4 ms·

Relative to the year 2000 is the part that scares me the most. It seems that largely things have changed for the worse over the last decade. For Massachusetts:

Relative to the year 2000 is the part that scares me the most. It seems that largely things have changed for the worse over the last decade. For Massachusetts: Lower employment by an entire %4. Lower wages by 4k/year (%10 less!!!), adjusted for inflation. More people living with parents, fewer people living alone (read: piled into group houses with their former college roommates/friends). More people in poverty. More people never married (can't afford a real wedding, or ring). More people with higher education, likely not being put to use. Student loan debt and credit card debt aren't even listed on here as statistics. The bleakest part is that the damage has mostly already been done to this cohort of people who I am a part of. The low wages now cripple wage growth in the future, which is bound to be bearish for people who aren't already rich. The race to the bottom is a real thing. Thankfully, many people are starting to refer to our period of time as "late capitalism" for increasingly obvious reasons. Things will have to bottom out and improve at some point.

existencebox 12y ago
While I agree with your takeaway, I think you have to be careful which of those points you bucket under the same influence. Take Marriage, for instance. There's a lot that suggests that the newer generations simply put less stead in traditional institutions; not as a sign of wealth. Anecdotally, I was "half engaged" ('we're going to get married eventually, right?' 'yup.') but sans the ring/formality part for nearly a decade before we started settling things down. It just doesn't have the same meaning to us as to my parents, and although I can say my financial future seems a lot less stable than my parents's at my age, despite a _better_ employment position, that's not why I've avoided the ring song and dance. That turned into a bit of a ramble, but you get my gist, I hope. I think we'd agree that having a broader sampling of metrics (including more hand wavy sociological ones) that might try and explain not only the statistics but whether we should be trying to correlate them at all would be valuable.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
ProAm 12y ago
> More people never married (can't afford a real wedding, or ring). You cannot leap to the conclusion that people are not getting married because they cannot afford it. I seriously doubt that is correlated (of course I have no proof either).
- ams6110 12y ago
  Agree, there have always been courthouse weddings that are very inexpensive. If your SO is holding out for a $1,000 (or more) piece of carbon, might be good to have a chat about that before going any further.
- Kluny 12y ago
  It's not that they can't afford the wedding. I think it's more of a refusal to settle down and commit with someone who doesn't have a stable career/future, or the inflexibility of a spouse whom you'll have to convince to move when the only job options you can find are in a different state.
IndianAstronaut 12y ago
The next obvious thing that will start to happen is higher crime. Lots of unemployed, lots of time on hands, and no future.
- Kluny 12y ago
  I've actually seen more than one article commenting about how strange it is that there hasn't been a rise in crime yet.
  - droidist2 12y ago
    With all the medications young people are given to chemically induce well-behavedness I'm not surprised.
    - markyc 12y ago
      also wii, iphones and facebook
    - cryoshon 12y ago
      I agree with your take on things generally speaking, but I don't think it's necessarily correlated with the crime rate. It's hard to color outside the lines when your brain is being flooded with chemical compliance, but think about the people who are going to be on psychoactive prescriptions in the first place: people who can afford very expensive and time consuming behavioral healthcare. The subset of people who can afford behavioral healthcare are probably much better off than the people who would resort to crime in an economic downturn.

existencebox 12y ago

While I agree with your takeaway, I think you have to be careful which of those points you bucket under the same influence. Take Marriage, for instance. There's a lot that suggests that the newer generations simply put less stead in traditional institutions; not as a sign of wealth. Anecdotally, I was "half engaged" ('we're going to get married eventually, right?' 'yup.') but sans the ring/formality part for nearly a decade before we started settling things down. It just doesn't have the same meaning to us as to my parents, and although I can say my financial future seems a lot less stable than my parents's at my age, despite a _better_ employment position, that's not why I've avoided the ring song and dance. That turned into a bit of a ramble, but you get my gist, I hope. I think we'd agree that having a broader sampling of metrics (including more hand wavy sociological ones) that might try and explain not only the statistics but whether we should be trying to correlate them at all would be valuable.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

ProAm 12y ago

> More people never married (can't afford a real wedding, or ring). You cannot leap to the conclusion that people are not getting married because they cannot afford it. I seriously doubt that is correlated (of course I have no proof either).

ams6110 12y ago
Agree, there have always been courthouse weddings that are very inexpensive. If your SO is holding out for a $1,000 (or more) piece of carbon, might be good to have a chat about that before going any further.
Kluny 12y ago
It's not that they can't afford the wedding. I think it's more of a refusal to settle down and commit with someone who doesn't have a stable career/future, or the inflexibility of a spouse whom you'll have to convince to move when the only job options you can find are in a different state.

IndianAstronaut 12y ago

The next obvious thing that will start to happen is higher crime. Lots of unemployed, lots of time on hands, and no future.

Kluny 12y ago
I've actually seen more than one article commenting about how strange it is that there hasn't been a rise in crime yet.
- droidist2 12y ago
  With all the medications young people are given to chemically induce well-behavedness I'm not surprised.
  - markyc 12y ago
    also wii, iphones and facebook
  - cryoshon 12y ago
    I agree with your take on things generally speaking, but I don't think it's necessarily correlated with the crime rate. It's hard to color outside the lines when your brain is being flooded with chemical compliance, but think about the people who are going to be on psychoactive prescriptions in the first place: people who can afford very expensive and time consuming behavioral healthcare. The subset of people who can afford behavioral healthcare are probably much better off than the people who would resort to crime in an economic downturn.