Many people in my generation (GenX) were put at a permanent financial disadvantage for reasons not under their control. They entered the job market at one of se

Many people in my generation (GenX) were put at a permanent financial disadvantage for reasons not under their control. They entered the job market at one of several bad times, they never had a chance to build up a buffer before the next downturn hit, they had that buffer wiped out by a single bad decision (e.g. buying a house) made at the wrong time while others making equally bad decisions at better times cruised through, etc. This never seemed to happen to most people just a bit older or younger, but the phenomenon is back with a vengeance for GenZ. (BTW I personally seem to have been on the good side of such accidental timing, so I'm not saying this out of self-pity or self-interest.) I think this is why so many younger people subscribe to "lottery thinking" - crypto, meme stocks, other kinds of "low probability but high payoff" choices. Or they go full nihilist and decide to blow whatever they have (or can grab) on transient experiences. There have always been many who do this, and it's not all bad - here of all places we should recognize that the related urge to join startups can lead to good things - but gambling should be a choice not something people feel is their only chance for a good life. We have failed our young people by allowing real wages to stagnate even during the good times, by putting them through the college/student-loan wringer, by not moving to create a better safety net when the bad times came. And in other ways too, of course. I know through my daughter that GenZ folk are actually very resilient and mutually supportive, in their own ways of course, but the stress we've put them under is a bit unconscionable. Their reactions are natural. We older folks should show a bit more humility and grace.