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[Triumphant]

2 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

My college tuition was twice as expensive as the last generation's college tuition. And it means less in the degree saturated job market.

 

And I had to grow up with school shootings. 

 

My house is twice, nearly three times as expensive as the last generation's house.

 

My food, gas, utilities, insurance, car payment, medical bills, entertainment of any kind - are all twice as expensive as the last generation's.

 

Of course that wouldn't be a problem if my wage kept up with things.

 

So I have to work twice as hard, have two jobs, and less free time in order to have the same things as the previous generation.

 

Oh, and I won't be able to access any social safety nets when I retire because it will be insolvent or pension because no employer offers that incentive anymore.

 

This is why I play a make believe super hero game 🤪

 

Edit: And traveling to Europe is way more expensive!!

Right.  I'm 52.  My kid doesn't have it better than I did.  Neither do most of the others.  Trust me on this one.

[GM Crumpet]

13 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

My college tuition was twice as expensive as the last generation's college tuition. And it means less in the degree saturated job market.

 

And I had to grow up with school shootings. 

 

My house is twice, nearly three times as expensive as the last generation's house.

 

My food, gas, utilities, insurance, car payment, medical bills, entertainment of any kind - are all twice as expensive as the last generation's.

 

Of course that wouldn't be a problem if my wage kept up with things.

 

So I have to work twice as hard, have two jobs, and less free time in order to have the same things as the previous generation.

 

Oh, and I won't be able to access any social safety nets when I retire because it will be insolvent or pension because no employer offers that incentive anymore.

 

This is why I play a make believe super hero game 🤪

 

Edit: And traveling to Europe is way more expensive!!

I'm in the UK so a lot of that is a mystery to me. We don't automatically go to college or University, and we don't have school shootings. We rarely if ever even have an incident on school property. 

I agree with you on house prices, but again not as bad over here. I bought my first house 8 years ago for £92K. I sold the family home for £120K (I had to split it with my sister) as it was very run down so someone got a fixer upper and a bargain, and my mortgage is £400 a month. Similar houses in my street have gone up to around £140K in those 8 years. 

 

I'm on just over UK minimum wage (what's called the real living wage) which translates as $16.00 an hour and work 44 hours a week, and can pay my utilities and car loan and internet with some left over for the odd takeaway and treat. 

 

Plus I pay a small tax of around £1000 for full medical coverage and no co-pay or refusal for existing medical conditions.

 

My food bill is around £100 a month (around $130). Food prices are much lower here. A gallon of milk (6 pints) is £1.50 and a loaf of bread is around 50p.

 

We do University tuition loans differently. You don't pay anything if you earn less than £25K then you pay a percentage of your income above that amount. It's also forgiven after 20 years if it's not fully paid off.

 

I think the idea that our parents were better off than us can be misleading. My parents bought their first house after I was born, and it was a small 2 bed with no running water. There was a single toilet in the yard used by 5 houses and a tap outside everyone got their water from. As a child I remember times when money was so tight we had bread and jam for dinner as there was no money to buy anything else till Friday, even when both my parents worked. It was only later that I realised mom saying "No you eat it, I'm not hungry" was mom talk for "I can feed you or I can feed me, I can't feed us both" and going without food to make sure my sister and I were fed. 

 

Changes in social housing has really taken us back to those days. Everything now is private landlords, and social housing is really hard to find. Normal working class people in both our countries find it hard to even pay rent, and can't get a mortgage despite the mortgage payments generally being lower than the rent they are paying. I'd be paying 3 times as much if I was renting this house instead of buying it. 

 

Every generation faces challenges, I don't see that changing any time soon unfortunately.

[Glacier Peak]

43 minutes ago, GM Crumpet said:

 

Well written reply, thank you!

[Luminara]

11 hours ago, Triumphant said:

Right.  I'm 52.  My kid doesn't have it better than I did.  Neither do most of the others.  Trust me on this one.

 

Neither did we.  Gen X marked the first era in the last century when a generation was worse off than its predecessor, rather than better.  The American Dream was no longer ahead of us, it was behind us.  Inflation was increasing, wages weren't, and the jobs available didn't go up the corporate ladder, they didn't go anywhere at all.  Clerking at gas stations.  Bagging groceries at supermarkets.  Washing dishes at restaurants.  That was where we ended up.  And it wasn't anyone's fault, no one person or group or even nation was responsible, it was just a natural result of the growing population.  The last worldwide conflict which reduced the population in significant numbers had occurred in our grandparents' youth.  Medicine and technology and improved national infrastructure had alleviated common problems like polio or being able to reach a hospital in the "golden hour".  And the last great economic stimulus of the previous generation ran out of rocket fuel just as our generation was coming into being.

 

People are a resource, like everything else in the world, and when there's an oversupply of a resource, its value declines.  Gen X was an oversupplied resource, a stockpile with little social or economic value.  And then the same thing happened to our successor generations.  Yes, they've been hit harder by the inflationary aspect, and we can lay the blame for that at the feet of the people in power, who could've raised minimum wages and implemented better taxation systems to reduce the effects of inflation, but it's still the same fundamental problem that we faced, that they were born at a time when nothing was happening to increase the value of the resource they represented.

I've seen signs of change, though, that have kept me optimistic.  There are younger faces in political offices, bringing more modern sensibilities and values, fostering change instead of the stagnation that the old guard has used to remain in power.  People are showing greater interest in things that affect the world as a whole, rather than only their neighborhoods or nations.  Technology has transcended geographical, political, social and cultural borders, which has fostered better understanding and communication.  New fields are being created, with real jobs that have real value and meaning, thanks to advances in science and industry.  The foundation for a better future is being laid.  Incrementally, slowly, but it's happening.  I do believe that we'll see visible and obvious reversals in the decline before our generation is gone.  We won't be able to enjoy it fully, but I think it'll come to fruition in time for our grandchildren to finally have that promised better life, and if not them, then their children.

 

I really need another copy of Fight Club.  It's been too long since I watched that.  I'm clearly starting to let go of my anger at being rendered irrelevant by fate.

 

Eh, maybe I'll just watch Pretty Woman instead.

[Triumphant]

@Luminara  I hope so.  I am a pessimist, at heart, so it is hard for me to maintain your hopeful outlook.  I worry for my daughter.  But we have a lot on my plate right now.  My wife is unemployed, due to undergoing chemotherapy and battling breast cancer.  My daughter and her girlfriend and I  are all working gruelling, soul-crushing, low playing jobs.  We literally have over a hundred thousand dollars of school debt and other accrued debt and are barely staying afloat.  At this point, we are just trying to stay the course and not succumb to exhaustion.  At least we live in Minnesota.  If we were still in Missouri, we would likely be homeless by now.  🤷‍♂️

[WanderingAries]

Have literally walked uphill, both ways to school in the snow. Had to turn sideways into the wind or it would grab my jacket and carry me away. >.<

[Lines]

Sure, I'll write a description whenever I report a thread.

 

That's what we're all talking about, right?

[WanderingAries]

4 hours ago, Lines said:

Sure, I'll write a description whenever I report a thread.

 

That's what we're all talking about, right?

 

Yeah...that's what's going on. Right!  >.>  <.<