In a ritual as old as time, Boomers say the young generation are unmotivated and stupid, the Millennials say the old are blind and tech-illiterate.
These kinds of words have happened in every generation. The adults were squares and the children were reckless.
However, this time, maybe we should listen to the complaints. It is probably already too late, however we should make an attempt.
The young generation says, "We will never be able to afford a house".
Boomers say, "I was able to buy a house by working really hard, you are just lazy".
Unfortunately, evil things are afoot, and it is much more than simple laziness that is the problem
Boomers vs Boomers
What a difference a few years make.
The Boomer generation is not really one cohesive group. The early boomer got in on the ground floor of "asset inflation". The later boomers missed that opportunity.
In other words, if you bought a house early, and started collecting assets, you are one of the richest generations ever. If you didn't get into a house early, or lost it, then you are one of the poorest of the "richest generation.
It really was a window of opportunity that was slammed shut right as the later boomers were coming of age.
Early boomers own 25% of all houses. Many of them own two houses. (yes, they own two houses while many are homeless, but that is the homeless' problem for not hustling.)
The later boomers missed out, and have basically been treading water all their lives. And retirement eludes them.
And we just ignored the next generations having less and less people with homes.
The banks are to blame
This all started with money printing.
A bank should not be able to lend more for an apartment building than 25% * Average local income per apartment. That should be maximum rent an apartment owner should believe they can get. So, how does the bank ever think that it is appropriate to lend more than that? (well, it is because they are greedy)
If one apartment buyer says to the bank, these are going to be high end apartments, so give me more money, then there has to be an apartment owner that agrees to charge less. But there isn't any of these. We just have people trying to make money, and that is done by raising apartment rents. And so, the more people that say they are building/buying luxury apartments, the higher the rent becomes in the whole area.
And this really isn't about profit. All the money is going to the banks, who just loaned all this money into existence. In other words, higher rents make higher rents. The banksters and the flippers are in league together. Making everything cost more.
Also, since there isn't enough money to ever pay back the mortgages, the money gets sucked out of the economy, and people are paid less and less (relatively).
Millennials Complaints Fall on Deaf Ears
The young people complain that they will never be able to afford a house.
The boomers just yell at them saying, "When i was your age, i took on two jobs to buy a house"
The defeatist attitude will make it so you will never get a house, but when is it appropriate to just not even try?
If you are 5'-6" and in your 40s, becoming an NBA superstar is probably, 99.9999%, not something you will ever be able to accomplish.
If your life earning prospect is $999,999, and houses cost $1,000,000, is it better to just give up on that dream? Or do you find that extra $1? Or do you realize that you entire life will be wasted on a house. A mere house. So, why even try?
If the youth's minimum wage kept up with house prices from the boomer's time, the minimum wage would be $40 an hour, however, our economy couldn't support that. Even in CA where they moved fast food worker minimum wages to $20 an hour, well McDs costs $20 a meal. They didn't make it better, they just made everything cost a lot more. The real problem is the money printing sucking our purchasing power out the economy.
So, how soon do we recognize the young generation's plight?
An even worse problem is that the old generation has not turned over the reigns to the younger generation. As generations advance, the older generation is supposed to retire out, and make room for the younger generation to move up. The boomers, in a large part, are not. (Just look at our presidential race.) The younger generations are being told to pull themselves up by their boot-straps, while they have no real control, they are not giving any control over their lives.
Basically they are being told to grow up, while never being allowed to be an adult.
This ends in one of two ways.
- All the old generation just dies
- The young generation burns it all down.
The young generation are realizing that no matter how hard they work, everything they do is for not.
It is like paying rent. You work two jobs to pay the rent on a crappy apartment. In ten years, you are tired, worn out, and have nothing to show for your life.
This is the average. This is the norm. You have to be exceptional (or lucky) to get out of this cycle.
So, what do you do if the best you can do is suck?
That the average person, working an average job, cannot afford a house. What do you do?
Well, you check out of society. Become a N.E.A.T., or Lay Flat, or…
If a youth isn't allowed to be part of society, they will burn it down to feel its warmth.
Boomers have had longer to accumulate wealth than everybody else so today they should be able to more easily afford a house than anyone else today.
Houses, when boomers were younger, were on average smaller and less feature rich.
Inflation works the other way too. A large mortgage will become smaller over time in real dollars as a result of inflation (assuming you are paying more than interest).
In the past, most houses have been purchased by couples, usually with two incomes (I would say at least since some time in the 1970s this has been true anyway) and the oldest boomers wouldn't have started buying houses until the 1970s for the most part.
Most well paying jobs require training of some sort. Maybe college. Maybe trade school. Maybe something else. This has almost always been true. Nurse, doctor, dentist, electrician, plumber, engineer, veterinarian, mechanic, welder, pilot, lawyer, accountant, etc. are all typically reasonably well paying jobs. But they aren't the types of jobs you are going to get straight out of high school or with some meaningless liberal arts degree. You also can't afford a house right out of high school. Nobody has ever been able to. You have to have had a reasonably well paying job (of which many exist as listed above), saved money for a down payment, and increased your salary to the point where making a house payment is reasonable.
It seems to me that the biggest difference between Millennials and previous generations is having a plan. I knew what I wanted to do by the time I entered high school and I am doing it today. Generations post GenX (and perhaps GenX to some degree) don't seem to figure out what they want to do until well into adulthood...if ever. Casting about for just any job isn't likely to lead to success. It may sound trite but working smart is as important as working hard. Part of making that plan is figuring out what jobs are in demand, what jobs pay well, and working towards getting one of those jobs. Bonus points if something you like intersects with those items. I'm not sure what you consider an "average" job but working retail or food service or similar jobs aren't average, they are low end, minimum skill jobs with generally little upward mobility. My parents, who are boomers, both had what I consider average jobs by the time I was about 12. One worked for the county government and one worked in maintenance for the local community college. Together, they could afford a small three bedroom house but making ends meet was difficult. And many boomers did work two jobs and/or 80+ hour weeks for a time to be able to get to a point where they could afford a house if they were buying when they were young.
The older generation retiring is a small part of what creates jobs for younger workers. A growing population is a bigger factor. Every generation has been larger than the one before (well, except GenX but that generation is defined along a narrower range of years for some reason) and certainly by the time you are of working age, there are even less of the older generations around. As of 2020, around 30 million boomers had retired (and I'm sure millions are dead as well). Also, many boomers still have not reached retirement age. The youngest boomers won't be 65 until 2031. I doubt there are all that many Boomers working that don't have to...politicians aren't exactly a good representative group.
As one "boomer..." Targeted, disabled, destitute, and homeless... The time is kinda irrelevant... LOL!
A Better Economic System (article): https://peakd.com/informationwar/@amaterasusolar/a-better-economic-system
As one boomer, I am fully aware the "working hard" will not in the least guarantee "success." Not in today's economy. And really, not ever. Having studied money, economics, and foundational elements, I know that accounting for Our energy added was only a good choice when We needed to ensure We added energy because We needed that. "Takers" were not welcome.
But it is not required in abundance.
And... Money systems - irrespective of form, from trade/barter to electronic bits, fiat or not, will promote the psychopaths amongst Us to power. And so I offer:
A Better Economic System (article): https://peakd.com/informationwar/@amaterasusolar/a-better-economic-system