This shit right here? Is why the young war with the old. This is why we complain

There is much left out of the story posted on Reddit. So, we are left to make assumptions regarding why the father is struggling to pay the bills.

Based on the timing, I can guess the father is in his late 50’s (or possibly he’s 60). Folks of that age were in the late baby boomer era. That time involved the removal of pensions from many employers, and the introduction of 401k plans. The 401k plans were new to many about 35 or more years ago. Many folks began contributing, but others didn’t. Those who didn’t, took home a larger amount of money.

Employers introduced the 401k plans as saving plans, to provide for your future. That was appropriate, but they didn’t properly characterize the upcoming situation. Maybe, folks would have listened more if they said - we will be reducing pensions to nothing in the future, and social security will cover the bare minimum in the future - so this saving plan is actually your retirement money! Save as much as you can - and do it now! You will need this money later!

It’s sad to see folks struggling as they age. But this is one of the dangers of putting the choices in the hands of employees.

My assessment may be entirely off base, as the story presented has too many gaps. But those are my thoughts.

I was blown away that anyone with an IQ over 11 would take anything on Reddit seriously. Wah.

I’m a victim. There’s no point in trying. It’s everyone else’s fault. They’re all out to get me.

I’m special. The world owes me a living. Why won’t somebody take care of me ? It’s just not fair.

Boomers had it so easy. Everything was handed to them. They never had to struggle like poor, poor me.

Boomers did have it easier. They still enjoyed the benefits from the new deal. But then fucked it up. I don't think there's a generational war though. We're all just struggling to survive. Blame the plutocracy

@Icee, not from the New Deal, which actually prolonged the Great Depression, but from the post-WW2 industrial economy when America was the only real manufacturing power left in the world. Everywhere else was bombed out.

That was a historical anomaly we can't go back to.

Late Boomer here. I remember hiding under my desk in first grade for nuclear war drills. I remember gas shortages that created huge lines on the days you were allowed to buy based on your tag and sometimes after a two hour wait the station ran out. I remember buying my first house in 1981 at 16% interest. I remember working full time while going to College and still having student loans debt several times greater than my mortgage. I remember paying back those loans at 8 and 9 % interest. I remember starting to work when I was 13 years old and continuing to work uninterrupted for the next 47 years.

You know what I don't remember? Getting $875 a week to sit at home for a year. The ability to work from any location due to advanced telecommunications. The opportunity to be an "influencer" with no appreciable skills. Whining about how unfair life is.

I don’t think any generation has it easy. Many boomers were fortunate to benefit from a growing post WWII economy. But, there lives were likely not easy.

My previous post was an explanation, using very limited background. Life has changed dramatically in the USA over the past 60 years, and boomers aren’t the only ones who have faced challenges.

If I knew then, what I know now, I may have done things differently. But, I think many folks could say something similar as they reach their late 50’s.

People graduating from college with degrees in the STEM field or business are getting good paying jobs. People working in the trades or nursing have dozens of job offers. Pay starts at $60,000 and goes up quickly.

People sitting on their asses, or studying post-modern Lithuanian literature or gender studies, don’t have a lot of options. Fortunately, they can make $20 an hour ( with tips ) as Baristas.

Obviously, the latter group is failing because of Boomers.

Reading this made me chuckle because I too as a young and naive person, which was not too long ago, felt victimized and realized as time went by that mentality is just an excuse for your current situation, when in fact over time if you build a solid discipline approach to prove your value, you’ll also learn the value of the dollar!

That Reddit poster clearly is jealous and has conflated it with some other valid points regarding her father, who is a miser. Probably due to a lifetime of habit. I know my elders came from the depression and wouldn’t travel out nor the house whenever gas prices rose too high, even though they’re multi-millionaires! It’s definitely a different mind set, but if you’ve worked a lifetime you get a sense of entitlement, and that conflicts with the youths agenda regrading entitlement. Just my opinion

Saying that young people should all become engineers and make a lot of money is ridiculous. You can't have a consumer based society without sustainable development and consumers who can afford to consume

Yep. Boomers had it easy. Lol

The year I graduated college interest rates peaked at 18.5%
Unemployment was around 11%
Gas prices in today’s dollars was $4.27
All thanks to the worst President in my lifetime - Jimmy Carter

“Late Boomer here. I remember hiding under my desk in first grade for nuclear war drills. I remember gas shortages that created huge lines on the days you were allowed to buy based on your tag and sometimes after a two hour wait the station ran out. I remember buying my first house in 1981 at 16% interest. I remember working full time while going to College and still having student loans debt several times greater than my mortgage. I remember paying back those loans at 8 and 9 % interest. I remember starting to work when I was 13 years old and continuing to work uninterrupted for the next 47 years.”

Yeah you had it sooo rough (sarcasm). People just don’t know how well they have it today. Everyone still struggles with various issues - EVERYONE, but I never really understood why boomers get bashed for so much, then there’s my generation - Gen X who EVERYONE completely forgot about… but we’re fine, nobody ever paid any attention to us when we were kids so we’re used to it.

Young people don't have a monopoly on complaining or good reasons to complain. But what they do have is more time.

So stop complaining.

They have as much opportunities as they equally have complaints. And I do believe those can coexist. For example back in 1957 average home price was $20K. That converts today to $220K. The average cost of a home in New York is $387K today.

But currently your not finding much of a home unless it's around $500K. And costs of homes are steadily rising despite talks of a housing bubble burst. I saw milk rise in a week from $2.89 to (caught it once at $3.09 before rising 2 days later) $3.19 in BJs. Financially speaking what part of good are us youth in? And not all of us got supplemented checks. I know I didnt recieved anything during covid. Had to take my booty to work.

These girls don't dance for food stamps after all.

Why did you have to get a loan for school in the 50s and 60s. Every elder person I talk to consistently brags about how their minimum wage job back then paid their entire schooling.

Lmao at more boomer bait. I suppose the next complaint from a boomer is they drank from a garden hose

Half price houses would be nice.

@ shailynn, us gen x really did get the short end of the stick. We are completely ignored

If you are a boomer and your daughter needs to being you free food just to survive, you didn't just mess up once, you fucked up everything you touched your entire life.

I don’t get all the bitching from you younger guys pick your ass up and go out and get what you want, that’s what I did, who are you waiting for to give you permission to live your own life, most of the folks my age didn’t get what we have by complaining about what we didn’t get. Stop whining and go out and get your own.

Lol... Here is why Gen X isn't involved in the race or age war


https://youtube.com/shorts/uXTwCs-APIo?f…

Fuck you cowboy

Millennials and "Zoomers" music and culture sucks so they bash older generations out of jealousy. Thats the long and short of it. The economic stuff is just a cover for the real issue.

There's no jealousy and no real conflict. It's just some Republicans are out if touch with reality and how hard life is for young people

Here’s one Reddit post with generational commentary I thought was pretty funny 💀
https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/commen…

Your period in life is the biggest thing that affects you. I had cardboard boxes as nightstands in college. The best thing about the US is you control your destiny. You can bitch about what you don't have or work hard and get what you want.

My parents were born during WWII, so not quite Boomers, but almost. They got their first house in Los Angeles for $12k. My dad was an entry level accountant making $20k, and his parents helped him buy the house. One of my dad's big financial regrets was not being more aggressive with his housing purchases.

Boomers just had to show up and not be complete fuck ups and they did pretty good. Not true for the younger gens.

Everyone under 50 should be thanking Boomers everyday for some freedoms they take granted.

The class 3 years before me in high school protested the school’s dress code and staged a sit in demonstration until the administration agreed to lift it.

Can you imagine a life where girls were forced to wear dresses or skirts and jeans were banned.

The reason you complain is because you’re a bunch of whiney self entitled brats that want it all handled to you on a silver platter

Life is a struggle. It’s hard. It’s often unfair. That was true for your parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. It will be true for your children and grandchildren.

You are not special. You are not the first person who had it rough. Get over it. Decide what you want from life and what you are willing to do to reach your goal.

No one is going to hand you a perfect life. It’s entirely up to you.

^^ “you are not special”, is a great quote, and realizing that is a major part of growing up because as a youth everyone was told how special they were by their parents and teachers, but the real world doesn’t recognize anybody as being special. Nobody is special so get over yourself and create the opportunities and future yiu think you should have, because there is nowhere on earth more abundant with opportunities than in the USA. Go fuck yourselves if you’re going to whine about what prior generations have built for themselves, and eat a sandwich bitch!

The whole thread started about high housing costs.
I googled houses for sale in my area and there are homes available under $40k

They are the size and type of home my parents owned and me, a boomer, grew up in. A starter home isn’t supposed to be a 5 bedroom McMansion but Gen Z expects it to be because that’s what they grew up in

Social media is comprised of people lying about how wonderful their lives are. More than anything else, that’s the source of the angst and discontentment from the younger generation.

It's not about social media. It's about reality. Low wages . Lack of employment stability. Unrealistically high prices... calling people lazy for not affording a $250k house while making $11 an hour or calling them stupid for not being an engineer shows a disconnect from reality.

^ Frenulum

BTW, here's a sideshow boob: https://thumb-p4.xhcdn.com/a/q7H8tR_tTbY…

What boomer also don't consider is that, over the years, the number of jobs where you can make a middle class income that only require a high school diploma (or less) has shrunk by a lot. And college has gotten much more expensive.

Also a big part of the problem is high school guidance counselors, who kept telling kids that (any) college degree guaranteed getting a middle class job, long after this stopped being true.

Almost everybody thinks that their generation had/has it worse than the others. That's just human nature.

I'm on the Boomer/GenX cusp. I recall the high inflation of the 70's and the very high (Rust Belt) unemployment of the early 80's - but I was a kid and my parents navigated successfully through it. We did not live a fancy life, but it was a good one.

When I entered the workforce in the late 80's, employers were cutting benefits and removing pensions. And 401k plans of the time often had waiting periods, longer vesting periods, and poor company match options. So there are times that I am jealous of the older generation who had good pensions. And other times I wish I had the 401k options then that are available now. That being said, I had retirement money in the market that rode a big ramp upwards (with some big dips of course) since the early 90's.

Long story short - Life ain't fair, but you got to look for the good and not just the bad. Whatever generation you belong to.

One thing you non boomers don’t have to worry about is the Draft, too bad, that was the common denominator that kept our country united

I could list 20 jobs that are high in demand, require a year or two of technical training, and pay $60,000 and up. In most of the country, that’s enough money to live a comfortable life. Not in LA or NY of course.

I have a relative who is working his way through college working as a barista at $30/hour ( with tips ).

The self-destructive fantasy that it’s impossible to get a good job because of Boomers ( or, any other excuse ) is laughable.

I know one thing the young won't understand: Seeing that green army car pull into the projects and watching all the kids scramble home to see if it was their brother who had died in nam.........

@steve yeah that's why it's tiresome when people harp on the generation stuff too much. Lots of blue collar boomers got fucked over as bad as anybody. Whereas the reason housing is so expensive is because of people in younger generations with good-paying white collar jobs have lots of dough.

Go watch the House Hunters show on HGTV. Lots of 28 year olds who wouldn’t consider anything less than a 4 bedroom house with granite counters in the best neighborhood.

The good news, for those looking to buy their first house, is that a significant correction is coming, especially in the markets that have seen prices skyrocket. The data is identical to the early warning signs from the last crash in 2006-2008.

We are seeing price drops and more homes on market. It will get much more pronounced over the next3-6 months.

The pull yourselves up by the boot straps mentality is antiquated.

The lack of opportunities and an epidemic of price gouging in everything during the fall of the empire are the problem. O think whatever we eventually replace this system with has to be focused on people's needs rather than the greed of the rich.

^ Folly to think there is some "replacement" system in the offing. Capitalism has brought more people into prosperity and out of poverty than any other economic arrangement, ever.

“eventually replace this system with has to be focused on people's needs rather than the greed of the rich.”

Or, you could move to Venezuala. They’ve already implemented this miraculous utopia.

Capitalism: if you provide value to others, you are rewarded.

Socialism: if you create something of value, the government steals it from you.

Materialistic consumerism isn't a real measure of prosperity. The possibility of buying shit we don't need isn't nearly as important as job security housing security universal health care viable pensions living wages subsidized education community development etc

Man, that’s a shitload of buzzwords. Does everyone you know talk like that ? That might explain why your life is so miserable.

Mark you use cold War Era buzzwords that have no meaning today. The reality is times change and society evolves. People realize who the system works for and why and why they struggle.

As a "Xennial" (I'm 42) I see points on both sides. As a Gen-X, I'm neutral, but I've faced more millennial than boomer struggles.

My early-boomer parents worked their asses off throughout life, but acknowledged that they benefited from the post-war consensus. It's an anomaly throughout world history that someone could support a wife and 4 kids on a high school education, work 30 years at a blue collar job, then be set for life. Housing was much more affordable in most metro areas, and the housing lobby makes sure that's well taken care of (keeping younger people out). At the same time, they had the draft, the threat of nuclear war, 70s inflation and gas lines.

Millennials (and Generations Y and Z or whatever you want to call them now, even moreso) have unmatched creature comforts. More convenience than even I had growing up, and fewer expectations that they provide for themselves. College was an entryway into adulthood when I attended, now it's most/all of the privileges of adulthood with few/none of the responsibilities. But they've also had so many opportunities taken away, and Boomers/X-ers never taught them "how to adult." Owning real estate is out of reach in many areas. They wrongly believed that any 4 year degree would open professional doors for them. They mainlined the worst of their hippie teachers/parents utopian beliefs. We taught them the world owed them just for existing--we tried to teach them to be "happy" with neopronouns and safe spaces and they're only softer and more miserable than ever.

I'm glad where I am, if only because I've learned to solve "Xennial" problems. In the end, every generation has bitched about theirs plus one/minus one since the beginning of time.

“Housing was much more affordable in most metro areas “

Going back 130 years, the average value of a home has tracked the average wage. There are time periods where housing goes up faster, or slower. There are geographic regions that go up faster, or slower. But, the link between wages and house prices is strong.

So, yes, house prices used to be much lower, but so were wages.

Comforts aren't conveniences when they're unaffordable.

It's crazy thinking I have the luxury to take an uber. And someone else would have to work over an hour at a hard job to afford that. Or being able to afford food without EBT. Having a car most can't afford. I live in a great place.

But I can walk out in public and get called racial slurs. Cops will reach for their holsters when they watch me. White and Black people will cross the street.

My family benefited from the post war boom. From the Civil rights act.

I went to school where my identity was never taught and none of my teachers looked like me til I reached high school. Then for the first time I heard attacks that my teachers were radical and anti American. For teaching me my American story that white society denied me.

Opportunity and success are relative. Systemic racism is very real.

^^ icee your experience may be valid, but you’re from a very specific part of the world and we all can tell you that is not what happens generally in and around the rest of the world. Odds are if you’re going to get successful with anything in life you can’t play the blame game with your problems onto somebody else. You’re responsible for your own path so there’s still more opportunity here than anywhere else. Buh bye!

Why are there over $10 million illegal immigrants living in the US?


Why on earth would anyone of sound mind want to come to a country reeking of systemic racism?

Mate72 I'm from the us...and it was much worse when my parents were young.
It's not a blame game. Its pointing out social problems keeping people down. The advantages white Americans had jn the past came at the disadvantages of others. And those patterns still persist.

Moorhead. Desperation. American businesses luring undocumented Americans with false promises. Then many get trapped in the US. Or they have kids who are American. It's not a benevolent system.

Tackling unfair disadvantage also means tackling unfair advantage. Then we can go for equality of opportunity. We have a long way to go as a society.

But today's inflation and price gouging are hurting everyone unless your income is getting higher than price increases.

^ Frenulum

Icey you don’t understand systemicr acism. For it to be systemic would mean there are laws, or that the majority of the justice system or society is racist. America for the most part only has individual racism, which is a good thing any free society would have. Individual racism equals having freedom to choose who you associate with, work with, let into your house etc.

I was blown away that anyone with an IQ over 11 would post as an attorney on tuscl. Wah.

Icey if you’re referring to slave ownership that was like 1% of the white people who were the top wealthiest. They were already wealthy, the slaves made them even wealthier. Most Americans werent rich enough for slaves. And every major company with overseas operations is likely using slave labor. But you and many others still buy their products and support them.

This is hilarious a bunch of idiots on a strip club afficionado website that spend money on boners are the biggest bunch of boneheads actually taking it seriously over who had it easier coming of age.
This thread should be exhibit A in the definition of stupid.

MIllennials and Gen Z who vote for socialism, communism, leftism, etc. are truly too stupid to vote. There really should be a civics test included when applying for a voter's ID card. If you cannot demonstrate that you understand the issues and consequences, you should not have a voice in the decision.

This is a classic but it may help:

Cows and Governments

FEUDALISM: You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.

PURE SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all the cows. The government gives you as much milk as you need.

BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and as many eggs as the regulations say you should need.

FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk.

PURE COMMUNISM: You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk.

RUSSIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk.

DICTATORSHIP: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.

SINGAPOREAN DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. The government fines you for keeping two unlicensed farm animals in an apartment.

MILITARIANISM: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you into the military.

PURE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.

AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: The government promises to give you two cows if you vote for it. After the election, the president is impeached for speculating in cow futures. The press dubs the affair "Cowgate."

BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. After that it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows..

ANARCHY: You have two cows. Your neighbors try to kill you and take the cows.

CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.

HONG KONG CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly-listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt / equity swap with associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax deduction for keeping five cows. The milk rights of six cows are transferred via a Panamanian intermediary to a Cayman Islands company secretly owned by the majority shareholder, who sells the rights to all seven cows' milk back to the listed company. The annual report says that the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. Meanwhile, you kill the two cows because the fung shiu is bad.

ENVIRONMENTALISM: You have two cows. The government bans you from milking or killing them.

FEMINISM: You have two cows. They get married and adopt a veal calf.

TOTALITARIANISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and denies they ever existed. Milk is banned.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: You are associated with (the concept of "ownership" is a symbol of the phallo-centric, war-mongering, intolerant past) two differently-aged (but no less valuable to society) bovines of non-specified gender.

COUNTER CULTURE: Wow, dude, there's like... these two cows, man. You got to have some of this milk.

SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

LIBERTARIANISM: You have two cows. One has actually read the constitution, believes in it, and has some really good ideas about government. The cow runs for office, and while most people agree that the cow is the best candidate, nobody except the other cow votes for her because they think it would be "throwing their vote away."

The thread is about personal experiences not paradigmatic what if scenarios.


Dougster saying racism is a good thing is your dumbest trolling. No one took your bait

Most of the Gen X'ers who I know and are doing well, are doing well by virtue of our own grit. The few I know who are the least successful are so because of drugs and alcohol.

Millenials and Zoomers look at us and their parents, and are envious of our success. They fail to look at those in our generation and their parents who have failed. They would rather blame us for their failures than to learn lessons from our successes and failures and apply those to their own circumstances. I also note a fierce resistance to making sacrifices for the short term to improve their lives in the long term. They are unwilling to do without and expect others to give them whatever they feel they need to make up the difference.

It seems that Boomers spoiled their Millennial children rotten, and Gen X parents were too busy with being their childrens' friend instead of parenting. Either way, we now have millions of young adults who cannot actually function as adults. Add into that millions of illegals who don't want or get anything but 100% government dole. Meanwhile, those ofnus whonhave been funding that government dole are retiring or midway there. You Millenials and Zoomers better figure your shit out quick, or this whole thing is gonna fall down around your ears in 20 years.

It's clear that society is falling apart. The system reached its end point.

As far as generations blaming each other. I've never encountered that in real life. The problem is those who perpetuate certain beliefs and policies today.

^ Frenulum