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Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

bloomberg.com

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Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#131

Post by oblio »

AsyncAwait wrote: post #118
iagooar wrote: post #6

It's funny how this "generation" thing only quite exists (as far as I know) in the English-speaking world. There is no such idea of generations of people where I come from. It's hard for me to even grasp the idea of it. Who draws a line between generations and why? People do not stop being born, nor do they magically change because they supposedly belong to an imaginary generation. Am I missing something?

> It's funny how this "generation" thing only quite exists (as far as I know) in the English-speaking world. Not really, am from a Slavic country and we definitely speak of generations as well.

That's a bit different though. Most Slavic countries were part of the Eastern Bloc. Hard to have a bigger generation gap than the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#132

Post by humanrebar »

Waterluvian wrote: post #123

This is a very complex subject and I'm not trying to reduce it to something simple. But a big smell to me that something's just plain messed up is this fact: I make more money (inflation adjusted) than my parents did combined when they bought the house I grew up in. I would have to double my salary to afford buying/maintaining that house today.

Isn't that an argument that the inflation adjustment isn't suitable for this comparison?

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#133

Post by InitialLastName »

SaltyBackendGuy wrote: post #5
burlesona wrote: post #2

From the article: “What’s old is new again. The paper observes that some of the millennials’ parents were subject to similar baseless grumbles of "kids these days" from their elders.” I don’t know though. Seems like part of the nastiness of the times is the baby boomers constantly taking jabs at millennials. Perhaps the silent generation complained the boomers weren’t “frugal enough” but I have a hard time believing…

> I have a hard time believing they had such widespread disdain for their kids as the boomers do It's always interesting when I hear boomers complain about millennials. Didn't they have an influence on raising the same generation they complain about?

If you pay attention you'll note that it's always other peoples' kids who are the problem.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#134

Post by dvtrn »

will_brown wrote: post #126

Baby Boomers are directly responsible for all the debt in the country, they invented it to pay for their lavish life styles they couldn’t afford and so they invented debt to kick the can down the road to future generations, and payment has come due. 1950 federal debt was ~$250B now $21T. Credit cards didn’t exist before baby boomers now $19T in consumer debt. Student loans didn’t exist before the boomers, now it’s mo…

As it turns out all this bullshit about millennials not wanting to get married, or own houses, or own a car is manufactured news

Well yes, that is after all a central point made by the article:

“We find little evidence that millennial households have tastes and preference for consumption that are lower than those of earlier generations, once the effects of age, income, and a wide range of demographic characteristics are taken into account,” wrote authors Christopher Kurz, Geng Li and Daniel J. Vine.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#135

Post by marviel »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #129
will_brown wrote: post #126

Baby Boomers are directly responsible for all the debt in the country, they invented it to pay for their lavish life styles they couldn’t afford and so they invented debt to kick the can down the road to future generations, and payment has come due. 1950 federal debt was ~$250B now $21T. Credit cards didn’t exist before baby boomers now $19T in consumer debt. Student loans didn’t exist before the boomers, now it’s mo…

I agree with most of this except the part about inventing debt; come on now, debt has existed as a concept far back into human history. EDIT: Yes all, I understand credit is now more easily available than ever, and I would argue that ease of credit is a substantial problem allowing for the transfer of responsibility to future generations. @infogulch: I agree with everything you said, but that is not what OP said, and…

Last evening while we were out to beers, a friend recommended me a book apparently reviewing precisely this history: https://www.amazon.com/Debt-First-5-000-Years/dp/1612191290

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#136

Post by burlesona »

Waterluvian wrote: post #123

This is a very complex subject and I'm not trying to reduce it to something simple. But a big smell to me that something's just plain messed up is this fact: I make more money (inflation adjusted) than my parents did combined when they bought the house I grew up in. I would have to double my salary to afford buying/maintaining that house today.

Exactly. And thats largely because the boomers pulled up the ladder behind them via zoning rules to greatly restrict redevelopment and density of new development, thus denying adequate housing supply to their kids.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#137

Post by cafard »

iagooar wrote: post #6

It's funny how this "generation" thing only quite exists (as far as I know) in the English-speaking world. There is no such idea of generations of people where I come from. It's hard for me to even grasp the idea of it. Who draws a line between generations and why? People do not stop being born, nor do they magically change because they supposedly belong to an imaginary generation. Am I missing something?

America does have a notable weakness for pop demography. However termed, though, I do think the phenomenon has been seen elsewhere. Google for "Young Ireland" or "Young Italy"--those go back a long way, even if the expression "generation" wasn't used in them.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#138

Post by maxxxxx »

humanrebar wrote: post #128
maxxxxx wrote: post #107

I think the big problem is that there are less stable paths now. Previous generations had a clear path to getting a house, affordable education and stable retirement whereas now you have to take on a lot of debt, gamble in the stock market and have to have some level of luck to retire safely. Any major health expense or company layoff may destroy your well laid-out plans and put you back to zero. I think today's life…

Arguably, Boomer style retirement based on being independently wealthy was/is a fleeting historical oddity. Historically people died young or moved in with family.

"Boomer style retirement based on being independently wealthy was/is a fleeting historical oddity."

It was an illusion that never really materialized for most people.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#139

Post by rellui »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #129
will_brown wrote: post #126

Baby Boomers are directly responsible for all the debt in the country, they invented it to pay for their lavish life styles they couldn’t afford and so they invented debt to kick the can down the road to future generations, and payment has come due. 1950 federal debt was ~$250B now $21T. Credit cards didn’t exist before baby boomers now $19T in consumer debt. Student loans didn’t exist before the boomers, now it’s mo…

I agree with most of this except the part about inventing debt; come on now, debt has existed as a concept far back into human history. EDIT: Yes all, I understand credit is now more easily available than ever, and I would argue that ease of credit is a substantial problem allowing for the transfer of responsibility to future generations. @infogulch: I agree with everything you said, but that is not what OP said, and…

Yes it has existed before but never so readily available. I believe credit card was first introduced in 1950's and modern mortgages in 1930's.

Re: Fed Says Millennials Are Just Like Their Parents, Only Poorer

#140

Post by icebraining »

gerbilly wrote: post #15
iagooar wrote: post #6

It's funny how this "generation" thing only quite exists (as far as I know) in the English-speaking world. There is no such idea of generations of people where I come from. It's hard for me to even grasp the idea of it. Who draws a line between generations and why? People do not stop being born, nor do they magically change because they supposedly belong to an imaginary generation. Am I missing something?

> Who draws a line between generations and why? Market research organizations I think. They segment people into generations (and smaller subcategories) in order to better understand how to sell them products and services. They are marketing buckets. The corporate mindset is so pervasive in north america, that we take on their concepts and discuss them even outside of their area of application. This is why we talk abo…

Movie reviews compare movies on their artistic and cultural merits, and they are quite pervasive. When I search for a movie, for example, the rating is the first thing that appears, along with a bunch of review sites. The box office is almost invisible.
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