What I don't understand is why people don't band together and simply refuse, collectively, to pay bills that are well known in the culture to be unreasonable. In particular, student loans. But also a few other things. My god, I know so many people who are struggling that it seems like everyone is struggling. I know people making six figures who are worried about losing their homes. In fact, I've known so many people who have either lost their home, almost lost their home, or are worried about losing their home that it makes up probably a majority of the people I know. Did we forget somewhere along the line that a home is just a patch of dirt with four walls and roof thrown on it? Should it really be that precarious of a thing? How many people do you think go to bed every night worrying about becoming a homeless person? We've turned into a culture that literally has a market that gambles on whether or not people will be able to keep their homes! For christ sake! What kind of sick shit is that? And the whole thing is predicated on people accepting the idea that they have to pay all their unreasonable bills and stressing themselves out willingly over the process of paying them. At what point do people throw their hands up and say "fuck it, this is unreasonable"?
When bills pile up, young people turn to strangers on Venmo
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Re: When bills pile up, young people turn to strangers on Venmo
#42"millennial culture is just passing around the same $20 to whoever needs it at the time forever." I see this a lot on my Twitter feed. Recently, a guy with metabolic issues and chronic pain (whose own GoFundMe was "trending" for a while) is setting up a charity livestream for someone else's surgery. https://twitter.com/docsquiddy/status/1148022827917938695
I don't think there's such a thing as "millennial culture."
I'm curious how you'd try to defend this statement given the denouncements.
Re: When bills pile up, young people turn to strangers on Venmo
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's what Social Security / safety net / charity is -- sharing with people in need.
No? SS is literally a forced pay-in retirement account.
It can also include free or mostly free healthcare, food stamps, as well as various forms of financial help for those in need, such as scholarships or family allocations, as well as those facing extraordinary circumstances (edit: see other comment on disability, etc)
I don't where you're from, but it wildly varies from one country to another.
Re: When bills pile up, young people turn to strangers on Venmo
#44What I don't understand is why people don't band together and simply refuse, collectively, to pay bills that are well known in the culture to be unreasonable. In particular, student loans. But also a few other things. My god, I know so many people who are struggling that it seems like everyone is struggling. I know people making six figures who are worried about losing their homes. In fact, I've known so many people…
Government will simply garnish your wages to pay for your student loan, there's simply no escaping it.
Re: When bills pile up, young people turn to strangers on Venmo
#45This is pretty common among the coming-of-age generation that has grown up on the Web. It's more likely to be tried in communities organized around shared attribute, circumstance, or interest, than just shouting into the ether. Typically, these are posted on sites where the person has followers in a similar situation, and are shared on that platform until it slowly propagates outward. Many people who share the same a…
Waiting for help to find you probably isn't much of a plan, and you won't know if you'll get help unless you ask for it. Finding help is hard, as is swallowing your pride when the help that is offered isn't exactly what you were hoping for.
Re: When bills pile up, young people turn to strangers on Venmo
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
These issues aren't solved with "social welfare and safety nets", that's just throwing good money after bad. I'm totally fine with a kick-ass safety net for people who are actually in poverty , aka have trouble funding their basic needs despite very serious, sometimes strenuous efforts. But someone who is advertising their Venmo ID online is almost certainly not poor in this legitimate sense. Spending more money than…
Social media costs $0. Venmo costs $0. Internet access costs under $50/month, and is one of the most valuable purchases anyone can make in modern society.
I'm not sure about other states but in California, there is the LifeLine program[1] to provide free cell phones to those in need.
Re: When bills pile up, young people turn to strangers on Venmo
#47What I don't understand is why people don't band together and simply refuse, collectively, to pay bills that are well known in the culture to be unreasonable. In particular, student loans. But also a few other things. My god, I know so many people who are struggling that it seems like everyone is struggling. I know people making six figures who are worried about losing their homes. In fact, I've known so many people…
> In particular, student loans
Only if we're also collectively telling people not to take them in the first place. The current culture telling everyone to go to expensive private colleges, then bitching that they're burdened with loans and not pay them, is pretty toxic.
Its should be a multi step thing. - Tell people how bad student loans are and how they shouldn't take them if they don't have a plan to pay them back.
- Educate people on alternative, like trade schools, apprenticeships, etc. Stop glorifying bachelor degrees beyond what they are (that should and often happens even in countries where education is paid by the gov!)
- Then, yeah, start doing something to reduce debt burden on those who were affected before the previous two steps were in place.
Otherwise, if we keep pushing for school loans but then tell people not to pay them, or forgive them, it's basically free education (a good thing) without actually collectively agreeing on making education free (which is kind of sketchy)
Re: When bills pile up, young people turn to strangers on Venmo
#48Re: When bills pile up, young people turn to strangers on Venmo
#49What I don't understand is why people don't band together and simply refuse, collectively, to pay bills that are well known in the culture to be unreasonable. In particular, student loans. But also a few other things. My god, I know so many people who are struggling that it seems like everyone is struggling. I know people making six figures who are worried about losing their homes. In fact, I've known so many people…
> In particular, student loans Only if we're also collectively telling people not to take them in the first place. The current culture telling everyone to go to expensive private colleges, then bitching that they're burdened with loans and not pay them, is pretty toxic. Its should be a multi step thing. - Tell people how bad student loans are and how they shouldn't take them if they don't have a plan to pay them back…
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Re: When bills pile up, young people turn to strangers on Venmo
#50What I don't understand is why people don't band together and simply refuse, collectively, to pay bills that are well known in the culture to be unreasonable. In particular, student loans. But also a few other things. My god, I know so many people who are struggling that it seems like everyone is struggling. I know people making six figures who are worried about losing their homes. In fact, I've known so many people…
Immediately before other people stop giving them money they don't pay back.
I think what you don't understand is how math works.