This defeatist bullshit is getting tired. Yeah, times change, and we just got out of an economic situation worse then anything seen in decades.
Your money doesn't get you as far, boo-fucking-who. How many wars have you been drafted into? How many credible nuclear and biological crisis? How many of your leaders have been destroyed by Mccarthyism, or outright assassinated? You been barred from schools for being the wrong color? Do cops regularly avert their eyes in the face of domestic violence?
You've got your problems. Your parents and grandparents have theirs. Your children and grandchildren have ours. You going to keep lying down and complaining about not having all the same benefits and none of the same hardships, or are you going to put your shoulder to the wind and your nose to the grindstone to carve out something better for yourself?
I'll eat your fucking lunch if you let me.
Well- there’s also HUGE fallacies in the standard “then vs now” comparison. “Our money is worth less...” “If they’d tried to get a loan for a $120k house in 1970 banks would laugh them out...” Well... yes. But how much did the computer on the space vehicles in the 70’s cost? Because your car has more computer power and more safety technology than a space craft in 1970. To have that car in 1970 you’d have to be a multi billionaire. If you tried to buy a cell phone most people would laugh at you- but try to buy a cell phone with even 4GB of ram. The best most expensive super computers in earth look puny compared to what’s in your pocket.
An airline ticket for domestic travel was about 2x the cost in 1980 as it is now. That’s WITHOUT adjusting for inflation. In 1980 dollars the price tag was twice as high! In 1970, about 0.2 billion people a year traveled internationally. In 2018 almost 1.5 billion did. In the past- most peoples best chance to “travel” was to enlist. A personal computer? In 1972 the HP 3000 sold for $95,000. Adjusted for inflation that’s half a million dollars. How many PC’s have you owned in your life? If we want to play time traveler- your parents could have paid 2019 housing prices and still bought several homes for what you spend on electronics- adjusted for inflation.
So what gives? Well- homes didn’t get much cheaper to make. In fact they cost more to make- and that’s considering that people like yourself who is upset they can’t afford things don’t make a living wage to produce the materials or do much of the unskilled labor required to complete a home.
So with WAY more people- and WAY more competition- the prices of land- a pretty fixed asset, go WAY up. Because there were less people, and the same amount of land- it cost less then. Likewise: there are WAY more people buying and producing goods like computers- so the price goes down and the quality goes up. Consumer goods technology has improved far more than land management or even home building technology has.
Of course- it’s valid to say wages haven’t kept pace to inflation. Home prices have soared in excess of inflation. Why? The rich, credit, and YOU. Where there’s opportunity to make lots of money and buy toys like computers and cars, travel money etc- people flock in disproportionate numbers. This causes disproportionate demand. In Detroit- houses were selling for FAR less than the sticker price (no inflation adjustment needed), same in Camden New Jersey. If you want to start a homestead- plenty of places you can do that cheap and tend your own crops. Live off the land. Go without data plans and WiFi and iPads and new cars and all that. Learn to Fix your own and buy a 30 year old truck that will last forever.
Live like most people in the 70’s and never see a foreign country. Eat at home. No Uber or grub hub. Skip the PlayStation and amazon prime. Sound appealing? Probably not. The fact is that you likely don’t want to live like it’s the 70’s anyway- no cellphones, no internet... you want 70’s prices and modern convenience and lifestyle. That’s not very realistic is it? How much you think King Arthur paid for his castle? I bet people in the 70’s wished they could pay that much for a castle too- but they probably wouldn’t want to live in a pre medieval castle.
I speak in hyperbole. The point is- yeah. There ARE issues with the system- but this kind of “time travel” economics is stupid. The world changes and we can’t do 1:1 comparisons. Just know this- wealth disparity in a free capitalism is a two player sport. Jeff Bezos has so much more money than you because... you keep giving it to him.
Houses cost so much because... the prices kept going up and people kept paying them. Enough people HAD to have THAT house in THAT neighborhood and so.... what else would happen when people are willing and able to overbid asking price by hundreds of thousands just to be sure they get the deal?
Do you float on credit? Buy groceries, make your major purchases on credit, finance your cars on credit? If you were cut off from every line of credit you have right now but still had the debt and no way to dissolve it what would your finances look like? The credit system REWARDS owing money. Good credit isn’t a mark of responsibility. What responsible person constantly needs to borrow money from someone to make ends meet? That’s called “living outside your means.” Credit as a concept has an important place. Buying a home, starting a business. Not buying an Xbox or paying your bills so you can have enough to go to a concert and make rent if you float the debt a few months.
The entire system is designed to mark people who will be the highest profit to lenders. That system underpins the loan industry that uses homes as captive bargaining chips. You WANT what they have though. Boomers didn’t do you any favors- but YOU are responsible too. If you agree to eat scraps off the table like a dog because you want something more than you could get otherwise- you’ll end up treated like a dog. Wolves next meal isn’t guaranteed. It rains- they get wet. But for the lack of security and comfort- they at least sleep where they want.
I’m not gonna say to stop trying to have it both ways. That’s how progressive works. People decide they want it all and try to figure out how to do it. I will say this: Accept that things are the way they are but can change. Then- change them. You think the boomers fucked up so bad? Do better. Stop trying to take everything you can and “live your best life” at the inevitable expense of the next generation. Stop feeding the beast that bites you. Stop supporting their bullshit.
Stop following the “American” or “middle class” dream, the media portrayals of what life is supposed to be with big homes and nice cars and fancy clothes and all that shit. That was THEIR dream that THEY fed you. If you drank that koolaid is that their fault? Make a new dream- a dream that is realistic in this world. The first people on mars are idiots if they plan to go to the beach. That was a dream for their parents on earth. They won’t see a beach in their lives. They MIGHT be able to make a beach for their children or grandchildren if they make it their dream to MAKE a beach- but only a fool lives for the dream of lounging at a beach resort on mars in their own lifetime.
Make changes, accept that the dreams of past generations you’ve been spoon fed may well not be realistic- and guess what? WE KNOW WHERE LIVING THAT DREAM LEADS!!! Don’t be an asshole. The boomers lived the boomer dream and where are YOU for it? If you live the SAME DREAM then what do you think the next kids born will be born into? You’re smarter than that. If you don’t think it’s right the boomers left you like this- why would you pay that forward? Isn’t that what you’re mad at the boomers for? Fucking the planet and the economy over for THEIR DREAM?
Unless you are the same as them, in which case you can’t be upset at someone else for screwing you first when you’d have screwed them if you got their first, YOU CAN’T HAVE THE BOOMER LIFE. Get a new life. 90% of people on earth likely live shittier than you (in material terms) if you’re in a major world power country. They might cook and clean with cow shit. Actual cow shit. They might not have running water. And you say “how can I live in this economy?!” How can you die? Homeless people live. Homeless people get fat. You can be fat and homeless in this country.
You have to have really bad luck, or really try to actually die from poverty in most developed nations. Couch surfing or having a shitty apartment aren’t “not living.” Sharing a house with 12 people isn’t “not living.” Taking the bus is not “not living.” You’ve been told you’re a loser to live with home. You need your own castle, a car, blah blah. So has everyone else. You’re scared. “Who will date me if I have 12 roommates?” You’re shy. “How can I bring home sex partners with my parents sharing my room?”
Figure it out. It’s 2019. Privacy is in your head now. Get real comfy with the new world. Learn to shed the puritanical ideals of the past. Have sex with Dave the roommate eating in the chair next to you. Mom and dad can take a walk if they don’t wanna hear you banging- and their banging is how you got here. Be a grown up and put on your headphones when they have too many glasses of wine and put on the slow jams.
That might be a bit extreme- but someone is gonna have to shed the relics of the past that led us down this road to everyone needing their own fortress of solitude and spouses not being able to share the same bathroom and needing their own. Ever seen a closet in a house built early 20th century or before? It’s the size of the trunk of a large sedan. People back then didn’t have nearly as much. They didn’t have 20 outfits and 6 pairs of shoes. They did ok. The boomers and their parents started the “more more more.”
If you don’t like the world that created then stop being part of it. Do more with less and win the game by refusing to play. Make your own rules. Create a future where things are sustainable and you don’t fuck over the kids not born yet because you couldn’t do without. Or... bitch about how unfair it is and get frustrated trying to play by rules that don’t really work to begin with.
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Your money doesn't get you as far, boo-fucking-who. How many wars have you been drafted into? How many credible nuclear and biological crisis? How many of your leaders have been destroyed by Mccarthyism, or outright assassinated? You been barred from schools for being the wrong color? Do cops regularly avert their eyes in the face of domestic violence?
You've got your problems. Your parents and grandparents have theirs. Your children and grandchildren have ours. You going to keep lying down and complaining about not having all the same benefits and none of the same hardships, or are you going to put your shoulder to the wind and your nose to the grindstone to carve out something better for yourself?
I'll eat your fucking lunch if you let me.