Great article on Millenials

[lucilleaustero]

I know this has been discussed quite a bit on HIH. As a late Gen Xer that graduated college before things went south, this was informative.

The only thing I disagree with is the notion that Millenials are the only generation to have been belittled by previous generations. This happens with every new generation. Gen X is still called the Slacker Generation and I have spoken to my father about how the Greatest Generation used to talk about how the earlier Boomers were dirty hippies bent on destroying civilization.


highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/poor-millennials/

[adorebel]

Gawd this makes me so anxious and sad. In so many ways, I'm that lucky person who had the chance to go to college, worked/paid for my own Master's, and then got a full scholarship for my PhD, only to be finishing it at a time when there are literally no jobs I can apply to in my field in the United States because the bottom has completely fallen out of my career overnight. And ppl are like ooooh why weren't you an engineer? You should have somehow magically known 10 years ago which of these degrees would be useful... I can't imagine how hard it is for those who had none of those opportunities (though my SIL has a high school GED and makes more money than my husband, who has a PhD, so there ya go).

[adorebel]

"Rather than offering Americans a way to build wealth, cities are becoming concentrations of people who already have it. In the country’s 10 largest metros, residents earning more than $150,000 per year now outnumber those earning less than $30,000 per year."

Almost everyone I know in CA makes over 150k, while MH and I made a FRACTION of that amount COMBINED as adjuncts there. Now MH has a job that we moved for and I still don't. I quite literally cannot even imagine what that feels like, the freedom it affords you. We're not below the poverty line, but we are constantly stressed and definitely not doing as well as our parents. And then all our friends in CA are like, "why are you moving away?" WE ARE TEACHERS WITHA  BABY AND A 1BR APT COSTS 3K A MONTH. THAT IS WHY WE ARE LEAVING.

This article has me ragey.

[adorebel]

Dec 14, 2017 11:42:58 GMT -6 @heartbot said:

The section on the cost of housing and why Millennials can't buy houses (and our parents' fucked up responses) is really something.

My parents vote for Democrats now, but there's still a lot of bullshit about personal responsibility from their Republican days left over. 

[adorebel]

Dec 14, 2017 11:49:30 GMT -6 @heartbot said:

Dec 14, 2017 11:47:34 GMT -6 adorebel said:

My parents vote for Democrats now, but there's still a lot of bullshit about personal responsibility from their Republican days left over. 

My mom definitely has tried to argue with me things were harder for her generation coming out of college (in the late 70s/early 80s.) Even when I've shared the wealth of data showing income hasn't improved while debt and the cost of everything has skyrocketed, she's very "no, you're wrong" about it. And she's super liberal. It's just a knee jerk reaction, I'm pretty sure, b/c of course we're the "participation trophy" generation and expect everything to be handed to us. 🙄

I can't believe we're the same age, cuz my parents graduated college in the early 60s lol

[hawkeye2015]

Dec 14, 2017 11:47:58 GMT -6 @heartbot said:

"For homeowners there's no such thing as a housing crisis."

This is actually bullshit. For a lot of people, even when their house is paid for, rising home prices cause their taxes to go up and eventually price them out of their homes. This is a major driver of gentrification. In the last 15 years, East Austin's historic black and Latino communities have been decimated, replaced by a steady stream of high income white folks who want to live close to downtown. Black and brown people working low income jobs can't afford to stay even in homes that have been in their families for generations, because of taxes.

I completely agree being a homeowner does not insulate you from being affected by the housing crisis. We were only able to purchase a home because my grandmother left me money when she died. Where we live is an hour and half commute from my husband's employer. We would obviously love to live closer but we just can't afford to. And we live paycheck to paycheck so that won't be changing anytime soon.

[lucilleaustero]

Dec 14, 2017 11:47:58 GMT -6 @heartbot said:

"For homeowners there's no such thing as a housing crisis."

This is actually bullshit. For a lot of people, even when their house is paid for, rising home prices cause their taxes to go up and eventually price them out of their homes. This is a major driver of gentrification. In the last 15 years, East Austin's historic black and Latino communities have been decimated, replaced by a steady stream of high income white folks who want to live close to downtown. Black and brown people working low income jobs can't afford to stay even in homes that have been in their families for generations, because of taxes.

In my metro NY area, the housing crisis exists it times of boom and bust. In bust times, our overinflated homes crash and people can owe hundreds of thousands of dollars more than their home is worth. In boom times, home values rise so quickly that anyone not upper class is priced out of the market and homewoners can see entire neighborhoods change dramatically. 

[Uncaripswife]

It's hard for me to feel bad for millenials. Not because I think any of this is their fault. But they aren't the only generation suffering right now. Decades of shitty economic policies have decimated the American middle class. Even for some boomers.

So, I guess I do feel bad for millenials. I just also feel bad for Gen Xers and boomers who were also sold the idea of the American dream, while the super rich bought politicians willing to chip away at the social safety that supported the dream.

[dreadpirateroberts]

Well now I'm even more terrified of MH leaving the army.

[sterling]

Okay, but I really do think Boomers are the worst.

[sterling]

Dec 14, 2017 11:47:58 GMT -6 @heartbot said:

"For homeowners there's no such thing as a housing crisis."

This is actually bullshit. For a lot of people, even when their house is paid for, rising home prices cause their taxes to go up and eventually price them out of their homes. This is a major driver of gentrification. In the last 15 years, East Austin's historic black and Latino communities have been decimated, replaced by a steady stream of high income white folks who want to live close to downtown. Black and brown people working low income jobs can't afford to stay even in homes that have been in their families for generations, because of taxes.

Not to mention the friends I have who bought their first home in 2007 just to see the value crash in 2008, and aren't able to move. A lot of them are just now getting out from underwater loans. 

[byjove]

I am on the cusp of X/Millenial ('83) and find these stories so anxiety provoking. I can't read them.

ETA I mean I scrolled, but then my heart started racing...