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Americans have an incredible leverage. The dollar goes far in other countries. And young people are realizing that. It's far too easy to work 6 months, save 10k

Americans have an incredible leverage. The dollar goes far in other countries. And young people are realizing that. It's far too easy to work 6 months, save 10k and then live the next 6 months in another country for cheap. There is absolutely no reason to work for abusive companies and psychopathic bosses. If you are sick of your job, quit. There are more jobs available than ever in the history of America.

encryptluks2 5y ago
I don't think that is the reason. I think they are just tired of working abusive jobs and struggling than that not work and still struggle. There is a shortage of social safety nets though so anyone thinking of quitting without some savings please make sure you have a plan. Sometimes just getting temporary short term assistance can be a full time job in itself, and if you had a descent job before be prepared to have to interview for entry level crap jobs to keep your assistance. Unemployment isn't like it was at the start of the pandemic. They took all the supports away while COVID numbers are still high.
halfmatthalfcat 5y ago
I think Americans are realizing they have more leverage than they thought they had, collectively. We’ll see how long it lasts though.
deltree7 5y ago
or they are incredibly short-sighted and assume they can manage to survive the next 60 years with whatever meagre savings that they may have and whatever skills that is relevant in 2021 is still relevant 10 years from now. If you are in your 20s, you think you rule the world (Thanks to validation from Social Media). But those 20 year olds will become 30y and they will be the 'boomers' The cycle will turn, employment will become harder and 'great resignation' may come back to bite them. I'm not saying that this might happen. But to categorically say that "This is the way" is incredibly short-sighted
- RexM 5y ago
  I didn’t see anything in the post you’re replying to saying categorically “This is the way.”
  - deltree7 5y ago
    My posts are async thoughts that I write for myself mostly using a post/comment as a jump point. I know it isn't the right thread etiquette (and I always get downvoted), Internet blogging/commenting is just a stream of thoughts
    - Noumenon72 5y ago
      If you're aware of this behavior, could you just paste them to a text file after writing them instead of hitting submit? That way everyone else doesn't have to read, determine you were not attempting to contribute to the conversation, and downvote. I do this with a lot of angry/trolling tweets I write but don't post.
- thrashh 5y ago
  6 months is not 10 years
- kgin 5y ago
  Most of these moves will turn out to be temporary breaks and that’s ok. There’s a big range of possibilities that live between “never work again” and “I can’t have even a small gap in my resume lest my dedication to capitalism come into question”.
- mtalantikite 5y ago
  Let the kids go explore the world. Spending 6 months working and 6 months traveling in a cheaper place with friends sounds great. It’s not like their $15/hr job is ever going to afford them a house if they just grind it out for the next 20 years. They can use that time for self discovery, learning new things, and maybe getting a more stable situation for the future. They have every right to demand to be treated with respect on the job and to quit if it’s shitty. They have the privilege of a US passport and an exchange rate in their favor, might as well use it over the short term. Who knows what the world will even be like environmentally when they’re older and have spent their life doing the “proper thing”.
jimbob45 5y ago
>It's far too easy to work 6 months, save 10k and then live the next 6 months in another country for cheap. No one is realizing that. Saving 10k is unbelievably difficult unless you're making extremely good money to the point where it's out of reach for the majority of Americans. Most Americans can't even stomach a $500 emergency [0] so I don't know where you think these people can work such that they can have 10k set aside after six months. Furthermore, the actual financial hit of living in another country for six months is incredibly difficult. Plane tickets, papers, storage (unless you don't want stuff when you come back), and taxes aren't just going to pay for themselves. Sure, if you make $200k, that's nothing, but the median household income in 2020 was ~$60k [1]. It often feels on HN that everyone has a $500k job except for me and on Reddit, it feels like everyone has a 15-inch dick except for me. The parent post makes me feel that same way. "If you are sick of your job, quit" is terrible advice. You should quit your job if you are in a steady-enough financial situation to weather being unemployed for an extended period of time or if you have alternative employment lined up. Any other piece of advice is irresponsible to give to someone else. [0]https://www.cbsnews.com/news/most-americans-cant-afford-a-500-emergency-expense/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/most-americans-cant-afford-a-50... [1]https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.html https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-27...
- rufus_foreman 5y ago
  >> Most Americans can't even stomach a $500 emergency Your link doesn't say that. It says that for many Americans, if they ran in to a $500 emergency they would put it on a credit card, cut back on other expenses, or ask family or friends to help them out, rather than paying cash from savings. >> You should quit your job if you are in a steady-enough financial situation to weather being unemployed for an extended period of time or if you have alternative employment lined up. Any other piece of advice is irresponsible to give to someone else I don't agree with that at all. It depends on where you are at in life. If you have mouths to feed, or other similar obligations, then sure, you need to be careful. If you are 21 years old without a care in the world and the boss asks you to do something that you slightly disagree with, give the boss both middle fingers and walk out.
- pwdisswordfish8 5y ago

encryptluks2 5y ago

I don't think that is the reason. I think they are just tired of working abusive jobs and struggling than that not work and still struggle. There is a shortage of social safety nets though so anyone thinking of quitting without some savings please make sure you have a plan. Sometimes just getting temporary short term assistance can be a full time job in itself, and if you had a descent job before be prepared to have to interview for entry level crap jobs to keep your assistance. Unemployment isn't like it was at the start of the pandemic. They took all the supports away while COVID numbers are still high.

halfmatthalfcat 5y ago

I think Americans are realizing they have more leverage than they thought they had, collectively. We’ll see how long it lasts though.

deltree7 5y ago

or they are incredibly short-sighted and assume they can manage to survive the next 60 years with whatever meagre savings that they may have and whatever skills that is relevant in 2021 is still relevant 10 years from now. If you are in your 20s, you think you rule the world (Thanks to validation from Social Media). But those 20 year olds will become 30y and they will be the 'boomers' The cycle will turn, employment will become harder and 'great resignation' may come back to bite them. I'm not saying that this might happen. But to categorically say that "This is the way" is incredibly short-sighted

RexM 5y ago
I didn’t see anything in the post you’re replying to saying categorically “This is the way.”
- deltree7 5y ago
  My posts are async thoughts that I write for myself mostly using a post/comment as a jump point. I know it isn't the right thread etiquette (and I always get downvoted), Internet blogging/commenting is just a stream of thoughts
  - Noumenon72 5y ago
    If you're aware of this behavior, could you just paste them to a text file after writing them instead of hitting submit? That way everyone else doesn't have to read, determine you were not attempting to contribute to the conversation, and downvote. I do this with a lot of angry/trolling tweets I write but don't post.
thrashh 5y ago
6 months is not 10 years
kgin 5y ago
Most of these moves will turn out to be temporary breaks and that’s ok. There’s a big range of possibilities that live between “never work again” and “I can’t have even a small gap in my resume lest my dedication to capitalism come into question”.
mtalantikite 5y ago
Let the kids go explore the world. Spending 6 months working and 6 months traveling in a cheaper place with friends sounds great. It’s not like their $15/hr job is ever going to afford them a house if they just grind it out for the next 20 years. They can use that time for self discovery, learning new things, and maybe getting a more stable situation for the future. They have every right to demand to be treated with respect on the job and to quit if it’s shitty. They have the privilege of a US passport and an exchange rate in their favor, might as well use it over the short term. Who knows what the world will even be like environmentally when they’re older and have spent their life doing the “proper thing”.

jimbob45 5y ago

>It's far too easy to work 6 months, save 10k and then live the next 6 months in another country for cheap. No one is realizing that. Saving 10k is unbelievably difficult unless you're making extremely good money to the point where it's out of reach for the majority of Americans. Most Americans can't even stomach a $500 emergency [0] so I don't know where you think these people can work such that they can have 10k set aside after six months. Furthermore, the actual financial hit of living in another country for six months is incredibly difficult. Plane tickets, papers, storage (unless you don't want stuff when you come back), and taxes aren't just going to pay for themselves. Sure, if you make $200k, that's nothing, but the median household income in 2020 was ~$60k [1]. It often feels on HN that everyone has a $500k job except for me and on Reddit, it feels like everyone has a 15-inch dick except for me. The parent post makes me feel that same way. "If you are sick of your job, quit" is terrible advice. You should quit your job if you are in a steady-enough financial situation to weather being unemployed for an extended period of time or if you have alternative employment lined up. Any other piece of advice is irresponsible to give to someone else. [0]https://www.cbsnews.com/news/most-americans-cant-afford-a-500-emergency-expense/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/most-americans-cant-afford-a-50... [1]https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.html https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-27...

rufus_foreman 5y ago
>> Most Americans can't even stomach a $500 emergency Your link doesn't say that. It says that for many Americans, if they ran in to a $500 emergency they would put it on a credit card, cut back on other expenses, or ask family or friends to help them out, rather than paying cash from savings. >> You should quit your job if you are in a steady-enough financial situation to weather being unemployed for an extended period of time or if you have alternative employment lined up. Any other piece of advice is irresponsible to give to someone else I don't agree with that at all. It depends on where you are at in life. If you have mouths to feed, or other similar obligations, then sure, you need to be careful. If you are 21 years old without a care in the world and the boss asks you to do something that you slightly disagree with, give the boss both middle fingers and walk out.
pwdisswordfish8 5y ago