Lets overreact and analyze

[Complete_newbie]

http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/poor-millennials/

 

Discuss.

 

My take: Nice html5 coding!

[jfoxcpacfp]

I'm a fan of old fashioned black and white. Can't (won't) get through this article [especially after "grandma" found out what FML means]. I think it would give me a headache before I got to the end. Now, 30 years ago, it w/h/b cool. But articles were almost all B&W back then...and no internet...this is confusing.  :P

[Zaphod]

Interesting article setup. I think theyll be fine. Its all a little overblown. And why will it take Scott who lives at home and makes 22$/hr with full benefits 20 years to pay off 30k in loans? Hard for me to square that kind of bs. They are the larges demo and the most common age in america is the mid 20s, we're at the nadir now and are going to be on the upswing soon.

[Lithium]

This seems more like a documentary than an article.  The gravity of the constellation of economic and social problems is difficult to dispute, but here's the real message:

But still, there is already a foot-long list of overdue federal policy changes that would at least begin to fortify our future and reknit the safety net. Even amid the awfulness of our political moment, we can start to build a platform to rally around. Raise the minimum wage and tie it to inflation. Roll back anti-union laws to give workers more leverage against companies that treat them as if they’re disposable. Tilt the tax code away from the wealthy. Right now, rich people can write off mortgage interest on their second home and expenses related to being a landlord or (I'm not kidding) owning a racehorse. The rest of us can’t even deduct student loans or the cost of getting an occupational license.

I agree with getting rid of many of the tax deductions that favor the rich and cutting down on the ridiculous requirements for licensure and not much of the rest.  Getting the government out of of student loans would help too.  I don't have much sympathy for the griping about delayed/denied home ownership.  The housing market has been artificially propped up by the tax code for decades, and you can't have it both ways - wanting to eliminate the real estate tax deductions that benefit the wealthy, but also wanting home prices to be more affordable.

Social Security and health care costs are issues where millennials genuinely, barring tremendous reform, appear screwed compared to previous generations.  But at least we haven't been drafted into a war (obviously easier to find a job when hundreds of thousands of men in their 20s and 30s are getting shot at somewhere half a world away), and we have much lower crime rates than the 1970s to 1990s.  I think it would suck not to have a 401k or Roth IRA, neither of which were around 40 years ago.  Of course, it is also difficult to fathom living in a world without the internet, smartphones, and 200 television channels.

[Zaphod]

Lithium wrote:

The housing market has been artificially propped up by the tax code for decades, and you can’t have it both ways – wanting to eliminate the real estate tax deductions that benefit the wealthy, but also wanting home prices to be more affordable.

Click to expand...

But if those artificial props go away, prices should come down, that makes sense. I didnt read that in the article, just regarding that statement.

[Lithium]

Zaphod wrote:

Lithium wrote:

The housing market has been artificially propped up by the tax code for decades, and you can’t have it both ways – wanting to eliminate the real estate tax deductions that benefit the wealthy, but also wanting home prices to be more affordable.

Click to expand…

But if those artificial props go away, prices should come down, that makes sense. I didnt read that in the article, just regarding that statement.

Click to expand...

thanks, for some reason I had a brain cramp and was thinking the deductions keep prices lower.  I know better than that.

[jz]

Enjoyed it very much.  Thank you for sharing this.  Thought provoking. I am persuaded we need more benefits tied to the gig economy.

[Complete_newbie]

I'm a millennial (1985) - wondering how other millennial son this forum feel

[MPMD]

depressing.

seems like the perfect storm of policy decisions and personal ones.

[djohnflatfeecfp]

Skimmed it.  The author sure is depressing.  Personally, I have a lot of faith in the Millennials, even over my Gen X generation.

[Hatton]

Well as a baby boomer I guess I am a member of the generation that screwed up the planet and destroyed the social safety net.  Give me a break.  Plenty of millennials seem to being doing well because they post here all the time.  I have several millennial nieces who whine about their circumstances.  I could not read that entire article TL;DR.  My observation based on whining that I have heard is from millennials who majored in something unemployable while running up student loans.  Oops.

[Complete_newbie]

hatton1 wrote:

Well as a baby boomer I guess I am a member of the generation that screwed up the planet and destroyed the social safety net.  Give me a break.  Plenty of millennials seem to being doing well because they post here all the time.  I have several millennial nieces who whine about their circumstances.  I could not read that entire article TL;DR.  My observation based on whining that I have heard is from millennials who majored in something unemployable while running up student loans.  Oops.

Click to expand...

You may be right. I am not sure how I feel. I do feel like it is more competitive and student loan burden is unmanageable. Also upward mobility that USA was built on - and that I was fortunate to accomplish as an immigrant - is a shrinking dream. <- these benefits YOU had not the millenials.

Also 2008 class getting passed over due to great depression is a great example. This happened to me sort of in 2007 - part of the reason I went to medicine actually.

So I am an idiot? or lazy? No. I couldnt land a single job despite having stellar GPA and internships. Oh btw, MCAT and Organic chemistry was a breeze. I was lucky to be able to switch, but thats a unique case.

As usual truth in the middle but there is something seriously wrong

For the record, I always believe no matter the "economy" , When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. So yea there is whining but structural benefits have shrunk.

[Panscan]

Just laughed out loud about the whole "every negstive stereotype of our generation only applies to the richest, whitest sector" or whatever

[Panscan]

And what was your degree in? Who cares what classes you took, what was your finished marketable accomplishment? Most people don't understand that undergrad degrees in basic sciences don't really have a whole lot of high opportunity besides med school and phD

[Panscan]

The biggest problem is government getting involved in student loan game and allowing Johnny 2.0 average to take 40k in loans per yr to go to some liberal arts school, major in gender studies and the whine about how he makes 25k a year and is 150k in debt