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Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

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Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#181

Post by CM30 »

izzydata wrote: post #7

I'm surprised that half of people would believe businesses are making a positive impact on the world.

If you look at society now compared to society a few hundred years ago, or perhaps society in an authoritarian/communist country, then it's pretty clear that the effects of a capitalist society (at least in a democractic system) have been on the positive side. After all, we've got better products and services available now than ever before, better tech than ever before and a decent number of ways to go from dirt poor to millionaire as well.

Is it perfect? Hell no. Is it good for everyone? Unfortunately not.

But pretty much everything you depend on comes from a business of some type or another.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#182

Post by atemerev »

AngryData wrote: post #78
atemerev wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you live in North Korea (and perhaps even there), everything that your life depends on is brought by businesses.

But benefiting me personally doesn't mean I would agree that it benefits or is a positive influence on the world. Coal power benefits me, but it is still negative on a larger scale.

If it is negative on a larger scale, it brings you negative consequences as well as benefits, and these consequences will influence demand. There is nothing magical about externalities; they are part of the market. Long-term consequences are routinely measured, priced and evaluated by markets.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#183

Post by antod »

jakeogh wrote: post #61
makerofspoons wrote: post #30

"Climate change, protecting the environment and natural disasters topped the list of most respondents on a personal level, but less than three in ten of both the Millennial and Gen Z cohorts cited it as a worry." This is surprising. As a Gen Z-er this highlights the kind of bubble I find myself in- my friend group is almost universally in a state of despair about the collapsing biosphere. Climate change and mass exti…

In elementary (late 80's) were constantly propagandized that the whales were going to be extinct, the ozone layer was going to be gone, and killer bees were going to get us all. Not a peep of optimism that we could solve problems. It was presented as inevitable. There are strong forces that need people to be in a constant state of worry. Power is derived from it.

Would those problems have been solvable if the general attitude was an optimistic view of "don't worry, someone will solve it"?

Humans tend not to solve difficult problems unless they are a crisis. Convincing them a problem is actually a crisis is usually the first step in solving it.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#184

Post by challenger22 »

bartcobain wrote: post #102
tathougies wrote: post #55

Millenial here, and I just don't understand why my generation is so pessimistic. Things are simply better than when we were children. Perhaps it's having immigrants for parents, but my life just seems great compared to my parents and my aunts and uncles.

LOL. Even this comment reflects part of the generation. Probably you are writing this from a first world country. The selfish gene makes people blind.

Third world countries have been improving economically at a rapid pace. Look up "the elephant curve" for more info.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#185

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

shemnon42 wrote: post #170
will_brown wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A standard 30 year mortgage requires 20% down...what’s the percent of households that can put down $70k to purchase a home?

Not many first time home buyers do a standard mortgage now. Typically 3-5% is all that is needed. That and the lowest home mortgages rates anyone alive has seen have contributed to the home price increase. It's not the total value of the house but the amount of the monthly payment that is the driver, and 3% (today) vs 13% (early 80s) mortgage rates provide a huge swing.

If the number of people that can afford to put down 20% has shrank significantly over time, won't the pool that can put 3-5% inevitably shrink as well? Will we return to 0-down homes? Where are down payments terminally headed?

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#186

Post by 40acres »

In my experience the economy (roughly 80%) and social ties (roughly 20%) seem to be the biggest factors. I work for a large tech company so a majority of the millennial I know are comparatively well off, but even among these folks there is constant pressure to rid themselves of massive student loans, many of my immigrant millennial friends feel trapped due to their visa status.

On the other hand, social ties among some millennial seems weaker than past generations -- a lot of us don't go to church, and spend way more time on social media than hanging out "in real life". For most people the negatives of social media vastly outweigh the positive.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#187

Post by graenxa »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #52
WhompingWindows wrote: post #9

Social media's ills, rising wealth and income inequality, rising sea levels, mass extinction event, crumbling roads, shit wages, corruption in government and industry, governments overwhelmingly filled with representatives of other generations with different priorities...there is a huge list of reasons to be pessimistic and they are constantly thrown in our faces online.

Constantly hitting records for economic highs. Lowest unemployment rate for blacks and Hispanics in the history of recorded unemployment rates. Rising wages. Just took a huge step in eradicating HIV in the US by securing free treatment for 200k poor people every year. Between the technological advances in solar/wind/batter, renewed interest in nuclear, and shrinking CO2 it seems climate change is well on its way to b…

> it seems climate change is well on its way to being solved

This is laughable untrue.

EMISSIONS may have peaked (I'm not certain that's the case long-term), there's still plenty of carbon in the atmosphere and continuing to be added. The effects of carbon emissions will continue to compound on themselves[0]. We are still well on our way to >2 degree global warming where island nations will be eaten up by the sea, we will struggle to produce food for the population. Much of earth will become unlivable[1].

The effects of carbon emissions on global climate are not linear. They're exponential. Once the changes start they are impossible to stop.

If you think we've got climate change figured out, I really encourage you to read into the subject a little more. It's incredibly serious. We have already started seeing the effects. It's not too late to do something about it, but sitting back and assuming someone else has it figured out it fantastically irresponsible right now.

[0] - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/20/science/earthworms-soil-c... [1] - http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-...

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#188

Post by badpun »

syn0byte wrote: post #15

A single mother working as a waitress at Denny's in the 1980's had more spending power than a college educated cubicle drone in 2019; Let's talk about how is social media's fault! Twice in the last 20 years - more than any other time in US history combined - The Presidential election went to the candidate that LOST the popular vote; These generations just lack a proper understanding of civics! The beatings will conti…

The argument about losing the popular vote is flawed. Gaining the majority’s support does not decide the result of the election, and hence the candidates’ campains just don’t hold it as a goal. It is not impossible that, if the rules were changed, Trump (for example) would still win, as his campain would now aim at gaining majority.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#189

Post by travisjungroth »

TremendousJudge wrote: post #86
crooked-v wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a cubicle drone is making twice as much money in adjusted terms but has to pay three or four times as much for housing, they could well be coming out behind in the equation.

One thing that I find amazing about Americans is that most of them don't understand inflation at all. It's uncommon to see any mainstream source talk about inflation-adjusted values when referring to past numbers. This becomes clear when for instance box office numbers become a conversation topic -- nobody really stops to consider how comparing films from 20 years ago with films of today is just really a measure of h…

The box office thing is a game, and the game isn’t fun when Gone With The Wind will never be defeated.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#190

Post by Consultant32452 »

masterj wrote: post #173
Consultant32452 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Constantly hitting records for economic highs. Lowest unemployment rate for blacks and Hispanics in the history of recorded unemployment rates. Rising wages. Just took a huge step in eradicating HIV in the US by securing free treatment for 200k poor people every year. Between the technological advances in solar/wind/batter, renewed interest in nuclear, and shrinking CO2 it seems climate change is well on its way to b…

> Between the technological advances in solar/wind/batter, renewed interest in nuclear, and shrinking CO2 it seems climate change is well on its way to being solved Do you realize that the most optimistic projections in climate change papers already assume massive improvements in these technologies? They also assume massive carbon extraction technologies working at global scale that don't exist yet. Even these optimi…

I saw some of the most recent projections for global GDP impacts due to climate change and it was a fraction of US GDP. That's unfortunate, but much better than I thought. We will make it.

US CO2 emissions peaked in around 2007. Per capita CO2 in the US is the lowest it's been in 50 years. We're behind the EU in CO2 reduction, but it is going down.

India and China are worrisome, but China is making solar panels as fast is it possibly can. Political priority of millennials was mentioned in this context too. I haven't seen it, is there wide-spread support among Millennials for the trade war with China or other aggressive measures which will move manufacturing to countries with better CO2 regulations?

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