3 ms·

Sure. Watching the world go to shit, watch everyone be worse off than their parents, watching billionaires play games with peoples lives and seeing everything

by glogla 4y ago

Sure. Watching the world go to shit, watch everyone be worse off than their parents, watching billionaires play games with peoples lives and seeing everything getting worse while the markets are soaring ... of course that would make you think all the markets and money are not real and the world should burn. The COVID was a cherry on top, "we are in this all together," says the dude on his yacht, while you lost your job and place to live. Now the inflation will deepen inequality and poverty. I think the next crisis of this type, at least for US (and UK which is kind of similar), is going to be when all the millennials get no inheritance, because the healthcare costs for their parents will basically eat everything. That might be another nail in the coffin of the world possibly getting better for them. In the Easter Europe, where I am, meanwhile, people are more nihilistic than ever. They were rescued from the Soviet command economies that worked badly, and there was a huge jump in living standards - in the 90s and early 2000s. But by now, the non-freedom of Real Socialism was replaced by non-freedom of being precariat that will never own even the commieblock apartment that people made fun of in the 90s - while all the wonderful inventions of the West like healthcare on for the rich and student loans get imported here. No wonder people are genuinely thinking watching the world burn in nuclear fire might be cool. The climate change that was the cost of luxury of previous generations will destroy humanity anyway, why not go out with a bang?

ajmurmann 4y ago
"when all the millennials get no inheritance, because the healthcare costs for their parents will basically eat everything" I wonder if this one will be even worse in the US. Much of the market going up and up is because index funds have become the default retirement vehicle. So every month billions flow into the market no matter what. What will happen when the largest generation stops contributing and instead starts withdrawing. If you are right and many elderly will deplete their funds entirely, the value of everyone's retirement investments will drop dramatically in the process. How much of retirement nest eggs in places with terminal demographics like China, Germany and Japan are in international stocks as well? IMO demographics are gonna fuck over millennials yet again. I hope I'll be wrong.
- nerdponx 4y ago
  Younger generations are offsetting this with their own retirement savings. I've seen it argued that millennials are under-saving compared to their parents, but I remember seeing some data recently that contradicted this assertion. I would not be surprised if it were less evenly-distributed across the economy than prior generations. I don't think we are going to see net outflow from the stock market, maybe just a decrease in inflow. However I do think "worker shortages" will continue to grow as older people retire from undesirable jobs and aren't replaced by younger people, pushing up wages outside of white-collar and tech jobs and thereby leading to more inflation. I think this is a good thing in the long term and a price adjustment that has been a long time coming, but it needs to be managed properly or things could get really ugly.
  - ajmurmann 4y ago
    "Younger generations are offsetting this with their own retirement savings." The problem is that the generationd after the boomers are smaller, especially in countries like Germany, China and Japan which have been economic power houses.
  - tristor 4y ago
    > Younger generations are offsetting this with their own retirement savings. Sounds like a Ponzi scheme, just like Social Security and pensions.
    - nerdponx 4y ago
      Does it? Is a lake with an inflow river and an outflow river a Ponzi lake?
      - glogla 4y ago
        "Social pension system is a Ponzi scheme" is argument I've heard from people with certain political leaning often enough I wondered if Reagan or Thatcher said it or something. It never made sense to me. As long as the number of people is relatively stable, there's nothing Ponzi on it. Even with the number of people changing, there are other important inputs into the equation - automation, efficiency, etc.

by glogla 4y ago

ajmurmann 4y ago

"when all the millennials get no inheritance, because the healthcare costs for their parents will basically eat everything" I wonder if this one will be even worse in the US. Much of the market going up and up is because index funds have become the default retirement vehicle. So every month billions flow into the market no matter what. What will happen when the largest generation stops contributing and instead starts withdrawing. If you are right and many elderly will deplete their funds entirely, the value of everyone's retirement investments will drop dramatically in the process. How much of retirement nest eggs in places with terminal demographics like China, Germany and Japan are in international stocks as well? IMO demographics are gonna fuck over millennials yet again. I hope I'll be wrong.

nerdponx 4y ago
Younger generations are offsetting this with their own retirement savings. I've seen it argued that millennials are under-saving compared to their parents, but I remember seeing some data recently that contradicted this assertion. I would not be surprised if it were less evenly-distributed across the economy than prior generations. I don't think we are going to see net outflow from the stock market, maybe just a decrease in inflow. However I do think "worker shortages" will continue to grow as older people retire from undesirable jobs and aren't replaced by younger people, pushing up wages outside of white-collar and tech jobs and thereby leading to more inflation. I think this is a good thing in the long term and a price adjustment that has been a long time coming, but it needs to be managed properly or things could get really ugly.
- ajmurmann 4y ago
  "Younger generations are offsetting this with their own retirement savings." The problem is that the generationd after the boomers are smaller, especially in countries like Germany, China and Japan which have been economic power houses.
- tristor 4y ago
  > Younger generations are offsetting this with their own retirement savings. Sounds like a Ponzi scheme, just like Social Security and pensions.
  - nerdponx 4y ago
    Does it? Is a lake with an inflow river and an outflow river a Ponzi lake?
    - glogla 4y ago
      "Social pension system is a Ponzi scheme" is argument I've heard from people with certain political leaning often enough I wondered if Reagan or Thatcher said it or something. It never made sense to me. As long as the number of people is relatively stable, there's nothing Ponzi on it. Even with the number of people changing, there are other important inputs into the equation - automation, efficiency, etc.