4 ms·

Nearly everything about the forward looking future feels worse off. Health, education, and rent costs seem to never find a ceiling let alone a reason to go dow

Nearly everything about the forward looking future feels worse off. Health, education, and rent costs seem to never find a ceiling let alone a reason to go down. Home ownership appears unattainable. The climate crisis plagues the world as we are still recovering from an actual plague. Democracy took a hard right turn and while there's been a little progress lately, protections and freedoms once thought inalienable have disappeared. The ability to do as well as previous generations has evaporated. Gun violence and shootings have become expected. In the face of all this - its more of a surprise kids are able to have a positive vision of the future at all.

whateveracct 4y ago
Teens said this exact same thing over a decade ago when I was in high school as a millennial. Line-by-line actually. It's all a bit overdramatic. I didn't do anything special and I ended up okay and happy. My wife and I both went to in-state schools in a red state. Had in the 10s of thousands of debt between us but that wasn't undue burden by any means (It was worth the investment actually!) Not saying everything is amazing but it reads to me like excuses. For instance, "I'm in debt with a degree that I can't get a job for." Who cares? Most people get their next job due to their last few, not their original degree. You wouldn't be the first person to pivot your career. But it's easier to have an excuse.
- watwut 4y ago
  Those issues objectively got worst, actually? Climate issues are more acute then decade ago and college debt problem is larger. Also, the biggest college debt issue is among people who did not managed to finish their degrees. It is simply not true that they can just pivot career and all will be cool. Even among people who did finished, pivot toward something well paid is not easy or feasible. I had it easy, you had it easy. I graduated into pretty good economy and was not actually stressed about my ability to prosper. That does not mean it was so for everyone ever since.
  - whateveracct 4y ago
    > Those issues objectively got worst, actually? Climate issues are more acute then decade ago and college debt problem is larger. Climate issues are worse because time passed without large action. But I'd say public opinion is even stronger in favor of fixing it. And the US just passed a giant bill about it. On social issues, yes Roe was just overturned, but the endgame of that is still in flux. Marijuana legalization is becoming near commonplace. Gay marriage was on the fringe when I was in high school. I was out of college by the time it was fully legalized. Of course, that is now under threat. But just because it's under threat doesn't mean the future is borked. Teens catastrophize - always have. > Also, the biggest college debt issue is among people who did not managed to finish their degrees. If people don't have useful degrees anyways, isn't it best to not waste the extra money to finish? Also, people use this college debt in-the-large as an excuse in-the-small. Most people made boneheaded financial decisions as teenagers and then continued them as adults (which they are from their first year onward). I wasn't dumb enough to fork out 100s of thousands to go to the prestigious private school I got into. My in-state school was clearly superior on paper. All it took was for me to not be status-seeking. I don't even think I had it especially easy. I switched my major a few times in college - I could've been a chemical engineer, which I don't think I'd enjoy (personally or professionally) as much as where I ended up in computing. My wife switched from a non-lucrative degree to computing because she thought about what her life would be like in 5 years either way.
    - watwut 4y ago
      > If people don't have useful degrees anyways, isn't it best to not waste the extra money to finish? These people struggle the most to pay the debt. Their amount is non negligible. Their peers who finished struggle significantly less, this is based on stats. Also you made up useless degree, because arguing against that situation is easier. It seems to me that you are not really interested in looking at data and economy, but are more interested in projecting superiority and judgement. But that is emotions based thinking, not a logical one.
- gloryjulio 4y ago
  Because it's even worse now and it's not getting better? Just look at the cost for everything, there is no hope in sight
  - whateveracct 4y ago
    So? You could've said the same thing 10y ago. But then you would feel stupid for having complained and bet on things falling apart rather than there being ebb and flow in the world and learning to swim.
    - watwut 4y ago
      You could say 10 years ago that economy is worst then in 2022, but you would be wrong.
    - eli_gottlieb 4y ago
      If 10 years ago I had predicted that housing, healthcare, education, and energy costs would further spiral out of control, I would have been correct.
    - gloryjulio 4y ago
      Why would you feel stupid if you made the right prediction? With the right judgement you can make the better moves whatever those are. It just means that you understand how it is and you are right about the trend instead of lying to yourself. What kind of mental gymnasts would say the wrong judgement gives better moves?? How does that make any logical sense?
      - whateveracct 4y ago
        That's a misrepresentation of what I said. I was saying you should always be positive and proactive and personal responsible and make moves in-the-small instead of thinking nothing can be done because the sky is falling.
        plonk 4y ago
musicale 4y ago
"The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better." https://ourworldindata.org/much-better-awful-can-be-better https://ourworldindata.org/much-better-awful-can-be-better

whateveracct 4y ago

Teens said this exact same thing over a decade ago when I was in high school as a millennial. Line-by-line actually. It's all a bit overdramatic. I didn't do anything special and I ended up okay and happy. My wife and I both went to in-state schools in a red state. Had in the 10s of thousands of debt between us but that wasn't undue burden by any means (It was worth the investment actually!) Not saying everything is amazing but it reads to me like excuses. For instance, "I'm in debt with a degree that I can't get a job for." Who cares? Most people get their next job due to their last few, not their original degree. You wouldn't be the first person to pivot your career. But it's easier to have an excuse.

watwut 4y ago
Those issues objectively got worst, actually? Climate issues are more acute then decade ago and college debt problem is larger. Also, the biggest college debt issue is among people who did not managed to finish their degrees. It is simply not true that they can just pivot career and all will be cool. Even among people who did finished, pivot toward something well paid is not easy or feasible. I had it easy, you had it easy. I graduated into pretty good economy and was not actually stressed about my ability to prosper. That does not mean it was so for everyone ever since.
- whateveracct 4y ago
  > Those issues objectively got worst, actually? Climate issues are more acute then decade ago and college debt problem is larger. Climate issues are worse because time passed without large action. But I'd say public opinion is even stronger in favor of fixing it. And the US just passed a giant bill about it. On social issues, yes Roe was just overturned, but the endgame of that is still in flux. Marijuana legalization is becoming near commonplace. Gay marriage was on the fringe when I was in high school. I was out of college by the time it was fully legalized. Of course, that is now under threat. But just because it's under threat doesn't mean the future is borked. Teens catastrophize - always have. > Also, the biggest college debt issue is among people who did not managed to finish their degrees. If people don't have useful degrees anyways, isn't it best to not waste the extra money to finish? Also, people use this college debt in-the-large as an excuse in-the-small. Most people made boneheaded financial decisions as teenagers and then continued them as adults (which they are from their first year onward). I wasn't dumb enough to fork out 100s of thousands to go to the prestigious private school I got into. My in-state school was clearly superior on paper. All it took was for me to not be status-seeking. I don't even think I had it especially easy. I switched my major a few times in college - I could've been a chemical engineer, which I don't think I'd enjoy (personally or professionally) as much as where I ended up in computing. My wife switched from a non-lucrative degree to computing because she thought about what her life would be like in 5 years either way.
  - watwut 4y ago
    > If people don't have useful degrees anyways, isn't it best to not waste the extra money to finish? These people struggle the most to pay the debt. Their amount is non negligible. Their peers who finished struggle significantly less, this is based on stats. Also you made up useless degree, because arguing against that situation is easier. It seems to me that you are not really interested in looking at data and economy, but are more interested in projecting superiority and judgement. But that is emotions based thinking, not a logical one.
gloryjulio 4y ago
Because it's even worse now and it's not getting better? Just look at the cost for everything, there is no hope in sight
- whateveracct 4y ago
  So? You could've said the same thing 10y ago. But then you would feel stupid for having complained and bet on things falling apart rather than there being ebb and flow in the world and learning to swim.
  - watwut 4y ago
    You could say 10 years ago that economy is worst then in 2022, but you would be wrong.
  - eli_gottlieb 4y ago
    If 10 years ago I had predicted that housing, healthcare, education, and energy costs would further spiral out of control, I would have been correct.
  - gloryjulio 4y ago
    Why would you feel stupid if you made the right prediction? With the right judgement you can make the better moves whatever those are. It just means that you understand how it is and you are right about the trend instead of lying to yourself. What kind of mental gymnasts would say the wrong judgement gives better moves?? How does that make any logical sense?
    - whateveracct 4y ago
      That's a misrepresentation of what I said. I was saying you should always be positive and proactive and personal responsible and make moves in-the-small instead of thinking nothing can be done because the sky is falling.
      - plonk 4y ago

musicale 4y ago

"The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better." https://ourworldindata.org/much-better-awful-can-be-better https://ourworldindata.org/much-better-awful-can-be-better