
Gen X Hits Another Bump in the Road - kentonwhite
http://blogs.hbr.org/erickson/2012/04/gen_x_hits_another_bump_in_the_1.html
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RandallBrown
I've never understood why people think houses should appreciate in value.
Houses don't get "nicer" as they get older.

Now, I understand that a neighborhood can become more desirable, or the land
where the house is becomes more constrained, but that doesn't apply to every
house. I feel like most of America (outside the cities) has plenty of room.

I guess that's partly why the housing bubble collapsed? It was based on
feelings or something?

~~~
sleighboy
It collapsed because it was a bubble being pumped up by the Federal Reserve
and its' "easy money" market manipulations. That is the flawed logic of a
Keynesian system, that you can plan and manipulate a world economy. You can't,
and thus we ride the roller coaster of boom and bust. It's been happening as
long as the unaccountable Federal Reserve has been calling the shots.

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zerostar07
I find it hard to sympathize with the tone of this article. Seriously how can
anyone feel bad for being born in that wonderful time. Didn't we all live
through huge transformative things like the internet (GenX/Y remembers how
boring the world was before that), don't we live in the most technologically
advanced environment ever? What does it matter if there are less payroll jobs,
or more loans when in total we produce more; financial indicators have
different meaning in different contexts. That doesn't mean people receive less
education, healthcare, leasure time and other things that make people happy
less than before! Hell, i wish i 'd been born ten years later, not earlier!

The growing income inequality is an issue, i give you that, and the rise of
new economies has brought the West to an uncomfortable position, but hey,
here's something to work toward fixing.

And i know that it's silly, but whenever i hear whiners like that, i can't
help but think "grow a pair".

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dschleef
The author appears to either not know how old Gen-Xer's are, or is smoking
crack. We entered the job market during the 90's boom, so we were much better
employed in our early careers compared to today's grads. We've never had jobs
that had pensions, and have been told our entire lives to save for retirement,
so we won't "lose" our pensions. The housing boom/bust affected all ages. And
we're not quite old enough to suffer from recession-induced early retirement.
Nor are we currently retiring and moving our savings into fixed-income
investments with historically low rates. I'd say Gen-X has done well in the
Great Recession, comparatively.

EDIT: I reread the article replacing "Gen-X" with "youngin's", and it makes a
lot more sense. Also, we were the last generation that could reasonably work
their way through college without loans.

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drcube
Can somebody tell me who is considered "Gen X"? I thought I was, as a kid, but
I believe I might even be too young.

Kurt Cobain was in Generation X, right? I was 11 when he died. Where does that
put me? What about my 5 year old?

The whole idea of distinct "generations" seems wacky to me, but it sure does
appeal to journalists.

~~~
hkmurakami
_The whole idea of distinct "generations" seems wacky to me, but it sure does
appeal to journalists._

People like to be _part of a group_. It's warm and comfortable. To not be part
of a greater collective, part of something more powerful than their own
individual beings, can be terrifying and lonely.

Journalists surely understand this; they tap into this inner fear, this inner
desire of ours, when they generalize and talk in terms of distinct groups
rather than in terms of individuals, even though surely none of us are so
uniform that we truly belong to any such _group_ as defined by any journalist
anywhere.

