High school class of 1974 here. We loved the sex, drugs, and rock and roll of the 60s, but we also were keenly aware of the impermanance of the hedonistic lifestyles of Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison.
High school class of 2020 here. We wish we could have the life our boomer forefathers did, but their life was so hedonistic, they destroyed ours by proxy.
In the economy of the 70s you could walk into a business with a high school diploma, ask for a job, and get offered enough pay relative to housing costs to save for a home.
Now you have to spend 4 years studying and go into debt to have a chance at that life. But aside from having a cash flow problem, you can't get caught doing anything a college admissions counselor or job recruiter doesn't like or the plan will fall apart. So don't break any laws, get filmed doing anything unsavory (and everyone has a recording device in their pocket), and expect to have gray hair before you get your feet under you financially--if that day ever comes.
Now regardless of who you blame for this economy (though I suggest you look at the age of the people in charge), it's striking how the only decent social safety nets in the US are for retirees. Baby boomers can get government healthcare, social security, along with more benefits/tax breaks at the state and local level. The young have to pay for their own educations, pay for their own healthcare, and then get taxed to pay for the older generations too.
One generation hollowed out the economy, voted to give benefits to themselves while cutting them for everyone else, and ran up debt at every level of government in the process. Now no one else can afford to live the life they did.
Unemployment is at 7.7% if you include discouraged workers, and participation of all working age adults is 61.6%.
Participation was lower in the 70s (60%), due to most Women not entering the workforce. But ours includes most women, so your point is genuinely incomparable.
No, the kids aren't "all right". I'm not blaming you for this, just pointing out that yes, we have it much, much worse, not even taking into account just how lonely, sick, and poorer we are, per salary, per dollar, and our lack of homeownership (that's an entirely different set of data I'm not posting here).
Remind me of your purchasing power? Your home ownership rates? Value of your dollar? Wages relative to lifestyle? Mental Illness rates? Chances of entering a high paying job, or prestigious University? Labor Unions? Relationship rates? Debt?
Getting drafted is terrible, but at least you had a nation worth fighting for, even in a pointless war. (Not mentioning how many drafted were poor, non-college educated people, of which even if we are poorer, much more of us go to college for worse wages and outcomes)
The only reason we aren't drafted, is because we, by every metric, are starting worse off health-wise compared to you.
Also, the threat of nuclear war never went away, we just stopped caring about it.
Why? We brought numbers for one specific issue and you ignored them.
The first item on your new list is absurd. The 70s are the decade that coined the term stagflation. To be nostalgic for the 70s because of the value of the dollar is wild.
You must've been a kid in the 1960s right? If so, those were the best times for the US. I understand, what comes after feels worse, but I assure you, the post-internet, post-9/11, post-COVID world is much harder for a young adult.
blendo · · focus · HN ↗
Huarache1 · · focus · HN ↗
GaryBluto · · focus · HN ↗
typeofhuman · · focus · HN ↗
missinglugnut · · focus · HN ↗
Now you have to spend 4 years studying and go into debt to have a chance at that life. But aside from having a cash flow problem, you can't get caught doing anything a college admissions counselor or job recruiter doesn't like or the plan will fall apart. So don't break any laws, get filmed doing anything unsavory (and everyone has a recording device in their pocket), and expect to have gray hair before you get your feet under you financially--if that day ever comes.
Now regardless of who you blame for this economy (though I suggest you look at the age of the people in charge), it's striking how the only decent social safety nets in the US are for retirees. Baby boomers can get government healthcare, social security, along with more benefits/tax breaks at the state and local level. The young have to pay for their own educations, pay for their own healthcare, and then get taxed to pay for the older generations too.
One generation hollowed out the economy, voted to give benefits to themselves while cutting them for everyone else, and ran up debt at every level of government in the process. Now no one else can afford to live the life they did.
treis · · focus · HN ↗
Huarache1 · · focus · HN ↗
Participation was lower in the 70s (60%), due to most Women not entering the workforce. But ours includes most women, so your point is genuinely incomparable.
No, the kids aren't "all right". I'm not blaming you for this, just pointing out that yes, we have it much, much worse, not even taking into account just how lonely, sick, and poorer we are, per salary, per dollar, and our lack of homeownership (that's an entirely different set of data I'm not posting here).
treis · · focus · HN ↗
Also, remind me how many of y'all were drafted to go fight in Nam?
Huarache1 · · focus · HN ↗
Getting drafted is terrible, but at least you had a nation worth fighting for, even in a pointless war. (Not mentioning how many drafted were poor, non-college educated people, of which even if we are poorer, much more of us go to college for worse wages and outcomes)
The only reason we aren't drafted, is because we, by every metric, are starting worse off health-wise compared to you.
Also, the threat of nuclear war never went away, we just stopped caring about it.
Again, I'm not blaming you specifically.
treis · · focus · HN ↗
The first item on your new list is absurd. The 70s are the decade that coined the term stagflation. To be nostalgic for the 70s because of the value of the dollar is wild.
Huarache1 · · focus · HN ↗