Posted on 05/28/2026 11:50:55 AM PDT by ProgressingAmerica
For many millennials, the economy can feel like a game of musical chairs where previous generations already grabbed the seats, refinanced them at 3% interest and now insist there are still plenty left if younger people would just "budget better." Somewhere along the way, the American dream started feeling less like a finish line and more like one of those carnival games rigged just enough to keep people throwing money at it.
That frustration spilled into Reddit's r/economy subreddit when one millennial who grew up in the 1990s posted a blunt message about the growing disconnect between younger Americans and boomers over money, housing and financial expectations.
"I'm a millennial who grew up in the 90s and what boomers don't understand about us is that we're working three times as hard for a third of what they had at our age," the Redditor wrote. "And the milestones they want us to hit weren't postponed by laziness, they were priced out of reach by the economy they voted for."
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
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“You didn’t have to respond, but you did.”
Just correcting your false post.
Next time, get your facts straight.
That sounds exactly like a communist talking point.
When I was working for NY State Corrections, I used to swap days off with another Sergeant. We both had weekend off jobs. We worked two 16 hour weekdays in a row, then worked our regular shift on the third day (Wednesday), so we could hook up four straight days off. Having four days off in a row was nice. Then they eliminated his job, and we couldn't swap anymore. I could never work those same hours today. Old age has taken its toll.
Aye aye, Captain Troll.
Same here. And it isn't just inflation, but also the extra taxes which have clearly gotten out of control. Property tax being the most heinous. At best, it should just be a flat rate per home. It's a joke to call it 'home ownership' when you have to pay for the privilege every year to be allowed to keep it.
But I too remember making a lot less and having it go much further. Despite all of the rhetoric about how well the economy is doing, that's a joke, and it has been for some time. Sadly, I think it's going to take a major correction to normalize it somewhat.
keep fighting the good fight, bozo
Exactly. At the peak of pensions, about mid-70s/early 1980s, only 38% of private company workers had them. Through in government, police, and public service pensions, and it was maybe 50 percent. And many pensions systems (companies and some states like KY) went broke, were frozen and paid out far less than promised (or not at all). Go look at the list of company pensions now run by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. It’s rather large.
Pensions were not portable and many could not be accessed before age 65. The concept of early retirement and FIRE weren’t a thing back then. The company controlled you.
* throw. (SMH)
I WAS BORN IN 1939....
FIRST FULL TIME JOB OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL WAS IN AN OFFICE—AND WAS CONSIDERED A VERY GOOD JOB WITH A WELL KNOWN COMPANY. I WAS 17.
I MADE $1.30 AN HOUR GROSS===$52.00 A WEEK BEFORE TAXES—ABOUT $34.00 A WEEK AFTER TAXES...
THIS JOB REQUIRED NICE CLOTHES & HIGH HEELS & STOCKINGS. THAT ALONE WAS HARD ON THE BUDGET.
Thanks for posting the picture. That was the year I graduated high school.
WE NEVER SPENT MONEY ON CELL PHONES—APPS—FOOD DELIVERIES—UBER—CONCERTS.ETC.
NOT SO MUCH WHAT YOU EARN-—IT IS WHAT YOU SPEND IT ON.
If I had a brain, I’d cancel Comcast - $287/mo, about $3,400 a year to watch my TV and use my computer. It’s insane.
Oh Boo Fuckin Hoo! Should I cry that my parents first home was under 2K or my grand parents who arrived in 56 paid under 3K for their first home? Maybe I should whine about the homes they bought in 68 and 69 that were both under 28K? I was being paid a $1.65 an hour in my first job, now little bitches are being paid $20 an hour doing moron level work in fast food in California......and they are whining.
The lady cop he accosted wasn't so lucky.
Elderly, thong-wearing Florida man busted for exposing himself around apartment complex, claimed it was his ‘right to walk around naked’
A thong-wearing, 79-year-old Florida man was arrested for allegedly “consistently” exposing himself and making lewd gestures around his apartment complex — and argued to police that it was his “right to walk around naked.”
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4381156/posts
Glad to see the Gator made bail.
work a little harder.
they’re all called progressives. they’re pro-globalism / one-world order
you find them in both parties.
I was commenting on the article author’s comments.
Let me know when these kids are working 16 hour days for 5 days a week plus a few extra hours on the weekend just to impress the boss - for 7 years, then get passed over for bonuses or moving up.
I don’t think they’re working 3 times harder than we did. It would be nearly impossible to do.
I was fighting when you were a spark in your mom’s eye.
Punk.
L
There are reasons why things are as they are.
CARS
Motor vehicles are expensive because they are far more complex and because health care has gotten more complex and expensive.
NOTE: One of my neighbors gave me a ride home a few weeks ago. She had bought a car about a decade old in great shape for about $14,000. She makes her living getting health insurers to pay a medical group.
HOUSES
Houses have gotten expensive because:
1. builder profit margins run ~14% nowadays [large builders] instead of ~3% decades ago [self-employed builders]
2. impact fees ($30,000 to $100,000 on middle class houses)
3. more supervision (more building inspecting, permit review)
4. engineering of single-family housing in places like Florida and site plan engineering in many places
5. blower door & plumbing testing
6. exotic gas double glazing
7. another layer of contracting (my uncle hired worker/worker pair contractors, builders nowadays contract contractors who contract with Hispanic subcontract teams)
8. fancier kitchens
9. people overpaid for houses to get cheap Covid era mortgage money
10. Covid era overpaying created a long-running price runup
11. overpriced stocks mean people buy real estate if it is not as overpriced as stocks
12. Chinese money seeking safety from possible PRC seizure drives housing prices up in glamour areas
13. massive immigration
14. federal politicians do their best to prevent recessions and depressions that would deflate housing price booms
15. California multi-family conversion of single-family zoning areas make fleeing Californians able to pay top dollar [one can build four-housing units instead of just one on a single-family lot]
16. 12-unit/acre zoning is now used to build expensive “villas” instead of cheap “garden apartments”
“watch my TV”
I borrow DVDs from the public library.
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