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Yay! Another article where the older generation shits on a younger generation. Is it possible - and this is just me talking here - that maybe our generation is

by Aqueous 13y ago

Yay! Another article where the older generation shits on a younger generation. Is it possible - and this is just me talking here - that maybe our generation isn't composed of a bunch of emotional weaklings who can't bear the stress of life, but that you guys fucked it up pretty badly for us? Your self-interested conservative personal responsibility do it yourself policies bankrupted the economy because you were asleep at the switch, and now we can't find jobs. I can guarantee you that if you flip back several decades you'll find an article in Life Magazine written by some asshole asking the question "Why are the baby boomers such pussies? We fought World War II for crissake!" A load of horseshit. Life is hard. Help, you assholes.

andyl 13y ago
Classic butthurt!! Maybe this will help: http://bluebirdofbitterness.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/butthurt-report-form.jpg http://bluebirdofbitterness.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/butt...
GuiA 13y ago
The average parent's age for first child has never been higher, just like the rate of 20-somethings still living with their parents. No matter what the reasons for that are, you can't refute that it's bound to have some interesting consequences on the psychology of the 20-somethings in question.
- sp332 13y ago
  you can't refute Actually, maybe we could, if we had some evidence, which you don't.
- wambotron 13y ago
  I completely agree. Hell, some first-time parents are as old as many first-time grandparents.
- Swizec 13y ago
  Average age is only up because women started child bearing later. About a hundred years ago it was common for men in their very late 20's to have finally built a life of their own and get a bride. A bride who was 16 or so because that meant she still had plenty of child bearing years ahead of her. What if men just got back to that same state, while women have joined men in this status instead of having the whole teenage pregnancy thing?
  - wambotron 13y ago
    Either you have rich grand/great-grandparents or we come from VERY different places. My family has been historically poor up until my dad, who is just middle class now. Both sides of my family have struggled until death. I don't know of anyone other than maybe one or two who had parents growing up that had "built a life of their own," then married and started a family in their very late 20s.
    - Swizec 13y ago
      Historically I come from a family of peasants. Especially after WW2 both sides of my family were poor, but there was a period before then that one side was rich farmers. They were only rich because my great grandfather bought the farm where he used to work as essentially slave labor (they'd only get food and board in return for being manual labourers, it was a thing back then). But anyway, this age thing was something I read in books about late 19th and very early 20th century.
abduhl 13y ago
Life is hard. Help, you assholes. Are you serious with this statement? This is exactly the attitude that the article and all of the others like it are referring to. Life is hard. Be harder.
- sp332 13y ago
  Ever wonder why people in third-world countries generally don't grow up to be successful like boomers did? Did you always think it was because they weren't tough enough? Actually, it's because the boomers had an awesome environment to grow up and have a career in. That environment doesn't exist anymore because the economy has tanked. Boomers literally have no idea how good they had it.
  - res0nat0r 13y ago
    So you are stating that the hardships of a college student in the USA right now even remotely comparable to a poor person trying to get along in a third world county?
    - sp332 13y ago
      Nope, I'm saying you have to have a really good environment (i.e. "help") to be that successful.
      - sesteel 13y ago
        What does successful mean to you?
  - abduhl 13y ago
    Yes, and the millennials have an awesome environment to grow up and have a career in. The tech industry has one of the lowest barriers to entry ever seen. The more advanced science fields are making dramatic strides, all you need is the education and motivation to get into the industry. Quit looking backwards with green tinted glasses and consider how good you yourself have it right now. Take some goddamn responsibility for your own life decisions.
Glyptodon 13y ago
Overall I think the article is true, but I've also been saying the same thing myself about people my age for several years. I'm reminded that a friend of mine in grad school occasionally gets phone calls from the parents of the college students in some of his classes when they do poorly, and that parents are often the ones setting up tutoring and such for their in-college kids, rather than the students themselves. It's plain ridiculous. Feeling like you want to become self supporting and out from under the parental thumb definitely seems to be unusual in my generation.
rewind 13y ago
Yay! Another comment where the younger generation blames the older generation. You see the problem with this type of argument, right?
- winstonx 13y ago
  The older generation effects the younger generation.
  - sesteel 13y ago
    And vice versa. We are all in this together.
    - winstonx 13y ago
      The older generation literally creates the younger generation.
javert 13y ago
> Your self-interested conservative personal responsibility do it yourself policies bankrupted the economy This is a vicious slander. I mean, clearly the student loan education bubble, Freddie and Fannie-backed mortgage bubble, and the Social Security ponzi scheme were based on policies of "personal responsibility" and "do it yourself." As a successful person who is most likely in the same generation as you, I'm looking forward to potentially trying to move to a country where I can take personal responsibility---rather than having people like you claw away whatever I earn to spend on more boondoggles. It is clear that I am no longer welcome in most of the Western world, but just a piece of meat to be taken advantage of.
- djur 13y ago
  You either don't know what "Social Security" means or you don't know what "ponzi scheme" means.
  - javert 13y ago
    Are you aware that the US social security system will become insolvent in the future? It is literally the case that the later taxpayers are paying for earlier taxpayers' social security. It's not formally a Ponzi scheme, because it's not entered to involuntarily, it is forced.
    - djur 13y ago
      Social Security is a pay-as-you-go social insurance program, not a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme is fraudulent because it promises to pay back a greater return than is invested. Social Security is designed to pay back about the same as was invested on average. The reason this works is that the economy and the population are growing over time, so you have more people paying for the current SS generation's retirement than are in the current SS generation. Social Security is a defined-benefit entitlement, so its spending requirements are fairly predictable. The rate of growth of the economy and the population, on the other hand, is not so easily predictable. This is why the Social Security trust fund was established in the 80s -- to patch the gaps that would result from the smallish Generation X paying SS for the Baby Boomers. Depending on how long the Baby Boomers live and how the economy performs over the next few decades, the trust fund may run out in the next few decades. This will require either a cut in benefits or additional revenue for the system. Adjusting the inputs and outputs for a program to keep it in equilibrium in a chaotic, unpredictable world isn't fraudulent or a sign of a broken program. So no, I'm not aware that Social Security will become insolvent in the future. Any of a number of fairly simple adjustments between now and then would prevent the projected benefit cuts. Even in the absence of a fix, Social Security will still pay out the lion's share of its promised benefits.
dkural 13y ago
There a literally millions of open positions in the US economy, and millions of upper-middle class liberal-college educated jobless millennials who can't be bothered to master these STEM fields to qualify. They all want to be an aid worker & save the world or something, or to be paid for playing a banjo. The only reason half of the people even get jobs is better qualified, harder working foreigners are kept out of the United States with immigration barriers. Dear whiny millennial: It's going to get much worse.
- rjbwork 13y ago
  The previous generations didn't exactly do anything to help us realize this reality. Hell, I feel like I won the roulette wheel of life sometimes in that my CS degree, which I naturally graduated towards, is in great demand. And other kids were pushed equally strongly to their history, sociology, philosophy, and english degrees.
  - dkural 13y ago
    Instead of blaming parents for 'no one told us', a second option would be look around and ask: How does philosophy, history, sociology, english help me do something in a company, besides HR, Sales, Marketing, and with luck, Management? What exactly did your friends think they'd do with their degrees, vis-a-vis getting a job?
- djur 13y ago
  "literally millions of open positions in the US economy": And almost four times as many unemployed people seeking work. Those open positions numbers are based on self-reporting, too, and they don't account for whether companies are actively seeking candidates, are offering a competitive salary, or are expecting reasonable qualifications. Lots of companies would love to hire busloads of experts at a bargain rate if they were available, but in the absence of a bumper crop of cheap geniuses they're happy to stand pat. Surveys have shown that companies are having more trouble hiring people who have enough relevant experience than people with sufficient educational qualifications or technical skills [1]. To the extent there's a structural unemployment problem in the US, it's a bootstrapping problem -- too few entry-level positions in professional fields to supply the long-term need for experienced workers in those fields. This fits with my anecdotal observations of my 20-something friends -- their BAs won't even get them on the bottom of the ladder. "who can't be bothered to master these STEM fields": Try: can't afford training in those fields. Try: can't get a job in those fields without years of experience. [1]: http://business.time.com/2012/06/04/the-skills-gap-myth-why-companies-cant-find-good-people/ http://business.time.com/2012/06/04/the-skills-gap-myth-why-...
WalterBright 13y ago
On the other hand, today you can start a business in your bedroom, collaborate with people all over the world to develop a product, and instantly reach a world market with your product, all for pretty much $0.

by Aqueous 13y ago

andyl 13y ago

Classic butthurt!! Maybe this will help: http://bluebirdofbitterness.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/butthurt-report-form.jpg http://bluebirdofbitterness.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/butt...

GuiA 13y ago

The average parent's age for first child has never been higher, just like the rate of 20-somethings still living with their parents. No matter what the reasons for that are, you can't refute that it's bound to have some interesting consequences on the psychology of the 20-somethings in question.

sp332 13y ago
you can't refute Actually, maybe we could, if we had some evidence, which you don't.
wambotron 13y ago
I completely agree. Hell, some first-time parents are as old as many first-time grandparents.
Swizec 13y ago
Average age is only up because women started child bearing later. About a hundred years ago it was common for men in their very late 20's to have finally built a life of their own and get a bride. A bride who was 16 or so because that meant she still had plenty of child bearing years ahead of her. What if men just got back to that same state, while women have joined men in this status instead of having the whole teenage pregnancy thing?
- wambotron 13y ago
  Either you have rich grand/great-grandparents or we come from VERY different places. My family has been historically poor up until my dad, who is just middle class now. Both sides of my family have struggled until death. I don't know of anyone other than maybe one or two who had parents growing up that had "built a life of their own," then married and started a family in their very late 20s.
  - Swizec 13y ago
    Historically I come from a family of peasants. Especially after WW2 both sides of my family were poor, but there was a period before then that one side was rich farmers. They were only rich because my great grandfather bought the farm where he used to work as essentially slave labor (they'd only get food and board in return for being manual labourers, it was a thing back then). But anyway, this age thing was something I read in books about late 19th and very early 20th century.

abduhl 13y ago

Life is hard. Help, you assholes. Are you serious with this statement? This is exactly the attitude that the article and all of the others like it are referring to. Life is hard. Be harder.

sp332 13y ago
Ever wonder why people in third-world countries generally don't grow up to be successful like boomers did? Did you always think it was because they weren't tough enough? Actually, it's because the boomers had an awesome environment to grow up and have a career in. That environment doesn't exist anymore because the economy has tanked. Boomers literally have no idea how good they had it.
- res0nat0r 13y ago
  So you are stating that the hardships of a college student in the USA right now even remotely comparable to a poor person trying to get along in a third world county?
  - sp332 13y ago
    Nope, I'm saying you have to have a really good environment (i.e. "help") to be that successful.
    - sesteel 13y ago
      What does successful mean to you?
- abduhl 13y ago
  Yes, and the millennials have an awesome environment to grow up and have a career in. The tech industry has one of the lowest barriers to entry ever seen. The more advanced science fields are making dramatic strides, all you need is the education and motivation to get into the industry. Quit looking backwards with green tinted glasses and consider how good you yourself have it right now. Take some goddamn responsibility for your own life decisions.

Glyptodon 13y ago

Overall I think the article is true, but I've also been saying the same thing myself about people my age for several years. I'm reminded that a friend of mine in grad school occasionally gets phone calls from the parents of the college students in some of his classes when they do poorly, and that parents are often the ones setting up tutoring and such for their in-college kids, rather than the students themselves. It's plain ridiculous. Feeling like you want to become self supporting and out from under the parental thumb definitely seems to be unusual in my generation.

rewind 13y ago

Yay! Another comment where the younger generation blames the older generation. You see the problem with this type of argument, right?

winstonx 13y ago
The older generation effects the younger generation.
- sesteel 13y ago
  And vice versa. We are all in this together.
  - winstonx 13y ago
    The older generation literally creates the younger generation.

javert 13y ago

> Your self-interested conservative personal responsibility do it yourself policies bankrupted the economy This is a vicious slander. I mean, clearly the student loan education bubble, Freddie and Fannie-backed mortgage bubble, and the Social Security ponzi scheme were based on policies of "personal responsibility" and "do it yourself." As a successful person who is most likely in the same generation as you, I'm looking forward to potentially trying to move to a country where I can take personal responsibility---rather than having people like you claw away whatever I earn to spend on more boondoggles. It is clear that I am no longer welcome in most of the Western world, but just a piece of meat to be taken advantage of.

djur 13y ago
You either don't know what "Social Security" means or you don't know what "ponzi scheme" means.
- javert 13y ago
  Are you aware that the US social security system will become insolvent in the future? It is literally the case that the later taxpayers are paying for earlier taxpayers' social security. It's not formally a Ponzi scheme, because it's not entered to involuntarily, it is forced.
  - djur 13y ago
    Social Security is a pay-as-you-go social insurance program, not a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi scheme is fraudulent because it promises to pay back a greater return than is invested. Social Security is designed to pay back about the same as was invested on average. The reason this works is that the economy and the population are growing over time, so you have more people paying for the current SS generation's retirement than are in the current SS generation. Social Security is a defined-benefit entitlement, so its spending requirements are fairly predictable. The rate of growth of the economy and the population, on the other hand, is not so easily predictable. This is why the Social Security trust fund was established in the 80s -- to patch the gaps that would result from the smallish Generation X paying SS for the Baby Boomers. Depending on how long the Baby Boomers live and how the economy performs over the next few decades, the trust fund may run out in the next few decades. This will require either a cut in benefits or additional revenue for the system. Adjusting the inputs and outputs for a program to keep it in equilibrium in a chaotic, unpredictable world isn't fraudulent or a sign of a broken program. So no, I'm not aware that Social Security will become insolvent in the future. Any of a number of fairly simple adjustments between now and then would prevent the projected benefit cuts. Even in the absence of a fix, Social Security will still pay out the lion's share of its promised benefits.

dkural 13y ago

There a literally millions of open positions in the US economy, and millions of upper-middle class liberal-college educated jobless millennials who can't be bothered to master these STEM fields to qualify. They all want to be an aid worker & save the world or something, or to be paid for playing a banjo. The only reason half of the people even get jobs is better qualified, harder working foreigners are kept out of the United States with immigration barriers. Dear whiny millennial: It's going to get much worse.

rjbwork 13y ago
The previous generations didn't exactly do anything to help us realize this reality. Hell, I feel like I won the roulette wheel of life sometimes in that my CS degree, which I naturally graduated towards, is in great demand. And other kids were pushed equally strongly to their history, sociology, philosophy, and english degrees.
- dkural 13y ago
  Instead of blaming parents for 'no one told us', a second option would be look around and ask: How does philosophy, history, sociology, english help me do something in a company, besides HR, Sales, Marketing, and with luck, Management? What exactly did your friends think they'd do with their degrees, vis-a-vis getting a job?
djur 13y ago
"literally millions of open positions in the US economy": And almost four times as many unemployed people seeking work. Those open positions numbers are based on self-reporting, too, and they don't account for whether companies are actively seeking candidates, are offering a competitive salary, or are expecting reasonable qualifications. Lots of companies would love to hire busloads of experts at a bargain rate if they were available, but in the absence of a bumper crop of cheap geniuses they're happy to stand pat. Surveys have shown that companies are having more trouble hiring people who have enough relevant experience than people with sufficient educational qualifications or technical skills [1]. To the extent there's a structural unemployment problem in the US, it's a bootstrapping problem -- too few entry-level positions in professional fields to supply the long-term need for experienced workers in those fields. This fits with my anecdotal observations of my 20-something friends -- their BAs won't even get them on the bottom of the ladder. "who can't be bothered to master these STEM fields": Try: can't afford training in those fields. Try: can't get a job in those fields without years of experience. [1]: http://business.time.com/2012/06/04/the-skills-gap-myth-why-companies-cant-find-good-people/ http://business.time.com/2012/06/04/the-skills-gap-myth-why-...

WalterBright 13y ago

On the other hand, today you can start a business in your bedroom, collaborate with people all over the world to develop a product, and instantly reach a world market with your product, all for pretty much $0.