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The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z

ineteconomics.org

21–30 of 73 posts

Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If you're not growing, your dollar is losing value and competitors are poised to be eating your lunch.

Software is the best place to see this. Develop something niche and profitable. Without growth, you're just a feature and you will be ripped off by another party or a bigger player. Slack, Clubhouse, any Mac/iOS feature, etc. etc. Hundreds of examples here.

There's also the broader economic theory. If you can only invest time and money in one place, then you have opportunity costs and need to weigh the future outcomes of your investment choices. Life is finite, and you should use it in the best way you know how. For most people, money correlates strongly with value creation and reward. The amount of revenue you drive is also indicative of the broader value you've materialized for other people.

Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z

#22

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.

Yes, I seriously expect to collect it.

Keep in mind aging millenials will be a pretty enormous voting block and, given birth rates, we won't have the same large younger generation to balance us that we were to the Baby Boomers.

Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z

#23
post #6

Well young people, go out and vote. If most gen Y/Z voted they would outvote te older people and maybe they can change things.

Despite young people voting for the least worst liar, somehow only the older wealth hoarders can afford to campaign for public office. Mystery of mysteries!

Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z

#24
post #6

Well young people, go out and vote. If most gen Y/Z voted they would outvote te older people and maybe they can change things.

https://circle.tufts.edu/2022-election-center But they did…

27% youth turnout in 2022. It's the second highest in the past 3 decades for a midterm. But midterm turnout overall is usually ~40%

It's still extremely low despite breaking records.

Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z

#26

It'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.

could this result from the planet not having changed size, but the number of humans being doubled (or whatever)?

Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z

#28

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.

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.

That's really the that for people who will be collecting in 8-10 years. For the under 40 crowd, they don't need it for 25 years and who knows how the demographics will play out then.

Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z

#29

It 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

That’s not the contract though. I and many others here have been paying in for years with the expectation that I can withdraw at 65.

Honestly we should allow people to opt out entirely if they can demonstrate that they are adequately funding their own retirement/disability on their own plan.

Social Security as it exists now is a Ponzi scheme.

Re: The Grinch Stealing the Future of Gen Y and Z

#30

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.

User jeffbee sums it up better than I do in a sibling comment, but yeah, I've been hearing that since I was at least as young as you are or younger. My conclusion, just as sibling comment, is that it's FUD. No politician would come right out and say that the next generation to retire won't get Social Security; they might as well go buy the tar and a bag of feathers themselves. But they're happy to have someone question the viability of the system. Don't fall for it, as your question would have been a letter-to-the-editor in a newspaper 50 years ago, and here we are still cutting SS checks.
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