re: How can the average person afford to live?

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You should look again, graph is five years old.

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SO you think all economic change has happened the last five years? Please say yes, because tech has lowered cost of goods and a strong dollar has done nothing but help consumers buy more consumer goods. The other poster was right. You appear to be economically illiterate.

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and starts in 1998.

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I know. The further you go back, the worse it's going to look! See the examples I posted earlier.

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thought we were living in a dystopia?

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Life is so good and easy that everybody has enough idle time to sit around and dream up ways they can be victims.

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There are huge structural issues in our economy. But purchasing housing and consumer goods aren't in that list.

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Housing is certainly on that list. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

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Isn't it interesting that immigrants come here with (literally) nothing and find a way to become successful. But millennials can't because of "boomers". NARRATOR: It's not the "boomers".

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We have an effort (annd expectation) issue with our native population.

I will say the one cost they have which is significantly higher and starts them off with a debt load few in my gen x generation had, is the cost of college.

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We have an effort (annd expectation) issue with our native population.

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Clearly.

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I will say the one cost they have which is significantly higher and starts them off with a debt load few in my gen x generation had, is the cost of college.

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Certainly. But that debt load is a choice.

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Housing is cyclical. How would this conversation be going if it was 2012? 2007? 2001? 1998? 1992? 1985?

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If you were a cash buyer (or even well qualified with a significant down payment) during those periods you could wreck shop. But... to do that, you have to be willing to live below your means and save the difference long enough for a down cycle to happen, Few are willing to do that.

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Certainly. But that debt load is a choice.

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No doubt, but I could cover my yearly tuition plus books and room and board with minimal help from my parents, an oilfield job in the summer and working in restaurants during school. Also had spending cash. I don’t know that you could pull that off these days. Without that debt load I was able to ramp up savings pretty quickly and then place some big bets.

I agree with all your other points re the generational nonsense.

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No doubt, but I could cover my yearly tuition plus books and room and board with minimal help from my oarents, an oilfield job in the summer and working in restraints during school. Also had spending cash.

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Yeah. I did similar. Only a ew semesters I didn't have a full time job. Took me more than 4 years to graduate .

Today, you wouldn't do it with an oilfiled job. You'd do it with a remote job. Never been easier to get a flexible hours job than now. And those jobs (can) pay a lot more than what we made doing manual labor. Times change. Strategies have to as well.

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I don’t know that you could pull that off these days.

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You seem to be presuming the degree is mandatory, tho. It's not in many cases. Unless you're getting a degree in a field with a very defined career path-- you don't need it. The guy working in outside sales, if he can sell, doesn't need a degree in "Business management" to do his job.

Trades are always an option as well, especially if you want to run your own business. That has more upside than most degrees do today, but few want to do it. Again, that's a choice.

If a person wants to study something more academic... they should get a scholarship. If they can't get a scholarship, they have no future in a purely academic field like psychology, history, or gender studies..

IT's also easy to exaggerate. The average student loan borrower principle is around $30k. That's not insignificant, but it's less than the cost of a car. How many new graduates own new a car within 5 years of graduating? I'd reckon it's a bunch.

Where people get into trouble is they defer numerous times and many default. So that $30k principle balloons into way more than they borrowed. But again, that's a choice.