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

I don’t think we’ll ever see a standard of living better than the boomers had it ever again in history. They really have it good.

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You can't just walk into town the day after graduation and land a job on a firm handshake that (in a year or two) will allow you to have multiple kids, multiple cars, a mortgage and take vacations every year.

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JoeyBiscuits, the historical facts reveal how unfamiliar you actually are with them.

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NC, you have been posting lots of data, which I can appreciate. The cognitive dissonance sets in when lived experience directly contradicts the charts and graphs.

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Most of the "boomers" targeted in these threads would say "amen" to that.

As they've repeatedly said to younger posters "our lived experience directly contradicts the" narrative being espoused. Meanwhile, they can actually see the current situation, whereas younger critics are left to their imaginations regarding 1960-1990 lifestyle, and the things they imagine are impressive flights of fantasy.

E.g., The 1970's were awful for a litany of silent and boomer professionals. Tops amongst them, aeronautical engineers with the wind down of Apollo and SkyLab. Layoffs were pervasive. Brilliant folks suddenly found themselves competing for 7-11 clerk positions, hardware store associates jobs, etc. Most never found re-entry into an engineering field.

People talk about ""stagflation"" nowadays with little idea as to the nature of actual stagflation in the 1970's when GDP actually declined in the face of crippling inflation. So yeah, for the folks who lived through that, there is going to be pushback against those who have no such life experiences.

But the general attitude amongst that group was very different. It was a matter of "How do I turn this chicken sh*t into a chicken salad?" rather than "Woe is me."

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I don’t think we’ll ever see a standard of living better than the boomers had it ever again in history. They really have it good.

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A total lie. Younger people have a higher standard of living today.

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experiences. But the general attitude amongst that group was very different. It was a matter of "How do I turn this chicken sh*t into a chicken salad?" rather than "Woe is me."

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Do you think Gen Z is just immature now? Could that have something to do with it?

I mean today’s 24 year old is less mature than the typical 24 year old 30-40 years ago (for a variety of reasons that aren’t super important to the discussion imo).

Young people only have it harder because their expectation is to be handed everything from the git-go. They expect to leave college with a Liberal Arts or Feminine Studies degree and be immediately able to afford a Range Rover and a nice house. You know, all the shite that Boomers and GenX worked hard our whole lives to obtain.

Young people, I'll tell you what. Stop thinking that you HAVE TO have the latest $2000 iPhone every time a new one drops and pay $250 a month on your cellular plan. Stop thinking you have to have a brand new vehicle every four years. Stop thinking you have to pay a combined $500 a month on an internet and television package. Stop thinking you have to have nothing but the latest fashion. Stop thinking you have to leave with your coworkers on lunch every day and spend $50 a pop at the hipster lunch dive of their choosing just to fit in.

If young people will do ^^^ ALL THAT ^^^, they'll find life to be far less financially challenging.

/Rant.

Young people see what older people have and want to skip the 30 years of work that it takes to get there.

I'll take an arse-whoopin' from anyone and die on that hill before EVER surrendering that position.

Want something? Work hard and sacrifice to get it. Don't blame others when you fall short on occasion. There's always someone else like you that was dealt a bad hand and still won in the end.

Take fricking personal responsibility.

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I mean today’s 24 year old is less mature

In what ways

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Too many ways to count.... Moving in and out of your parents' house as an adult, expecting somebody else to pay for your education/your car/ your insurance/ your phone and your apartment even when you finally get out on your own....Not getting married until you're in your late twenties/early thirties, because you want to just have fun and blow money daily on 10.00 cups of coffee, throwing tantrums, because people hurt your whittle feelings with their words....it goes on and on....

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The reason boomers get so much hate from the younger generations is that large number of you think that that the job market, housing market, etc... are exactly the same as they were when you were entering the job market. Then when we try to communicate that it's not and what our issues are, you plug your ears and act all condescending like we couldn't possibly be telling the truth.

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Let me guess, it's your truth so it should matter?

The disconnect here isn't the plugged ears of boomers. It's that you are simply wrong about this whole silly narrative and for some weird reason, you/many of your generation cling to the fantasy Leftists have sold you.

Boomers don't argue the job market, housing market, etc. are "exactly the same as they were when we were entering the job market." I've not seen a single boomer make that argument, but I have seen many argue that the unemployment rate was actually higher than today when they entered the job market, mortgage rates were actually higher than they are today, and that the arguments made about costs by you/others are fundamentally flawed.

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We don't want anything handed to us, we just want the same opportunity for our hard work to pay off for us as yours did for you. In the current climate, that is most definitely not the case.

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And yet somehow you can afford hundreds (even thousands) of dollars for concert tickets that cost us $15 - that ain't inflation, that's being fat, happy and perhaps unwise.

My generation had it a lot better than our parents, and they had it a lot better than their parents. This trend didn't stop with you guys. It's unfortunate you don't appreciate your good fortune (being born an American) and instead have bought into a narrative Leftists have sold you for a specific purpose.

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Do you think Gen Z is just immature now? Could that have something to do with it?

I mean today’s 24 year old is less mature than the typical 24 year old 30-40 years ago (for a variety of reasons that aren’t super important to the discussion imo).

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He said no. I say yes. Look at that, you and I agree again.

Young people are less mature now, and it's not close.

Heck, young people are less mature and more entitled now than they were 20 years ago when I started hiring them. I could tell a significant difference just in that time frame. They're dang sure less mature, less self-reliant, and less independent than they were 40 years ago.

Now, that's not the only problem. They're also more entitled because they've been fed a heaping shovelful of populist Marxist malarkey about "work-life balance" and "exploitation" than people 40-50 years ago, and frankly, the irony is that one big reason that they feel so downtrodden is precisely because their lives have been so comfortable growing up.

When it gets hard, they don't know what to do because they've never had it hard. They've never even seen hard up close.

And they are also the beneficiaries of much more evolved and relentless marketing, which has convinced them on an entirely subconscious level that they MUST have things their way. Nobody in the 70s or 80s was watching reality t.v. shows where people were buying houses and basically tearing them down and rebuilding them into custom homes, for example. Buying the house for $600,000 and spending an additional $300,000 in renovations.

Now those shows are insanely popular (and have been for 20 years or more) and every young person thinks that's just what buying a house is. A custom house is standard. In exactly the area you want, with exactly the features you want.

They have no idea that that concept is a relatively recent one.

That's just one example, but back to the question, hell yes they are more immature. And not just immature, but delusional as well.