3 ms·

A lot of this is not new information to me, but it's a great succinct summary and the design is cool (though, to be honest, I think some of the animations are a

A lot of this is not new information to me, but it's a great succinct summary and the design is cool (though, to be honest, I think some of the animations are a little too 'showy' and take a little too long, distracting from the content). What I'd love to be able to do is find a way to break out of the traditional debate about this topic: One person (usually a millennial) brings up the issues the article raises, then another person (usually not, often a boomer) counterpoints with the "participation trophy" or "what about motivation" or "the Internet" responses. But in many of these cases, both exist at once: Millennials feel entitled because they were told to be by parents who told them they were entitled, either explicitly or through teaching, because those parents grew up in a world that made those entitlements possible. As the article points out, the system is complicated. It's so complicated that both sides are right, but neither is fully comprehending the consequences. I think the question therefore must be not "how did we get to this place and who is to blame?" but rather "what societal changes are necessary to fix it?" Presuming enough of each generation want to fix the problem, by asking the latter question rather than the former, it may be possible to effect the kind of change that will prevent the genuine collapse we seem to be racing towards.

adrr 9y ago
Not sure if its fixable in the millennial's lifetime. Government can't do anything as boomers ran up the national debt by slashing their taxes. There's no money to go around. There's also a huge infrastructure bill thats also coming due as it wasn't upgraded. Bridges, public utilities, dams, mass transit all need to be fixed at they are past their lifespans. Lot of it was built during "greatest generation" period and not touched afterwards. American Society of Civil Engineers estimate at least $2 trillion to fix our infrastructure over the next 10 years.
- peatmoss 9y ago
  > at least $2 trillion to fix our infrastructure over the next 10 years. I can only hope that some of this translates into some kind of New Deal work. Being just older than the millennials, I have felt for some time that I grabbed the last rung of a ladder being dangled from a helicopter as the building under me was crumbling into flames.
- eli_gottlieb 9y ago
  That sounds like a hell of a lot of well-paid jobs to rebuild that infrastructure, and some great productivity improvements from modernizing.
- colorint 9y ago
  >national debt [...] no money to go around Let's imagine that I'm a government that reserves the right to be sole issuer of my country's currency (though for political reasons I've delegated that power to a government-sponsored enterprise whose leadership I appoint). Now let's say I also issue securities denominated in that money. From my perspective, what's the difference between money and claims on money? From a holder's perspective, what's the difference between them? Even the obvious difference, one has yield and one does not, is pretty misleading, since the interbank rate tracks the securities rate.
jbob2000 9y ago
I've had this thought for a while, and I'm wondering if it holds any validity. I think it comes down to healthcare. We're good at keeping people alive now. Really good. Cancer mortality has dropped 50% in the last 10 years. I'm sure there are similar statistics for other common causes of death. We have older generations who should be dying off and getting replaced by younger ones. It's not happening. Anecdotally, my parents are in their late 60s and working just as much as they did in their 30s. I see this at work; my office building is chuffed full of grey hairs. My coworker at 40 years old is at the same level I am (late 20s) and can't move up because the hierarchy is full of people who should be retiring. Just look at the US senate and congress, the average age is 61, the oldest in history. These guys are ancient! In my city, we have a housing problem. If you drive around during work hours, the streets are packed with retirees going about their daily business. What the hell are these people doing living in a bustling suburb? Move out to the country for god's sake, why are you living next to a school? This city should be for families, it was built as a bedroom community.
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adrr 9y ago

Not sure if its fixable in the millennial's lifetime. Government can't do anything as boomers ran up the national debt by slashing their taxes. There's no money to go around. There's also a huge infrastructure bill thats also coming due as it wasn't upgraded. Bridges, public utilities, dams, mass transit all need to be fixed at they are past their lifespans. Lot of it was built during "greatest generation" period and not touched afterwards. American Society of Civil Engineers estimate at least $2 trillion to fix our infrastructure over the next 10 years.

peatmoss 9y ago
> at least $2 trillion to fix our infrastructure over the next 10 years. I can only hope that some of this translates into some kind of New Deal work. Being just older than the millennials, I have felt for some time that I grabbed the last rung of a ladder being dangled from a helicopter as the building under me was crumbling into flames.
eli_gottlieb 9y ago
That sounds like a hell of a lot of well-paid jobs to rebuild that infrastructure, and some great productivity improvements from modernizing.
colorint 9y ago
>national debt [...] no money to go around Let's imagine that I'm a government that reserves the right to be sole issuer of my country's currency (though for political reasons I've delegated that power to a government-sponsored enterprise whose leadership I appoint). Now let's say I also issue securities denominated in that money. From my perspective, what's the difference between money and claims on money? From a holder's perspective, what's the difference between them? Even the obvious difference, one has yield and one does not, is pretty misleading, since the interbank rate tracks the securities rate.

jbob2000 9y ago

I've had this thought for a while, and I'm wondering if it holds any validity. I think it comes down to healthcare. We're good at keeping people alive now. Really good. Cancer mortality has dropped 50% in the last 10 years. I'm sure there are similar statistics for other common causes of death. We have older generations who should be dying off and getting replaced by younger ones. It's not happening. Anecdotally, my parents are in their late 60s and working just as much as they did in their 30s. I see this at work; my office building is chuffed full of grey hairs. My coworker at 40 years old is at the same level I am (late 20s) and can't move up because the hierarchy is full of people who should be retiring. Just look at the US senate and congress, the average age is 61, the oldest in history. These guys are ancient! In my city, we have a housing problem. If you drive around during work hours, the streets are packed with retirees going about their daily business. What the hell are these people doing living in a bustling suburb? Move out to the country for god's sake, why are you living next to a school? This city should be for families, it was built as a bedroom community.

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