high-school vocational programs, young people were faced with the option of either working at fast food and retail the rest of their adult lives, or borrowing against their future earnings to go to college, only to find that those future earnings didn't exist anymore. And contrary to popular belief, personal consumption has been dropping like a rock over this period.
But desperation is very profitable for people who have capital. Why, don't worry about that unexpected bill, you can take out a payday loan and pay 450% interest! Don't worry about losing your home, you can rent out a similar home and only pay 75% more than you used to spend on your mortgage! Don't worry about your student loans that wouldn't even exist in most countries, you can defer them for now and increase your interest costs so that you can still be paying these loans when you're in your 60's! Don't worry about your boss stealing your wages, that's just a minor civil matter if it's pursued at all by anybody! Don't worry about that massive medical bill because the insurance that was supposed to cover you decided it had an excuse not to, we'll just garnish your wages forever to pay for it!
Americans are screwed so long as what used to be called public corruption continues to be business as usual.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday September 29 2021, @03:22PM (2 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 01 2021, @05:33PM (1 child)
The market will fix everything!
lol your brain is special
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday October 01 2021, @05:42PM
Well, let us note that a market fix over this time period was the creation of a variety of high tech industries which in turn drove demand for US labor. IMHO, that's the huge reason US wages (and developed world labor in general) didn't collapse. Maybe you ought to pay attention to history next time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @02:57AM (2 children)
Another crucial element to the lapse of the working class is the rapud rise in female employment over the years without the proportinal decrease elsewhere. Where all these jobs came from, I do not know, bit it doea occur to me that this was one of the many components of tge decorrelation of productivity and wages, I do also suspect it has quite a bit to do with the impoverishment of blacks, as this occurred nearly simultaneoualy alongside the civil righta movement, meaning that blacks entered into a market where they were already behind, and where the market forced them to stay in place.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @11:34AM (1 child)
"The market" didn't force black people to stay in place, racism did. They were less often to be hired when non-black people were available and less often promoted when non-black people were available. Since labor supply exceeded demand, the market would never fix racism. The only way the market would fix it is if labor demand greatly exceeded supply. We had women entering the work force and improvements in automation, so that never happened.
There is no capitalism fix for this.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @03:45PM
Capitalism doesn't see it as a problem. Capitalism doesn't see problems in most things.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @08:07AM
Wait until CLOT SHOTS really start killing those DUMB enough to take one when FLU SEASON kicks in Oct-March or so!
I hate to say it, but it makes you PITY THEM for being SO f'ing dumb!
Pure SUICDE like "DeathMonkey" suicided himself vs. me ASKING FOR IT here lol https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45162&page=1&cid=1182286#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
Especially vs. a COMMON-COLD being put out as some "plague" when they CAN'T SHOW YOU A "COVID 19 VIRUS" under an electron microscope!
When THE PCR TEST was invalidated! Especially by Kary Mullis the INVENTOR of it stating it proves nothing when it is turned up past iirc 24 cycles, which it WAS, to create FALSE POSITIVE results that ROPED DOPES IN for the next point:
When the WHO changes the DEFINITION of "pandemic" from NUMBER OF DEATHS vs. NUMBER OF CASES to make a herd stampede in panic (herd of stupid sheeple).
Please: ENJOY your periocarditis, myocarditis, brain aneurisms, NERVOUS "twitch" disorders OR PARALYSIS or lung CLOTS if not cancer or sterility from your "FINE VACCINE" (which doesn't even WORK, lol - except to tune you into RADIO STATION "WKILL", lol - can't happen soon enough & it will soon, bank on it).
* They KEEP "downmodding" this post, but I just put it up again, lmao as I do - there is NO STOPPING FACT or me, get used to it, losers.
EVERYONE knows it: Even the "DemonRATS" who were proven to have CHEATED in Maricopa county Arizona - all "their kind" KNOW how to do is cheat, lie, steal (& produce zero with their do-nothing TROLL LEACH LIVES).
Nicest part of it though? It shows & they fool NOBODY but themselves - Satan's LITTLE PAWNS, & nothing more.
APK
P.S.=> SOCKPUPPETEERING DEMONRATS DELUDING THEMSELVES attempting to "FOOL" others, only FOOLING THEMSELVES? SOYLENT NEWS' OWN moderators/admins here KNOW it goes on, big write up here on it in fact https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/08/19/0211237 [soylentnews.org] on downmod bombing opponents/upmodding their many sockpuppet accounts etc. who "downmod bomb" others when they are BLOWN AWAY by FACTS - you know - like Ivermectin is a solution that not only works but was AWARDED & noted as such since the mid 1990's for HUMAN BEINGS TOO iirc)... apk
(Score: 4, Funny) by Subsentient on Wednesday September 29 2021, @08:10AM (1 child)
Attention. *cough* *ahem*
Booger turds.
(What? This story is full of spam comments anyways so might as well.)
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @09:26AM
Quit crying playin pseudo intellectual U cunt: Read u got bitch slapped by APK you wannabe illiterate imbecie? Absolutely w/out DOUBT here https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45187&page=1&cid=1182674#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @10:04AM
Wait until CLOT SHOTS really start killing those DUMB enough to take one when FLU SEASON kicks in Oct-March or so!
I hate to say it, but it makes you PITY THEM for being SO f'ing dumb!
Pure SUICDE like "DeathMonkey" suicided himself vs. me ASKING FOR IT here lol https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45162&page=1&cid=1182286#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
Especially vs. a COMMON-COLD being put out as some "plague" when they CAN'T SHOW YOU A "COVID 19 VIRUS" under an electron microscope!
When THE PCR TEST was invalidated! Especially by Kary Mullis the INVENTOR of it stating it proves nothing when it is turned up past iirc 24 cycles, which it WAS, to create FALSE POSITIVE results that ROPED DOPES IN for the next point:
When the WHO changes the DEFINITION of "pandemic" from NUMBER OF DEATHS vs. NUMBER OF CASES to make a herd stampede in panic (herd of stupid sheeple).
Please: ENJOY your periocarditis, myocarditis, brain aneurisms, NERVOUS "twitch" disorders OR PARALYSIS or lung CLOTS if not cancer or sterility from your "FINE VACCINE" (which doesn't even WORK, lol - except to tune you into RADIO STATION "WKILL", lol - can't happen soon enough & it will soon, bank on it).
* They KEEP "downmodding" this post, but I just put it up again, lmao as I do - there is NO STOPPING FACT or me, get used to it, losers.
EVERYONE knows it: Even the "DemonRATS" who were proven to have CHEATED in Maricopa county Arizona - all "their kind" KNOW how to do is cheat, lie, steal (& produce zero with their do-nothing TROLL LEACH LIVES).
Nicest part of it though? It shows & they fool NOBODY but themselves - Satan's LITTLE PAWNS, & nothing more.
APK
P.S.=> SOCKPUPPETEERING DEMONRATS DELUDING THEMSELVES attempting to "FOOL" others, only FOOLING THEMSELVES? SOYLENT NEWS' OWN moderators/admins here KNOW it goes on, big write up here on it in fact https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/08/19/0211237 [soylentnews.org] on downmod bombing opponents/upmodding their many sockpuppet accounts etc. who "downmod bomb" others when they are BLOWN AWAY by FACTS - you know - like Ivermectin is a solution that not only works but was AWARDED & noted as such since the mid 1990's for HUMAN BEINGS TOO iirc)... apk
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @11:04AM
Wait until CLOT SHOTS really start killing those DUMB enough to take one when FLU SEASON kicks in Oct-March or so!
I hate to say it, but it makes you PITY THEM for being SO f'ing dumb!
Pure SUICDE like "DeathMonkey" suicided himself vs. me ASKING FOR IT here lol https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=45162&page=1&cid=1182286#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
Especially vs. a COMMON-COLD being put out as some "plague" when they CAN'T SHOW YOU A "COVID 19 VIRUS" under an electron microscope!
When THE PCR TEST was invalidated! Especially by Kary Mullis the INVENTOR of it stating it proves nothing when it is turned up past iirc 24 cycles, which it WAS, to create FALSE POSITIVE results that ROPED DOPES IN for the next point:
When the WHO changes the DEFINITION of "pandemic" from NUMBER OF DEATHS vs. NUMBER OF CASES to make a herd stampede in panic (herd of stupid sheeple).
Please: ENJOY your periocarditis, myocarditis, brain aneurisms, NERVOUS "twitch" disorders OR PARALYSIS or lung CLOTS if not cancer or sterility from your "FINE VACCINE" (which doesn't even WORK, lol - except to tune you into RADIO STATION "WKILL", lol - can't happen soon enough & it will soon, bank on it).
* They KEEP "downmodding" this post, but I just put it up again, lmao as I do - there is NO STOPPING FACT or me, get used to it, losers.
EVERYONE knows it: Even the "DemonRATS" who were proven to have CHEATED in Maricopa county Arizona - all "their kind" KNOW how to do is cheat, lie, steal (& produce zero with their do-nothing TROLL LEACH LIVES).
Nicest part of it though? It shows & they fool NOBODY but themselves - Satan's LITTLE PAWNS, & nothing more.
APK
P.S.=> SOCKPUPPETEERING DEMONRATS DELUDING THEMSELVES attempting to "FOOL" others, only FOOLING THEMSELVES? SOYLENT NEWS' OWN moderators/admins here KNOW it goes on, big write up here on it in fact https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=21/08/19/0211237 [soylentnews.org] on downmod bombing opponents/upmodding their many sockpuppet accounts etc. who "downmod bomb" others when they are BLOWN AWAY by FACTS - you know - like Ivermectin is a solution that not only works but was AWARDED & noted as such since the mid 1990's for HUMAN BEINGS TOO iirc)... apk
(Score: 2) by Dale on Wednesday September 29 2021, @01:07PM (2 children)
I agree with the commenters that have said most people just plain suck at managing money. That being said, this statistic shouldn't really surprise anyone. 20 years ago Gen X'ers were in the same boat. I think it is more of a function of where they are in their careers, family, and social situations moreso than a dramatic difference in spending habits. 20-25 years ago I still had debt I was paying down, car loans, etc. I was driving a less reliable car and had car repairs that killed the monthly budget and other emergencies that were just difficult to accommodate. 20-25 years later those are not issues any longer. I have no debt, a reliable-ish car, plenty of savings. I've gone from that stage in life where I'm just trying to establish myself and get things going to pushing hard on future savings for retirement (20% 401(k) contributions finally hit recently after years of pushing from 10% upward). I'm not saying the Millennials haven't had their share of crap to deal with, but this particular metric is just where they are in the life cycle at the moment.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 29 2021, @01:38PM
Like most things, there are many factors that contribute to an emergent phenomenon. You nailed a large part of what's bedeviling the Millennials now. I would add that people in their age range are the cohort that advertising targets most heavily. They are literally being brainwashed to blow through all their money, and it works. You couple that with the removal of economics, civics, and personal finance from most public school curriculums and you have graduates who are completely ignorant of finance and business unless they have family who are CFAs or CPAs who teach them how.
We've been trying to train our kids to manage money and to be makers instead of consumers, ie. when they want something we point to tools and materials and tell them to make it (we also do work with them to get them started, because we're not completely heartless). Who knows if it will ultimately take, but at least we try. Those of us who are older can at least do that for the struggling Millennials and those who follow them--show them there's another way.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by srobert on Wednesday September 29 2021, @02:14PM
"20 years ago Gen X'ers were in the same boat"
I'm a Boomer so I'm thinking about 40 years ago. I was working fast food, or as a cashier in a department store, or phone sales. I wasn't good at managing cash because none of those jobs paid enough to meet my basic needs. I was a parasite in my dad's house because I barely made enough money to get transportation to and from the jobs I had. 20 years ago I had a blue collar union job which was much better, modest savings, and a little debt. Worked my way through college in my 30's, and now closing in on 60, I have professional status and save about half my income toward retirement. Still, if I could have made a better income when I was at the bottom, I think it would have been better for me even now. My annual income profile has a steep curve. If I'd had my way I'd have flattened, while keeping the same area under the curve. Some of what I have now, would have been more useful to me when I was young.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @01:24PM (1 child)
There's a difference between living paycheck to paycheck on $100,000 per year and on $10,000 per year.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @07:58PM
Having money makes people stupid with money.
Manager at my company makes just over six figures. Complains he can't buy a "Nice enough" house because he's living "paycheck to paycheck". He insists on living in the nicest apartments in the area, driving the nicest car, buying the nicest clothing, eating takeout three meals a day, traveling for vacations, using big name electronics.
The department he manages is staffed with people who make less than 35k and have periodically lived out of their cars. He insists they need to budget better when they ask for a raise while complaining it wouldn't be fair if they made much more money relative to management or other departments. They always bring well budgeted home cooked meals, have various skills from minor tailoring to some appliance & electronics repair, and are often happy to help coworkers with various projects.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by esperto123 on Wednesday September 29 2021, @01:25PM (7 children)
comparing millennials to baby boomers at the same point in time I think is a false comparison, one group had decades more time to work than the other. If they are comparing generations they should compare them at the same age, i.e., when the baby boomers were 25 to 40 did they had a better financial situation, did less than 70% live paycheck by paycheck?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Wednesday September 29 2021, @02:48PM (3 children)
When you do the same-age comparison, you find out that young people are absolutely screwed compared to older generations. In 1970, in today's dollars:
- Minimum wage was about $10 / hour.
- Lots of blue-collar work that required only a high school education paid quite well, e.g. untrained construction laborers got around $20 / hour. In addition, that high school education often included vocational training in fields like auto repair, construction, and industrial tool use so graduates were often well-prepared to start on those sorts of jobs without going to college.
- College students who didn't have rich parents were able to work their way through college doing burger-flipping and other crappy jobs, and then graduate with zero debt. Nowadays, if you don't have rich parents and want a college degree, you're talking about starting your working life $80-200K in debt.
- If you got advanced degrees and got into teaching higher education, the worst you'd be paid as an untenured lecturer was around $65K rather than the $14K adjuncts make today. And your odds of getting promoted to a tenured position were much much higher.
- If you wanted to buy a mid-sized home, you'd be spending about $95-100K, versus the the approximately $270K a home costs today. And your mortgage interest rate would likely be lower.
- If you had to rent, it was about $750 a month, versus $1100 today.
About the only financial advantage a Millennial American has over a Boomer when they were the same age, as far as I was able to find, is that you get paid a lot more for enlisting in the military than you used to, although my understanding is that military members also have to pay for a lot more things out of pocket than they used to.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday September 29 2021, @11:07PM (2 children)
Supply vs demand. There's a lot more people now. Technology has increased the supply for some things, but not others (in particular, space in areas many people want to live).
Citing minimum wage is not relevant. All minimum wage does is eliminate jobs which employers and employees want but fall below the arbitrary price cutoff. Minimum wage does have benefits in areas where a single job provider monopolizes the market and controls the price, but otherwise just interferes with the natural market.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 5, Touché) by Thexalon on Wednesday September 29 2021, @11:31PM
You can make whatever excuses or explanations you want for why all my points are true. But no matter how you slice it, if you're a young person today doing the same kind of work as your dad did when he was young, you're making less money doing it, and your fixed expenses for basic survival have increased, thus making your budget tighter or even not making ends meet at all.
And the minimum wage is one of several indicators of the wage decreases going on, along with median incomes, mean incomes, and other averages and aggregations.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @05:34AM
Even in places people don't want to live there are price controls in place through zoning and property maturity that keep prices exceedingly high. There's also property speculation out the wazoo, and this is especially apparent at the moment. On top of that you now have commercial enterprise purchasing housing to do AirBnB shit, Zillow buying housing, Blackrock bought a shitload of housing (undoubtedly speculative purchasing). All of this serves to press not only housing, but rents up, irrespective of real value. Meaning cost of living gets driven up. Add to inflation compounding that. Real compensation overall sees a net decrement for most people.
Free markets don't exist, they never have. Get it in your head - the system is as broken as Marxism.
(Score: 2) by srobert on Wednesday September 29 2021, @03:17PM
"when the baby boomers were 25 to 40 did they had a better financial situation, did less than 70% live paycheck by paycheck"
Depends on which age range of "boomers" you're talking about. By brother and I are both considered boomers. My brother was born in 1951. When he was out of high school, you could get a union job in a factory. I was born in 1963, when I got out of high school, those factories had shut their doors, and America was importing what used to be made in them.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday September 29 2021, @05:26PM (1 child)
When the boomers were at the same age, some had a house (doable on a single income), decentish car, etc. Others were just realizing that their dream of a happy hippy commune weren't really shaping up very well. The big difference is that for them it wasn't too late to finish school, get a job, and start on that house. It was actually possible to pay for a good school with a starter job and graduate debt free. The oil embargo and the economic doldrums of the '70s were still a few years away. Companies still offered stable employment and a pension plan. You could still get medical care uninsured without taking out a 3rd mortgage.
There is some reason to believe that the big problem now is that there isn't much if any margin for financial error or a run of bad luck these days and most people have one or the other, especially as young adults.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Friday October 01 2021, @10:17PM
You might also add that back then the government offered "National Direct Student Loans" at 3% interest, rather than the "free market" loans today at significantly higher costs. Combine that with much lower tuitions to begin with, and even students who borrowed heavily could pay off their debt fairly quickly.