I can afford a personal burrito taxi - but I rent a tiny one bed for 40% of my salary and starting a family seems out of reach with childcare costs at £3k/mo. The older generations - having landed themselves, became treatlers. Their entire political philosophy is cheap treats. While cheap crap, knick-knacks, fast food and all-inclusive vacations have gotten cheaper; the real meaningful parts of life have drifted out of reach.
Save this comment for the future: comparison is the thief of joy, and in our connected world, comparison is inescapable.<p>Young people are berated with constant comparison, whether it be beauty standards, financial success (across generations), or romance.<p>One day we'll study this period and affirm that globalization, hyper addictive media and pornography come with dark sides.
Well yeah - they're pretty fucked to put it bluntly. The social contract while not entire broken is just broken enough to make things near impossible. Can't afford a house. Can't afford an education. Can't afford a family. Can't even get a proper job anymore (offshoring/gig economy/zero hour contracts)<p>All gets chalked up to laziness / too much avocado toast etc, when the truth is the goal posts have shifted to such an extent that for many scoring a goal is no longer plausible no matter how hard they try. This chart captures it best:<p>[0] <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/e1jrvw/oc_salaries_vs_house_prices_in_uk/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/e1jrvw/oc_...</a><p>I'm sorta on the edge of this (millenial) but man do I have sorry for the younger gen
If this were Reddit, it'd qualify for r/noshitsherlock<p>Those holding power today are a generation that never ceded power in the fashion that previous generations did, which directly contributes to the contemporary shitshow of abominable wealth inequity married to the ossified world view, lack of sophistication and comprehension of either contemporary problems nor their solutions, and lack of timeline, characteristic of their ages.<p>While there is no shortage of shrill grifters and abused now abusive collaborators, we are ruled by a bunch of selfish morons and sociopaths in their 70s, many of who are showing active cognitive decline.<p>Why would anyone be happy? This is literally the worst historical moment I have lived and I'm not young myself, and I lived through the Cold War and 9/11.<p>The destruction being wrought in and by the US today is literally incalcuable, a total dismantling of generations of work and careers spent dedicating genius and sweat toward a vision now being shit on openly by those who apparently literally believe they can change reality simply by force-feeding idiocy through entirely owned or coopted media channels on an impoverished fearful populace 24/7.<p>The sooner we see a general strike the better.<p>Which hopefully will result from the entirely predictable absolute economic devastation as tariffs bite.<p>It's January 2020—how are you preparing?<p>Tick tock.
Society used to be run for everyone. Now it’s run for the old at the expense of the young. That’s true of politics, economics, media, basically everything.
To be happy, most people need a map to where happiness lies and a sense that they're in the right place on that map.<p>Insomuch as the only map most people now have points towards upper middle class consumerism, with a big house of their own, a well-stamped passport, and an enjoyable career that isn't too pressured, <i>of course</i> most people are going to be unhappy.<p>If we ever might pave a wide highway to that as a society, we're centuries away from doing so, not years. It's not a good map for current generations.<p>Without sacrificing the positives of secularism and liberal ideals of mutual respect and equal opportunity, we urgently need to figure out a new way to give people more reasonable maps about where they can find happiness <i>without</i> the consumer luxuries they'll probably not be able to have.
If you were to go back to 1625, so 400 years ago.<p>What did people do to be happy on your average midweek night? No shakespeare every night. No festival. Just the average night?<p>You went to the local pub, had a good meal, got drunk, and smoked some pipe.<p>But can the modern guy go do that anymore?<p>You cant afford to get drunk, federal alcohol excise tax is $13/litre. LCBO(govt monopoly) markup is 100%, ontario basic alcohol tax is 30-60% retail price. environmental levy is 10-20cents but you can return that to get a refund. You still pay a sales tax of course.<p>You go to the LCBO and $40 for 1Litre but that's >75% taxes.<p>You then reach for the tobacco pipe and they have >90% taxes on tobacco.<p>So what happens? People dont go socialize at the pub anymore. Smoking is uncommon, no smoking socializing.<p>You sit at home alone and shakespeare and chill from your curated streaming choice. How depressing.