Glenn R. McMannly
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It boils down to jealousy.
I have a net worth just under $1.5M USD.
I have a net worth just under $1.5M USD.
Why the disdain for “rich” people ?
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Oh, yeah? Well MY net worth is $1.51 million! So THERE!
People that worry too much about who has what need more to do, IMO.
silicosys4
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No, it boils down to disparity and lack of opportunity.
It may be but I still have what I got. And one million is not what is what it was
Envy has always been around but I think this era of a huge wealth disparity is increasing resentment along with all of the publicity about it
Jäger1
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Other facts in play (sometimes called Inconvenient Truths).
The kiddies talking about "the boomers" need to learn to stop worrying about what "the boomers" have, blaming them for owning more in their late 60's/70's after a lifetime of work than they do right now as they're starting their working lives, and thinking economics and getting a start in life was always fat and easy for those "boomers".
I bought my first home when mortgage rates were within my reach as a single cop after I saved enough money for a down payment, as long as I worked overtime to also have a social life and do some hunting, fishing, and skiing as a single young man rather than just work and pay bills.
Then my 8% mortgage became an 18% mortgage in Carter's "great malaise". I couldn't work enough overtime to cover that, and there was no end in sight.
I lost the house and immediately went back to being a renter, back to living (happily) in another basement apartment. It took me years to get back to entering the home market again. Home prices weren't the same when I purchased again a decade later.
Here in Whitefish MT - a resort town as well as a town of blue collar workers (and favorite destination for newly retired/quit veterans), we have lots of the "younger generations' complaining that they can't afford to buy a home here in this town and start families. "The boomers" and "the rich" (I fall into both those pejoratives) own all the property.
My wife bought our house here 23 years ago, fresh out of university to start her architect career, busting her butt putting 100+ hours a week into paying the bills while establishing herself, while I was away, headed back to the military in the new war, my pay combined with hers to pay the bills.
We managed to pay the bills over that time, and our house is now worth about three times more than my wife initially paid for it. We were one home on a one acre lot surrounded by mostly trees and a similar house here and there along the gravel road, just like ours. Now there are no unbuilt lots, the gravel road is now a street, our home value has increased, both due to demand - and people complain they can't buy a home in Whitefish just exactly like we did.
The problem with their complaint is they actually don't want to buy a home in Whitefish exactly like we did. Not just what we did to buy that home, but for both of us, we had previously purchased very small homes in far less desirable places. Houses that we sold than for more than we bought them, to put towards a down payment on the next home in another place in our life journey.
The complainers about the boomers owning everything aren't willing to do it the way we and many other people did.
Now, if they were willing to go to other towns in Montana to work and buy a starter home to start their family, they could easily buy what they complain they can't do here in Whitefish.
A nice starter home in Wolf Point, for example, will cost them about $120k. The median home price here in Whitefish is somewhere around $870k... which they complain they can't afford. The different price in rental housing is about the same.
Of course, small Montana towns like Wolf Point have jobs. The complainers' problem (presumably) is that unlike here in Whitefish, they don't have a ski hill 15 minutes out of the town center, anything like Flathead Lake a few minutes away, a national park half an hour away, nor what is termed "a vibrant social scene", etc.
At the same time, 20 minutes from our house, Weyerhauser has three different mills and advertises they're looking for employees to start at $26/hr - and they offer a $5,000 bonus in order to attract enough applicants to fill those production worker jobs. Can't make a start saving toward a home being paid that?
For those straight out of high school or starting over, camp jobs in the oil patch and mining are still looking for entry level laborers at equal or higher rates of pay.
The whiners about "wealth inequality", "the rich", "the boomers", etc seem to have a faulty knowledge of economics,"the rich" - and what people have always done to improve their financial lot in life since before Marx invented and then wrote out the lower and upper classes.
Whining about who owns everything, the rich, "wealth inequality", etc is one sure way to ensure you stay in the same financial situation that you are right now.
silicosys4
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Probably fair, our other generations don't appear to have the intestinal fortitude to live within their means either. But it was the boomers who owned the decades when changes could, and should, have been made so I think the lion's share of responsibility lies with them, and I am one.
The new catch word, food insecurity. I volunteer at a food pantry now after years volunteering at MOWs
The people who come in every Tuesday drive better cars than the volunteers and look pretty well fed. No judgement, we just hand the food out, that’s for the Lord to decide.
If one makes a minimal effort there are organizations giving out the necessities in almost, if not every town in America.
MOW’s still delivers to the home.
The people who come in every Tuesday drive better cars than the volunteers and look pretty well fed. No judgement, we just hand the food out, that’s for the Lord to decide.
If one makes a minimal effort there are organizations giving out the necessities in almost, if not every town in America.
MOW’s still delivers to the home.
silicosys4
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This is exactly right, and reading back through the thread, I see a lot of people who wish to blame "jealosy" instead of disparity.
Jealosy has not culpability aside from the person who is jealous.
Disparity implies that the people who were the main voting block during the time when disparity became so disproportionate have at least some culpability.
Autonomous
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50 years ago when I entered the workforce a million bucks was a lot of money.
Now, a million bucks is indeed a nice chunk but not 'I'm rich' money anymore.
My first regular job paid $82.25 take home per week. My first house was $37.000, 100 years old and in need of a new roof, etc.
I was laid off in the 80s and my unemployment was about to run out. Talked to the local unemployment office. Asked why the young, healthy and strong guys up the street could continue to collect benefits for an extended period of time. "That's because they don't have any collateral in a home or paid off car."
Note that those unemployment laws were written before Boomers came into power.
No guilt.
Now, a million bucks is indeed a nice chunk but not 'I'm rich' money anymore.
My first regular job paid $82.25 take home per week. My first house was $37.000, 100 years old and in need of a new roof, etc.
I was laid off in the 80s and my unemployment was about to run out. Talked to the local unemployment office. Asked why the young, healthy and strong guys up the street could continue to collect benefits for an extended period of time. "That's because they don't have any collateral in a home or paid off car."
Note that those unemployment laws were written before Boomers came into power.
No guilt.
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Jäger1
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What sort of credibility regarding any facet of economics should we assign to a YooToober social influencer who describes himself as "GenZ", as he apparently is studying psychology in Austin Texas? His answer is the complaining prejorative "Hey Boomer" and advocacy for socialism as a cure?
Why not address the alleged "economic disparities" by referencing actual economists that grew up and worked to address the "disparities" they were borne into, disparities far worse than this GenZ YooTuber psychology student ever dreamed of experiencing?
(BTW, if this 20-something YooTuber social influencer and psychology student had signed up for three years of military service, a grateful nation would have chipped in $64,000 dollars towards paying any college loans he took out, on top of his monthly military paycheck, never mind the GI Bill)
silicosys4
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Did you have any comments about the content, or are you just going to throw out a cheap Ad Hominem attack and call it good?
Its clear from your comment that you didn't actually watch the video. You should. Its pretty interesting and dives pretty deep into the economic theory of our current situation.
Yes. Socialism is where we are going next, I fear. That seems to be where the younger generations are headed. Frankly although I think the solution is incorrect and misguided, I can hardly blame them for feeling like they were shafted and wishing for an economic system that works better for them.
Jäger1
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The "Hey Boomer" generation ended in 1964. Those born after the Boomer generation have been able to vote since 1982. The national debt in 1982 was about $1 trillion.
Blaming the other $36 trillion in debt on the Boomers as though they're the only ones voting doesn't have any basis in reality.
Particularly when Boomers increasingly die off and the following generations surpass them in their numbers as voters.
My detail guy who owns a business was in need of help. He is NOT a boomer. He solicited online and went to automotive tech schools.
His offer was to send people to California to go to Ceramic Pro school. He was going to pay for the school, the plane fare, meals, hotels, everything. If you decide to leave the shop at some point, you have a skill fully paid for.
A young fellow comes in and tells Brian he wants $25 to start. OK, Brian says, see that car over there, vacuum the carpet and let me know when you are done.
Generation whatever, can’t keep up, comes back and tells Brian he is done.
Brian goes over, looks at the carpet, seems ok. He then lifts the mats up and sees all kinds of dirt and debris.
Kid still demands $25 to start…..he was shown his way out. Don’t burn those burgers.
His offer was to send people to California to go to Ceramic Pro school. He was going to pay for the school, the plane fare, meals, hotels, everything. If you decide to leave the shop at some point, you have a skill fully paid for.
A young fellow comes in and tells Brian he wants $25 to start. OK, Brian says, see that car over there, vacuum the carpet and let me know when you are done.
Generation whatever, can’t keep up, comes back and tells Brian he is done.
Brian goes over, looks at the carpet, seems ok. He then lifts the mats up and sees all kinds of dirt and debris.
Kid still demands $25 to start…..he was shown his way out. Don’t burn those burgers.
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Jäger1
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Yes, I actually watched enough of that video and bits of a few of his other videos to see the repeated use of the word "Boomer" as a prejorative, along with the Marxist/socialist blame game. And the underlying current of Marxist theology that he bases his view of economics on.
You had no time to rebutt what I posted in response to your other than claiming it was nothing but cheap Ad Hominem attacks similar to the popular "Hey Boomer"?
I'm one of those Boomers he blames the country's woes on in monetizing his current career as a social influencer while studying psychology - NOT economics - in university.
I was obligated to take at least one course in The Dismal Science in every one of the four years to obtain my criminology degree. I willingly declare I took no more than the minimum, but I did take them. I didn't enjoy those courses, but I had to pay attention and pass them. One part of those economics courses was exploring the economics of Marx's communism in his published works.
With that economics background, small though it is, I willingly say I have little time for socialist/Marxist whining, excuses, and the blame game. And those playing that game, whatever their age, whether or not they are a student or social influencer.
Now, it is equally clear from the link you provided (and continue to posit as a credible source for presenting economic theory) that you haven't read or watched any of Dr. Thomas Sowell's books or columns on economic theory or our current situation.
I provided you with a link in opposition to the one you provided to me. I'll give you all the time you need to read though Dr. Sowell's work on wealth inequality so you can explain how this psychology student social influencer has a better understanding of economics than Sowell, and why he is right and Sowell is wrong.
If Dr. Sowell and his economists' view on this or other economic subjects is unsettling, you could test this YouToobers' view on economics against those of Dr. Walter Williams. Or if that doesn't work, test his theories on one more economist: Dr. Milton Friedman who won the Pulitzer Prize for economics.
Neither having a YouTube channel nor being a psychology student in college has anything to do with having a working knowledge of economics or being any kind of authority on the subject.
silicosys4
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None of that addresses any of the points made in the video I provided.
Autonomous
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What hurts younger generations worse than economic swings is the glorification and embrace of victimhood.
Jäger1
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The Boomer Blame Game ends with those born in 1964; those born after that year have been voting on Social Security and all other budget issues since 1982. Voters in the 2024 election were borne in 2006, 24 years later, if my math is right.
That's about 12 federal elections, I guess. I won't do the web search, but the "Hey Boomer" generations born in 1965 and since probably outnumber the Boomers in voter numbers by now. I don't see any tendency among their ranks to want to cut back government waste, bloat, and unjustifiable entitlements and politically motivated identity class earmarks and spending.
Or for that matter, deal with the reality that programs like Social Security, Medicare, etc are well on their way to being unfunded in the near future.
That is not news to me; I've realized that for about 40 years. Dr. Milton Friedman was writing back in the 1970's on how these were essentially operating as pyramid scams since FDR, and were ultimately unsustainable as arranged and ran.
He pointed out that a worker allowed to invest half of what the federal government forcibly takes as SS deductions, would ultimately end up in retirement getting much more in retirement funds from their investments as they would in SS with the federal government "managing" their retirement.
I'm equally certain that I'm not the only Boomer whose financial planning doesn't take what I would get from Social Security into account. I have planned for decades as though it did not and quite possibly wouldn't exist.
If those in the younger generations and their "Hey Boomer" Blame Game believe that they can somehow or other rely on SS once they have taken the Boomers off the Social Security payment roles by legislation or by Boomers dying and no longer receiving SS...
...well, I almost certainly won't be here, but it is really going to suck to be them.
silicosys4
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When I vote to end social security and Medicare, it will be with full knowledge that I will be voting to end it for myself as well, even if it means losing every dollar that has been forcibly taken from my wages.
This geriatric welfare state is destroying our country and has got to go.
People are living far longer than the system was designed for and extract far more in benefits than they paid in, even after adjustments for inflation, and it is fiscally unsustainable.
Older people have been sold this delusion that they can produce nothing for literally decades while also owning large amounts of equity without having to liquidate any of it, while extracting equity from a working class that is financially on the rocks
Tell me how that isn't socialism, and how it makes economic sense
