The real reason young people are the poorest generation in 25 years

http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/millennial-parents-poverty-internet-scapegoat/

by saadmalik01 • 11 years ago

13 13 11 years ago

dudul4• 11 years ago

"I went to a university [...] to no longer be poor, because I believed, as I was told by guidance counselors and the media and many adults and colleges themselves, that that was the only way to be not-poor."

Geez, who would have thought? You really have to be an expert to know that a degree in Art History/Gender studies/<insert random liberal art topic> won't take you anywhere.

Here is the problem with this generation. They want to be told what to do, they want everything to be properly explained to them and nice PC terms they can understand. They don't want to figure shit for themselves, don't want to think and certainly not take any responsibility for their poor choices.

quadrangle5• 11 years ago

What nonsense. Those who go about questioning everything and figuring shit out for themselves do figure out the situation: Random humanities degrees don't pay but neither is there even good prospects in valuable careers like teaching. The level of social mobility in this society is as low as it has ever been, everything is winner-take-all economics, there's tons of corruption and monopolies and oligopolies, and we're facing serious problems in our financial world, the environment, and basic natural resources.

If you actually step back and look at the situation, there is NO correlation between generating value and gaining personal wealth. In our society, the people who provide the most important values, farmers, nurses, teachers, garbage collectors, construction workers… they all struggle. The richest people extract value rather than provide it: day-traders, advertisers, corporate bureaucrats…

Yes, many people are indeed making poor choices. But that is not the heart of what is going on. In fact, it's more accurate to blame people like you for the problems because the very act of blaming people for poor choices in college majors is itself distracting from addressing the real problems.

dudul4• 11 years ago

"the people who provide the most important values, farmers, nurses, teachers, garbage collectors, construction workers… they all struggle." Haha this is hilarious.

From the US Dept of Agriculture: "In 2004, the most recent year for which comparable data exist, the average farm household had an annual net income of $81,480, while the average U.S. household netted $60,528."

Nurses have an unemployment rate of 2%.

Construction workers? Do you know how loaded plumbers, electricians, etc actually are?

Garbage collectors, anyone with 2 arms can do that, it's called supply and demand.

Teachers, I would argue that today teachers don't provide much value. And their median income is still above $50,000, not sure you can really say that they struggle.

There are good prospects. Don't waste your time getting a f*cking degree in women studies or american history. Instead learn a trade, it will take a couple years and almost no tuition. Learn how to do things people are ready to pay for.

_random_• 11 years ago

Teachers are subsidised by state so it's not a "real" tax-generating sort of job.

gibsonje2• 11 years ago

It's extremely easy to criticize other degree/career choices when you're sitting comfy in a VERY desired field. Just because I rolled the dice and liked computers and went down an already well paved path doesn't mean I made "better" choices than someone else. I chose the path of least resistance, to be honest, and at the end of it there happened to be a party waiting.

dudul4• 11 years ago

I guess you were lucky. I didn't go to college in the US. From what I understand, in America people see college as a place to "experiment, open your mind, find yourself" and all these things. My experience in Europe was "go to college because you want to become something - nurse, scientist, comedian, etc - and a college degree is the best way to get it". You don't go to college to find out what you want to do, you go to college because what you want to do is best done if you learn how to do it in college.

So yes, it's easy to criticize other people's choice in terms of useless degrees.

dpc_pw• 11 years ago

Social factors are mostly irrelevant, and kind of a response to economical factors.

At least in the west, previous generations lived beyond their means by increasing debt: public, private and "stealth debt" (social entitlements). It's called "borrowing from the future" for a reason. And this future is is more and more a present. The whole previous generation thinks so good about themselves, while their success is based on a trick-crime: debt taken by government and financial institutions, and used for their benefit, while passing bill to the next generation. Savings, investments and entitlements of the previous generation needs to be paid by current generation, making life of young people harder.

This combined with the demographic issues, will erupt as social problems rather soon.

The real reason young people are the poorest generation in 25 years

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