Millennials accuse Baby Boomers of ruining the economy

https://humans.media/millennials-accuse-baby-boomers-of-ruining-the-economy

by adham01 • 5 years ago

20 47 5 years ago

anderson1993• 5 years ago

Two life changing recessions, crushing student debt, a mismanaged pandemic, Brexit( in the case of Europe), two major wars, a wasteful trade war(in the case of the US), while baby boomer are in power would make anyone feel resentful of the whole generation.

lotsofpulp• 5 years ago

two major wars

These “wars” did not even have an organized enemy, so I cannot classify them as major in the context of other wars in history. I would classify them as major exercises in enriching military vendors.

gameswithgo• 5 years ago

major in terms of my tax dollars wasted.

sbuk• 5 years ago

*boomer owned military vendors.

tunnuz• 5 years ago

Climate change?

TedDoesntTalk2• 5 years ago

...which started 100 years ago or more. Boomers did nothing about it, sure, but don't blame climate change solely on them. And if you think your generation would have done better with the same lack of general knowledge about the problem (until the last 20-30 years), you're deluding yourself.

b112• 5 years ago

By this metric, every generation has cause to belittle and fault the prior.

From the dawn of time, no generation has managed affairs perfectly. Or even well, by many metrics.

Millenials will do just as poorly as the hippies, if not worse.

But the amusing side of things is, millenials rail against the 1%. Well and good, except, do you think John and Mary in Nebraska, or Tom and Jane in LA, had anything to do with these decisions?

Whether division by race, culture, age, pointing fingers at each other, instead of policy makers, is quite literally ignoring the real problem.

mensetmanusman• 5 years ago

Rent seeking ruins economies. We see a lot of rent seeking by the current power structure (where boomers have accumulated >80% of the wealth).

1+1=2

burntoutfire3• 5 years ago

Isn't it normal for people who have more productive years behind them already (and thus more savings etc.) to own a bigger share in the economy? Today's Gen Z-ers will too be retired 40-50 years from now, and will also own lots of assets then.

fweespeech• 5 years ago

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2021-millennials-are-runn....

In almost every way measurable, millennials in the U.S. at 40 are doing worse financially than the generations that came before them.
Now, if predictions of a long, post-Covid economic boom are to be believed, this may be the last opportunity an entire generation has to build wealth before heading off into retirement.

Eh, Millennials are measurably worse off than boomers or Gen X were at their age.

Grimm13• 5 years ago

If you do a point to point comparison Millenials own much less at the same point in their life than Boomers did.

scottLobster• 5 years ago

Bigger, sure. But the oldest US millennials are turning 40 now, and own around 5% of the wealth.

Likewise when the US Boomers were the age millennials are now they owned about %20 of the wealth collectively.

the_solenoid2• 5 years ago

In a perfect world, that makes sense. But, wages have been flat since pretty much the 80's for the vast majority of workers (weather tracking inflation and/or productivity) while common long term investments like housing have become out of reach due to supply issues, brought on by... rich people and companies buying up all the properties and seeking rents (both foreign and domestic), and retirement has moved from pensions to whatever mess we have now.

There is also the huge issue of student loans basically setting back a whole class of people more and more over the years. I have friends who have student debt and very nice paying jobs, but the debt still set back plans for home buying and family planning by 5-10+ years for a lot of them.

officeplant• 5 years ago

33 currently, not sure how I will ever retire or own a house. Wages in the US have stagnated for the majority of my lifespan. My states infrastructure is completely falling apart while everyone ignores it. Environmental change is hitting us harder every year. If there isn't much of a change in the coming years I don't have much hope for the generations after me.

Currently my future lies in me building out a van to live in eventually while I save up to escape the Southern US.

sharemywin• 5 years ago

some rent seeking is useful. I don't want to buy my hotel room on vacation.

too much environmental exploitation with out some kind of mitigation and regulation is a problem as well.

but at the heart of it all is:

1. statistics and expert opinions should count for more than uneducated opinions

2. but experts(and agents think politicians ) can be corrupted.

3. most people are swayed by narratives and not statistics.

4. but, individual points of view and outliers are important as well because they provide new protectives and directions of inquiry.

redleggedfrog• 5 years ago

Oh my how we love labels! And arguing about pointless sh!t. Question actually is wtf we going to do about the current challenges. Finger pointing doesn't move that forward.

garyfirestorm• 5 years ago

read as 'do not point finger at me'

imtringued2• 5 years ago

Build more housing and lease new land to homeowners/developers rather than sell it. That should be the first priority and the reason why it is important is also is the reason why it won't happen.

shortstuffsushi• 5 years ago

I am very confused, how does the "Young People and Porn" section of this article in any way relate to the rest? Is this section actually another, unrelated article that snuck into the bottom?

drdec• 5 years ago

There's also the definition of baby boomers as those aged 51-69, which would correspond to those born in 1951-1970, off by five years or so from the usual definition.

MattPalmer1086• 5 years ago

Right. Always thought I was Gen X, now I'm a Boomer apparently!

Ah well, we're used to being ignored ;)

TedDoesntTalk2• 5 years ago

They are distinguished with letters. Z for those under 24 years old, Y for those 25 - 34 years old

As usual, Generation X is completely ignored. The "lost generation" indeed.

nlpmajor• 5 years ago

We just wrote all of the open source shit for boomers in managerial positions. The boomers are still in power, pretend to be woke to keep the power and are now courting millenials and younger.

It's a generation of hypocrites indeed, the millenials got that right.

rovek• 5 years ago

This article seems to present a strange collection of information. "Young people and porn" as a heading really came from nowhere.

Zenst2• 5 years ago

Yes that did strike me as a bit of a curve-ball given the direction the article was slanting. Maybe the reader is left to conclude that if older people watched more porn - the economy, politics...would be better! Obviously not as that would be silly, and yet I would not be supprised if I read an article with that whole perspective as a follow-up.

wombatpm• 5 years ago

Boomer had the Summer of Love, the Pill, abortion and working antibiotics for social diseases. Then after the decadent 70's they brought us HIV/AIDS. So in addition to everything else, boomers ruined casual sex. Millenials are left with porn. Granted there is lots of it - but its still just porn.

brandonmenc• 5 years ago

Millennials and younger often confuse Generation Jones with Baby Boomers.

Growing up, my parents and their friends - who have spent their whole lives worrying about uncertain economies and threats of layoffs - would dismiss people slightly older than them as "self-centered baby boomers".

They are currently in their mid-60s.

wing-_-nuts2• 5 years ago

While their elders [baby boomers] are only 6% interested in the future of our planet.

Capitalism can be a force for good, but unregulated capitalism without strong social safety nets is a force for greed and destruction. Of all their flaws, their lack of care for the environment will be their most damning indictment. The fact that they still, today fail to see the error of their ways is infuriating.

imtringued2• 5 years ago

If there is a generational shift then it wasn't because they made things worse, rather they got to live life in easy mode. Post war economies experience a lot of growth and labor is actually valued since there is plenty of work to be done. Low skill labor had plenty of value.

Nowadays, especially since the 80s mania of labor deregulation, globalization, tax cuts, austerity and other small government policies low skilled labor is no longer valued. People are increasingly forced to specialize. Competition over jobs and housing is getting more intense. It's not just the young people getting screwed though. There are plenty of old people being left behind but most of them already acquired assets like houses so people do not pity them.

simonblack2• 5 years ago

rather they got to live life in easy mode

Not quite. Every generation has things that are advantageous, every generation has things that are terrible.

Interest rates for the boomers got as high as 20%. They couldn't afford to borrow for a house, even if their wages were good. Millennials have lower wages (relatively speaking), but interest rates won't kill them if they can save enough for a house deposit.

Two different generations: two different problems causing the same outcomes.

Grimm13• 5 years ago

Funny how this one was flagged, when the fact that the majority wealth has been captured by a generation on the way out with no recourse for younger generations to make their bones is a completely valid discussion to have.

Zenst2• 5 years ago

The whole premise of a younger generation being a upset at a prior older generation for political, fiscal etc etc reasons - has and always will be it seems, a theme that will just keep on running for century's more.

Thing is, in 30 years time, the current young adults will be saying near on verbatim the same things about the current generation that will now be in the age demographic they currently lambaste.

Equally though, you will find the older generation moaning and having equally perspectives upon the younger generation an equally stereotypical mindsets.

It's all rather silly this grouping up whole age demographics and slapping a label upon them IMHO. Indeed, assigning blame to a demographic only distracts from identifying and addressing the real issues as real issues stand out on there own and anything else added to the mix - be that age-group labelling, only distracts and sadly more so - enables people to dismiss the issues as they get buried in a sea of label name calling and finger pointing.

ianbutler• 5 years ago

In real wealth terms, Boomers have captured 53% of all current wealth. At the same point in time as Millenials are now they had 21%, Millenials currently have something like 4%. I'm not sure your point is correct or even useful, when in real monetary terms there is a clear difference.

bbg215• 5 years ago

millennials are gonna inherit all that baby boomer wealth

simonblack2• 5 years ago

Different generations have always complained about one another. It might be entertaining, it might be excusing, but it's all a waste of time and angst.

Every generation makes the same mistakes. Every generation complains that that their children misbehave.

It actually gets amusing to hear your kids complaining that their kids are doing exactly the same sorts of things that you complained about your kids doing.

Millennials accuse Baby Boomers of ruining the economy

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