re: Do young people have it harder today? Did Boomers ruin everything?

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For most people who haven't already purchased a home, or are looking to upgrade, the better alternative would probably be to put those plans on hold a year or so.

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My point is that if housing prices “corrected,” causing me to lose equity that I didn’t actually pay into, we’d all be in the same boat. I wouldn’t be worse off for not cashing in on the super inflated appreciated value of my house if housing was ultimately less expensive for everyone.

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Inflation -Regulation - downstream from regulation is credentialism, lack of training unless you pay for it yourself or do it for free, etc. It’s harder to get your foot in the door, and the pay and growth rate are less than before. Global competition. Boomers just had to compete with those in their city or local communities, younger folks have to compete with everyone in the nation and the world including cheap 3rd world labor that will work for absolutely nothing. -Cost of housing, cost of vehicles, cost of healthcare. It’s a no brainer than boomers grew up in a freer and more upwardly mobile world. Materially things are better, but we're not moving anywhere.

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Probably the post I could agree with the most as a general assessment of how it went down. I was there

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Gen Z, Gen X, millennials, and whatever you want to call your generation, stop bitching and complaining, work, save, and live within your means.

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But, but……they want experiences more than material things. That’s what I’ve been told.

The reality is they want both. Ain’t happening unless you have a trust fund.

What kind of car?

What kind of healthcare?

What kind of home?

None of these are the same as in the past.

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It hasn’t kept up with inflation at all.

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What does "it" reference.
E.g., real household income is up.

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Prices in those 3 areas have gone up more from 2000-2025 than from 1975-2000 even when adjusted for inflation.

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I just ran housing affordability (price-rates) numbers, and posted them. Homes were at their most affordable point in decades from 2009-2019. They are much less affordable for new buyers now than they were 5-10 yrs ago. But they are still nearly TWICE (1.8x) as affordable compared with the situation in 1980.

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1980:
Median home: 1600 sq-ft / $64,600 / $40 per sq-ft
Median income: $17,710
The 30 year fixed home loan rate in 1980 was 13.74%.

2025:
Median home: 2200 sq-ft / $425,000 / $193 per sq-ft
Median income: $83,730
The 30 year fixed home loan rate today is 6.34%. ($2113/mo payments)
Home cost = 5.1x HHI

Adjusting for the size differential, at $40 per sq-ft, a 2200 sq-ft home in 1980 would have cost $88,000.
1980 Home cost = 5x 1980 HHI

At the 1980 HomeCost/HHI ratio, today's equivalent median home price would be $416,000 instead of $425,000. But $416,000 at a 13.74% would run $3877 instead of the $2113/mo payments for the current $425K median home.

So folks in the 1980's were actually paying 1.8x more per month in terms of HHI for the same square footage vs current homebuyers.

It is what it is.

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Young people have it much easier! Unfortunately as a whole, they don’t know how to do without for a while! There is so much opportunity out there for any young person who is willing to work and put in effort. Just talked to anyone who is trying to employ or hire the younger generation. It doesn’t matter what you offer them in terms of pay, they just don’t want to put in the effort and want to start at the top. They are too quick to find a reason to complain about things just being too hard!

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I’m not reading all that. I did research on this topic on the OT.

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This part of your post is instructive. You are closed-minded on this topic, regardless of how wrong (or right) you are. And you're like many of the generation bitching about their lot in life so much.

I'm open to anyone that can, in an economically literate way, explain how things are so much harder than when boomers were young adults. In the 20 or so threads on this board like this one that I've participated in the last few years, nobody even tries to do that in a thoughtful way.

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Anyone saying otherwise is wrong

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What if "adjusted for inflation prices have gone up on xyz" isn't a simple matter of comparing the cost for something identified as a "car" or a "home" at two different points in time?

We are less than 100 years downstream from a period when we (Americans) legitimately struggled to get everyone fed. Today, we throw shite tons of money at "food insecurity", a made-up problem whose hallmark is f'n obesity for the suffering.

You have been duped, and not by accident.

The two biggest factors affecting younger people these days are rooted in two things. First, corporate culture shipping domestic production to foreign countries and second the left/"liberal" ideology undermining and subverting the culture that made America great.

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The two biggest factors affecting younger people these days are rooted in two things. First, corporate culture shipping domestic production to foreign countries and second the left/"liberal" ideology undermining and subverting the culture that made America great.

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Education, health care and housing costs.

All the cultural issues are exacerbated when economic policies push people into leftwing ideologies.

"Blame everyone but one's self"



Put it on the damn dollar as you clutch pearls bless yalls heart. Weak as it is.