
Millennials are struggling. Is it the fault of the baby boomers? - paulpauper
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/29/millennials-struggling-is-it-fault-of-baby-boomers-intergenerational-fairness
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e67f70028a46fba
To an extent, yes.

The problem is that for the boomers, taking on lots of debt has worked out
smashingly as they levered into a booming (in part due to that leverage)
economy. But now we've reached the conclusion of that leveraged boom, and
there is no more room to cut interest rates or increase the amount of interest
as a percentage of monthly income. Prices can't fall because that would be
deflationary and wreck the banks first and foremost through defaults, and
everyone else after that.

There is no way out and we have to wait until compound interest, even at these
minuscule rates, sparks the default wave that triggers the great deflation, or
until the lack of family formation eventually destroys the economies ability
to meet the periodic interest payments.

In the meantime, enjoy the ride and try to be nice.

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nugget
My favorite revolutions in history have occurred when there is a mismatch
between rising expectations and a grim lagging reality. Millennials were
raised to have higher expectations than perhaps any other generation before
them, and yet most of them feel like the reality of day to day life is headed
in the opposite direction. We'll see what happens but the ingredients
historically necessary for domestic revolution are certainly present.

~~~
cimmanom
What are some of those historical examples?

~~~
nugget
The French Revolution of 1789 is one example, for which there's some evidence
that it was the less successful members of the Bourgeoisie (middle class) that
led the initial outburst of violence. My understanding is that they weren't
particularly starving or oppressed, at least in historical terms, but more so
dissatisfied at how society was structured relative to their expectations of
how it could or should be structured.

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richliss
Gen-X here... I'd say its 80% the fault of baby boomers, 10% the fault of
Gen-X and 10% of millenials own making.

Lots of Millenials have serious issues with expectation management. Lots of
millenials want to work in glamourous industries rather than boring and
unpleasant ones that pay well and are somewhat secure.

Gen-X didn't complain early enough about baby boomers selfishness and just got
depressed. If we'd have been more politically active earlier maybe it wouldn't
have been so bad. We got on with our silent generation parents and they left
us what money they had as an inheritance.

Baby Boomers though are the most selfish generation in history who have
profited from a period where going to university wasn't just free but you were
paid to go, where being able to get 3 jobs at the same time wasn't impossible,
where jobs for life with full salary pension were common, where high quality
publicly funded housing was sold off on the cheap and where governments
realised that housing speculation was a way for the middle class to feel like
an entrepreneur.

Every baby boomer who speculated in property decided it was ok for everyone
else's kids to struggle to buy a home - when lots of people decides to do that
it's a bad situation.

The unwritten contract between parents and children was always that the parent
would sacrifice and try to provide a better life for their children and
grandchildren.

Fast forward to now where Baby Boomers inherited their parent's wealth and
have decided that they're going to spend not just their parent's wealth but
also spend all of their own wealth early to travel the world and enjoy life
rather than give it to their kids:
[https://www.ft.com/content/9b4a7bfe-5933-11e4-9546-00144feab...](https://www.ft.com/content/9b4a7bfe-5933-11e4-9546-00144feab7de)

The problem with this is going to be that once they spend all their own money
they will expect the state and their children to look after them despite not
handing down any money. The same millenials who have struggled to earn money
their entire lives, and will have to compete with AI and robotics.

I fully expect to see many many baby boomer pensioners being left to rot by
their millenial children in poor state-run retirement homes as the millenials
realise how their own parents screwed them over one last time.

I truly feel sorry for millenials - lots of articles talk up their flaws but
they are in no way equivalent to the borderline apocalypse when they reach
retirement that they're being handed by baby boomer parents.

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jbob2000
My grandparents died in their 60s and 70s. My parents are well into their 60s,
still working, and healthy as ever. I don't blame the baby boomers at all,
they aren't the problem. The problem is that they're healthy, healthcare is
the best it's ever been!

Millennials should be inheriting their family houses to start their own
families, they should be inheriting money to start businesses, CEOs and
executives should be retiring so the next generation can move up. It's not
happening. The world is on hold while we wait for this generation to literally
die.

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megamindbrian2
Too bad baby boomers are now too old to care about our problems. We won't see
any solutions soon.

~~~
malvosenior
You could do what the baby boomers did (since their parents _also_ did not
care about their problems) and take matters into your own hands. Complaining
on social media isn't enough to change society. Baby boomers didn't like the
draft so they dodged/opposed it en mass. Some went to prison for that. They
didn't like race relations so they protested, often with violent results...

Millennial and boomer social ideals are near identical but their methods for
achieving their goals are wildly different. Boomers took action and
Millennials mostly want answers given to them. It also seems like one of
Millennial's number one problems (high student debt) is self inflicted. You'll
often hear that kids unknowingly took on massive debt for a non-effective
degree because "the adults" told them too (parents, teachers, councilors...).
The idea being that an 18 year old can't think for themselves. Well, boomers
were definitely not listening to their parents when they were 18. Pretty much
anything that came from authority was met with distrust and rebellion.
Fundamental institution of society were questioned.

I say all of this as a Gen-Xer who has no love for boomers but can at least
appreciate that they took action.

Caveat: wild generalizations, individual results may vary.

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megamindbrian2
Millennial here. Due to childhood and social trauma I filed for disability
through social security.

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malvosenior
> _“We have people with degrees doing Mickey Mouse jobs and young people who
> will have no occupational pension and no house to sell to see them through
> old age. "_

Correction: you have people with Mickey Mouse _degrees_ unable to find gainful
employment. Millennials that studied STEM are doing just fine.

