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

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201–210 of 449 posts

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

#201
>``Instead, travel and seeing the world was at the top of the list (57%) of aspirations,'' the report said. > >Only 52% of the Millennials surveyed responded that earning a high salary was a top priority while 56% of their Gen Z peers did so.

57% is the top of the list but only 56% of Gen Z want a high salary? Hmm...

Aside form nitpicks, the figure showing difference between China,India, and the West is stark. Evidence culture and social media and whatever are not the determining factor, economic growth is.

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

#202

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…

> 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…

The world is building and deploying solar panels at break-neck speeds. Electric cars and other pollution reduction measures are coming online.

I'm well aware of the risks from existing coal burning plants, new plants being built in China/India/etc, shipping, feedback loops with stored CO2 in the ocean, all of it.

It's nice to imagine that the world can turn on a dime, but it can't. The global "situation" is going to get worse before it gets better, but the proverbial ball is rolling in the right direction.

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

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're not accounting for the higher interest rates of the 1980s. Which home would you prefer to buy: $150,000 at 15% over 30 years. $350,000 at 4% over 30 years. Hint : they both have approximately the same total loan cost and payment. You can do this calculation with your parents. My home cost $350k at 3.8%. My parents bought my childhood home for $88k at 8%. Adjust my parents' home price for inflation and run the…

The hitch in this whole thing is that down payments have gotten ridiculous, it's gotten harder to save in desirable areas because rents and many expenses have grown out of pace with income for normal folks. Even as the percentage necessary for down payments has dropped, house prices have gone into orbit so much that it hasn't kept parity. My girlfriend and I had to buy a house for $520k, at 5% down, just for the priv…

Where do you live, the Bay area? At what point do you say that enough is enough, and you move to a location that even though you'll earn less, the COL adjustment will more than make up for it?

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

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am also a millennial. The work ethic problem seems to actually exist (from my limited but numerous experiences, including my own), however I am convinced that it is due to learned helplessness. Just imagine hearing your entire life that the world is just about to end any minute now, the icebergs are melting, everything is polluted, everything is so very bad, financial depression, no jobs for you, etc etc. Seems lik…

The phrase "work ethic" pisses me off because it codes this idea that I should be a hard worker , which of course (because we live in the world we live in) refers to me busting my ass for somebody else's benefit. Anyone who wants to criticize my work ethic can go and fuck themselves. I work incredibly hard, but at my job ^[1] I do as little work as I can get away with (while retaining the standing I need to be comfor…

> I work incredibly hard, but at my job^[1] I do as little work as I can get away with (while retaining the standing I need to be comfortable) because they pay me as little as they can get away with. I don't see the problem.

A lot of people will see that as laziness, but businesses do that kind of cost-benefit adjustment all the time. If a business keeps paying a person who is working less, that's on them, not the employee.

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

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, that point of OP's post was pedantically incorrect ... but I think the overarching point they were trying to make is that the republicans haven't had a candidate elected by the popular vote since 1989 when GHWB was elected. Since then, both elections in which a republican president won the office, was while losing the popular vote ... that's THIRTY YEARS since the last true win. Looked at from that perspective,…

George W Bush won the popular vote in 2004 though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_United_States_presidentia...

yes ... but I'll be honest, that was extenuating circumstances. Never would have happened were it not for 9/11, so I consider that a black swan event

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

#206

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.

It’s really hard to take that seriously. If social media is causing you heartburn then back away from it or delete your accounts. I deleted my Facebook account nearly a decade ago and deleted my Reddit account last year. Nobody is forcing you to be a drug addict slave of online media. Some of your list looks like entitled anxiety desperately in search of sympathy. For example you mention rising sea levels. Do you own…

I find it sad that things like rising sea levels and mass extinction do not worry you. Should someone only care about things that affect their own personal life? Rising sea levels are going to affect a large amount of people negatively, and mass extinction means we are losing a lot of biodiversity that we needn't be. Your viewpoint seems to lack empathy for other people and other species.

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

#208

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…

That's exactly how it was intended. This is a democratic republic. Both sides knew the rules of the 2016 election. Hillary knew the goal was the electoral college but she failed to campaign in the battleground mid west states. This is like complaining that the soccer team with the most possession or shots on target still lost the game.

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

#209

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 beatings will continue until moral improves.

And until morale improves, as well!

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

#210
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not the OP, and they may be overstating statistics (happy to be shown otherwise). At the same time, wage stagnation is no myth: "From 1973 to 2013, hourly compensation of a typical (production/nonsupervisory) worker rose just 9 percent while productivity increased 74 percent. This breakdown of pay growth has been especially evident in the last decade, affecting both college- and non-college-educated workers as we…

The really weird thing about wage stagnation is that there are millions of jobs going unfilled, companies are so desperate for people that they can't find anyone and are just dumping cash into stock buybacks instead of raising wages. Something is fundamentally broken in the labor market, it is not responding to supply & demand forces as it has in the past. I am not sure what terminology to use to describe what's goin…

IIRC Wages have been growing (modestly). [0]

[0]https://www.vox.com/2019/5/3/18528010/april-2019-jobs-report... (I know this isn't the best one, but I can't find the Reuters one that also states similarly)

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