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We've seen our parents put half their house's furniture on a credit card and lose their 20+yr jobs 3 years before retirement from a downsize. Tech jobs went thr

by taurath 10y ago

We've seen our parents put half their house's furniture on a credit card and lose their 20+yr jobs 3 years before retirement from a downsize. Tech jobs went through a huge crash once already, and with tech now so firmly entrenched into the economy a general economical recession precipitates a tech collapse (where's the ad money coming from if nobody has a job). If you were born in '85, you've come of age during the first tech collapse, and then 9/11, and then the 2007 great recession. Its burned into me to expect the economy to take a big hit every 6-8 years. So, maybe, even if you're making 100k a year, you probably are thinking that buying that 2/1 lowest on the market starter home for $500k is a recipe for disaster. But if you'd gotten in 15 years ago, you'd see 300% returns like your parents have on that house.

jackcosgrove 10y ago
> Its burned into me to expect the economy to take a big hit every 6-8 years. Good, because that's how it usually is. The 80s and 90s were remarkable for their economic growth and lack of recessions. The business cycle is about 6-8 years. Our parents had to get mortgages when interest rates were 17%. Our grandparents grew up during the great depression, and worked when marginal tax rates were north of 50%. Every generation has something to contend with.
- taurath 10y ago
  No worries, we'll deal with it. A simple admission that there ARE hard problems that millennials have to face is all I generally ask for when people call us lazy, entitled and stupid. Its been very difficult to find economics of just living that make sense even during this current boom period. Its gonna suck REALLY hard when a bust happens, and you can bet a lot of existing institutions are gonna have to change.
- ianai 10y ago
  It's funny how you throw that number out, 6-8 years. There is no natural assurance within the economy that the bad times will end. The lows do not have to bottom out. That was the lesson of 1929.
  - burfog 10y ago
    No, the lesson is to not block recovery via laws passed to satisfy the political need to "do something, anything!". See "Economics: Public and Private Choice" by Gwartney, Stroup, Sobel, MacPherson. The part you want is "Lessons from the Great Depression", which is Special Topic #6 in the 14th edition. It's pretty damning. We responded by restricting trade, creating cartels, destroying food, and so many other self-destructive things.

by taurath 10y ago

jackcosgrove 10y ago

> Its burned into me to expect the economy to take a big hit every 6-8 years. Good, because that's how it usually is. The 80s and 90s were remarkable for their economic growth and lack of recessions. The business cycle is about 6-8 years. Our parents had to get mortgages when interest rates were 17%. Our grandparents grew up during the great depression, and worked when marginal tax rates were north of 50%. Every generation has something to contend with.

taurath 10y ago
No worries, we'll deal with it. A simple admission that there ARE hard problems that millennials have to face is all I generally ask for when people call us lazy, entitled and stupid. Its been very difficult to find economics of just living that make sense even during this current boom period. Its gonna suck REALLY hard when a bust happens, and you can bet a lot of existing institutions are gonna have to change.
ianai 10y ago
It's funny how you throw that number out, 6-8 years. There is no natural assurance within the economy that the bad times will end. The lows do not have to bottom out. That was the lesson of 1929.
- burfog 10y ago
  No, the lesson is to not block recovery via laws passed to satisfy the political need to "do something, anything!". See "Economics: Public and Private Choice" by Gwartney, Stroup, Sobel, MacPherson. The part you want is "Lessons from the Great Depression", which is Special Topic #6 in the 14th edition. It's pretty damning. We responded by restricting trade, creating cartels, destroying food, and so many other self-destructive things.