
Millennials may never be as rich as their parents - spking
https://amp.businessinsider.com/1980s-millennials-wealth-the-great-recession-2018-5
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arcaster
As a millennial who's started their own business and been very active in
moving my work life forward, I'd say a lot of millennials just have no clue
how the real world works in regards to hard work + lots of failure => maybe
success.

Many believe they are owed absurd luxuries from society and believe that all
people who are financially independent / business owners are privileged evil
people who took advantage of others. Complaining seems to be more mainstream
than taking legitimate action to improve ones life / society in general.

I'm very much a fan of the rhetoric behind "Being a millennial is great
because it's so easy to be better than the entirety of the millennial
generation".

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jimmies
It's interesting how people see lives as an outsider - I see many who are paid
well yet are unhappy and complain they are poor all the times. I have been
living in the last 10 years in the US (near the St Louis area) as an
international student.

Some of the complaints are true, for example, housing has become very
expensive. Part of what to blame is immigrants/international students
(especially ones with rich parents in undergraduate) who drive up demands for
land and housing.

But on the other hand, I know many millennial friends -- females and males --
who complained they "can't cook" and would eat out every meal and "food is
very expensive." That "can't cook" disability is especially common among
American friends for some reason. I know friends who work at Walmart who take
home $1300 per month and have cell phone plans with unlimited everything for
$120 per month because they can't live without a "good phone." Same for having
pets, taking credit card loans, car payments, Netflix subscriptions, game
consoles, dresses, cosmetics, non-GMO food, fancy gadgets, etc. When a phone
or a laptop breaks, they say that's a piece of junk and throw it away to buy a
new one. And at the end of the month, they ask where the money went. Sometimes
I think because some people think they are entitled to the "lifestyle" they
have now.

While I don't think it's fair to say everything has to stay the same, but I
have seen and know people who don't take those things for granted in grad
school. I see some people had depression, yet they didn't get a dog as a
companion because they knew they couldn't afford a dog. When a laptop broke,
they would try to ask a friend to fix it.

Yet, I think you would rarely hear a person complaining they couldn't afford a
dog, you only hear people who have dogs and complain that "dogs are expensive"
"people who have dogs are discriminated against" when it comes to housing, and
they don't "make enough money." You hear people who complained they had to
throw the laptop away to the trash can because it breaks after 2 years and
they got ripped off for a piece of shit, and can't afford a "good" (aka
expensive) new one. You hear people who dumped their phones in the toilet and
are like "I _just_ know Apple and iPhones, and I like blue bubbles, don't ask
me to buy any cheap shit," and at the same time "I don't make enough." You
don't usually hear the person who rocks their 5 year old secondhand Android
phone with a broken screen complaining about not having money to buy another
phone.

Sometimes I wonder: Did their parents not cook at home ever? Did their parents
change cars every 5 years and phones every 1.5? Did their parents throw a
computer away because they spilled coffee on it? Did their parents _only_ use
Apple because they _only_ know Apple? Did their parents never buy secondhand
products?

The entitled are the ones who tend to complain the most about money. On the
other hand, I see many who see life as self-sufficient, live humbly and enjoy
life for whatever they have. The unprecedented amount of advertisement and
social media might have contributed to that sense of entitlement. Keeping up
with the Joneses is hard, who would have thought?

~~~
petra
I agree with a lot of what you say. people waste money on dumb shit, for no
good reason, and that's a terrible habit.

But:

>> I see some people had depression, yet they didn't get a dog as a companion
because they knew they couldn't afford a dog.

This isn't entitlement. People do deserve some things in life. A dog for a
depressed person in a isolated society seems like below basics, i would say.

And if the economic system can't even provide those basics, especially given
all the tools technology have given it, maybe the problem is in that economic
system?

~~~
jimmies
I agree with you that the example is quite extreme if a dog is what is really
needed to treat the depression. But on the other hand, there are other ways
that a person can solve a problem without having a financial strain. Here the
problem is being isolated, depressed. They can go out, make friends,
volunteer, work out, invest in a new relationship. Maybe there exist people
who none of those actions would help or applicable to them, and the few
solutions left are getting a dog or taking drugs. Then, in that case, you can
blame that it's not their basic needs being met.

But I personally know many who are depressed temporarily because they just
broke up and they always wanted a dog. Therefore, as the doctor suggests, they
get a note from a doctor to get a dog and shove it to the face of the current
landlord (and in less than a year, get kicked out and have to find a far away
and expensive place from work that allows dogs). Did the doctor tell them that
the only solution is to get a dog? I doubt so. To me, that's an excuse to get
a dog, not a necessity to treat depression.

~~~
petra
All your points are from the view of a personal behaviour in a given world.
And possibly this is the better way to act.

But the alternative view, of seeing the all powerful economic system failing
to provide people as something as basic as a dog, and viewing this as a big
failure may also be true.

~~~
jimmies
What is a basic need? Something that you can't live without. A bare minimum
that you can live with: Clean water, food, internet access, education, safety,
housing, healthcare, a mattress, a fan in the summer and a heater in the
winter, a mean to get to work are all basic needs. In most parts of the US, a
driveable old car that doesn't break down every month is a basic need; a new,
very safe, very reliable car is a luxury. Old people might be able to argue a
dog being a basic need. But young non-disabled people who can go out and make
friends saying I absolutely have to have a dog, I think, is pushing the
definition of a basic need way too far. A dog is definitely a luxury to me,
especially in sub/urban areas.

Maybe your (and my) parents used to spend very little for a dog and we have to
spend a fortune now, but it doesn't make having a dog a basic need. It's just
as good of an argument as they used to dream about a projector and now you can
get one for $200. The dynamics of having things changes: Being able to get
something cheap doesn't make it a basic need.

I am speaking as a dogs lover and the only reason I don't have a dog now is
that I don't think I can afford a dog.

~~~
dpark
> _Maybe your (and my) parents used to spend very little for a dog and we have
> to spend a fortune now, but it doesn 't make having a dog a basic need._

What exactly has changed about the cost of having a dog? Veterinary care has
not drastically increased in price so far as I know, so what about having a
dog is so expensive?

My last dog was “expensive”, but I’m acutely aware of the fact that most of
the expenses were things my parents simply did not do: buy a specialty breed
from a reputable breeder for >$1000, have a dog walker visit daily, feed the
dog expensive food, lots of toys and expensive treats.

Growing up, my dog was from a local breeder who probably ran a puppy mill. He
ate pretty cheap food that came in a 30lb bag from the grocery store. He
played in the yard with a tennis ball. No one came to walk him because he was
outside all the time anyway. If I cared for my dog the way my parents did, the
costs would be comparable.

I fully agree that having a dog is not a basic need, though.

~~~
jimmies
>What exactly has changed about the cost of having a dog?

If you have land, I suppose having a dog is not more expensive. That's what my
parents had, and I don't.

Part of what makes having a dog expensive for people who rent is the fact that
they have to rent. When you have a dog you can kiss goodbye at least half of
your rental options. The ones that allow dogs charge a premium on top of
limited options.

Plus, even when you have land, when you have a dog and wants to take a
vacation you have to take care of the dog. When you ask/hire a someone to take
care of the dog, you have to pay them, etc.

~~~
dpark
None of this is different from our parents though. Landlords didn’t want dogs
in the 70s/80s/90s either. Nor did dogs take care of themselves when their
owners went on vacation.

Lifestyle expectations and the way we treat dogs is different. People who grew
up with outdoor dogs in the suburbs now want to live in urban apartments with
indoor dogs. But that’s kind of like saying cars are expensive because you
have to rent a parking spot. You could see it that way, or recognize that as a
cost of urban living instead.

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ftflfx
It hurts that this is linked directly to AMP.

~~~
tonyedgecombe
[http://uk.businessinsider.com/1980s-millennials-wealth-
the-g...](http://uk.businessinsider.com/1980s-millennials-wealth-the-great-
recession-2018-5?r=US&IR=T)

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sunstone
Millenials in China will.

~~~
rhn_mk1
Are you sure there are millenials in China? The generations concept is
strongly defined by the context of USA. Only recently the idea of generations
started spreading to the rest of the western world.

I don't think this article even considers anyone but USA.

