Bitch bitch bitch

ThatOwlWoman said:
As is true with most things, this isn't an either/or thing. The combination of the two -- ingenuity and entrepreneurship PLUS government policies and regulations -- are what has given us one of the finest lifestyles of people anywhere.



Explain further, please. I do agree that my generation ("Boomers") has pretty much fucked up everything as far as the government goes. Higher education costs are insane and out-of-control. I blame that on govt. policies that treat for-profit colleges the same as others when it comes to awarding student loans and grants, w/o little to no regulation in place to ensure that those institutions are legit. We haven't done jack about soaring medical costs and the payment system for that, either. The entitlement thing is something else. I sense that you calling Social Security and Medicare "entitlements"? Guess what? Us Boomers spent a lot of time bitterly bitching as well about the $$ deducted from our paychecks -- especially those of us who were struggling to get by -- for our parents' generation to live high on the hog, so we thought. Nothing like chugging to work in your old beater, fretting over how you're going to make the next mortgage payment, only to get stuck behind a $100G+ RV driven by some blue-hairs to put you in the mood for revolution, am I right? lol Now that I'm in that blue-hair age group, I realize that we put into the system for 40+ years not so those old farts could drive around flaunting their RVs, but so that we would have something besides what we managed to save on our own for retirement. Those old farts were the lucky ones -- most of them had pensions in addition to their social security. Unless we paid into a 401(k), stashed $$ in CDs or an IRAs, we're hosed. No more employer pensions like in the old days. Ex.: My dad retired in 1978 after working 38 years for the same company. He got a pension. He got social security. His retirement benefits included company-paid health insurance. He was 60 when he retired. Fast forward to now. Mr. Owl retired when he was 60. He has two small pensions. Not old enough yet to collect social security. No employer-paid health insurance either. Thankfully Mr. Owl is a skilled investor and lived a thrifty lifestyle that did not include having children, so he was able to stash much of his income (31 years with the same company -- extraordinary for these times, eh?) into investments. But he is and will be paying out-of-pocket for health insurance until he turns 65.

Who, exactly, are the "millennials", what age group?
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My understanding is millennials are around age 25 - 39 years old or have b-days ranging from the early '80's to mid to late'90's.

For sh*ts and giggles after celebrating the Warriors victory last night I was googling about boomers and millennials and there's actually a lot written on the topic. There was a Vox article for instance, written from the left, that claims Boomers screwed millinnials by embracing neoliberalism policies once Boomers became the majority voting block.

The biggest issue I point to is real estate. Boomers had an opportunity to purchase new affordable/cheap real estate across the country when they were young. That opportunity does not exist today for young people (at least in the areas where most jobs are). At a certain point we decided we were going to put the brakes on development. (not completely of course but definitely slowing it down).

There are many boomers today living off the equity built up in their homes over decades of ownership. Young people not only don't have that opportunity they are paying huge sums in rent and thus struggle to save to be able to purchase.

We can get way more into the weeds on real estate but it is truly the ultimate f you from one generation to the next in terms of I've got mine.
 
cawacko said:
My understanding is millennials are around age 25 - 39 years old or have b-days ranging from the early '80's to mid to late'90's.

The biggest issue I point to is real estate. Boomers had an opportunity to purchase new affordable/cheap real estate across the country when they were young. That opportunity does not exist today for young people (at least in the areas where most jobs are). At a certain point we decided we were going to put the brakes on development. (not completely of course but definitely slowing it down).

There are many boomers today living off the equity built up in their homes over decades of ownership. Young people not only don't have that opportunity they are paying huge sums in rent and thus struggle to save to be able to purchase.

We can get way more into the weeds on real estate but it is truly the ultimate f you from one generation to the next in terms of I've got mine.
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Interesting. This is anecdotal, of course, but my two youngest fall into that demographic. They both own their own homes and have since their late 20s. The financial thing they struggle with is paying off their student loan debts. $400/month is a chunk of change that could be put towards a new car, retirement savings, vacation. They aren't doing without though. Both are married and their combined incomes are very good. They have newer cars, discretionary funds for entertainment and trips, and enough on hand if an emergency comes up. Their lifestyle is far nicer than was mine when I was their age.

I wonder if the housing problem you speak of is dependent on what area of the country you are in? Certainly California's market is unaffordable to many.

Where we Boomers screwed up big time is electing too many (R)s and thus putting the brakes on progress. In fact, Republicans are trying to roll back many things that benefit the people -- consumer protection, environmental regulations, the ACA, even reproductive rights.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Interesting. This is anecdotal, of course, but my two youngest fall into that demographic. They both own their own homes and have since their late 20s. The financial thing they struggle with is paying off their student loan debts. $400/month is a chunk of change that could be put towards a new car, retirement savings, vacation. They aren't doing without though. Both are married and their combined incomes are very good. They have newer cars, discretionary funds for entertainment and trips, and enough on hand if an emergency comes up. Their lifestyle is far nicer than was mine when I was their age.

I wonder if the housing problem you speak of is dependent on what area of the country you are in? Certainly California's market is unaffordable to many.

Where we Boomers screwed up big time is electing too many (R)s and thus putting the brakes on progress. In fact, Republicans are trying to roll back many things that benefit the people -- consumer protection, environmental regulations, the ACA, even reproductive rights.
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I strongly disagree with your last paragraph but I'll stay focused on the housing. California is a major contributor but we are far from the only state. It's happening in Portland, Seattle, Boston, New York, Washington D.C. There is plenty of opportunity in this country of course outside just coastal areas but at the time being the major financial and tech players are in those cities. And these areas have chosen (some longer than others) to not build enough housing. And at the core those who are older and own homes vote. And they vote for other (older) people who protect their interests as homeowners.

This isn't to imply there are no young people who own homes because clearly there are (like your children). But Millinnials do not have the same opportunity to buy cheap housing today like the Boomers did when they were coming up. And that's because of policy made to protect current (older) homeowners.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Interesting. This is anecdotal, of course, but my two youngest fall into that demographic. They both own their own homes and have since their late 20s. The financial thing they struggle with is paying off their student loan debts. $400/month is a chunk of change that could be put towards a new car, retirement savings, vacation. They aren't doing without though. Both are married and their combined incomes are very good. They have newer cars, discretionary funds for entertainment and trips, and enough on hand if an emergency comes up. Their lifestyle is far nicer than was mine when I was their age.

I wonder if the housing problem you speak of is dependent on what area of the country you are in? Certainly California's market is unaffordable to many.

Where we Boomers screwed up big time is electing too many (R)s and thus putting the brakes on progress. In fact, Republicans are trying to roll back many things that benefit the people -- consumer protection, environmental regulations, the ACA, even reproductive rights.
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Millennials are anyone reaching young adulthood in the 21st century. So I guess it depends on what some one considers young adulthood. I'd consider it anyone currently 18 with the cutoff being 25.
 
The cutoff for millennials is like late 30’s. Not 25 years old. There’s a 23 years old kid in my office and he’s Gen Z which is the one after millennials. Millennials are like 25-39 or around that.
 
Hello ThatOwlWoman,

ThatOwlWoman said:
They are members of the Cult of the Individualist. It permeates and poisons our culture. It's the "I got mine so fuck you and get your hands off" mentality. It's the "I managed to get an education and job w/o help so why don't YOU?" myth. It's the blinders that doesn't allow them to see that everything we have today -- highways/bridges/roads, clean water delivery systems, the electric grid, decent food that is (mostly) free of contaminants, public schools, public universities, museums, libraries, public health departments, police & fire and EMS personnel -- was paid for by those who came before us. We were wiser back then. We knew that it takes all of us to accomplish and maintain a civilization and society with a high standard of living.
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Totally nailed it. They wanna think it was the free market that brought them everything as they hate our self government that played such a vital part. Such short sided thinking.

Our system created the prosperity and it also created a lot of big messes the right does not want to acknowledge. Their propaganda tells them to simply blame liberals for everything bad and blame the poor for being that way. I am amazed there are really smart people who fall for it. How could the world be so simple? Amazing they never ask but just accept the baloney.
 
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