Does anyone under 40 right now seriously expect to be able to collect social security at retirement age? It just seems like a cruel joke at this point.
The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z
11–20 of 73 posts
Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z
#12It's crazy how we make 10x more money for our companies than our grandparents or parents did but are unable to afford basic lives (wife, house, kids). My dad did it delivering pepsi products.
You probably could too if you accepted the living standards of the 1960s and lived in a low cost of living area. I know people that happily make some version of that tradeoff, though I wouldn't personally.
"Living standards" is such a weaselly term here. Yeah maybe you can afford a dishwasher and a car and nice clothes, but what about when you step outside your door? Being in a city with interesting things to do is an intangible good that many people like, compared to being in a smaller town with fewer amenities (nevermind well-paid jobs). It used to be affordable, now it's expensive. That's a regression no matter how you slice it.
Most of the wage growth in big cities goes straight into landlords' pockets. It's no way to run a civilization.
And at any rate, you can't even live the 60s life if you wanted to. It's either impossible or illegal.
Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z
#13It's crazy how we make 10x more money for our companies than our grandparents or parents did but are unable to afford basic lives (wife, house, kids). My dad did it delivering pepsi products.
It all comes back to housing costs. A generation of Americans pushed restrictive zoning policy so they could inflate the price of their biggest asset.
Housing can either be a good investment or affordable, but not both.
Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z
#14It feels like social security should be split into two things: disability for workers pre-retirement, and a Trust fund for retired workers. They are using the first as a justification to plunder the second. If it was just a retirement trust fund it would be ludicrous for the government to handle it in the way they do.
The first should be prioritized much more than the second anyways.
There's no reason SS is age based and not means based
Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z
#15It's crazy how we make 10x more money for our companies than our grandparents or parents did but are unable to afford basic lives (wife, house, kids). My dad did it delivering pepsi products.
MBAs made profit growth more important than consistent profits. Witness how dividends used to be a sign of a dependable company but now they're for suckers. Everything else broken in the economy is a consequence of this philosophy.
If you're not gaining market share from competitors in existing markets, or developing new markets from scratch, then you are not 'winning' under western hyper capitalism.
Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
You probably could too if you accepted the living standards of the 1960s and lived in a low cost of living area. I know people that happily make some version of that tradeoff, though I wouldn't personally.
"Living standards" is such a weaselly term here. Yeah maybe you can afford a dishwasher and a car and nice clothes, but what about when you step outside your door? Being in a city with interesting things to do is an intangible good that many people like, compared to being in a smaller town with fewer amenities (nevermind well-paid jobs). It used to be affordable, now it's expensive. That's a regression no matter how…
I see where you're coming from, but talking to my father-in-law who grew up in Queens in the 60s and he remembers something quite different. The city was a dangerous mess and they never went to Manhattan, they essentially never left Astoria. They didn't take vacations, have A/C, his room was basically a walk in closet with a window, they ate awful food most fo the time, and went to a low cost catholic school. He has nothing romantic or nostalgic to say about it at all. My own parents at the same time were farmers, and I certainly wouldn't want to do what they had to do as children.
If you want to stuff 4 people into two bedrooms with no A/C and never take vacations you can do it today in most cities in the US for the wage you'd earn at 1 corporate job. It won't be comfortable, but that isn't new.
Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z
#17Does anyone under 40 right now seriously expect to be able to collect social security at retirement age? It just seems like a cruel joke at this point.
Learn more about social security. The worst case scenario is that you'd get roughly 74% of your promised benefit. If Congress intervenes, the outlook will improve. All the arguments are about how much of that shortfall to make up, and how to do it. Aside from some GOP outliers, the broad consensus is that it will continue to exist.
Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z
#18This reads like a partisan screed more than an informative piece of journalism.
Is the "Institute for New Economic Thinking" some sort of journalistic publication?
Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z
#19Does anyone under 40 right now seriously expect to be able to collect social security at retirement age? It just seems like a cruel joke at this point.
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Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z
#20Does anyone under 40 right now seriously expect to be able to collect social security at retirement age? It just seems like a cruel joke at this point.
That statement has been a meme for over 40 years, because it is planted as part of a campaign to sow doubt about Social Security and give cover to those who want to destroy it. The Heritage Foundation/Club For Growth playbook on killing Social Security consists of vaguely questioning the far future of the program, inflating the superficial problems by integrating the worst-case shortfalls over many decades, and systematically underestimating economic growth.