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I'm surprised at how much flack this article is getting here on HN. Is it because we're all making those sweet 1% salaries in tech? All my non-tech/finance fri

I'm surprised at how much flack this article is getting here on HN. Is it because we're all making those sweet 1% salaries in tech? All my non-tech/finance friends are paying obscenely high rent, crippled with student debt, can't afford houses, can't afford cars, and three times as educated as their parents, but paid less than their parents were. In the case of unpaid internships (unavoidable for lots of industries, especially in the arts and media), many aren't being paid at all. I think there are some possible cultural reasons (our generation being, on a whole I think, a bit less materialistic and not as motivated to work hard, boring, financially-rewarding jobs [like accounting] and more likely to want those sexy art, media, and non-profit jobs.) But overall I think the Boomers have dealt a real bum hand to their children.

samatman 10y ago
I hope that, within my lifetime, "unpaid intern" sounds to the average ear the way "indentured servant" sounds today. It's a despicable racket.
- aries1980 10y ago
  …and it is illegal in most countries, including the US.
freshhawk 10y ago
> Is it because we're all making those sweet 1% salaries in tech? Probably. We all know wealth inequality has risen quite a bit as well, so that average of 20% less is not distributed evenly. So to those in places like the valley, where you have a statistically huge chance of making more than your parents did it probably seems wrong. If you have any contact with the rest of the world it is pretty obvious. And culturally, I think that's the impact of all that education. Their parents and grandparents lived in the culture that invented the "mid-life crisis" as a description of when you realized that your life choices were the result of being lied to about what makes for a good life. I wouldn't be surprised if the lessons of this finally sunk in. Helped along a whole lot by the lack of similar options due to boomer politics.
akaru 10y ago
Sure, but Millennial's parents are Boomers. So Millennials had the advantages, and still have, of this greater income, from childhood on.
Mikeb85 10y ago
> Is it because we're all making those sweet 1% salaries in tech? Probably. People need to realise it's not the normal state of affairs, nor will it last forever. Where I live, everyone was making 6 figure salaries out of school working for oil companies. Now unemployment is over 10%, and every single person my age who worked for an oil company was laid off, most are back to being bartenders and servers with no future in sight. Many are in tons of debt, a few on the verge of declaring bankruptcy now that they have a car/house/whatever they can't afford anymore. When you look at economies in the western world as a whole (take out a few boom towns), it's pretty dreary for our generation (I'm on the upper end of what's considered a 'millennial'). Globalism and automation have decimated entire industries, where jobs still exist wages are being driven downward, inequality is increasing, leaving the 'working class' to struggle. We'll survive, but the future won't look like the past, we'll have a lot less than our parents did (comparatively speaking). No single salary supporting an entire family with 2 vehicles and a single-family home. More like dual income, 0.5 vehicles and a tiny condo. It's not the apocalypse, but people need to start listening to economists, open their eyes, and boomers need to take responsibility for the shit-show they've created. Also, as an aside, every single left-wing party in the world right now needs to take a hard look at their policies. It's no longer good enough to be barely right of centre, and support a token progressive cause. Right-wingers want to fix the job situation by destroying globalism, putting up tariffs, and strong-arming companies into bringing jobs back. And you know what, it'll work. It's sound policy economically, in a game theory "fuck you, I've got mine" sort of way, though far from progressive and won't build a better world. If left-wingers ever want to realise their vision, it won't be by crying over straw-men (Russians, Nazi frogs, etc...), they need to become truly progressive economically. This means guaranteed income, an end to our lottery society. But right now, the left doesn't have answers (well, they do, but not the political willpower). The right does, and all across the western world nationalist governments are going to pop up. The writing's on the wall.
- MicroBerto 10y ago
  Given the energy policies our President is going to be taking, I'm willing to bet your friends in oil will be employed within two years. We'll see, but there's quite a bit of excitement with my chemical engineering friends.
_nalply 10y ago
It's because of survival bias. The people who are successful believe it's because of their hard work and don't attribute some parts of it to luck. So if someone complains because of missing luck they haul out know-it-all advice on how hard work must always lead to success.

samatman 10y ago

I hope that, within my lifetime, "unpaid intern" sounds to the average ear the way "indentured servant" sounds today. It's a despicable racket.

aries1980 10y ago
…and it is illegal in most countries, including the US.

freshhawk 10y ago

> Is it because we're all making those sweet 1% salaries in tech? Probably. We all know wealth inequality has risen quite a bit as well, so that average of 20% less is not distributed evenly. So to those in places like the valley, where you have a statistically huge chance of making more than your parents did it probably seems wrong. If you have any contact with the rest of the world it is pretty obvious. And culturally, I think that's the impact of all that education. Their parents and grandparents lived in the culture that invented the "mid-life crisis" as a description of when you realized that your life choices were the result of being lied to about what makes for a good life. I wouldn't be surprised if the lessons of this finally sunk in. Helped along a whole lot by the lack of similar options due to boomer politics.

akaru 10y ago

Sure, but Millennial's parents are Boomers. So Millennials had the advantages, and still have, of this greater income, from childhood on.

Mikeb85 10y ago

> Is it because we're all making those sweet 1% salaries in tech? Probably. People need to realise it's not the normal state of affairs, nor will it last forever. Where I live, everyone was making 6 figure salaries out of school working for oil companies. Now unemployment is over 10%, and every single person my age who worked for an oil company was laid off, most are back to being bartenders and servers with no future in sight. Many are in tons of debt, a few on the verge of declaring bankruptcy now that they have a car/house/whatever they can't afford anymore. When you look at economies in the western world as a whole (take out a few boom towns), it's pretty dreary for our generation (I'm on the upper end of what's considered a 'millennial'). Globalism and automation have decimated entire industries, where jobs still exist wages are being driven downward, inequality is increasing, leaving the 'working class' to struggle. We'll survive, but the future won't look like the past, we'll have a lot less than our parents did (comparatively speaking). No single salary supporting an entire family with 2 vehicles and a single-family home. More like dual income, 0.5 vehicles and a tiny condo. It's not the apocalypse, but people need to start listening to economists, open their eyes, and boomers need to take responsibility for the shit-show they've created. Also, as an aside, every single left-wing party in the world right now needs to take a hard look at their policies. It's no longer good enough to be barely right of centre, and support a token progressive cause. Right-wingers want to fix the job situation by destroying globalism, putting up tariffs, and strong-arming companies into bringing jobs back. And you know what, it'll work. It's sound policy economically, in a game theory "fuck you, I've got mine" sort of way, though far from progressive and won't build a better world. If left-wingers ever want to realise their vision, it won't be by crying over straw-men (Russians, Nazi frogs, etc...), they need to become truly progressive economically. This means guaranteed income, an end to our lottery society. But right now, the left doesn't have answers (well, they do, but not the political willpower). The right does, and all across the western world nationalist governments are going to pop up. The writing's on the wall.

MicroBerto 10y ago
Given the energy policies our President is going to be taking, I'm willing to bet your friends in oil will be employed within two years. We'll see, but there's quite a bit of excitement with my chemical engineering friends.

_nalply 10y ago

It's because of survival bias. The people who are successful believe it's because of their hard work and don't attribute some parts of it to luck. So if someone complains because of missing luck they haul out know-it-all advice on how hard work must always lead to success.