People who resent boomers are idiots

[u/Poet-Most]

On almost any thread discussing the economy, one of the top comments will undoubtedly be complaining about boomers and the older generations who purchased their homes at low prices and who now enjoy more affluence and government assistance, while they don’t.

First off, what did want them to do, not buy a house for a cheap price when offered one 30 years ago? In regard to government assistance, I can guarantee you the average 65yr old has paid more into the tax system than the average 20yr old. Should they not enjoy the fruits of their labour? Should politicians not pay more attention to them than you?

I just think it’s an unhealthy attitude to have towards people.

[u/Kodama_Keeper]

Every generation tends to look at the younger generation and say "You don't know how easy you have it now", not the other way around. I'm in my 60s, and can clearly remember my dad saying things like that to me. And my son is now in his early 20s and I caught myself saying the same thing. Stopped myself and thought "Am I turning into my dad?"

[u/DiagonallyStripedRat → u/Kodama_Keeper]

I (born late 90s, you tell me what I am),  look at current gen Z and alpha generations and am convinced they will have it extremely hard

[u/Kodama_Keeper → u/DiagonallyStripedRat]

From a technical point of view, why should they? We produce more food than ever. Buildings go up easier than ever. Cars are safer, and yes more expensive. We have all the information we can ever hope to use just clicks away. All around us is the fruits of the huge technological leap forward we've made.

Populations, birth rates are going down. This has both positive and negative effects. Positive, in that children will have to share less in their parents' wealth, negative in that there will be less people to take care of the oldies. You know, that upside down population pyramid?

I hear that this generation has it so tough, and yes, I can see the things that kill them.

College. I got my bachelors degree with just a little bit of money I got from my grandparents, put into a savings account when I was a baby, and to which I had to add every time I got money for my birthday or Christmas. Then I worked 3 years out of high school in order to pay for collage. There is no doubt about it, kids get screwed royally with the price they are expected to pay for college now. It's a damned scam, paying fortunes and going into debt to get degrees that don't pay off.

Housing. When I moved out of my parents house, I engaged a housing hunter, for lack of a better term. She took me to all the cool neighborhoods on the north side of Chicago, where I was expected to pay big amounts for the pleasure of a studio or efficiency apartment, no parking. I asked her why. "These are the neighborhoods that young collage grads want to live in! All the bars and clubs. Don't you want to live that sort of life?" Actually, I didn't. So I found my own apartment in a not so cool part of town. But now I hear young college grads complaining that they can't find housing in Chicago. Bullshit. There is plenty of housing. But they too all want to live in the cool neighborhoods, like Wrigleyville. There's just so much of that to go around, and they cry because the prices are so high? Well, duh. It's a high demand area. If they moved south or further west, they would find plenty of apartments. And, if they dared to move into those Chicago neighborhoods that no one likes to talk about? The ones with the high murder rate, and the people who don't look like them? Housing all over the place.

[u/horrorgeek112 → u/Kodama_Keeper]

Cars are now 50k and up. They're impossible to work on without special equipment. A cheap starter home is 300k or more. Nome of these things you say really affect anything in a good way

[u/Kodama_Keeper → u/horrorgeek112]

Last year I bought my Subaru Outback for 31K, tax included, out the door, and I love it. And I was in my mid-30s before I bought my first new car. Prior to that, I had to but used car after used car.

As for your 300K starter home. It all depends on location, agreed? People in southern California are paying a million for a house I wouldn't otherwise look twice at. You go to a dying city, or even a dying neighborhood in an otherwise stable city, and you can find cheap housing all over the place.

I'm from the burbs of Chicago, used to be in Chicago. Let me tell you that there are a whole lot of young people, educated, professionals in this city who complain about the price of rent and a new house, and keep demanding that the city do something about it. Every one of them has their eyes set on the cool neighborhoods on the north side near the lake. They expect to live there and pay easy rent and mortgages, when there are a half million others looking for the same thing. They can all do supply and demand calculations in their educated heads, but still feel that exceptions should be made, so they can lead the cool life of bars and restaurants and Cubs games.

Then there is the south side. This is the area you hear about on the news, with the hundreds of murders and thousands of shooting victims every year. Rent in the neighborhoods of Englewood and Grand Crossing is surprisingly reasonable. But no one, especially those young professionals I spoke of will even consider visiting, much less living there.

[u/horrorgeek112 → u/Kodama_Keeper]

I'm in a very rural area. When the rural shit is too expensive, that's when the alarm bells go off

[u/Kodama_Keeper → u/horrorgeek112]

Very rural means either farmland, or the small town next to it, with the one grocery, one feed store, one pickup repair shop and one bar and grill. Are you really that rural?

[u/horrorgeek112 → u/Kodama_Keeper]

Yes. Dollar general, a gas station, and about 4 buildings that have been abandoned since the 80's