

The real reason young people are the poorest generation in 25 years - danboarder
http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/millennial-parents-poverty-internet-scapegoat/?fb=ss&prtnr=attn

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cafard
I am a boomer, and I find a lot of the criticism of millenials just flat
stupid.

However, the author writes

"Boomers created a social, economic, and environmental mess that will take
decades—if not centuries—to clean up, gifting millennials with war, climate
change, a recession, runaway inflation, and an absurdly competitive job
market."

War: the millenials who write these articles are in small danger of going to
war; the early boomers had a draft that actually could result in them cutting
off your hair and sending you to Vietnam. AGW by no means began with the
boomers. "A recession and runaway inflation" make odd bedfellows. Look at the
1970s if you want to see what high inflation looks like. Then ask Jimmy Carter
about the recession brought on by Paul Volker's determination to bring
inflation down. And finally, "an absurdly competitive job market." Isn't this
like making gingivitis the Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse?

But someday perhaps her children will have the chance to compare her
complaints about the boomers to her parents' complaints about the "Greatest
Generation", and have a good laugh.

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eliaspro
Quoting the quote in the article: “Millennials are not willing to make work
the central focus of their lives as Baby Boomers have.”

As someone having worked 60-70h/week for the last 12 years: a sincere "fuck
you". It's not like I wouldn't love to spend more time on things which are fun
and not related to earning money, but as I don't want to end up knee-deep in
debts I simply don't have another choice.

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MichaelCrawford
Surely this is satire?

"Too lazy to find jobs"?

Most young people I know work like demons.

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mbubb
I agree and in general this article is out of touch:

"Hand in hand with bootstrapping attitudes comes the belief that poverty
should be a life of suffering—which leaves no room for owning computers and
smartphones, setting up Facebook accounts, or Skyping with friends."

Skype and Facebook as Millennial social networking apps?

~~~
MichaelCrawford
"poverty should be a life of suffering".

If you don't own a computer, you have no hope of so much as _applying_ for a
job, let alone actually obtaining one.

Even McDonalds and Starbucks do all their hiring through their websites.

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neuro_imager
The boomers have fucked this generation so hard they should get an award from
the porn industry.

One of the best explanations of this dynamic I have read was in the following
opinion piece:
[http://constitutionaldaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&...](http://constitutionaldaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1153:throw-
grandma-from-the-train&catid=49:the-philadelphia-lawyer&Itemid=65)

To quote: "here's seventy-five percent of the reason the Fed, and Washington,
are ignoring employment and focusing exclusively on asset inflation:

If asset values fell as they should have in a true free market correction,
which we were due, an enormous percentage of the old and elderly would be
rendered insolvent. We would have a societal disaster on our hands.

And so we decided to screw the the young - the more resilient group - to
protect the old."

"It can be argued, and should be, that the old are the weakest, and that we
have a duty to protect them most. But a far more compelling point is that a
nation fixated solely on subsidizing its old at cost of the futures of its
young is a nation headed for a fall. The more we prop up housing, freezing out
the young, the less we give youth a sense of equity in their communities, a
"skin in the game," both literally and existentially. The more we funnel every
economic fix through Wall Street, to protect the old and invested first, with
scraps for Main Street, the fewer jobs we create for the kids. The more we
spend on pointless health care for the near dead, the fewer options we have to
control costs, and consequently, the less hiring we'll see."

"But if there's a real battle out there, it's generational - between the young
and the old. Between those we need to offer futures, and those we've more than
adequately coddled.

Grandma's ticket on the gravy train is up. It's time we start seriously
discussing how and when her austerity starts - how we get her off to make room
for the kids. Eased out at the next station, or shoved through the nearest
exit door when the engine can no longer handle the overcrowded cars?"

