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You might’ve done everything ‘right’ growing up: you studied hard, got the degree you wanted, worked your butt off. But even if you did everything that your parents told you to do, success isn’t guaranteed. Heck, sometimes, a comfortable middle-class lifestyle seems out of reach. And there you are—well-educated, with a strong work ethic—unable to find even a low-income job to pay your rent. And it isn’t all your fault: the world has changed.
These and other struggles that millennials, especially working-class ones, face are documented on the ‘Lost Generation’ subreddit. It’s an online group, founded in 2009, in the wake of the previous financial crisis, that has nearly 262k members and calls out capitalism, income inequality, and how unfair the system can sometimes be. We’ve selected their top posts for you to see, dear Pandas. You’ll find them below, as you scroll down.
Some of you highly-educated Pandas will have noticed that the subreddit’s name refers to the Lost Generation that was in early adulthood during World War I. The term refers to how disoriented, wandering, and directionless many people in the postwar period felt. Feelings that some millennials (aka Gen Y) and members of the younger generations embody as well.
Bored Panda reached out to Eddy Ng, the Smith Professor of Equity & Inclusion in Business at Queen’s University, for his insights on how the financial crisis of 2008 restructured the economy and affected millennials, as well as the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated inequality. Bored Panda also had an in-depth discussion with the head moderator of the r/lostgeneration subreddit, u/Adahn5. Scroll down for both exclusive interviews.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Vanilla Wafers Are More Than Half Of What Minimum Wage Workers Earn In An Hour
Penny Fan 4 years ago
Read Jack Monroe "The Bootstrap Cook", it's an eye opener and anyone who thinks poor people should just "budget better" needs their heads kicking.
John L 4 years ago
Anyone who thinks "poor people should just budget better" are so obviously not poor....
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WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Even the most frugal lifestyle costs money. But when no amount of scrimping and saving, growing your own vegetables and studying all the money saving tips on penny-pincher.com seems to be enough to make ends meet, you might start to think that something is wrong.
Eliska Klimentova 4 years ago
One more thing: “cook at home” requires time. Even the simplest dinner takes me, including doing the dishes and putting everything away, about 30 minutes, not counting the shop time. I can afford it because I work normal 9-5 job. But now imagine you work 16 hour days just to get by, and then come home and are supposed to cook, take care of the kids if you have them, clean up, clean yourself, and still get some sleep. There just isn’t enough time to cook.
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
I work 16 hours a day, 6-7 days a week! There’s no way I’m fùcking cooking. Not even if I’m lucky and just have a 5 hour work day. Nope. I’m not really sure what I’d do if I was poor though. Probably just bite the bullet and cook since fast food is expensive. Maybe meal prep?
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Sarah Spencer 4 years ago
I have done exactly that. My current salary is around 4 times what it was a decade ago. But that entirely misses the point. Education isn't free. And a poor person can only pay by taking out loans. Traveling to a place of education, or a better job prospect - also not free. Nice clothes to interview for these opportunities - not free. So yes, in theory, you can set your mind to working your way out of poverty and try to have a better life. I have done it, over the last decade or so. But the reality of it is, that takes many years, leads to spiraling debts, and is extremely hard to manage with young children and no family support. And all the while you are pushing yourself and earning that little bit more and doing that little bit better - the cost of living keeps on escalating around you.
Libstak 4 years ago
As soon as the living wages increases even 1% corporations and utilities calculate how much more you have and increase to get a hold of it off you all for themselves. E.g. you get $20 extra a month and your electricity, gas phone bills EACH GO UP $25'. Your health insurance and rates, vehicle registration etc all also EACH GO UP at similar rates or more, like W.T.F.
Sky Render 4 years ago
It says a lot that the minimum wage adjustments in states that actually do that have bumped said minimum wage up 66%+ over what it is elsewhere in the US... And even that's not keeping up with cost of living nearly as well as it should...
Lovin' Life 4 years ago
It's sad that people cant afford to live when they are working one or two jobs but the higher ups already living comfortably get all the raises.
rumade 4 years ago
Sometimes you just want a treat too. I had a year of my life where my grocery budget was £13. Yes, I was never actually hungry; but there were so many times I stared at things I wanted in the supermarket and knew I couldn't have them. Imagine not having a £5 bottle of wine for a year, or chicken breasts instead of chicken thigh on the bone. Or a meal out.
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
I had a year like that once. As a vegan but still the same principle. So many bean tacos! And I could never get those fancy sauces or the good bread. A certain condiment might even cost like $12, your entire shopping budget. It was awful but sometimes I miss those meals and those times.
"We had the global financial crisis which led to many millennials who were employed being displaced. When the economy recovered, it changed structurally, and many quality jobs were lost," Eddy from Queen's University told Bored Panda. He explained that this then led to the emergence of various precarious jobs, the gig/sharing economy, and the rise of digital labor. The result? Income and social inequalities for those unable to join the new economy.
Eddy pointed out that some racialized groups, e.g. Black and Brown workers, fall into a poverty trap and are unable to climb out of it. The expert stressed that financial literacy, while helpful, might not be enough for people to pull themselves out of poverty. "You need to have the resources to, for example, access training and education," he said.
Meanwhile, fast-forward to the present day and you can see that the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the factors that contributed to income and social inequalities. "Workers work more hours with lower pay in order to survive. That leaves little time to accumulate the necessary resources for skill upgrades or retooling for the new economy. This is the poverty trap I alluded to," he said.
RELATED:
#2
They Are Villains
bumble bee 4 years ago
It's amazing that anyone who owns a business does not take great pride in knowing that by paying their employees well enough to afford to have a basic life, buy a home, raise a family, with some extra in the bank is a reflection on them.
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago (edited)
A cautious businessman who doesn't squander his money on trivialities. /Sarcasm
zrwhol cue 4 years ago
Cause they free to do it, if murder was free, anyone will do it, state is the one to blame, sorry guys the world is not a good place, good you found out
Kevin Warner 4 years ago
Oh, so YOU should decide how much a company pays you?!!! LOL!!! You don't want the job, clock out and let someone who wants to earn a living do so! Sorry, sweety, you just aren't THAT SPECIAL!!! Sorry Mommy and Daddy raised you with Participation Trophies your whole life! Must be HARD facing Reality after all that time!
Stannous Flouride 4 years ago
I started a GoFundMe to buy white Persian cats for Bezos, Musk, & Zuckerberg so they could finally attain true "Bond villain" status but they made me take it down. (not kidding, I really did this)
#3
Workers Deserve Better Than This
NsG 4 years ago
Ah yes, Ann Widdicombe. The one woman representation of Boomers, Karens and the reason Brexit happened with no thought for Northern Ireland because they just wanted to bring the Empire back to when England (important - not Britain, England) was important. God, I hate being English.
Penny Fan 4 years ago
Poster-woman for repressed, out-of-touch christianity and ear-frothing lunacy
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Thomas E S Thomas 4 years ago
If everyone would just get vaccinated nobody would need to wear a mask.
Bunny 4 years ago
Wearing a mask also really helps prevent things like the flu from spreading and thus prevents people dying. Look at how many people died from the flu last winter compared to other years. I understand where you're coming from though.
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DC 4 years ago
This idea sucks. Mask or out. End of. The antimaskers and antivaxers are causing a fourth wave in germany right now, and I'm sick of it and fed up with them. It isn'T asked that much. Our freedom is restricted a lot more, and a lot more relevant by countless laws and regulations almost no one ever questions, often simply because it impacts other people - the vinos don't care that prohibition of any else causes more harm than it prevents, and so on and on and on ... accepted, even applauded by rightwingers because being rough on drug users makes them feel superior or something. But this little-to-no effort of wearing a mask, or getting vaxed, is "TaKiNg AwAy Ma FrEeDuMm111111111" - fuggem ... but with protection of course.
Leah Helbig 4 years ago
Really then how do you explain Africa which is kicking covids ass and is only 6% vaccinated. I have found in the US the areas with the most vaccinated are the ones having the surges
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Snorkeldorf 4 years ago
I am fully vaxxed but will continue to wear a mask. I'm paying out the wazoo for lousy health insurance that only gives me comfort that I won't lose my house if I would become extremely ill. I literally cannot afford to get sick.
Kevin Warner 4 years ago
How about Stores aren't a police force to begin with?! How about "My Body My Choice" concerning marks, fake vaccinations, or liberal Karens wanting to tell everyone ELSE what to do?!!! And Retail Staff are our husbands, wifes, children, parents! Who wants to treat their family and friends like garbage?! Only democRATS!
Jill Bussey 4 years ago
Only if it staffed by antivaxxers. Let's see how their infection rate works for them.
Leah Helbig 4 years ago
Most stores around here have stopped enforcing them and our numbers are about the same so its whatever i think everybody is over it and ready to just live life. Odds are more in your favor that you would die driving home from the store than covid
Meanwhile, redditor Adahn5, the head moderator of r/lostgeneration, told Bored Panda that they consider millennials, aka members of Gen Y, to be born between 1981 and 1996. They noted that some of the ambiguity about who might or might not be considered a millennial stems from whether or not someone grew up near the beginning or the end of the generation. What's more, those growing up with siblings may have been influenced to have different identities, too.
However, the moderator thinks there's a certain element of subjectivity here, too. "From our perspective, if you consider yourself to be a millennial, you're a millennial. Though when it comes to the subreddit, we try to cultivate a sense of working-class solidarity that intersects with this generational experience, more than just making it drily about the clichés or memes of what it means to be a millennial," they told Bored Panda.
#4
Don’t Forget Their Morning Routines
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Billionaires know that there's no way that they could lose all their money. That's why they are building multi-million rockets so they and their friends can play astronaut for a few days.
Kevin Warner 4 years ago
Where does that even come from?! I'm missing CONTEXT! A good General Rule is that if it isn't YOUR MONEY then its none of YOUR BUSINESS! Take care of yourself and hope the Billionaires want to hire people to make them more money...so JOBS can occur!!!
Tugg Ster 4 years ago
It's true that successful people in general work harder than those that do not find success. And there's someone who earns and creates a multi billion dollar business for themselves wants to spend it exploring space travel then why should they not be allowed to.? I agree the poverty is an issue in our country- around the world actually- But that doesn't mean that people who have earned a lot of money should have to give it to people who haven't worked at all to pay their fair share
MorgothBauglir 4 years ago
They care because you're robbing everything they have. Is that not a reason?
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
Someone robbed everything billionaires have? So there are no more billionaires then?
#5
Just Work Hard And You'll Succeed
DC 4 years ago
And disgusting. Capitalism doesn't mean freedom at all, it means freedom for those who could buy freedom in any system in which money is worth any. Fuggit, the hospital janitor likely is one of the people who hardly ever screw up, sure a lot less likely than any CEO or similar, often a lot more important, and often, their work is pretty disgusting - removing what sick people emitt is not a dream job, but something that should be worth a decent pay for the work, and a decent extra for the disgustery that comes with it. Ever smelled the puke of someone who was obstructed for two weeks and literally throws up shid? Yeah, someone might want that to be removed, especially in a highly hygienic area, and someone throwing up this likely is not even close to able to remove it themselves ... and their insurance is paying enough to gold-plate it before removing into a bucket made of QE2's crown or so...
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Capitalism. Where a CEO earns more than the entire staff of a hospital.
Beans 4 years ago
Even charity CEO's. No charity head should make more than max 150k a year. It's a charity FFS.
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iblowsheep 4 years ago
"It's called the American Dream because you'd have to be asleep to believe it" - George Carlin
Grant Barke 4 years ago
How can hospital management not see this is wrong is beyond me. America really pisses me off some days.
bumble bee 4 years ago
If you think this just about capitalism you don't understand that regardless of economic systems, the fault lies with greedy people who do not value the work people do. You need to change human behavior which will be found in all economic systems.
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#6
A Choice?
Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago
Wellll. You gotta eat and you need money. There is a lack of jobs so yeah, you kinda are forced to work the job you hate.
Mazer 4 years ago (edited)
After my work related accident, I did anything and everything to stay out of the system. In America, many people think one can just get social security or any government assistance and be Golden. The hoops I had to jump through made me a f*****g circus seal and now that I’m in the system, it’s equal to forced poverty. When I applied for housing assistance they told me I needed to prove I was homeless - no, taking photos of your car or tent won’t cut it. Then told me because I wasn’t a single mom, drug addict or domestic abuse victim, they had no box to check on their form. Bloody f*****g crazy
M Whee 4 years ago
It's not just the government, my friend has a type of debilitating arthritis, it got bad enough she tried to get on disability but after taking a daily walk (doctor's orders)she found her insurance company sent someone out and photographed her out and dropped the application.
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MorgothBauglir 4 years ago
There are two options here: unionize, or quit and find another job.
Kevin Warner 4 years ago
FYI: I've worked jobs I hated, but then LEFT to work somewhere else! It was EASY PEASY!!! I guess "bitching" is easier than getting off your ass and LOOKING! LOL!!!
Willow Sunstar 4 years ago
There's also the threat of having to move in with your parents after the age of 40. No one wants to do that.
bumble bee 4 years ago
You don't like your job, then yes get another one. I've left many jobs over my lifetime because it was toxic, run by idiots, job was a dead end. That is the perk of working in a free market
Board Pan, duh. 4 years ago
This depends on where you live and level of education... where I live, jobs are scarce,,, and most need a college education.. every town here is far away from the next .. and we don't have busses to go in between so if you don't have a car then you have a handful of jobs to choose from within your town.... and owing a car plus gas is crazy expensive right now... in northern Ontario
Load More Replies...According to Adahn5, neoclassical or classical economists tend to argue that a lack of financial literacy might be the main issue that millennials face. "But the truth of the matter is that this perspective ignores greater, macro-economic and historical development of capitalism. The contradictions present in this system, such as the need to seek greater profits by offshoring jobs, the articulation of austerity measures that would cut public services and assistance programs, often coinciding with the drive for greater privatization and financialization of what were once public services, hand-in-hand with a freezing of wages since the 1970s, would better explain the burden that Gen X first experienced, that millennials were saddled with, and that Gen Z were effectively born into."
In short, the subreddit broadly believes that there are socio-economic problems present that can't be solved just by improving financial literacy on an individual level.
I was curious to learn more about the online community's history and Adahn5 kindly explained the roots of the group and how things changed. All of the current moderators weren't there at the founding of the sub back in 2009, right after the recession. It was at the time that "American millennials were very starkly shown that the promise most of them were held to, that if they studied hard, got into college, and graduated with a decent degree, they would have a guaranteed job, turned out to be false." The financial situation was tragic and the repercussions were catastrophic.
#7
The Struggle
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago (edited)
We bought our house in 1992 for € 50 000. It's now valued by the council at €180 000, but in real life similar houses in my street have sold for €325 000. So yes, millennials don't stand a chance on the housing market.
Bobert Robertson 4 years ago (edited)
Try being a millenial in Canada. I am VERY fortunate that as a millennial I could afford to buy my house 6 years ago. However, it still cost $385,000, and because we were planning a family at time time and wanted a decent sized house with a yard for the kids, we had to move an hour away from work. Now, just 6 years later, my house is worth $900,000-1,000,000. Had I not bought when I did, there's no way I'd have bought any house within 5 hours of work.... it just insane that even a tiny little bungalow that needs updating goes for $750k now.... I'm fortunate, but I have so many friends that can't even afford to buy a studio apartment now which go for more than my 2100 square foot house went for just 6 hours ago
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Daniel Marsh 4 years ago (edited)
This is a serious issue, and in offering advice how to deal with it, I mean in no way to minimize the seriousness of the issue. GTFO of those cities!!! You wouldn't pay $65,000/yr to go to a club every few weekends, so why live in "hot" metro areas when you can GTFO and get jobs where your cost of living is 40%, 50%, or 60% lower? Because your job pays you 20% more? America's major cities are run by an elite which has convinced itself that their greed and selfishness is for the good of the poor. Banning development of new housing artificially inflates the cost of housing. Here in DC area, there are tons of ground-level homes. Any time anyone wants to build a high-rise, they are attacked for gentrification. But replacing 100 homes with 5,000 homes means that overall, the price of housing will go down. Also, the lack of housing is making people commute all the way from West Virginia... but you can't build new housing in the suburbs because sprawl is bad. Thank God SOME liberals (e.g., Minneapolis) are at least getting rid of some zoning restrictions.
Board Pan, duh. 4 years ago
Not here. We are 8 hour drive from Toronto the biggest city... and housing and rent has went up so much because of the demand.... it is unaffordable in rural areaa now because of this shift ....and you have to drive half hour to 1.5 hours to go to work or groceries.... gas is the most expensive I have ever seen. My partner and I have great jobs and live modestly and are barely afloat now. If gas prices went back down we may be okay......
Karl Baxter 4 years ago
It’s amazing that a bank can reject you for a mortgage but a landlord is happy for you to pay a monthly sum in rent greater than the monthly mortgage payment you would have been liable for had you been approved.
Honu 4 years ago (edited)
I'm an X-er. I managed to buy a house, but not until I was 35. It's a smaller house, on a smaller lot, in a much worse school district than the house I grew up in. My husband and I are both university educated engineers and our income is several times the median income. Only one of my parents graduated high school. Their income was slightly above median. At the time they bought that house, my mom was not working outside the home. They bought their first house in their mid twenties. At times, they owned two houses and rented out the other. They worked hard and were smart with their money, but there is no way someone with their a-little-above-median income could do that now. Someone in their shoes now is a $1000 emergency expense away from homelessness. Oh, and they had a defined benefit pension. They actually got to retire. I don't know how most of my generation will. I probably will because I've chosen to live in what would've been a starter house for a low income family permanently so I can save up for that since who knows if I'll even get Social Security.
Chris Freeman 4 years ago
Get mad at your local politicians. Sure, housing has gone up generally, but its not nearly as extreme as the example cited for inflation. What is happening is local politicians not allowing more housing in their zoning practices. Everyone wants to be the LAST new people in, then freeze all development. Well, that creates shortages which leads to this. Its local zoning boards that is creating housing inflation and shortages, not construction inflation. I am shocked daily how the media does not report more on this.
Erika 4 years ago
We just had a zoning war in our neighborhood over high- and low-density development. The problem is, the lot for development is the drainage for the neighborhood, and swapping hard surfaces for the current trees will lead to major flooding. The roads aren't built for 300 more commuters past the grade school every day. The noise levels, without the muffins green space, will go up, and so will the local temperature. Density just plain lowers the quality of life for the people already there. We got a compromise: bigger lot size and they're leaving more trees, so maybe only 150 new drivers. Put a bus through? Probably not.
Big Chungus 4 years ago
My parent's house did the same thing. They bought it in 2008 during the recession and got 3k sq foot house with 3 acres for 200k. They did put a lot of work into it (it had been abandoned and foreclosed on), but now it is worth almost 1 mil. I ended up selling my house (it was much much smaller and worth a lot less) to buy into theirs to help build more value and cut my bills in half.
Wilf 4 years ago
EXACTLY this. My dad was a schoolteacher, bought his first 4-bed terraced house in London in 1978 for £20,000. Now worth around £1.6million. My mother didn't even work once I was born. Fast forward 30 years, my wife and I both earn SIGNIFICANTLY higher salaries than my dad ever did in his whole career (we are both top-rate tax payers, putting us in the top 5 percent of salaried workers in the UK), but couldn't afford to buy our first house until our mid 30s. It cost us £465,000 for a 2 bed. How come I'm both considerably richer than my dad, but also somehow.... still poorer??
Mari Anne 2 years ago
don’t worry millennial, someday, all that will be yours!… you can rent out all the rooms to transients and travel nurses to pay the property taxes, it’s called house hacking, look it up if you can spare like five minutes from your busy schedule of driving your gas powered world destroying vehicle around to procure extravagant gourmet coffee-based beverages and rewriting your resume using a functional layout that de-emphasizes what a lazy piece of s you are
Curry on... 4 years ago
I bought a house in 1990 for $92000. I sold it in 2007. It sold this past August for a shocking $575,000. A simple ranch house. Good neighborhood, but still. The pictures showed that no updates had been done to the property since I owned it.
#8
Precisely
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
When the hope that Alzheimer's doesn't make you accidentally vote for something that is beneficial for the people is fighting with your fear of sh!tting your diaper in congress.
Claire Stanfield 4 years ago
When I scrape the ageism off this comment, I'll let you know.
Load More Replies... bumble bee 4 years ago
Nor is the young. It is about the person, so stop voting party and start voting the person
The Shark 4 years ago
People at the end of the American average life expectancy should not be the only options to represent "we the people" who will be living with the consequences of their policies long after they're gone. Also don't tell me I should run for office if I don't like it. We all know that's not going to make any difference as though one person with no money can influence the ones in power.
Jerry Mathers 4 years ago
This is the one thing where the Millennial generation failed at (kinda). Time and again they failed to show up and vote for people willing to change the system. Of course the Gen Xers are more guilty of this and have significantly contributed to the problem. Now, the criminals are entrenched in office. No matter who you vote for, you are getting a puppet for the rich/ corporate that runs this place. The fix is to start locally. Vote in people who will fix the Gerrymandered districts, stop giving 10 year tax breaks to lure in businesses, tax the rich, support climate change prevention, want a national healthcare system, and understand that the minimum wage needs to go up.Once enough of those guys are in, get in your state level politicians that think the same. Only then could voting in a president like Bernie Sanders work. Avoid Democrats where possible (I shouldn't have to mention avoid Republicans).
ZAPanda 4 years ago
Correct, but actually, the voting in usa, as far as the rest of us can see, is always a tie between two approximately awful options. The gerrymandering thing is real, we have the same problem here. However, what you really want is fresh political parties. You need a green party and a socialist party, to start with. Otherwise you really are just not serious about change at all.
Load More Replies... Kevin Warner 4 years ago
Just a thought...STOP. VOTING. FOR. THEM. LOL!!! Run for office! Back somebody for office! Quit crying about the "Old White-man Club" and then voting Biden over Chang or the Black Candidate! You vote the old white guy in then...BITCH that the old white man is IN!!!
RandomHumanBean 4 years ago
WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT NANCY IS 80???? Also my teacher had a speaker named nancy. she had a mustache for a while because of the previous one.
laura edwards 4 years ago
How government was explained to me in 1977. The terms for serving in legislature is a certain number of years. This is so people can go back to ( fill in employment) after serving their country. It was not meant to be a lifetime commitment.
#9
Pay People What They Are Worth!
Ryan Deschanel 4 years ago
Biden said "pay them more" and he was right. That's the invisible hand of the market : if work is too expensive, pay your workers more.
Tobias Rieper 4 years ago
most of the problems here seem to be exclusively US problems how can a country that many claim to be the greatest in the world operate like this pay workers less than they need to live charge people to ride in an ambulance in an emergency charge people for life saving drugs they need to live have so many mass shootings in schools that they have an alarm next to the fire alarm and still be against gun control treat people of colour so badly that when they protest others protest them its so f****d up i feel so sorry for my American cousins
Ghougle 4 years ago
If it's so bad, why does the US have more immigration than the #2,3,4 and 5 combined? If it were soooooooooooooooo bad in America, would 48.2 million people immigrate here, when the number 2 country, was RUSSIA at 11.6 million? It may be bad, but according to people who are moving around the world, the United States seems like the place to be.
Load More Replies... bumble bee 4 years ago
Hopefully, the great resignation that is occurring will bring this point home
GenericPanda09 4 years ago
I was in a role once at a decent level and there was a company-wide meeting to be presented by the CFO about the year-end results, board renumeration etc. Basically everyone at every level who worked at HQ had to go. When it came up to the point where he started going through the chairman's remuneration someone at a junior level asked the question "Why is he getting a raise that's so much higher than what you've just said ours will be?" 'ah well' he said rather patronisingly, 'you have to pay the best if you want the best, and we do want the best people'. Every other manager looked at me like I'd just betrayed them to the secret police or pointed out the emperor was indeed in the buff when i asked 'but we also want the best cleaners too don't we? do we not also need the best data inputters for the business?'. I got shut down pretty quickly but I think me and the unknown voice at the back of the room had made our points by then'.
GenericPanda09 4 years ago
There's a huge deal that company bosses make about being worth it because they're the ones steering the ship..... ignoring the fact that without well motivated and rewarded people at ALL levels there'd be no ship for them to sail. At some point when going up the career ladder, it gets less about knowledge and work and more about just fitting in with the current status quo....... 'oh don't worry bout those on the lower levels now Tom, you're in our club now...here's a key to the private bathrooms'
Kevin Warner 4 years ago
How about, if you don't want the job, hit the streets! People that want to make money DO want the job! LOL! "Gen-Z" cries worse than the newborns at the hospitals LOL!!!
Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago
Not just the US. We have pretty decent minimum wage in Australia but we also have a high cost of living. Wages growth hasn't kept up and it's getting harder to stretch your money.
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"The subsequent debt that most were saddled with, combined with the badgering of their parents and the mainstream media portraying them as lazy, entitled, or unrealistic, lead to the feeling of discontent that fueled the initial impulse for the subreddit's creation."
According to the head mod, the members of the r/lostgeneration community have become much more class conscious, has shifted from criticizing Baby Boomers to incorporate anti-capitalist theory, and focuses on working class solidarity across generational lines.
"There's been a shift in understanding that much of the ideology arrayed against us isn't solely based on generational disagreements per se, but also in capitalist hegemony. Our parents and grandparents, for example, particularly if they already held some conservative viewpoints before, fall easy prey to mainstream media narratives that exemplify the talking points expressed above. That the kids of yesterday made the wrong moves, chose the wrong degrees, were coddled and thus developed faulty characters, and that they ought to blame no one but themselves for their lot in life," they explained.
#10
Mad Max Hours Who Up?
Mavis Movenpicker 4 years ago
Every time someone says "just covering up a comment" makes me want to look for it more. Half the time it's buried at the bottom of all the other comments that no one would even know it's there (until someone points it out 👆) 🤷♀️
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The Shark 4 years ago
People think I'm joking when I say my retirement is a Glock and a bottle of whiskey.
bumble bee 4 years ago
My retirement plan is to go out and start shoveling heavy wet snow and die from a heart attack. I've already told my extending family to check the snow banks if they don't hear from me in a while
Ozzie Ogawa 4 years ago
Wish i could die young. All i can see in the future that i have to work my ass off just to be able to live decently.
Auntriarch 4 years ago
I am a boomer and my retirement plan is to drink gin until I run out of money or liver
Thomas Sweda 4 years ago
At least you have a retirement plan. Monty Python had to retire in the gutter, covered by yesterday’s newspapers.
#11
One Law For Them, Another For Us
Bobby 4 years ago
I need to stop reading these. Its just ruining my day and I don't know what I can do as a broke nobody to change things
Auntriarch 4 years ago
Just be as decent a person as you can, then you will leave the world better than you found it
Morgan Macsweeney 4 years ago
wow like i always say. the morre money you have the more u can get away with.. and this is evil.
iMOGENE CARGEAUX 4 years ago
This is so f****d up. Also, we should talk about the difference in white ppl getting arrested for cocaine n black people getting arrested for crack n how different the sentences are for the same fucken drug just because one is associated with POC n poor people n the other is viewed as a rich person/white drug.. obviously this carries over into every single thing in the world but I have always been baffled by this.. how you gunna throw a Black person in prison for 10 years over a tiny bag of crack but then give white frat boy Chad a slap on the wrist n a fine for a couple grams of cocaine? Bailey Sarian talks about this on her "Dark History" podcast on YouTube. Y'all should check it out. She talks ALOT about the history of racial divide in the US. From the trail of tears to the old Indian residential schools, to the Tuskegee experiments.. she covers it all.
#12
Translation: Ok Boomer
Jerry Mathers 4 years ago
Except that not recognizing the harm done by the Boomer Generation is what has led to the current state of the US. The most entitled generation ever didn't give a crap about anyone but themselves. The enacted laws that harmed the future of this country for their own immediate benefit. Their low regard for others led to unaffordable housing, low paying jobs, racism, long prison sentences, unaffordable healthcare, constant war, bubble economies, mandatory minimum sentences, and a slew of problems that caused the US to lose face in the world, screwed the future generations, led to a shorter average lifespan, and a far more stressful world than the one they inherited. Now I'm hearing "Don't blame the Boomers". Nonsense. The Boomers (and to some extent) Gen X need to own that. We screwed it up for them. They just need to show up at the polls and remove the filth that we put in office. That's on them.
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Brandy Grote 4 years ago
Please only use Boomer to refer to people born before 1960. You might see someone with grey hair who is actually a Buster or older Gen X, who also still can't afford a house, or medical, and are STILL paying for their college from the 80s!
Sean Harrison 4 years ago
I'm so glad I'm GenX. We're totally not even part of the Generational War going on right now.
Debby Hartinger 4 years ago
I do understand. You really don't have a chance unless you have boomer parents to help you. And the system isn't working. Some Boomers have to work until 67+, which means they stay in jobs younger people should have. Totally messed up.
bumble bee 4 years ago
Stop generalizing boomers. This is about content of character, and the fact that those with little to no character have gained seats of power.
Lara Verne 4 years ago
Me,trying to explain my grandmother why I can't buy a house like she did back in 1978.
Janice Geddes 4 years ago
Do millennials like being categorized? No? Well, neither do boomers. I don't know how many boomers you actually know but they must be shitty people. Most of us are quite lovely, open minded, liberal and do not put people in boxes.
Wise beauty 4 years ago
Yeeeeeep. Tried to explain to my grandpa that it was ok for me to open a jar for him and he went into his whole life story on how men are supposed to be stronger than women.
The head moderator added that they've noticed quite a lot more people questioning the system we're currently living in every time there's an election cycle and equality-conscious politicians like Jeremy Corbyn in the UK and Bernie Sanders in the US lose. "Their defeats have only led to further questioning of the system and deeper criticism of the socio-economic system and the state apparatus on which it depends," they said.
Redditor Adahn5 also shed some light on what most of the members of the subreddit are like. As you could expect, a lot of them are (over)educated. "The people who frequent the sub are intelligent, critically-thinking young folk, overwhelmingly educated," they told Bored Panda, pointing out that many have at least a bachelor's or master's degree while some even have PhDs.
"They realize the core issues that they face are not of their own, individual making. Any political organization or party seeking to develop a set of popular policies would do well to incorporate and adhere to a platform that incorporates the needs of young folk. If they did, they would have at their back a great number of highly trained, articulate, and competent workers whose only desire is a bit of comfort and for their lives to have meaning and purpose."
#13
But Did They Really Try Making Coffee At Home?
Kevin Warner 4 years ago
Its okay, Creepy Uncle Joe Biden will keep molesting little girls, eating Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream, and printing money! And CNN says Inflation is GOOD for us!!!
Erika 4 years ago
We have this insane thing called the "debt ceiling." Basically, if government spending passes an arbitrary point, Congress has to pass a resolution to budget more. It's a grand opportunity for fiscal conservatives to show off what great deficit hawks they are, for fiscal liberals to express their support for a functioning government, and lobbyists to earn their paychecks representing corporations, veterans, or whoever. Happens 2-3 times per year. Basically a high-stakes sporting event.
Load More Replies... #14
Just Make It Illegal
DonS 4 years ago
It's a problem in my hometown right now. Private interests from oversea and local buys houses and residential buildings, a lot in less fortunate neighborhood. For the house, they don't even flip them, they just raise the price after buying from 300K to 800K. For residential building, that's where I hope there's a special kind of hell for those people. They use a loophole in the law where they evicted EVERYONE for "renovations", changes a few door and then re-rent the apartment for twice or triple the rent. I've seen affordable 500-600$ apartments getting their door changed and being re-rented 1200-1800$ a month. Politicians says they care, but they don't care at all since those buildings makes more money from taxes.
Yayaboobo 4 years ago
Are you in Washington? My daughter's family are continually outbid by foreign entities and corporations for homes. Though they have enough to buy a 1
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Sky Render 4 years ago
Wasn't that kind of the whole reason why Mr. Potter was so evil in It's A Wonderful Life and why Bedford Falls turned into a literal hellhole when George Bailey wasn't able to stop his shenanigans in the altered timeline? I'm pretty sure it was. Many in the generation in charge today grew up watching that movie religiously, and I can't help but think that more than a few of them learned the wrong lesson from it..
#15
We Have Been Conditioned To Ask For The Bare Minimum
Sky Render 4 years ago
It would be, except that the wealthy here are so absurdly wealthy that they're literally starving the workforce out to keep wages low. Familiar tactic, unfortunately; it's frequently what happens just before a revolution happens to overthrow the absurdly wealthy.
Pablo Ramos 4 years ago
Thriving wage? Really, sport? How well is the "Living Wage" going for you?
Kevin Warner 4 years ago
So...tell them what you expect to be paid, and they either hire you or they don't! This isn't Rocket Science people!!!
Victor 4 years ago
Why do people have the energy to protest so passionately about wearing masks during a pandemic, but can't be bothered fighting for fair work conditions (or any of the other s**t being dished out by the 1%)? If you are going to protest or fight, do it for something that counts.
bumble bee 4 years ago
Shoot for the stars and at least hit the moon. Ask for much more and maybe just get the more
At the core of the ‘Lost Generation’ subreddit lies the belief that millennials struggle far more than previous generations. Despite being educated and following their family members’ advice, they’re not all enjoying the same success as their loved ones. In short, they were promised the world but realize to find that carving out even a small scarp of muddy land on God’s green Earth for themselves can be tremendously difficult to do.
Finding a job was hard enough. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit and sent shockwaves through the labor market. If that wasn’t enough, some millennials feel like they don’t know what to do with their lives even if they manage to get a stable job, buy a house, get married, and have kids. Directionless? Like the actual Lost Generation from a hundred years ago? Perhaps.
The subreddit frowns upon any posts that have nothing to do with working-class millennials “or their shared experiences.” They also don’t allow any so-called ‘Boomer Ideology’ in their group. “Poor-shaming, bootstrapping, anti-millennial rhetoric, or using stand-point epistemology to justify inequality, injustice, or oppression, is not sanctioned,” the moderators explain.
#16
I'll Give You Something To Cry About
Monty Is Fiennes 4 years ago
I didn't want to upvote you... but I had no choice...
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Kevin Warner 4 years ago
Actually, if you took 2 seconds to look up F***y May Freddie Mac et. al. you'd see the democRATS destroyed the housing market. College Tuition went up because no one ever said "NO" to them, and the ice caps still exist today even though we know historically there are periods of ice age and melt that have been going on for BILLIONS of years LOL! Don't go to a college that overcharges you maybe!
#17
I’ve Been Trying To Explain This To My Parents For A While
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Sad but true. Even young people outside of the USA are finding it very difficult to get a decent start in life. Only when you have a more than moderate income, you'll be able to buy or rent a decent house and start a family. And it doesn't look like that is going to change very soon. In the meantime shady landlords and investors are buying up every house that comes on the market to make ridiculous profits by renting them out. And as usual; Authorities are reluctant to stop these practices.
Dolly_of TheCowboy 4 years ago
Well of course Governments across the globe are reluctant they call it "economic growth" and you cannot stand in the way of "growth". Except their idea of "growth" is more like a malignant tumour's "growth"
Nora12 4 years ago
I have to say I am a couple years older than 40 and in the same boat. I have been fighting such major depression from this very thought and my boomer dad’s solution is that I should just stop watching the news as if that will make it all better.
aaaggg hhh 4 years ago
It's also been 40 years since Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President. Coincidence?
Amy Broderick 3 years ago
change that to anyone under 55 or 60 and it's still the truth. I'm in my late forties my coworker in her early 50's and we will both work until we die and barely make it paycheck to paycheck
Lowrider 56 11 months ago
Im 68yo, still working. I'll work til I die too. I'm collecting SS too and it still isn't enough. Idk what I'm going to do if I can't work anymore. At least when I die my wife can collect my SS.
LetsGoBrandon 4 years ago
Because the current population allows a corrupt political system to run/ruin their lives! The US government really does treat it's citizens like sheep - and they are the wolves, not the shepherds. Wake up Amerika!!
#18
How It Started, How It's Going
Tobias Rieper 4 years ago (edited)
people are willing to pay into a fund to help someone get medical treatment that they wont benefit from but wont pay extra for universal healthcare because they dont want to pay for someone else this is exactly how universal healthcare works like a nationwide go fund me only you actually get to benefit from it imagine everyone paying into a fund like we do in the UK we call it national insurance if a country the size of the US did that they would solve their issues with paying for healthcare
John L 4 years ago
I'm still not convinced "people" don't want to do it, but that the politicians won't allow it.
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WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
I think Gofundme is also the backbone of the American welfare system. It's just sad they let everyone start a gofundme. "Hi, I'm Sylvia and I'd like to book a 6 week cruise, because I feel I deserve it. I have already saved €25, just need another €9975. Will you support me?"
Naturally, there’s no place for any hate speech or oppressive language on the sub. And the moderators note that “anti-working class rhetoric and ideologies” aren’t welcome either. In other words, new members are expected to be polite and to toe the subreddit line carefully. Whether or not this stifles genuine discussions about capitalism, generational differences, and economics is another question entirely. Hopefully, the subreddit engages with those who genuinely want to discuss these things and isn’t just an echo chamber for its members to vent.
Eddy, who was previously the James and Elizabeth Freeman Professor of Management at Bucknell University, also shared his thoughts about millennials during an earlier interview with Bored Panda. To be fair, there are various interpretations about who can technically be considered to be a millennial, depending on who you ask. There is also some overlap with Gen Z and we can even talk about older and younger millennials as well. In short, when it comes to millennials, things aren’t as clear-cut.
“Millennials have been defined by demographers in North America as those born on or after 1980/1981. Generally, they have been socialized during the turn of the century with technology influencing everything they do. Because they have been raised in a relatively middle-class environment, they tend to be over-parented (the terms ‘helicopter parents’ and ‘lawnmower parents’ were coined to describe the parents of millennials),” Eddy explained to me earlier.
#19
3rd Party For 2024?
Tamra Stiffler 4 years ago
I've been saying this for years - both parties are just different sides of the same shitty coin.
Logic and Reason 4 years ago
It’s kind of hard for one party to make progress while the other is brainwashing its supporters in to militant fuckwits. Democrats have been trying to raise the minimum wage, why do you think we couldn’t?
Sarah Harel 4 years ago
Which is worse... saying no and giving no f*x whatsoever or saying no but gaslighting us to think they do care??
ZAPanda 4 years ago
Exactly. Will usa please make a socialist party and a green party so you can actually have choices?
Mpkfighter Plays 4 years ago
YES PLEASE I WILL START A GOFUNDME PAGE FOR THIS lol
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Daniel Lesnick 4 years ago
Clever, but to be fair, the republican response should include a swastika and an assault rifle.
bumble bee 4 years ago
You know why the young vote democrat? They are too naive to understand that they have been fed lies and betrayals all the while being told they take care of you. Repubs no better
Wise beauty 4 years ago (edited)
Someone walked up to me one time at a summer camp and asked if I was a republican or a democrat. My response (I was joking because I knew that that’s an option and that she didn’t give me it): “I’m a libertarian.” Her response to my response: “what’s that?” My response to her response to my response “you do know that there’s more than two political parties, right?” She literally glared at me for the rest of camp. This is the girl who also showed the girls in our cabin that she had a multi tool and when I said she wasn’t supposed to have it she responded with “what are you gonna do about it?” I’m never going back there.
#20
Being A Millennial Rules
Thomas Sweda 4 years ago
And, if I’m not mistaken, plumbers, and carpenters, and electricians, etc. are still making a good living!
Kevin Warner 4 years ago
I agree to an extent, BUT I don't think they expected their children to study Ebonics, Crossdressing 101, or How Rainbows fly out of Gay Unicorn Butts in school either!
bumble bee 4 years ago
Hmm, I went to college. Got a degree in the STEM field, never found a job in my field.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
Also, next time you feel like urinating on liberal arts, kindly delete all movies off your hard drive, cancel your streaming services subscriptions, stop reading magazines, throw away any books you have (though that one I am not sure you have any... maybe just the bible, dunno). Also, take all paintings or prints you have on your walls, cast them into the trash. Smash your radio as well, and stop listening to music. I mean that's just liberal arts, who cares. //s (sarcasm)
Load More Replies... #21
It Isn’t Adding Up
Adrian 4 years ago
As a Brit, living in the US, I wonder about the mentality that everyone here is so "free". Perhaps free from healthcare, social safety nets, etc.
Sean Harrison 4 years ago
What's worse is that most people have no concept of how hard it really is to get out of homelessness.
Robert Thompson 4 years ago
I lived for almost 10 years just 90 days away from being homeless. Now I live with my parents.
matt fischer 4 years ago
Around 70% of Americans have less than $1000 in savings and 45% claim to have $0 according to a Motley Fool article: https://www.fool.com/retirement/2019/12/18/the-percentage-of-americans-with-less-than-1000-in/ We are hiring people at the same.money I was making 6 years ago and my job responsibilities haven't changed. Consider looking for a job change now that companies are offering more to start.
“As a result, millennials have higher self-esteem compared to previous generations. They tend to portray themselves as assertive, ambitious, and achievement-oriented. The general public and media have also referred to Gen Z (those born on or after 1995) as millennials. We should bear in mind that the oldest millennials are now about 40 years old (from the Gen Y cohort).”
Eddy went further in-depth about millennials. “Because millennials were raised in very different environments (middle class, over parenting which is a part of the self-esteem movement), they do not conform to the more traditional approaches of doing things. For example, there is less respect for hierarchy and ‘doing time’ as technology has changed the way we work,” he said.
“This inevitably creates a faultline in the workplace between older and younger generations of workers. Older workers (e.g., boomers) are rule-bound (they created the rules!), millennials ignore them and rewrite these rules. For example, older workers strictly observe the 9 to 5 workday, millennials would stream into the workplace at 10 but work during their ‘waking hours. Previous generations find these behaviors to be irritating,” he said.
#22
Gatekeeping Through Irresponsibility
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago (edited)
The now 73 year old would vote for the same politicians again because they were the best politicians ever....
Ozzie Ogawa 4 years ago
The government stole my parent's pension, so now i have to send half of my wage to them so they can at least pay bills and have something to eat (ps. I work far from home)
bumble bee 4 years ago
Investing in the stockmarket is for suckers. Your giving the people you hate the most your money to play with, and now wonder where it all went
Tami 4 years ago
Those who've lost big in the market are often the ones who panicked in a downturn and got out. Or they put too much in one investment that went sour. Or they got greedy and sold good investments instead of letting them ride for retirement. For example, I know several young people who got stock options for working at Amazon some years ago, and sold them soon after to travel, buy a new car, etc. Got to stay in for the long haul and diversify. I was in the market in 2008 and was still able to retire early, and give my job to a younger person.
River Daski 4 years ago
it's probably the last open spot in a non-compact lot, so a large vehicle cannot park anymore, where the little vehicle couldve parked in a compact area also, with how far they parked up, someone expecting that to be an empty spot will have a sore realization when they go to pull in
#23
Less Yachts More People Able To Afford Food And Have A Roof Over Their Heads
John L 4 years ago
Capitalism, isn't the problem...corruption is. Plenty of capitalist nations and their citizens fare fine....most, really. The US is different in that we don't use the word corruption...we call it lobbying and career politicians.... Funny how these people go into it for "service" and end up part of the richest percentage of this county.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
yip, I am frankly amazed at how they blatantly do corruption and call it lobbying. But i suppose it's in USA not africa so the word lobbying is used.
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Ronald Copenhagen 4 years ago
Government did this. They allow the loop holes for all their buddies. To not take advantage of a loophole would be foolish.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
really american voters did this. They have simply not done what would be the right and necesssary thing to do, which is realise the dems are not different enough from the reps and what they really need is a socialist party.
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Robert Thompson 4 years ago
I am collecting for the charity "Tots without Yachts" -Louise Belcher
Devil's Advocate 4 years ago
Except those yachts also create a lot of jobs from the design, ask the way through to maintenance while owned, but you keep saying how crap capitalism is because definitely never under communism has anything ever gone wrong...
Poultry Geist 4 years ago
Everyone thinks there are only 5 rich people in the world! It’s not true ! There’s lots of rich people! Very few are doing the right thing ! Just saying !
MorgothBauglir 4 years ago (edited)
"most people can barely feed themselves" Actually look at statistics, will you? This is so wrong.
bumble bee 4 years ago
Capitalism is not the source of danger in the world, in which removing it would cause bliss, happiness, with no want or needs. That is cause by human nature, greed, envy, and all the other contributing human deficiencies.
#24
Six Dollars
Paul Davis 4 years ago
I've literally never seen a coupon for any kind of healthy food, ever. They're always only for processed junk food.
ChickyChicky 4 years ago
And coupons are usually for brand-name stuff that's more than the generic . This is why, even in my poorest years, I very rarely used a coupon.
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Sam rice 4 years ago
Look at moneybags here shopping at whole foods for produce. I'm 9ver here at Aldi's!
ChickyChicky 4 years ago
Lucky you have Aldi! If you're on the West Coast of the US, it's unlikely!
DC 4 years ago
It's, sadly, the poors' unchoice. It's a bare necessity to have somethng to eat that gets you through the day - taste and healthiness come thereafter. First comes enough, then comes good enough, then comes the fullfilment of desires. That, many people who talk down the poor just seem to not get. Not that hard - seems more, like, them not wanting to get any of it...
Joseph Cheung 4 years ago
Fruits and vegetables are not overly expensive, its that Unhealthy ultra-processed foods are artificially cheap, the government gives them subsidies.
Willow Sunstar 4 years ago
Not to mention, all the health food police constantly pushing things that cost 3X as much money as the normal things that they don't deem "as healthy." Seriously, go to your local grocery store and look at a simple, non-organic head of plain old lettuce and compare it to the bag of kale in the organic section. Heck, even the regular bag of kale is still at least two and a half times as much.
Debbie Burton 4 years ago
Fruit and veggies are pretty cheap here..... cheaper than bisuits or chips or crap (per kg)
“Every generation is focused on themselves—even boomers and Gen Xers. It’s really interesting hearing Gen Ys (older millennials) complaining about Gen Zs (younger millennials). ‘Kids these days…’ Part of this can be explained by the anxiety or fear of being displaced,” the expert explained.
“Boomers considered themselves as ‘the greatest generation.’ This (irrational) fear is most acute when technology changed how we live and work. Millennials, having been born and raised in a digital era, are much more adept and versatile in incorporating technology in everything they do. The boomers find it more difficult transitioning from their pre-technology ways. They still wear an old-fashioned analog wristwatch (to tell time) and don’t understand why millennials need to be plugged in through their smartwatches.”
#25
Explains A Lot
bumble bee 4 years ago
Everything, EVERYTHING! Food, clothing, everything a person uses has been monetized and divided into shares to be sold off. You want to know a major contributing cause, it is the stock market. Where everyday people people put their hard earned money into to keep the wheels greased, and where they end up losing most of it in the blink of an eye
Devil's Advocate 4 years ago
Don't have kids then, the fewer working people the lower their pensions, and the smaller the human race, the better for the planet!
#26
Mission Impossible
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
In 1992 we had a combined income of €900 per month. We had no problem to get a €50 000 mortgage on a 1930's house without central heating and in bad state of repair.
Meami 4 years ago
Salaries have not kept up with inflation. Here in the US the lawmakers get very nice pensions and healthcare perks after they leave office so they have no incentive to take care of the average guy on the street. So many of them have no clue how most people live paycheck to paycheck if they can even do that. It's so disgusting.
Devil's Advocate 4 years ago
Boomers keep buying the properties, often at inflated prices, to rent out to people. A couple of decades or so ago, people didn't WANT to buy, they wanted to rent, so prices went down and those who could afford it bought houses to make money from them. They'll soon die off though and then there will be a flood of houses
Dolly_of TheCowboy 4 years ago
Used to think same thing; there would be lots of places at better prices once that generation passed away. Except when you think of a large chunk of those property owning boomers (#not all boomers) buying maybe a handful of properties and have a handful of offspring. They know very well that property has become a trade commodity not a roof and security because of their actions. They also know their children will likely never be able to afford to get into the market independently, without intergenerational property ownership assistance (aka bank of mum and dad for deposits etc) OR intergenerational property inheritance. Having a "property for each one" is something I hear a number of older co-workers talk about when discussion turns to why they are still going after further investment properties. Many say they view it as an easy way to buffer their children from poor wages, poverty, rental stress, and the threat of homelessness others will suffer. They know exactly what they are doing
PurpleUnicorn 4 years ago
Similarly in 1992 my income was around 800/month, bought flat for 38,000 no problem. That same property last sold for over 100,000. Total madness.
#27
How Capitalism Cause Generational Gap
MorgothBauglir 4 years ago
Capitalism does not promote theft. Do corporations rob you? Do they come up with a gun? No? It's not theft.
Load More Replies... Meami 4 years ago
So when my husband and I bought our first house, we'd been married for a while and interest rates for mortgages were around 15% (it was around that time that variable rate interest showed up because people could not afford houses). The apt we lived in was turning into a condo and we were told we would either have to buy or move out in 30 days. We found a small condo that the owner was willing to carry the contract on at 12% and thought we'd won the lottery. Eventually, interest rates came down and we were able to refinance. Our salaries definitely went sooooo much further then than they would now. There is no way we would have been able to buy anything in today's market. I don't think the current market is sustainable and I'm hoping that things turn around. Even rent it stupid ridiculously high. We have come to a bad place.
Devil's Advocate 4 years ago
No house was 300k when your parents were buying though, they were cheap, and their car was basic so they serviced it themselves or didn't use it. Not everything is the fault of capitalism and inflation, some millennial problems really are brought on by themselves.
Debbie Burton 4 years ago
Funny that my 'check engine' light came on 5 days ago..... have no idea where the money will come from (I am 59) don't go assuming all older people have heaps of money!
KT 4 years ago
What i've found helpful is to have a car repair fund and put something in there every pay day. I always put in $100 a cheque and it has saved my bacon several times
Ronald Copenhagen 4 years ago
Capitalism didn’t artificially inflate the US dollar. The Federal Reserve did that.
Meanwhile, financial expert Sam Dogen told Bored Panda that building wealth requires four things: belief, grit, time, and community. He also notes that a lack of financial education might be the biggest obstacle to climbing out of poverty and building wealth.
“We learn things like chemistry, geology, and English in high school and college, but there are no mandatory courses on personal finance. For example, if more people thoroughly understood their mortgage contracts before signing, the housing crisis between 2008–2010 may not have been as deep,” he told me.
#28
I Think This1% Are Unaware Of Other People
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
No, half your politicians just don't give a f**k about you, and the other half can't be bothered.
bumble bee 4 years ago
Then there are those who talk the talk and stick it to you all to get your votes
Load More Replies... Jerry Mathers 4 years ago
Throw in the fact that they all get free, single payer healthcare, 6 figure salaries, and tons of benefits so they can do what amounts to a part time job.
Tobias Rieper 4 years ago
in the UK if you need help from the goverment they have an amount they say you can live on per week for a single person that is £73.10 per week which you could absolutely not live on unless you didnt do anything stupid like buying food and drink or having electricity put the politicians on weekly wages like this and i bet it would soon change
ZAPanda 4 years ago
And in the UK y'all voted for Tory recently, right? Alliance Party Conservative Party Co-operative Party Democratic Unionist Party Green Party Labour Party Liberal Democrats Plaid Cymru Scottish National Party Sinn Féin Social Democratic and Labour Party
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Nicholas Kraemer 4 years ago
Please remember that most people in the US and Western Europe are in the top 5% for global wealth. To the people complaining, to most of the worlds' people, you are the problem
#29
Mission Accomplished - Covid-19 Edition
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Only difference is that Covid still is active and doesn't make prisoners.
Béla Kun 4 years ago
Yes it does, or what would you call ppl getting f-ed for life because of it.
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NoneYa41 4 years ago
The COVID data is going to be released to the public in 2076 - not a typo. In 55 years! and will still allowed to be redacted. Find it yourself on Yahoo! News.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
what are you talking about? The covid stats are right here: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
Load More Replies... Devil's Advocate 4 years ago
Carpet bombing with zero time and effort into actual planning, while continually lying to the public??
Helena Houzarová 4 years ago
It worked then because USA could pull all the remaining people from Vietnam and not care about what's left there anymore. Can't do that with a pandemic that is already inside the States.
#30
I Feel Motivated
Lucifer 4 years ago
The problem isn't with capitalism. The problem is with American style capitalism. Everything "American style" is a huge problem. Capitalism, Healthcare, Education, Military, Politics, Religion, Housing, Food and even Democracy. Reagan & his cult have done most of the damage & Republicans have continued with those policies to date.
Sean Harrison 4 years ago
The problem is that our Politicians keep "kicking the can down the road" on every single issue and have been doing this for so long, the road is now blocked and we can't move forward at all.
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kjorn 4 years ago
if people when they're young stand to their ground when going into politics and try to makes changes and don't get corrupted by the system they could make a mark in the system but they don't care as soon as they are elected.
Morgan Macsweeney 4 years ago
u need internet nowadays from home, if u can afford it, to succeed...
“If more people knew they could negotiate a severance instead of quit with nothing, more people would have a more comfortable financial runway to take their time and find a new job or start a new business that is truly meaningful to them. The more people are empowered with financial knowledge, the better financial decisions they can make to ultimately live the lives they desire," Sam said.
#31
Political Evolution Of Millennials
Pezor Zass 4 years ago
They're full of chemicals and artificial colouring and preservatives.
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Nikki Sevven 4 years ago
I'm a 56yo GenXer. I have and continue to become more and more progressive and leftist as I age. I don't vote for my own benefit, but for the benefit of my Millennial daughter and Zoomer niece and nephew. THEY are the future.
Paul Davis 4 years ago
I'm not sure -- I've sure seen a lot of people have strokes, develop dementia, or be struck by mental illness as they age, and for some reason they always seem to tilt towards rabid conservatism. Never the other way.
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kim morris 4 years ago
I’m a 64 yo boomer. The older I get, the more socialist I become. Whoever made up that phrase (older =conservative) was full of merde.
Shine Caramia 4 years ago
I used to say, "tax the rich so we don't have to eat them." Now I see lists of the richest people and wonder if it's a dinner menu.
Ripley Dog 4 years ago
Haha, same! I'm a card carrying Democratic Socialist and one missed paycheck away from hunting suburban deer with a butter knife.
Don't Look 4 years ago
Depending on your age and your life situation, your views will likely turn conservative over time. I don't mean politically.
#32
Surely A Coincidence
MyOpinionHasBeenServed 4 years ago
"every single human act gets monetized". Let that sink in, everyone.
Hotdogking 4 years ago
Gooberpeas I'd like to see you move into an apartment with a minimum wage job, where you have to choose between paying rent or going hungry for a few days. Then come talk to me about lazing around expecting things for free. Bitch
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Overlooking that fact that old people also have to deal with the increasing cost of life on a pension that stays the same for years on end. Insurances go up, property tax goes up, sewer rights go up, utilities prices go up. Pension stays the same.
#33
Hindsight Is 20/20
All's Gravy 4 years ago
GenX had childhood threat of nuclear Armageddon, teenage terror of AIDs/HIV, Adult recession after recession and negative equity, Nuclear disaster after nuclear disaster, climate crisis where no one was listening.
Mangelo Il Fumatori 4 years ago (edited)
As a GenX-er, I hate this type of "we had it bad, too" thinking. Yes, we had it bad (and for a lot of us it still is), but things are measurably worse for the younger generations. If we all don't band together, it's just going to keep on that way.
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François Carré 4 years ago
Imagine getting through all of this being 10 years older and you get why I just skipped the parenthood part.
Santhe van der Meulen 4 years ago
Ehm parenthood? We're not going to be able to afford children.
Question everything 4 years ago
There was The Great Depression in the 1930s. Took 25 years to recover but after that most people could get jobs and afford a mortgage pretty easily. Then we had a market crash in the 80s, 90s, 00s. With every crash the rich got richer and poor got poorer. Quoting: "House prices have increased by 1010% since 1980, and that’s 24 times the rate at which annual salaries have increased, according to personal finance comparison website finder.com." https://propertyindustryeye.com/house-prices-have-increased-by-1010-since-1980/ The wage gap is huge in most western countries. The millenials are screwed and everyone that comes after them. THAT is how it's different from previous generations
NsG 4 years ago
I'm an older Millennial. I'm 41. For an average life expectancy, I'm already IN middle age. This is the problem with generational labels. If I were to have started parenthood at the start of the pandemic I would be classed as (no joke) a geriatric mother.
Nora12 4 years ago
If you are 41, you are a Generation X. I know everyone forgets us in this talk of millennials and boomers but we do still exist.
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Szabolcs Matefy 4 years ago
1914-18 world war I 1939-45 world war 2 Spanish flu, economic crisis, communism...just to name a few things that were a bit worse in the previous century
Frankenfrog 4 years ago
Parenthood? Fewer kids are being born to millenials than any other generation
Debbie Burton 4 years ago
It probably won't happen.... they will blow up the world before you get there
#34
Have You Realized Skills Of Average Person Have Increased But Wages Still Remain D Same!?
C W 4 years ago
I applied to 72 jobs recently. I have a BSN (I wanted to get away from floor nursing as I was burnt out) and got a MBA with emphasis in healthcare management. I got 2 call backs, one offer for a entry level job at half of what my first nursing job paid 10 years ago. And back then, that baaaarely paid my minimum student loans due. I was a RA and worked all through college, which wasnt recommended in the program. Lived with my parents and worked 6 or 7 days a week at different nursing jobs to afford a super crappy house after a few years. I was able to live with my parents after graduation and have my aunt co sign for my student loans to even get approved for them. How the s**t do you make it otherwise??
Rebekah 4 years ago
Hello random BP stranger. I am seriously proud of you. I wish you all of the best things! <3
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rumade 4 years ago
I started working administration jobs in London and surrounding towns when I was 16, first temping around schooling and then full time after graduating. After travelling and doing a few other things in my 20s, I lost a dream job overseas and came back to this area. I'm seeing job listings for the jobs I used to do, on a lower wage than I earned back in 2009. And when I apply, I'm getting rejected because I'm told I don't give "specific enough examples" of scenarios I have carried out relevant to the role. It is ridiculous. I could do these jobs at 16, and I can do them better now at 31. But I'm being denied that opportunity, and if I was selected I would be earning less than I did back then!
#35
Every. Election
rspanther 4 years ago (edited)
Maybe we should look for the greater of two evils for a change? Cthulhu 2024!
Don't Look 4 years ago
We don't. Have you not noticed that no one worth having in the oval office actually wants to try to get there?
Willow Sunstar 4 years ago
Yeah, I'd like someone who is at least True Neutral, please. That would at least be somewhat better.
Ann Dennis 4 years ago
As soon as someone, who isn't evil, can make it past the selection committee.
#36
Not To Mention The Debt
Kanuli 4 years ago
Where I live you can apply for examina for like 700, and if you pass you get the same degree than the one I paid 13k for.
Willow Sunstar 4 years ago
Also you have to pay thousands of dollars to have a piece of paper that you could have learned everything for free from, but companies won't hire you unless you have the piece of paper.
Mtownmick 4 years ago
I think all of these comments are true. Maybe there are more paths to education and learning. I loved the college experience but my small liberal arts catholic college in the cornfields failed after 100 years and that's okay. Not everything needs to be what it was. Also for-profit schools have trashed by student loan process by having huge failure rates. Capitalism rules!
Samantha Lomb 4 years ago
If that is what is going on you have gone to a shitty university. Most people just aren't equipt to self teach from internet resources as there are too many and of such varying quality. Teachers help students break down materials into manageable chunks, offer real time explanations, curate materials so that students have the most accurate and up to date materials and provide motivation. And if they don't make it clear on the evaluations. Every university I know of has students evaluate teachers and it has a real impact on things like our salary, granting tenue ( in the places that still do that) and contract renewal
Claire Stanfield 4 years ago
I understand that you have a personal investment, but the amount paid many times simply does not show up in the value of the education received. I had a drawing professor for a required course for my art degree. She was an alumna who majored in sculpture and did not give more useful, meaningful feedback than "I like/didn't like what you drew". I could pull anyone off the street for free and ask them if they liked what I drew!! This is for my degree!! Tell me how it can be improved, or go do another job, you're not suited to teaching art.
WhatEvenIsLife 4 years ago
F**k, this. I went to college and for the most part, I learned everything from the textbooks/Google, not the professors. The professors read Power Point slides out loud to us like that was education.
Don't Look 4 years ago
Uhm, no. If you failed to realize that you do not need to spend that money to go to college, the system already has a hold of you.
#37
Minimum Wage Earners Can’t Afford A Two-Bedroom Rental Anywhere
Mindghost 4 years ago
The update for WORLD ENGINE v1.01 will clear out this bug and will arrive at 404NOTFOUND
MAL 4 years ago
I'm extremely lucky to have an apartment for $750 a month, heat and a garage included. The only downside is that my car could be stolen at any moment and there's a good chance I'll get shot or stabbed at some point. I make $40k a year working for a major city government doing a job that required a Bachelors and an Associates Degree. Rent with a comma in it is unattainable.
Oogiebogieaugiedaddy 4 years ago
When I was young I didn't go out and start spitting out babies to get a check and live on welfare and section 8. I went to community college, got a job and had a blast. Get your priorities straight!
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
You’re a community college graduate who thinks you’re better or different than people just slightly poorer than you. You’re both poor. You’re just too stupid to take subsidized housing which you definitely also qualify for.
Walter Brameld 4 years ago
So the rent in that area went up over time? Yeah, that happens sometimes, when rich people start moving in. They can afford higher rent, so the rent goes up. Doesn't mean there aren't still cheap apartments in other parts of town.
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
You’re just very, very confused. Yes, working 2.5 weeks to afford rent is “a bit much.” Poor people can’t even afford rent after working 2.5 weeks, which is a number you just completely pulled out of thin air. But yes the point of the meme is that it’s “a bit much.” There’s not always an affordable two bedroom. And your idea of “the big city” is probably way off. Not just big cities. Any cities. And most towns and backwoods places too. Housing prices are a function of the market, and what it bears. It isn’t potato chips or video games or whatever you personally buy. It has a different set of principles beyond the retail market. There are also fewer middle income families than there were before. Also this isn’t about them. This is about the poorest people affording the poorest rentals. Nothing to do with middle income families. The meme is literally just a set of facts about what things cost. It can’t be misleading because it doesn’t propose anything. You’re just super stupid.
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Family Dependent Surpasses The Great Depression
ZAPanda 4 years ago
That's because you privatised education. Stop doing that. Nationalise all your hospitals and universities.
Jill Pulcifer 4 years ago
You say "You" like it was a band of Millennials who got together and decided to run the country into the ground. When in reality we are now in our 30's and 40's and our parents / grandparents generation are still controlling literally everything. Sometimes I can't help but think that whole "lets make people live longer" thing has really backfired on us. We cant trust Pop Pop to drive anymore, but we'll let him be leader of the free world?!
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Katy McMouse 4 years ago
I can see a time when multi generational homes will once again be a common occurrence across the board. No more "ugh! He/she lives with their parents". The question will be " why aren't you pooling resources with your family?" I fully expect the possibility of my kids not leaving home right away and I think I'm ok with that, as long as they're pulling their weight.
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
“As long as they’re pulling their weight” is what all those families who kick their kids out say. Multi generational homes don’t monetize the family members. The expectation is staying home regardless of contribution.
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Anton Kider 4 years ago
Get rid of one of your aircraft carriers, or two, and have invested in people's education and healthcare. The USA were in Afghanistan spending 300 million $ a day during years. And nothing changed. Can anybody imagine how society could change if these were invested in American citizens ?
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago (edited)
The US government doesn’t read this blog. You’re just repeating what actual Americans have been saying for years, to Americans as if they don’t know.
#39
Workers' Passion Shouldn't Be Exploited For Profit
Jerry Mathers 4 years ago
Or hundreds of other people will do it for less money. Fields like veterinary assistant, photographer, helping mentally ill children (non-degreed jobs), anything animal (non-degreed), forest service, art, etc are full of people willing to work for peanuts because they love the job.
Gabby M 4 years ago
But the burnout is real. I'm a teacher and I love working with the kids, but my salary is low and I constantly question if all the energy of teaching is worth it.
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#40
The Dream Killer
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Explains why a growing number of US citizens are moving to other countries.
Tee Witt 4 years ago
I know a couple of of people who emigrated to the USA in the last 10 years, they had no idea what a mess the country was in when all that is piped abroad are the same old songs. I also think Americans will not find it that easy these days to move to Europe, borders have been tightened as much as possible.
Load More Replies... Pezor Zass 4 years ago
when you hit 40-50, you realize what a waste of time giving up on your dreams was because you are now miserable and trapped. And that's what a mid-life crisis is. ask me how i know ;)
Theenbypotat 4 years ago
Tbh, this makes me really sad. I'm a younger gen Z, and I've always wanted to go into the sciences. Archeology, anthropology, marine sciences, geology, egyptology, anything like that. My dream is to be a literal scientist. That was a parents' dream for their child for so long because of the salary their child would get. But now I won't even be able to afford to get to college. College was always my only dream in life. I wanted to graduate college. But the world couldn't let me do that. It doesn't matter that I'm a gifted student, make honor roll, in the national honors society, and an active participant in a lot of clubs who take extra classes. My family doesn't have the money to get me there. And if I stopped taking all my extra classes and doing all that extra work to get a job, I wouldn't be qualified enough to make it into any half decent college. The world sucks man.
Willow Sunstar 4 years ago
My dreams wouldn't have paid rent, but it's not like the boring job pays a lot more, either.
#41
Worker Shortage Is A Corporate Pr Spin For Capital Strike
Natalie Kelsey 4 years ago
My son was looking for a job this summer and all these places with "sorry our hours are erratic, we're understaffed" wouldn't hire him. He's 18 and just wants to work, willing to take minimum, and had to apply to 20 entry level jobs before someone hired him, despite everywhere claiming to be drastically understaffed. I call BS.
bumble bee 4 years ago
HR departments are to blame for this too. Their screening process to even get a response is beyond necessary. I am not applying for Harvard, so why have the same mentality for hiring
Jill Pulcifer 4 years ago
This is so true, my daughter has applied everywhere. Most of the places having those crap signs in their windows, not a single one has called her.
Rebecca Finken 4 years ago
We've put out hundreds of applications, yes we're trying to get a couple of dollars over minimum wage, but that is literally just to cover the bills. Not good, gas or anything else. :/
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
Since you’re not getting any responses, I suggest you just go apply for the higher wage jobs and just lie on your resume. Find something you can actually do but just aren’t totally qualified for, that pays well, and lie on your resume and apply. It wouldn’t be smart to keep applying for jobs that don’t suit your financial needs. And you don’t owe honesty to a job, just labor. As long as you can do the labor you’ll be fine.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
I think you forgot to put /s on the end of your comment Wil.
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Our Sad Reality
Robert Thompson 4 years ago
A house used to cost about 10,000 hours pay. Lets tie minimum wage to that.
bumble bee 4 years ago
Rent is vastly more expensive than owning a home. Even in high rent areas, your 2500/mo would get you a large house with a yard
Mewton’s Third Paw 4 years ago
Yes but those of us in that high rent market usually are paying for the convenience of not owning and the ability to move around without house hunting and closing, and also access to nicer shít faster. I don’t want a house with a yard, I want my box in the city with a private elevator and no condo fees.
#43
Go To College, They Said. Get A Job And Buy A House, They Said
Tobias Rieper 4 years ago
its ridiculous i cant afford to live by myself i live with my parents and im 39 there is no point in me moving out if its gonna cost me nearly all of my earnings each month
BasedWang 4 years ago
Thank you for saying this because Im working f*****g hard but its hard not to get down on yourself when you're 30 and don't really see when this s**t is gonna work out. My parents provided for me a great life and everything, and I kept a strong ass work ethic, but still can not see an escape. A few of my friends are in the same boat, but alotta times its hard not to just get down on yourself. But yes, we have alotta people rowing the same boat but this m***********g current is strong
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Josiane Roy 4 years ago
I've often read online how most teachers in the US need to buy their own supplies for their classroom. Items like crayons, paper, etc. Whatever savings they might have had goes to funding their job and students education. It's messed up. You can't be fully invested in your classrooms' success and education if you also have to worry about how you'll be able to afford all that is needed to teach them and at the same time be able to afford to live. That's not even considering the second and third jobs most teachers have.
C W 4 years ago
I worked for 3 years 6 or 7 days a week as a new nurse while living with either my parents, or renting a cheap room with roommates to afford a house in 2014. It's worth over 3x that now and with nearly 10 years of nursing experience there's no way in hell I'd be able to afford it if I had to buy it today. Not.even.close. and the stupid house isn't even nice! What is happening with this world
Joachim Lotthagen 4 years ago
Maybe $69k is not so good for a qualified and experienced teacher. But in 1999 when a teacher received $65k it was extremely good! Because those $65k is in today's money $108k it
Daniel Lesnick 4 years ago
Sure, but now it has laminate flooring... of course the price will almost quintuple. Duh!
Tee Witt 4 years ago
Why are house prices shooting up so high? Someone must have the money to buy these places It is not only America that is suffering.
bumble bee 4 years ago
House flippers, house investors, mostly. After all you don't want to buy a house without granite countertops, hardwood floors,subway tiled bathrooms, etc.
#44
When I Magically Become An Adult In 3 Month
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago (edited)
They could have also joined the military, kill people and get a free education. But no alcohol allowed...
TheCatasaurusMeowMom 4 years ago
While this is/was highly illegal, when I was training with Army Reserve when I was 17, I walkways went with my unit to the bar closest off-base and as soon as they saw my military ID, I was just waved in and was bought drinks (no, they didn't let me get hammered or anything!). It's been 20 years, and I still smile when I think about the camaraderie and acceptance there.
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CultOfBambi 4 years ago
The only silver lining to this is at least you don't have a Limp Bizkit tattoo.
#45
Anytime Now
Sky Render 4 years ago
I have this horrible feeling that the next housing price bubble collapse is going to be followed by every available house being bought up for pennies on the dollar by greedy corporations and rented out at absurdly inflated prices because they can afford to do that.
NoneYa41 4 years ago
they've been doing it since 2008 - private landlords aren't the problem. They simply have an income. The corps are the actual problem with the housing market.
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ArchiBookworm 4 years ago (edited)
On the contrary - a collapsing housing market is the only thing that will bring prices down to affordability and the market will be flooded with houses that aren't selling most of which will be foreclosures because that's what happens when the market crashes. So houses will be available, you just have to be lucky enough to be in a position to buy one. I'm one of the lucky ones - i bought during the last collapse and my mortgage is 1/3 of local avg rent.
Susie 4 years ago
I've been living with my parents and saving for almost 10 years. Add to that significant monetary gifts from my parents. I now have more than enough for a down payment on a decent house. But...because I'm massively underpaid, the most mortgage I can be approved for is only enough for a run-down condo in a bad part of town. I want off this ride.
bumble bee 4 years ago
With a condo, they can knock on your door anytime and demand you cough up thousands because the function room, gym, roof, heating, etc needs repairs.
Trillian 4 years ago (edited)
Shouldn't you have finished paying off the mortgage by the time you are a pensioner? Here banks won't give you a loan if you plan paying off till after retirement.
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#47
Millennial Culture
DC 4 years ago
1/2 - It seems, so far we only have goten to having delovedly developed economy systems and structures that, in the end, are easier modified to favour one side than most other sides, often the upper group benefitting from lower groups' misery and expense. This can be applied to every country, and literally has sunken into every layer and every front, any sitation where a competition even is possible - the workers of the rich western countries can benefit from slavery'ish labour practice in poorer countries, the rich in any society benefit on the poor remaining poor, their number, total as well as relative, practically never grows. Groups within groups can change other groups (chinese workers stay chinese as well as workers, but slide into the richer group among them and similar patterns) - and almost always, a great share of the poorer grpups depends on the benefit from taking advantage of those even poorer by having to buy cheap stuff, and even midpriced stuff ... part 2 as answer...
DC 4 years ago
2/2 - gets made in poorer countries, by poorer workers ... machinery contributing its part as always. Therefore, this imbalance is easily to strengthen, to modify by whoever profit - the higher one is, the more levels one is high in, the more he/she/it is even able to decide, the poorer, the less ... therefore, having to and doing, contributng to exploitation elsewhere. Breaking any of these cycles is perfectly possible, but depends on each one being high in any level and by any magnitude, doing so against their own inrerest, even if it is not against their ability to sustain a decent life. A large fraction of any poor group on any level may spark a change here, and the more other poor groups follow, focus their efforts on common goals, unite whereever it is possible and promising, the more we can achieve. Even FFF can and should be part of this, as this even enables the entire world to decide ecologically sustainable. Workers around the world uniting is needed more today than ever!
#48
Priorities
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago (edited)
But for the price of a fully operational aircraft carrier, you can implement a lot of devices and laws and pay cops to chase the homeless people out of sight.
Ian Reynolds 4 years ago
But we need weapons, for the global d**k measuring competition between the Global Super Powers.
#49
What Will They Try Next?
Raven DeathShade 4 years ago
I've been trying to apply for my first job for a while. Started when I was 16. A year later, still can't get hired. Everyone wants over 18 year olds.
#50
'When I Was Your Age I Only Made $6/Hour'
#51
It's A Weird Coincidence, Guys
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
So the rich managed to steal even 0.2 trillion more than the workers noticed.
Poultry Geist 4 years ago
Look up Kelly Lynn Loeffler! She is the perfect example of what happened in the U.S during pandemic!
#52
Facts
DonS 4 years ago
I deal with that every day at my current job. The big boss lock himself out of his computer at least 5-6 times because he can't remember his password, so he's using his secretary computer while she deals to unlock his computer, same goes for his account of our database which he forgot the username, the password and the email address associated with the account. Then, he wants every documents printed so he can annotate them by hand to be then digitize (he didn't like when I showed him how to annotate documents from his computer); he's unable to search a document in the database when he uses his secretary account (don't know how and not interested to learning how) etc.
#53
The Avocado Toast Superimposition
Paul Davis 4 years ago
I've seen a lot of posts from conservatives describe how they hate liberals because they "eat avocados" and "drink lattes" but I never hear any explanation of why that is supposed to be evil. Or any recognition that plenty of conservatives eat and drink a variety of foods as well.
Honu 4 years ago
The generation whose favorite hobby is sleeping because you're depressed, exhausted from over work, and sleeping is free.
Amy Broderick 3 years ago
Ha! I'm not seeking Death. But when he finds me, I will welcome him with open arms.
#54
We Need Not Just Living Wages, But Thriving Wages
Jerry Mathers 4 years ago
More like 50s-70s. Reagan took care of all that "disposable income" the middle class had.
#55
Because We Know The Rules Didn’t Work For Us
#56
It Makes You Wonder
Mtownmick 4 years ago
Hey, that was only the business and science majors but yeah. Went to my 50 yr high school reunion where almost everyone went to college and thought I wandered into a trump rally.
Big Chungus 4 years ago
On a positive note, as a millennial, I might have enough change in my purse for a McChicken
TheCatasaurusMeowMom 4 years ago
I've got enough for that $0.63 Egg McMuffin they had going yesterday, I think.
#57
Why Don't You Kids Travel More
#58
Lifecycle Of A Millennial
#59
Let's Be Honest, If We Don't Prioritise The Environment Over The Economy Soon, We Are Fked. Sincerely, The West Coast Currently Smothered By Dust And Ash
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
We have a climate crisis and that's why there was a global conference. Outcome: "We realize that we're facing though decisions to handle this crisis. That's why we're waiting to reconvene in 2022."
#60
Even When They Mean Well, They Just Don't Get It
Paul Davis 4 years ago
People are downvoting this because so many companies are opting to do absolutely anything, including going out of business, rather than pay a living wage. Typically they put all the pressure on their lowest-paid employees to take over the work and expect them to do it without overtime. May seem to advertise multiple job openings yet ignore the applicants who apply -- much of it being a scam to convince existing employees the company is trying, when in reality they aren't trying to replace the missing employees. And they completely blame the employees when there are mass walkouts after all the abuse.
Load More Replies... #61
Disgusting
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
There should be a cap at how much any election campaign can cost. It would also be a big step forward in fighting corruption.
Judo Flipped By Nobody 4 years ago
The only rich person i have respect for currently is Mr.Beast.
#62
Capitalism Is The Best! There Is No Alternative
Judo Flipped By Nobody 4 years ago
In Norway most healtcare is free as long as you show up. If you dont show up, it costs money, but if you show up its free
#63
Our Demands
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
And you should. Stop supporting the Wendy's, McDonald's and Starbucks to start with.
Ameely Bob 4 years ago (edited)
Ah yes. And put all the Wendy's, McD's, and Starbucks minimum wage workers out of a job that they rely on to pay their rent (I'm one of them) ... supporting these businesses is not the problem. Them distributing the profits unfairly is ...
Load More Replies... #64
Why Is Sleeping In Your Car Illegal?
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
And the councils use the police to actively search for people sleeping in their car so they can harass them. And the police force is more than happy to serve.
Honu 4 years ago
I do see a lot of legitimate complaints about what happens in neighborhoods where you have lots of people sleeping in their cars, RVs, tents, etc. There's trash, and often bodily waste on the streets, or dumped into the storm drains that feed our creeks. You have people surreptitiously hooking up to your water and power. An increase in property crime. It doesn't make for a nice place to live. However, making homelessness illegal doesn't make homelessness magically go away. The solution is giving people decent housing, not moving them along so you don't have to look at them or deal with their literal sh!t that they have no choice about and would rather not be making on the street. Living in a place with homeless encampments seriously sucks, but nowhere near as hard as actually being unhoused. The fact that so many of the people who are against dealing with them as fellow human beings in a charitable and humane manner call themselves Christians truly baffles me.
Thomas Sweda 4 years ago
It’s all about liability. We now have trunk lid release handles INSIDE of car trunks because some woman locked herself in the trunk of her car, in her garage with the motor running in an attempt at suicide. Changed her mind. Couldn’t get out. Passerby heard her and saved her. She sued the car manufacturer, and WON ! It’s all about protecting your ass, not about being responsible.
#65
Samsung Increases Suicide By 600%
Mindghost 4 years ago
When you have lost your soul in the dark, you don't need a shining hero to show you his light. You just need someone to help you search for it.
Raven DeathShade 4 years ago
"When I was younger I thought I wanted someone to rule by my side in my kingdom of darkness. Now that I'm older, I know I need someone with the courage to pull me back towards the light."
Dirk Daring 4 years ago
"Get some fresh air and smile more" is not an effective prevention strategy.
#66
A Typical Landlord's Response To The Coronavirus Epidemic
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Say what you will, but at least some governments have blocked this kind of jerk from "running a completely legal business."
Tobias Rieper 4 years ago
when the pandemic started in the UK and we went into lockdown they actually made it illiegal to evict someone if they had nowhere else to go
Nikki Sevven 4 years ago
Housing should not be a monetized commodity, to the extent that many can't afford it. It should be a basic right.
Kristin Ingersoll 4 years ago
No excuse to pay what you owe? Okay then! Illiterate a$$hole landlord. I'll do just that. NOT pay you. Thanks.
#68
That's Already Happening
Paul Davis 4 years ago
There was a science fiction story decades ago about a future city where all the buildings were sealed in order to create a way to profit from air distribution, and the main character dies because he couldn't pay for his air.
Kanuli 4 years ago
Water has to be cleaned and transported. Pipes maintained, people paid. As long as the price is fair, it’s what you pay for...
Ben Steinberg 4 years ago
Right, and NONE of the people profiting from it had/have anything to do with what you just listed. They didn't make the pipes, they didn't lay the pipes, and they sure as hell don't maintain the pipes. They just profit because they now "own" the pipes. And more importantly, the water that flows through them...
Load More Replies... John L 4 years ago
Not too far off. In Maryland (I forget which county), they have a rain tax.
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
The infrastructure and its maintenance to get the water to your home costs money. The cleaning of the water so it meets some minimal standards costs money. So yes, you get a water bill.
ZAPanda 4 years ago
yeah but Wil here it is socialised so IMHO it should just come out of national tax budget, this weird thing of municipal taxes and levies etc is just complicating things.
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#69
“1200 And Good Luck!”
#70
Democracy Dies In Darkness. But Also In The Extremely Bright Light Of Oligarch Propaganda
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
And a lot of stupid people fall for it to the extent that they would be willing to die to prevent the rich from being taxed.
Sue User 4 years ago
I read this quote from 100 years ago. Can't remember it exactly but it went something like this. The problem with the poor in America is they don't see themselves as poor. They see themselves as temporarily disadvantaged millionaires. My addition : they are all just one lottery ticket away from the American Dream.
#71
F**k Boomers
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
I'm 66 and I'm feeling the same. This should be the time that I could enjoy retirement, instead I'm calculating how to pay for all the energy-saving improvements that my government demands from me, knowing full well that I'm dead before I got any profit out of them.
#72
Get Wrecked
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Salaries plummet "because we can't afford to pay you your full wage anymore."
#73
"I'm Completely Out Of Touch With Everyday Working People"
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Of course she would say that. I've noticed in my time of living that the most radical liberal students who were totally ok with redistributing wealth, livable wages and decent labor laws. They became ultra right wing activists who'd rather see the country burn than ad 10 cents to a minimum wage because they suddenly started to earn money themselves.
Mtownmick 4 years ago
Some of us old farts still are fighting the good fight. This worship of money has overwhelmed the media and the churches that should know better.
Load More Replies... #74
They Literally Run The World
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Someone should have tossed the world leaders in the fountain, perhaps they would have woken up.
RedstonewolfX 4 years ago (edited)
Below headlines: teens flock to fountain to scrape up coins afterwards; fight ensues
#75
Thought This Belonged Here
WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Don't give them ideas, before you know it you can order pizza on convenient monthly payments with a minimal interest rate of 25%.
RedstonewolfX 4 years ago
I don't see why this is being downvoted; it's not unreasonable to expect people to capitalize high-interest loans for basic necessities. As someone in the US I don't know why someone already did this
Load More Replies... #76
Peak Late Stage Capitalism
JB 4 years ago
There’s a fence in Sweden where people hang bags of extra food so people who don’t have enough can survive. That solution is free.
over it already 4 years ago
And in the US, you'd probably get fined for littering and the whole thing would get tossed in the trash. :(
Load More Replies... WilvanderHeijden 4 years ago
Said it before and will say it again: In the US authorities rather spend $5 million to make homeless peoples lives more miserable than spend $2.5 million to solve the problem.
Stephanie A Mutti 4 years ago
I mean, for the love of GOD, if someone has it bad enough to scrounge through my garbage, c'mon, knock on my door and I'll give you something out of the fridge! The answer would never be to remove that barest slimmest life line of stuff that I don't even want in my house.
Lauren Caswell 4 years ago
We have community pantries around my city, you can leave food there for people to take, as much as they want. Volunteer organisations make sure they are clean etc. There are also lilliput libraries in addition to the normal public libraries, I know thats irrelevant but I like them (little postbox sized things painted like houses, full of books. You can put books you don't need in there, and people who need books can take them)
RedstonewolfX 4 years ago
Options: Spend $20,000/can to stop people from digging through trash, OR spend $100-$200 per homeless person to stop people from digging through trash AND make the people in your city much, much happier AND solve all the other things they might do. Take your pick. San Francisco: OH YES CHOOSE THE ONE WHERE WE DON'T PAY PEOPLE
#77
The Amount Of Truth In This Statement Hurts Me
Mtownmick 4 years ago
I did that. If you can get out of college with between 25k-50k in debt I think that is still true (key word is think). I didn't work a corporate job (non-profit 19 years) and have scrambled for a lot of the rest of the time but I have enjoyed my time on earth. Having a good partner makes this much better. Didn't find mine till 16 years ago but the earlier the better. You don't need a 650k house and 45k cars to be happy. That is part of the bullshit.
Sue User 4 years ago
I live in rural Idaho. 30 miles from the nearest Domino's. And house prices are average 300,000. They are building " low rent" apartments in the nearest big city. Rent will be 1024 a month. Minimum wage is 7.25. No , you don't have to buy a 650,000 house. But in big cities you can't get anything less than that.
Load More Replies... #78
Have You Ever Got The Feeling Like The Game Is Rigged
NsG 4 years ago
Fairly certain the only reason the Silent generation line goes down is because they're all dying of old age. The youngest person of the Silent generation is about 76 now. Average life expectancy in the US is 79.
John L 4 years ago
Hmmm, I've never heard that. The silent generation. I've heard of the "Greatest" generation. Same thing?
Claire Stanfield 4 years ago
Sounds like Greatest gen ended in 1926 or so, Silent is between 1927 and 1945?
JB 4 years ago
That’s sort of how it works, though. The Boomers have been there a while and will bequest their money to Gen X and then to the Millennials. It’s absurd to think that a 30 years old has the same net worth on average as a 50 or 70 year old. And it won’t skip to the Millennials, as some say, it will pass through the hands of Gen Xers first, just like it has from the dawn of time.
Gurnox 4 years ago
Nice theory, but no. My parents, boomers, lost pretty much all that they'd built up in the recession in the nineties when the interest rates went through the roof. Business and house, gone. Just like that. They retired about a decade or so later with next to nothing. There was nothing for them to hand down. Yes, what you describe will happen for some people. But you're assuming that parents are going to stay in good health (In the UK, your house can be sold in order to pay for your elderly care if you're unlucky enough to need it), there isn't a crash of some kind and that their mortgages and debts all get paid off. It really, *really* isn't as simple as you describe.
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#80
Saw This One On Twitter The Other Day
Bexxxxx 4 years ago
I read a money-saving tip not long ago, “don’t let your rent exceed 25-30% of your income.” 🙃 tf?
Shine Caramia 4 years ago
I tried to use that rule while looking for an apartment. Even Section 8 is over budget
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What do you think ?
GirlFriday 4 years ago
The company I work for was hiring for customer service jobs, entry level, full time, literally answer the phone, transfer the call, and maybe make a few copies - starting pay $9. They got one application for eight open positions. The eight people that left went to work as grocery store checkers or warehouse workers. The hiring manager was incensed and started the "no one wants to work" BS in a meeting. Someone said, "You need to finish that sentence. No one wants to work for poverty-level pay." The hiring manager was absolutely flabbergasted to learn that grocery checkers make $15 and warehouse workers are now getting paid $20.
bumble bee 4 years ago
I know a high school student who makes $23/hr at Whole foods. She makes more than me with a college degree
Jos Tiguidou 4 years ago
Do y'all think thoughts and prayers might help the millennials? Asking for a friend.
Kristin Ingersoll 4 years ago
About as much as they help kids during school shootings. Your friend's screwed. :/
The Starsong Princess 4 years ago
I know some late 20 somethings who have just bought a house in Toronto and had a baby. They are doing everything right! Actually the thing they did right is have parents who paid for their education plus her parents gave them a down payment for the house and will be subsidizing daycare for the baby.
RedstonewolfX 4 years ago (edited)
Me not having entered *real life* yet and reading this article, and thinking, "in a few years I'll be fkd" | Update on that: My views of life went "Oh, when you're around teenage years, you can get some nice funds by doing basic chores, helping others (i.e. mowing lawns and all that stuff), and getting a basic job. Then you get a better job using your education and you succeed" to "Parents have been having some financial struggles from time to time, but some of the stuff we did recently was expensive, so I get it" to "*reads about current events and starts to understand stuff a little bit* Well life is not at all how I pictured it. I see why my parents are having trouble (everything's becoming so darn expensive), wonder how the heck I'M gonna get through life"
Shine Caramia 4 years ago
(hugs) my kid is 11, and the world you two grow up in will be entirely incomprehensible to my generation
sofacushionfort 4 years ago
After WWII, the US vastly expanded its public universities to accommodate veterans and then the baby boom. The result was an educated society leading the greatest economic growth spurt in history. But after that growth suffered a few recessions, grants were sacrificed for loans, and today foreign students paying the more lucrative rates (and who in the majority take their skills back home) outnumber domestic students who grew up in homes with under $35K income. US higher education ate its own seed corn.
Shine Caramia 4 years ago
States continuously cut funding to public universities, arguing that private donors are giving more. Private donors direct their donations, often for endowments, buildings, and equipment. No one wants their name on "operating funds."
Kevin J. Henning 4 years ago
I understand Millennials have a lot to be angry about and I don't blame them. The problem I have is blaming "boomers" as if all of them live in luxury without a financial care in the world. Titles like "boomer" "buster" "Gen XYZ" and Millennial make it too easy to play the us against them game promoting more division and hostility. Some boomers have money but there are others hanging on by their fingernails. More than you might think. We all need to stop pissing on each other and realize we've all been screwed. The question then becomes, "what are we going to do about it?"
Paradise 4 years ago
When I was going to college, it took me 3 years in community and 3 in a university. Community took me an extra year because of my commute. I often got up at about 6, then finished classes to a part time job in the evenings. Did some work on the commute (with distractions of a handful of hometown friends) so I can be sure I had my work done. In university, I had to spend a year on pre req's before getting into my major. My dad had the audacity to comment on how long it was taking me once. My mom and I set him straight on how times have changed and my circumstances. And when my husband and I were renting it was my mom who informed us how it will cost the same to own.
Rachel Tucker 4 years ago
I used to tell my parents I would own an Aston Martin by the time I was 30. I understand why they used to laugh. My goals are more along the lines of, which fabric conditioner gives me the most washes for £5
kat lia 4 years ago
HCA facility fired/forced to resign or retire many employees (including nurses who's been working there for many years) during pandemic. And many health workers decided to resigned due to understaffing. The facility saved a lot of money, they replaced them with new graduates, with less pay rate since they have less experience. The managers/directors responsible for doing so were given with big bonuses and raises and of course the CEOs rejoiced. It is really about money to them they don't care about their employees or the patients.
GirlFriday 4 years ago
The company I work for was hiring for customer service jobs, entry level, full time, literally answer the phone, transfer the call, and maybe make a few copies - starting pay $9. They got one application for eight open positions. The eight people that left went to work as grocery store checkers or warehouse workers. The hiring manager was incensed and started the "no one wants to work" BS in a meeting. Someone said, "You need to finish that sentence. No one wants to work for poverty-level pay." The hiring manager was absolutely flabbergasted to learn that grocery checkers make $15 and warehouse workers are now getting paid $20.
bumble bee 4 years ago
I know a high school student who makes $23/hr at Whole foods. She makes more than me with a college degree
Jos Tiguidou 4 years ago
Do y'all think thoughts and prayers might help the millennials? Asking for a friend.
Kristin Ingersoll 4 years ago
About as much as they help kids during school shootings. Your friend's screwed. :/
The Starsong Princess 4 years ago
I know some late 20 somethings who have just bought a house in Toronto and had a baby. They are doing everything right! Actually the thing they did right is have parents who paid for their education plus her parents gave them a down payment for the house and will be subsidizing daycare for the baby.
RedstonewolfX 4 years ago (edited)
Me not having entered *real life* yet and reading this article, and thinking, "in a few years I'll be fkd" | Update on that: My views of life went "Oh, when you're around teenage years, you can get some nice funds by doing basic chores, helping others (i.e. mowing lawns and all that stuff), and getting a basic job. Then you get a better job using your education and you succeed" to "Parents have been having some financial struggles from time to time, but some of the stuff we did recently was expensive, so I get it" to "*reads about current events and starts to understand stuff a little bit* Well life is not at all how I pictured it. I see why my parents are having trouble (everything's becoming so darn expensive), wonder how the heck I'M gonna get through life"
Shine Caramia 4 years ago
(hugs) my kid is 11, and the world you two grow up in will be entirely incomprehensible to my generation
sofacushionfort 4 years ago
After WWII, the US vastly expanded its public universities to accommodate veterans and then the baby boom. The result was an educated society leading the greatest economic growth spurt in history. But after that growth suffered a few recessions, grants were sacrificed for loans, and today foreign students paying the more lucrative rates (and who in the majority take their skills back home) outnumber domestic students who grew up in homes with under $35K income. US higher education ate its own seed corn.
Shine Caramia 4 years ago
States continuously cut funding to public universities, arguing that private donors are giving more. Private donors direct their donations, often for endowments, buildings, and equipment. No one wants their name on "operating funds."
Kevin J. Henning 4 years ago
I understand Millennials have a lot to be angry about and I don't blame them. The problem I have is blaming "boomers" as if all of them live in luxury without a financial care in the world. Titles like "boomer" "buster" "Gen XYZ" and Millennial make it too easy to play the us against them game promoting more division and hostility. Some boomers have money but there are others hanging on by their fingernails. More than you might think. We all need to stop pissing on each other and realize we've all been screwed. The question then becomes, "what are we going to do about it?"
Paradise 4 years ago
When I was going to college, it took me 3 years in community and 3 in a university. Community took me an extra year because of my commute. I often got up at about 6, then finished classes to a part time job in the evenings. Did some work on the commute (with distractions of a handful of hometown friends) so I can be sure I had my work done. In university, I had to spend a year on pre req's before getting into my major. My dad had the audacity to comment on how long it was taking me once. My mom and I set him straight on how times have changed and my circumstances. And when my husband and I were renting it was my mom who informed us how it will cost the same to own.
Rachel Tucker 4 years ago
I used to tell my parents I would own an Aston Martin by the time I was 30. I understand why they used to laugh. My goals are more along the lines of, which fabric conditioner gives me the most washes for £5
kat lia 4 years ago
HCA facility fired/forced to resign or retire many employees (including nurses who's been working there for many years) during pandemic. And many health workers decided to resigned due to understaffing. The facility saved a lot of money, they replaced them with new graduates, with less pay rate since they have less experience. The managers/directors responsible for doing so were given with big bonuses and raises and of course the CEOs rejoiced. It is really about money to them they don't care about their employees or the patients.
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