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The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

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Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#91

Post by bigmanwalter »

cellularmitosis wrote: post #76
yaway wrote: post #7

there are too many digressions and obscure inside-references in this essay, but this cuts to the heart of the matter: "[Premium mediocre] is an economic and cultural rearguard action by young people launched into life from the old middle class, but not quite equipped to stay there, and trying to engineer a face-saving soft landing…somewhere." i'm 24 and while i can see the humor and hyperbole in this article, its als…

should just shut up and get mine. Shutting up and getting yours isn't at odds with doing things the "right" way, if you allow for a decade or two of phase shift. When you are on an airplane, you put on your oxygen mask first, then you assist others. For about a decade, I despised Bill Gates. Fast forward to today, and he now gives away far, far more money to social causes than I will ever earn in my entire life.

Maybe you would earn more and have the opportunity to donate more yourself if he hadn't monopolized the market. We can't know for sure but it's not obvious to me that he's such a Messiah.

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#92

Post by jdietrich »

robotresearcher wrote: post #69
_mhyx wrote: post #11

This is kind of meandering, and it loses the thread a bit in the end (it feels like he's getting to a point he's uncomfortable with ideologically), but it's extremely accurate. The bigger point about creating the future - that he seems to miss - is that it's a future _not everyone wants_, which drives a huge part of the "maga/bernie" divide he discusses. He is right though - the rate of downward mobility among my you…

The US employment rate is so high that the risk of being long-term unemployed is pretty low, outside some special groups and places (e.g. coal miners, coal towns). Interest rates are also historically low. Thus the effective discount rate on money is super low. It's a good time to take a European vacation, particularly when you are young and child free. It's gonna cost a lot more later, and you might be less secure,…

The unemployment figures are mostly a fiction. The true rate of joblessness has been concealed by the huge increase in SSDI claimants, discouraged workers, people in involuntary self-employment and underemployed workers in part-time or casual jobs. There's a vast disparity between the number of people who officially count as unemployed and the number of people who want a full-time job but can't get one.

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#95

Post by 90s-socal-kid »

mfoy_ wrote: post #9
dforrestwilson wrote: post #2

I feel like I've seen all of these strata. My timeline goes like this: 1) Worked at a defense tech startup, learned some code, told the AI what to do. 2) Got MBA, worked at big Wall Street bank with millionaire boss. Met some management teams at massive companies, discovered they were just ordinary people for the most part. Completely disregarded AI/tech because we were Too Big to Fail. 3) For the kiddos, I gave up h…

I've never understood the instagram / facebook game that people seem to dedicate inordinate amounts of effort to... I mean, I guess it's just your typical one-upsmanship in a social network... but still. People try so hard to make it look like their lives are better than everyone else's... I don't understand. :(

Some people make decent money on IG, doing things they enjoy (their kids, exercise, etc.)

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#96

Post by lovich »

notyourwork wrote: post #66
arkh wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fucking over the previous generation: instead of taking care of your parents once they're old just put them in a "old people ready to die" home. Fucking over the next generation: up the requirements for jobs (education and experience) so it is harder for them to find one. Concentrate jobs in some huge cities and refuse new constructions so the rent can go up way more than salaries. In most countries setup a Ponzi sch…

> instead of taking care of your parents once they're old just put them in a "old people ready to die" home. I don't want to sound ignorant but do we have any stats to back this up. Also, do we have an answer to how many of the boomer's parents didn't save enough to support themselves? I don't disagree but I also don't agree with this. In my family, my Dad's parents saved and diligently prepared for their later years…

>So now I ask myself, am I expected to care for my parents in their later years?

It's anecdata but a common topic/worry among several of my unconnected social circles is at what point do you have to cut your parents off and let them live in abject poverty. It's not everyone but there's a common theme of Boomer parents expecting to live the exact same lifestyle even when they can no longer work and have saved nothing. Everyone wants to take care of their parents but there is a worry that they will be sacrificing their own and their children's lives/happiness for people who refuse to accept that they are no longer making the same amount of money

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#97

Post by chewz »

rayiner wrote: post #3

This is a very long article about something that has been known for a very long time: middle class existential angst.

I would rather say that it is more like disenfranchisement of middle and small landowners in the late XIX century in Europe.

Land lost it's store of wealth status, governments aimed at land reforms and wealth creation shifted to areas like railways and textile industry. The land-owning class had been reduced to 'poverty' within generation.

Lots of XIX century literature is around the subject of people getting 'reduced to poverty' but desperately trying to keep appearances.

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#98

Post by jameskegel »

eropple wrote: post #32
jameskegel wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel this change- every time I get a raise, every time I make a $500 purchase on a whim, these are the things that my inner-teenager rages about, but why experience success if I can't enjoy it? When I was younger, I didn't understand the ways of the people above me because I didn't have the discipline to obtain the means that would allow me to make those choices. In essence, "you hate it because you ain't it".

You hate it because you ain't it and have been conspired against by the entirety of society to never, ever, ever be it . That's what you are eliding, and it should be out in the open. You got lucky . So did I. You may have worked hard for it. I certainly didn't. Hard work increases luck; it does not substitute for it. It's a crapshoot, and the folks referred to in that article know it. Why not just shrug and go along…

I think you applied some type of subconscious bias to my statement, and in the process misunderstood it. It took a lot of hard work for most things in my life, like most people.

Nobody has conspired against me, but interesting you say that because I've met many like yourself who conspire against themselves, unwilling to realize their true potential because of an imaginary bogie-man. I view that habit as apathy, and so long as everyone else is idled and unwilling to try, I will continue to be relatively successful just doing my best, over and over until I stop.

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#100

Post by 567arlo »

coldtea wrote: post #88
567arlo wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"and even if you do go the experience won't be the same." Off topic, but say someone is a late-20s/early-30s guy who for financial reasons wasn't able to do the "backpacking Europe/Australia/NZ/whatever" thing, how does the experience significantly change throughout the 30s/40s? I know a few people who still do this. "maybe even poor people should have some fun and the push to save is part of a massive collective del…

> Off topic, but say someone is a late-20s/early-30s guy who for financial reasons wasn't able to do the "backpacking Europe/Australia/NZ/whatever" thing, how does the experience significantly change throughout the 30s/40s? I know a few people who still do this. Well, not the same wonder / starry eyed optimism for everything you see, not as easily content on sleeping in any kind of accommodation (not many 30s/40s wil…

Not qualitatively or remarkably different than 20s though, in the 30s, as Carl indicated. After all the decade distinction is arbitrarily chunked off, whereas actual change in these attributes is linear/gradual. In addition I've seen many cases where each of these experiences improve over time, e.g. someone in their 50s/60s being finally exposed to the wonder and reality of other cultures, whereas in 20s, it may not stand out as much compared to other youth/20s experiences.
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