Millennials Didn't Kill the Economy. The Economy Killed Millennials.

[eppur_se_muova]

The American system has thrown them into debt, depressed their wages, kept them from buying homes—and then blamed them for everything.

Dec 6, 2018
Derek Thompson
Staff writer at The Atlantic



When a staid American institution is declared dead, the news media like to haul the same usual suspect before the court of public opinion: the Millennial generation.

The 80 million–plus people born in the United States between the early 1980s and the late 1990s stand accused of assassinating various hallmarks of modern life. The list of the deceased includes golf, department stores, the McDonald’s McWrap, and canned tuna. Millennials tore up napkins, threw out mayonnaise, and mercifully disposed of divorce and Applebee’s before graduating to somewhat postmodern crimes: “Have Millennials Killed Serendipity?” With the national murder rate in long-term decline, it may even be said that Millennials are killing killing.

But according to a new report by economists at the Federal Reserve, this genre of news analysis is pure fiction.

When researchers compared the spending habits of Millennials with those of young people from past years, such as the Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, they concluded that “Millennials do not appear to have preferences for consumption that differ significantly from those of earlier generations.” They also found that “Millennials are less well off than members of earlier generations when they were young, with lower earnings, fewer assets, and less wealth.”
***
more: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/12/stop-blaming-millennials-killing-economy/577408/



Not too long a read, and worth it.

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Very good article and probably one of the most accurate ones I've read, on state of mind of ...

this generation. Promised the moon (like I was in the late 1970s-1980s) and then everything seemed to go belly up, w/ wages getting stagnant in the 80s and continuing afterwards, all while prices still continued to go up. I don't blame Millennials for being upset. A lot of us are.

[Sentath]

2. There we go ( :

A properly academic response to the 'Millennials have killed XX' meme.

[violetpastille]

3. Kick

It was a good article. Not to long. Engaging. Cut through a lot of bullshit stereotypes.

[Moebym]

4. Glad to see this.

I'm beyond sick and tired of hearing people I know who are older disparage those in my generation and the one that came after and blame all of the problems in the world and in our country on the youth while denying their own substantial involvement.

[brush]

5. Worth a read. Millennials got screwed by repug economic downturns just...

as they were coming into career-building years. Previous generations had cyclical recessions that we got through (Nixon's, Reagan's, HW Bush's), they were waylaid by not just trickle down foolishness and W's Great Recession which cratered the economy, but by the ongoing offshoring of jobs by corporations.

And that offshoring is going to continue as one of the provisions of the repugs just passed tax scam is huge tax break to corporations who send jobs overseas or below the border (GM closing plants here and moving them to Mexico.

Can't blame them for being pissed. They should take it out on the repugs and their policies.

[appalachiablue]

6. Gen X & Millennials even more, have been ripped off by Reaganomics,

deregulation, ending unions, guaranteed pension plans and benefits; huge increases in college tuition, health care and housing costs; outsourcing jobs and companies via trade agreements to Latin America and Asia.

The changes have impacted livelihoods, security and futures for too many. Younger Americans scrounging for work in the new 'gig economy' live dramatically different lives with lower standards than their parents and grandparents. It reeks.

[demmiblue]

7. K&R

[dogknob]

8. ...A young man... ain't got nuthin' in the world these days

[nitpicker]

10. From The Atlantic article re college costs

(snip)
Millennials are the most educated generation in U.S. history to date. They bought into a social contract that said: Everything will work out, if first you go to college. But as the cost of college increased, millions of young people took on student loans to complete their degree. Graduates under 35 are almost 50 percent more likely than members of Gen X to have student loans, and their median balance is about 40 percent higher than that of the previous generation.

And what has all that debt gotten them? “Lower earnings, fewer assets, and less wealth,” according to the Federal Reserve paper’s conclusion. Student debt has made it harder for millions of young people to buy a home, since “holding debt is associated with a lower rate of homeownership, irrespective of degree type,” as Fed economists wrote in a previous study. In other words, young people took on debt to pursue a college degree, only to discover that the cost of college would push the American dream further from their grasp.
(snip)