“Proof That Boomers Have No Idea How Much Anything Costs”

I think what you're seeing there is the built-up frustration of younger generations constantly being told

-just stop buying avocado toast
-your student loans that you needed to get a job that pays a living wage are your fault, and
-if your job doesn't pay a living wage, you should have gone to college to get a "real" job
-no one wants to work
-I had a house and three kids at your age. What's wrong with you?
-NIMBY! We're not going to build affordable housing here where we want you to work because it might decrease the property value of the house I bought for pennies in 1972, alter my view, or bring "the poors" into town.

etc. etc.

It's not really about Grandma's gift. It's the economic death by a thousand cuts that the younger generations are experiencing, while those who already got theirs stand by criticizing.

Whether she's right or wrong about that money helping buy a house, she still sounds like an ungrateful brat. Her condescending attitude towards the older generation is what her parents should be upset about. She's representing the stereotypical Gen-Z (millenial? not sure of her age) entitlement attitude very well.

I read this in the article.. I think she's correct and I am a boomer.


"Despite being appreciative of the offer of $1,500, Andi emphasizes that it’s not nearly enough to help her buy a house. She cannot help but laugh at the idea." She spent $1000 to fly home. the idea that $1,500 would impact her ability to buy a house is ridiculous.

Ungrateful...

I, of course, know what has happened to the rise of costs, but also the rise in incomes.

I remember working full time making $30 a week. But gas was less then $.25 a gallon (I don't remember when it hit $.25).

Look, I am sorry, it is simply true that as a Gen X-er who is mostly around boomers (or older) professionally, many of them have zero sense how much the costs of housing and education in particular have bloated for millennials and gen Z, and have very unrealistic assumptions about what they can hope to afford. Many also are not in touch with the precarity or credentialism of modern employment. A lot of my retiring colleagues got their jobs in their 20s -- now, entry-level jobs in my field generally ask that in addition to having top grades from a top law school, you clerk for a federal judge, do one or more two-year fellowships and/or get a PhD on top of your JD, write and publish before actually having a tenure-track job, and oh, it would be great if you could also get some practice experience relevant to teaching. That's why entry-level candidates now are more often in their mid 30s, and only that age can now even think about something like buying a home. And that is all while we increasingly rely on adjuncts who are paid in circus peanuts and have fewer tenure-track jobs whose wages haven't kept pace with inflation.

Sorry for the rant. But $1500 in a country where "starter homes" in the places where young people can get jobs are $750,000 really isn't making a dent, and she's right.

As usual, you put it perfectly and much more succinctly and politely than my “fuck you” comment. 😁

I’m a Gen X mom to Gen Z kids who are having trouble getting their feet under them in spite of doing all the right things. We help with as much as we are able, but there are some things we just can’t do for them. 

Anyways, bravo to your comment. 

Agree. My 22 yo in her first professional job is so disheartened by both the job market and the housing market. It's hard to hear her because nothing she's saying is wrong. All I can do is listen and do whatever I can to get people in office who will make change.

I was having coffee with a former student who got a "job offer" of this: you can work here unpaid for a year, and at the end of the year, we will consider hiring you into a position. We only hire people who work first unpaid for a year." This was a student with top grades, and I won't name the employer here but it employs a lot of people, and I personally know people my age that worked there straight out of law school in regular paid positions. Things have gotten nutso.

Holy crap. That is insane. What’s worse is that there are probably enough people that take them up on it (I don’t fault them. They’re probably desperate for any work with the promise of something.), so it will only encourage the company to continue to do this. 
 
With all I’m seeing and hearing about, I’m becoming more of a socialist every day.  

Thank you. 

I guess the job market is good for people already moving around in their careers and maybe for blue-collar and unskilled jobs? Certainly not for new college grads from average families. I know my kid’s two roommates got jobs right after graduation, but that was also because they had parents with connections to get them those jobs. We don’t have such connections. 

I think expectations come into play as well.

These days, the expectation of starter cars and starter homes are way different, than when I was a young adult.

Many young adults today expect all the bells and whistles and upgrades, right from the start. They want it *all *, and they don't want to sacrifice their daily fancy beverages, going out socially, eating out, the latest and greatest electronics, etc...
They don't want dated, lesser quality, hand me downs, to go without, etc... 

😳🤦🏼‍♀️

Increases in the prices of housing and education, in particular, have far outstripped increases in wages over the same time period.

Are there any jobs a young person can get these days that includes a pension? I thought they had gone the way of dinosaurs as far a perks/wages/benefits.