Here's my grim reality I'm just waking up to now as a millennial.<p>Married with $100k in student loans between the two of us. Her first job out of college paid $30k with no benefits. No matter, I had the money making tech degree, we'd be fine. My first job out of college was $100k, so I didn't see a problem there.<p>Three year later I'm facing mounting healthcare costs incurred even with top notch gold plated tech insurance. Most of my salary the last 3 years went to my landlord and the government. The remainder went to student loans and medical costs, so I don't have much in the way of savings even after earning $300k. And somehow I still owe $100k in student loans.<p>And my $100k tech job didn't come with retirement benefits so I don't have any retirement savings yet. It did however come with a generous stock grant. But then again, the company folded and now I don't have a job or insurance.<p>And now I'm a full time caregiver for my wife, with no health insurance, trying to get a job, with $100k in non-dischargable debt, looking to get on welfare, but at the same time reading about how our government wants to take even that away.<p>So that's what I'm doing this weekend.
It seems like this came to a head around the time of the occupy wall street protests (is it 10 years ago now?). The public consciousness became aware of the way our political/financial systems were in a kind of symbiotic conspiracy to vacuum up productivity gains, there was huge pressure to do something about it despite the media's constant stream of 'nothing to see here'..... and then nothing happened. The popular culture of the west instead decended into this en masse flame war around gender, race, sexuality etc.<p>Seems like there was a huge opportunity that was foiled or just missed and this is possibly going to be the result of it.
>For some reason that period of tremendous growth barely helped millennials.<p>I don't think it's just us, though it probably disproportionately is. What wealth small and medium towns had has moved to cities, you just won't have a good job unless you move to the city.<p>Something about it all seems so sinister. Not everyone can be an engineer or a doctor. If society is to function people need to be able to live a reasonable life just being mildly productive.
I believe there are some solutions to help alleviate the situation.<p>Introduce land value tax.<p>In the countries using it, stop the mandatory Ponzi scheme retirement pyramid where young people are forced to pay a sizeable part of their paycheck while having no hope of receiving any in 30-40 years - that's straight up, time-delayed stealing.<p>Close the tax gaps used by corporations.<p>Provide free healthcare so people don't get ruined by medical emergencies.<p>Stop the student loan madness, provide free university education.<p>Restrict mortgage lending - it makes the property prices baloon in the long run and encourages housing bubbles.<p>Most importantly, start treating renewable energy and emissions seriously because we are destroying this planet with a speed with which we probably won't have to worry about economy after a few more generations.<p>Unfortunately, all of those would require enormous political changes and are impossible to implement.
I feel like all of these "us vs them articles" (us = millennials, which I am one, and them = baby boomers, who are my parents age) are red herrings.<p>Do you <i>really</i> believe that your mother/grandmother is the enemy here? My belief is that who you're <i>actually</i> imagining when you read this article is some fat-cat corporate executive in a suit and tie who is old enough to reap the largess of Reagonomics. They <i>happen</i> to be 60+, but in actuality, the distinguishing feature is that they're rich.<p>My dad is a retired firefighter and Vietnam vet, and my mom is a executive admin. These are two people who should not be blamed for the cards the youth have been dealt.<p>It's the Elite. The Controlling Class. Whatever you want to call it, they enacted policies some decades ago to benefit only them, and now they're reaping those rewards at a staggering pace. And they're quite happy that you have found someone else to blame besides them.<p>Even the "Top 1% vs Us 99%ers" is the same kind of thing. They're happy your anger is centered at plastic surgeons and defense attorneys. The <i>real</i> wealth is in the 0.01%, the people who don't have to work (and haven't for generations) and want to keep it that way.<p>As long as you are blaming someone else, they're safe and happy to keep pulling the strings on society. But I'm not going to take a cop-out excuse of blaming the grandmother down the street who has been living in the same 1800 sq ft home she bought with her husband and 3 kids in the 70s and hasn't ever update the decor in her kitchen.
Somewhat ironic that this is being posted on Hackernews, where if I had to guess the average salary for millennials here is 3X the national average.<p>Seems most of us here already found the answer: learn something about the fastest growing sector of the economy and participate in the future instead of lamenting the present.<p>If you're waiting for government action to create a better distribution of wealth in the only developed country where poor people actually vote <i>against</i> a public safety net you're going to be disappointed.<p>It's just not going to happen politically in the US for decades so your only option is to play ball in the system as it is now and <i>vote</i> in the meantime.
Indian Millennial here. Lived in the US(for work) for around 4 years and returned to India. So I know a little about what I'm talking about.<p>I am yet to understand why US millennials have all these troubles, or is it just perceived by them as such? Because frankly, comparatively speaking food is not expensive in the US. Even on minimum wage you can eat the best, healthy food there is. Infrastructure is just a whole country Disneyland. Opportunities are higher than all of human history including the present combined. Schooling is free. You can afford a good car for minimal monthly payments. You get pure drinking water, and more importantly unlike the third world countries, you get to breathe the purest air possible. Its not hard to exercise and maintain good health either.<p>Gaining any skill or knowledge has never been more easier, than it is today.<p>I understand if you had a unfortunate health complication beyond your control, or you are disabled at birth. But for healthy people, there isn't much you can complain about.<p>Sorry for sounding rude here. This sounds a lot more like decadence, than any real problem.
It's surprising the article leaves out medical expenses. There's this one mention:<p><i>The same 2017 survey found 27 percent skipping medical treatments because they can’t afford them.</i><p>In the end, I suspect that medical costs driven to astronomical levels by retirees is what will do the most financial damage to millennials.
Just waking up to it? I'm an older millennial 33 and I've been awake for a long time.<p>My friends who didn't get PTSD in the war spent the first 8 years of our career in a recession so when the market grew had no money in the market to capitalize on that. And even as a healthy person with good health care and six figures in my bank I worry I can get wiped out by a medical emergency.<p>I think it's more like: other people are finally realizing what millennials have been living with their entire adult life so far.
Here is the thing central banks are printing exponential debt money from nothing. Most people from youth generations cannot afford to buy affordable houses priced with that debt.. You could even say younger people are exponential debt slaves working for the old and rich. Having kids myself I do not feel this system is fair.
I don't know how to thank this private company who just grant me a loan, I never believe it was real till i got my loan credited into my account and i promise them i will tell the whole world their benevolent and kindness towards their company, they are still 100% ready to give more loan to serious and needy people, contact them via email for more info markdonaldop@gmail.com
Single-paycheck family here. We've got the first of 3 kids in college now, 2 and 3 are not far behind.<p>We hammer on scholarship preparation, hard. Our college boy works paid internships each summer. The kids are all in band, good for small scholarships at little effort.<p>We are fine so far. Good luck to others on this path. Avoid the debt, it can be one.
I wonder if this is just the inevitable trend that all great societies move towards--adding social safety nets programs to lessen the impact that "luck" and "timing" having with individual success.
Ha, ironic they chose a picture with an avocado in it.<p>Seriously, the current age feels like the mid 80s. If that holds true, the millenials will be fine.
It's a messed up world for a young adult, but it's also full of more _accessible_ potential than ever.<p>If people would stop and make an honest assessment of their situation, why they're not where they want to be, commit to grinding until they get there, and actually DO IT...things would be better.<p>Unfortunately it's become fashionable to point fingers, assign blame, and make a ruckus about being 'oppressed'. That may get you more Twitter followers, but it won't lead to economic betterment.
I would argue that the wealth gap is symptomatic of a degeneration of culture and education in this country. I am in my late 20s, and even when I was graduating it was apparent that most students in my cohort simply were not leaving school with the skills to function as adults, let alone be productive members of society.<p>Same in college, 18-21 year old children. And now these same children look desperately for others to blame, while in reality we have a growing proportion of incompetent workers performing increasingly meaningless tasks, walled away behind miles of red tape and a Goliath of bureaucracy.<p>American popular culture places little value on education and self-improvement. The windfall that was WWII is dwindling, while other nations take steps to optimize the very parts of their labor pipeline that we in the U.S. neglect.<p>Millennials are waking up to a decline that they are ill-equipped to reverse. Twitter, Facebook, et al. are only hastening the degradation of western culture, accelerating an existing, emergent glamorization of shallow materialism over knowledgeability and competence.