7 ms·

Except, if a whole generation YOLOs hard enough, maybe the government will actually choose to bail them out for once.

• edoceo 6y ago
  2k stimmy incoming! GME PLTR BB NOK to the moon! Get iN! BEars R fuk :rocket-emoji: (20x) - am I doing it right?
• willis936 6y ago
  A whole generation is not YOLOing. We’re just trying to keep a roof over our heads.
  • throwaway894345 6y ago
    The argument is that we’re working to keep a roof over our heads now because we YOLOed through college. And while that doesn’t describe me, I had a lot of peers who partied through college, skipped classes, hardly worked, majored in women’s studies / art history / literature / etc and still managed to live in the dorms, buy daily lattes, have the latest iPhones, etc.
    • willis936 6y ago
      >The argument is that we’re working to keep a roof over our heads now because we YOLOed through college. And while that doesn’t describe me Nor me. I worked throughout all of undergrad. My work paid for my grad degree. I have an MSEE and am looking at $50k of student debt. My income is such that I expect the only way my debt will go away in the next ten years is through PSLF. Owning a house before I’m 40? I’m not so sure. Where exactly is the YOLO? The generation didn’t piss anything away. We’re getting shafted.
      • sokoloff 6y ago
        You have an advanced degree in EE, paid for by work who valued that enough to pay for it, and don't expect to be able to clear $50K in student loans in 10 years. Are you still working in a job requiring that degree, because if so, that does seem like you're getting shafted (especially compared to the equivalent on the CS side of EE/CS).
        • willis936 6y ago
          Yes, I am. I’m working as an engineer on a physics project.
          • skeeter2020 6y ago
            so this is a choice
            • willis936 6y ago
              It's an indicator of larger issues. I took a position that I am qualified for, not overqualified for.
              • gruez 6y ago
                So to confirm, you took the job because there are no higher paying jobs available? I think GP was assuming that you had higher paying job options (given that EE jobs are high paying and generally in demand), but you chose to forgo that in favor of a research/academic position.
                • willis936 6y ago
                  In my area of expertise and location, there are slim pickings. I moved to stay with my SO while they pursue a PhD. "There's always a choice" is a weak argument. I could move to a tech hub and get an easy cushy job in an ethically bankrupt field. I won't. I am not making life choices that maximize profit. I am also not acting irresponsibly, "living beyond my means", or making bad financial decisions. You don't see a problem with a motivated, hardworking, educated individual meeting the market at a price that keeps them below what previous generations consider middle class? That is not indicative of an issue to you?
                  • throwaway894345 6y ago
                    Why do you posit that your only options are "tech hub" and "research job"? > You don't see a problem with a motivated, hardworking, educated individual meeting the market at a price that keeps them below what previous generations consider middle class? That is not indicative of an issue to you? I think people are trying to understand if you are working at or below your regional market value. That said, it sounds like a problem local to your region. I think if you look at Glassdoor you'll find that you're well below the national average, and I don't think it's just Silicon Valley inflating the national average. (I have an EE degree as well and on graduation it seemed like $75K was a pretty reasonable starting salary most places with lots of room for growth).
      • throwaway894345 6y ago
        I mean, with respect I don’t know how you are working with an MSEE and aren’t able to pay down $50 over 10 years without a lofty lifestyle. Perhaps if you live in NYC or SV where the cost of living is absurd, but I don’t think your experience is typical.
    • rokobobo 6y ago
      Sorry, I was using YOLO in the narrow WSB sense of betting on low-likelihood, outsized gains. If you have the chance to risk 5k to get out of 100k student debt, why not do it, if you’re disillusioned by the system.
    • 8note 6y ago
      I skipped classes and did a mechanical engineering degree and also a CSC degree. Do I count? Daily lattes are great. They're just coffee and milk. The people who aren't doing well aren't the ones who didn't drink, lived at home and did math degrees as far as I can tell
      • MaximumYComb 6y ago
        Why are people who did math degrees not doing well? Math degrees open all sorts of doors, at least once you get a bit of post grad education.
        • mrec 6y ago
          I think you missed the double negative.
          • alisonkisk 6y ago
            Well I didn't get a math degree.
            • mrec 6y ago
              Pity, I hear it doesn't fail to not leave lots of doors unopened.
    • watwut 6y ago
      > partied through college, skipped classes, hardly worked, majored in women’s studies / art history / literature / Some of those things are not like the other. I studied computer science, plenty of people partied and as far as I can tell, people who studied humanities like literature had to work more. It was not easier major in terms of how much you have to work. I liked computer science, so I am always surprised about how many people seem to hold resentment toward those who studied less fun majors. In any case, miniscule amount of population majored in women’s studies and they tend to cluster in top universities and from richer families. Meaning, it is not major drag on their future. Majority of students go for practically sounding degrees - like various business related degrees. They tend to learn to like them somewhat, but generally are not intrinsically motivated to be accountants or what not at first. They are not making childhood passion based decisions, but the "what gets me job" decisions.
      • killtimeatwork 6y ago
        The reality is that, 50 years ago, when only the smartest people attented colleges, a college degree used to be a proxy for aptitude (a combination of intelligence and willingness to work hard). It didn't matter that much what you studied, just having that college diploma meant that you're smart enough to be able to contribute in a non-trivial manner in any company, and will likely be heading for a managerial position a couple years in. Whereas now, with a huge percentage of population going into higher ed, the diploma means that you're within 60th percentile or somewhere around that, which is not what companies need. Unfortunately, many young people and their parents didn't understand this dynamic of watering down and still believe that the degree opens a path to a better life, while the truth is, most people are just not talented enough to be employed into demanding and well-paying office positions that most of us here work in. The Universities are silently running a scam, taking advantage of the obliviousness of young people and their parents by selling them a way to waste 4 years of their lives in exchange for a lifetime of debt... It sounds really horrible. At least here in Europe education is free so you "only" spend 4 years doing things that won't help you in life later. Luckily, the stories of people who graduated only to sell shoes or coffee are now prevalent enough to make the next generation more aware of the real value (or lack of thereof) of a degree in something non-commercial from an average university. In my family, I now see younger people more often deciding that higher ed is not for them and going straight into trades.
    • nemothekid 6y ago
      >I had a lot of peers who partied through college, skipped classes, hardly worked, majored in women’s studies / art history / literature / etc and still managed to live in the dorms, buy daily lattes, have the latest iPhones, etc. Did you go to a 4 year private school (possibly a non-Ivy)? I feel like you are describing a class of Americans who are oblivious to their privilege, but are mistakenly labeled as the working class who’s problems would simply be solved if they stopped buying avocado toast and switched their Starbucks for water. I assure you your classmates who went to private 4 year school on dad’s dime do not reflect the majority of working class millennials. For many millennials they are more worried about being wiped out by a trip to the hospital that would cost the price of 3 lifetimes of lattes
      • throwaway0a5e 6y ago
        I went to a four year state school in a state mostly free from major metropolitan areas full of stupid money that tend to mint a lot of those types of people. Yet there were still a lot of those people on campus. I wouldn't say a majority but they were there.
        • bluefirebrand 6y ago
          FWIW, I also went to a smaller university in a blue collar city where that kind of rich people money was largely absent. I still saw this behaviour a ton, and it wasn't people living large off of daddy's money, it was people living large off of way too much student loan money. People would take the maximum loan they could get even if they were living at home with no expenses, just so they could afford a party lifestyle
      • throwaway894345 6y ago
        Quite the opposite. I'm from a lower middle class family and that because my parents worked overtime in their blue collar jobs. I went to a public 4 year university. I was successful in college precisely because I didn't have a privileged background. While I also had no idea how to manage that much money, I erred on the side of caution. While my contemporaries lived in dorms, I spent half and rented a house with several other people some miles from campus. I didn't have daily Starbucks. I didn't party or skip classes. I worked 20+ hours while I was in school. > I assure you your classmates who went to private 4 year school on dad’s dime do not reflect the majority of working class millennials. I wasn't talking about working class millennials, but millennials in general. > For many millennials they are more worried about being wiped out by a trip to the hospital that would cost the price of 3 lifetimes of lattes Yeah, we have private health insurance and that really sucks for those who don't have access to decent insurance. But that doesn't justify living it up in school. Note also that I'm not even blaming millennials per se; our society failed to teach us personal responsibility, and it went even farther by creating a loan program and dumping us into a predatory university system with the vague guidance that we should follow our dreams, have a good time, and everything will just work itself out. Of course the majority of us took the bait and lived it up. Worse still, we graduated into an economy that was worse than what our parents dealt with. Excuses abound, but nevertheless, our generation YOLOed pretty hard even though the YOLOing wasn't evenly distributed.
    • piva00 6y ago
      > I had a lot of peers who partied through college, skipped classes, hardly worked, majored in women’s studies / art history / literature / etc and still managed to live in the dorms, buy daily lattes, have the latest iPhones, etc. That's what you get when your system is designed to give money easily to young people who don't understand the consequences of major financial debt. Blaming this on the individuals is leaving aside that there are huge incentives to behave like that in the US: lack of financial education during formative years, a society based on consumerism and status, a society which provides easy access to a huge amount of capital through student loans. From the outside it looks extremely predatory, even more when this easy money flows into universities increasing tuition prices, the same pressures on housing prices get in play here, with the difference that a mortgage is potentially dismissable if you go into bankruptcy.
      • sokoloff 6y ago
        The mortgage is also often able to be discharged by selling or giving back the house as it's a secured loan. No one is lining up to give a quarter-million dollars to an 18-year old who has no track record of paying back significant loans, no current income to backstop such a loan, and where there would be no repossessable collateral in the event of a default.
      • throwaway894345 6y ago
        I agree. I typed this hurriedly and didn’t mean to imply that it was individuals faults in particular. It’s certainly society’s fault at large as you observe. Perhaps a bygone generation would have been more fiscally conservative. It’s absolutely predatory with respect to universities jacking up tuition costs with nothing to show for it with respect to educational outcomes.
      • jedmeyers 6y ago
        > system is designed to give money easily to young people Who exactly designed the system that way? Banks (aka capitalists) were not very keen on doing this exact thing for the risk reasons, and now the government ended up backing most of the educational debt for some reason (aka socialism).
• blaser-waffle 6y ago
  Does anyone really believe that? The Fed'Gov couldn't get it together enough to vote for $600 assistance checks. We might see something before too long... maybe. And this is for a global pandemic. You think they're gonna do anything if people choose to make risky-ass bets that don't pan out?
  • SilasX 6y ago
    Isn't that exactly what happened with home ownership? Everyone levers up to buy a home, real estate goes into a bubble, and when it would normally crash, the government comes out in force with grants and easy credit programs ("Making Home Affordable" etc) because those malinvestors dominate the voting pool.
    • imtringued 6y ago
      That's basically the reason why interest rates should be above 0% right now. Inflation is mild but it is still higher than 0%. I consider it extremely foolish of the Fed that the interest rates aren't at least at 0.5% just to send a signal that the easy money is slowly disappearing. That easy money is driving malinvestment and it will just fuel any future bubble that inevitably ends up popping.