Are millenials the screwed generation?

[MillCreek]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/07/15/are-millennials-the-screwed-generation.html

Interesting article, and I worry about this from the standpoint of my kids who are 25 and 21.

[RevDisk]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/07/15/are-millennials-the-screwed-generation.html

Interesting article, and I worry about this from the standpoint of my kids who are 25 and 21.

Yep. We're screwed. And our elders rigged it quite intentionally to be that way.

[Ron]

And yet they vote ever more increasingly "left".

You think you are screwed now, wait for the dystopia the millennial whiners create out of the rubble. (present APS'rs excluded of course).

We're abandoning traditional values and our founding principles at great risk.

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

  

[seeker_two]

Wanna bet the millenials will support mandatory euthanasia for the elderly in the next ten years?.....

[MicroBalrog]

Wanna bet the millenials will support mandatory euthanasia for the elderly in the next ten years?.....

In which country will this occur and how much are you betting?

[RevDisk]

Wanna bet the millenials will support mandatory euthanasia for the elderly in the next ten years?.....

While funny and it really would cut down on the largest driver of socialism, I doubt it will happen.

[zahc]

I agree with the general idea that the millennials are screwed, due to policies enacted by the previous generation(s). Which is why I don't ascribe to the concept of a social contract. If it's possible for one generation to sign up the following generation for obligations, and for said following generation to be lawfully bound to those obligations, then essentially that's admitting that you can be born into a social contract. To believe that is to believe that slavery is lawful as long as you are born into it.

[kgbsquirrel]

I agree with the general idea that the millennials are screwed, due to policies enacted by the previous generation(s). Which is why I don't ascribe to the concept of a social contract. If it's possible for one generation to sign up the following generation for obligations, and for said following generation to be lawfully bound to those obligations, then essentially that's admitting that you can be born into a social contract. To believe that is to believe that slavery is lawful as long as you are born into it.

Well said.

[Jamie B]

Yep. We're screwed. And our elders rigged it quite intentionally to be that way.

And our current politicians are ensuring that the pain will continue for years.

[Nick1911]

Yep. We're screwed. And our elders rigged it quite intentionally to be that way.

Yup, this.

I can see why our generation is pissed off.  They got screwed on the "Everyone must go to college" thing; massive debt for devalued degrees, they got screwed on the job thing (What, you want to be flipping burgers your whole life?  VS. Why don't you worthless bums go get a job at McDonalds?), no more comfy pension plans, no more decent HMO's, etc; and they generally got screwed being priced out of affordable housing in many areas.

I managed to, by some fortune, avoid these pitfalls.  It wasn't planned.

I'd be rather happy if our generation can make the US more socially liberal and fiscially conservative.  But, I don't know that we are going to make it that long before the value of the dollar, and thus the american standard of living collapses.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

We're at the cusp of a post-scarcity society. We'll never see it come to fruition, as the bank is going to come and repossess our Mr. Fusion before that happens. Maybe it'll be possible in another hundred years.

[RoadKingLarry]

You youngster quit yer bellyaching and get back to work so I can retire on my social security in 15 17 20 years...

[Jamisjockey]

And yet they vote ever more increasingly "left".

You think you are screwed now, wait for the dystopia the millennial whiners create out of the rubble. (present APS'rs excluded of course).

We're abandoning traditional values and our founding principles at great risk.

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

  

I have no problem abandoning traditional values.  The real problem is, what are they abandonded for?  Dictatorship is the oldest form of government, and we do nothing to evolve as a species when we head backwards.

[brimic]

I think this type of whining happens every generation, but gets worse with each one.

My dad's generation- he was in his 20s during the 70s- no jobs, similar to now, he worked a low paying full time factory jon alog with 3 par time jobs to make ends meet. People then took whatever work they could get.
------------------------------
--in between was a booming economy----
-------------------------------
I graduated college in the early 90s- the economy was still in the 'Bush recession,' not as bad as now or in the 70's but a recession nonetheless.I heard a lot of kids who were my age grieving because they were expecting to be handed $40k+ jobs when they graduated and very few of them were. I ended up continuing to work in a factory for $10/hr for another 2 years before I found a job in my field- at $10.50/hr doing very dangerous chemistry. I was 6 years out of college before I made over $20/hr. Most of the people I've worked with in the same age range followed a similar track and didn't start earning a lot of money until the economy boomed again.
-------------------------------
------in between was a booming economy
-------------------------------
We now have reports that we need 'guest workers' and need to open the borders in order to fill jobs that white people won't do. Apparantly factory, construction, and agricultural work is beneath their delicate sensibilities...
I do put some blame on the previous generation- not only for increasing the size and scope of the socialist welfare state, but for letting their kids live a soft life.

[makattak]

I'd be rather happy if our generation can make the US more socially liberal and fiscially conservative.  But, I don't know that we are going to make it that long before the value of the dollar, and thus the american standard of living collapses.

And the liberals would be happy if the US were socialist and sustainable.

It can't happen. "Social" liberalism is incompatible with "fiscal" conservatism. Some individuals (apparently such as yourself) may be able to hold these opposite positions, but the vast majority of humanity cannot.

"Social" liberalism entails no responsibility for one's actions, no limits on one's own behavior and a complete denial of the nature of man. "Fiscal" liberalism entails no responsibility for one's actions, no limits on one's behavior and a complete denial of the nature of man.

The only difference in the two is that "social" liberalism is mainly about sex (Oh! and drugs!) while "fiscal" liberalism is about money. Though some few (such as libertarians) will accept that there are consequences to being frivilous about money while believing there are no such consequences about sex, the vast majority of people who are disposed to want license in all things sexual are likely to want license in all things economic.

[Ron]

I have no problem abandoning traditional values.  The real problem is, what are they abandoned for?  Dictatorship is the oldest form of government, and we do nothing to evolve as a species when we head backwards.

The only alternatives to believing in human rights endowed to us by our creator who also has something to say about values is post modernism or materialistic philosophy.

Good luck building a free society around those empty anti philosophies.  

[roo_ster]

I'd be rather happy if our generation can make the US more socially liberal and fiscially conservative.  But, I don't know that we are going to make it that long before the value of the dollar, and thus the american standard of living collapses.

mak beat me to it.  I was going to make some comment about snipe or DoDo birds or Ivory Billed Woodpeckers (fantastic/extinct/vanishingly few in numbers).  If you look at all the "socially liberal, fiscally conservative" types who made it to congress, they soon dropped the "fiscally conservative" bit.  They just don't exist in gov't in numbers you'd need a second hand to count.

Understanding history and human nature makes the widespread "socially liberal, fiscally conservative" hope so much vapor.  Humans are social critters and demand some amount of order.  If not from within (via self-discipline from personal rectitude or religious adherence) then from without (social and/or gov't discipline).  The more & closer they live, and the more "diverse" those numbers, the more discipline they insist upon.

Libertarians may despise those who adhere to religions with ethical & moral content, but such widespread religiosity is their only hope for any slice of their preferred sort of liberty...as a tolerated minority in a country where the majority adheres to such religion and sustains a gov't of limited powers.  Cast your gimlet eye on all other forms of gov't and you can see the prospects are worse in every other case.

[MicroBalrog]

We already are extremely personally liberal in terms of sexuality compared to any civilization that had come before us.

The main reason there are not more "personally-liberal, fiscally conservative" people (that's just a stealth word for 'libertarian') in Congress and elsewhere is simply because there are too few libertarians in the appropriate social and age groups. That is going to change.

[makattak]

Cast your gimlet eye on all other forms of gov't and you can see the prospects are worse in every other case.

And, in keeping with APS tradition, thread veer! I have a new word for today (or, rather, a new meaning, I knew the noun version but not the adjective.)

We already are extremely personally liberal in terms of sexuality compared to any civilization that had come before us.

The main reason there are not more "personally-liberal, fiscally conservative" people (that's just a stealth word for 'libertarian') in Congress and elsewhere is simply because there are too few libertarians in the appropriate social and age groups. That is not going to change.

Fixed that for you.

[MicroBalrog]

There are more libertarians now (broad libertarians, not people who worship busts of Rothbard in their basement) than there were 30 years ago. I think you will find that libertarian views are a more influential strain of thought now than they were 30 years ago, and they've not hit a zenith yet.

[roo_ster]

MB:

I would not worry overmuch if what you predict came true, assuming the gov't that flowed from it were truly classically liberal and left the religious types to themselves.  Toleration for toleration.

Heck, I would likely welcome it, but I doubt your prediction accurate without some sort of armed/violent revolution/civil conflict.  The left / "socially and fiscally liberal" types have twisted language (tolerance = celebration, nowadays) and uses governmental and institutional power to ruin those that dissent. 

Just look at the homosexual non-marriage debate: force of law, force of the MSM & other institutions brought down on individuals pour encourager les autres. How many times do fellow-travelers have to be SWATted to drive them underground?  How many of their buddys' employers have to be targeted and their own livelihoods threatened for them to throw in the towel & hunker down?

Don't expect many of those young non-religious(1) folk (already in a tough economy) to have the conviction to withstand such an assault.  They will tack over and make like almost all the other "SL, FC" sorts.  The odds favor it.  Do you have some data that would suggest otherwise?

And, in keeping with APS tradition, thread veer! I have a new word for today (or, rather, a new meaning, I knew the noun version but not the adjective.)

Hmm, I learned about the other noun, the cocktail (vodka or gin + lime juice).  I will have to try that some time, as I love me some lime juice. 

I wonder what came first: the gimlet or the screwdriver?






(1) Not just conviction brought about via moral suasion or supernatural means.  Most religious types have an entire community to support them in the face of assaults from without.  OTOH, libertarians are about as community-minded as housecats.

[makattak]

There are more libertarians now (broad libertarians, not people who worship busts of Rothbard in their basement) than there were 30 years ago. I think you will find that libertarian views are a more influential strain of thought now than they were 30 years ago, and they've not hit a zenith yet.

I assume you are talking percentage wise because there are more Republicans, Democrats, and Independents now than there were 30 years ago.

As for the percentages, I have to wonder how much of that increase is the normally liberal college age "rebels" ashamed to claim liberalism and try to sound enlightened by calling themselves "libertarian". I.e. how much of the increase in libertarian "identification" is directly related to the fall of "liberalism" as "cool"?

[makattak]

Hmm, I learned about the other noun, the cocktail (vodka or gin + lime juice).  I will have to try that some time, as I love me some lime juice. 

I wonder what came first: the gimlet or the screwdriver?

I've also had one of those. It was very strong, and I'm not meaning the alcohol. I like lime flavor, but it was a bit much for me.

[Ron]

I've met some of these new self described "libertarians".

They still want government funded healthcare and a well funded government provided retirement also 

They seem to be mostly interested in legalized pot and the end of traditional morality.

[MillCreek]

I've met some of these new self described "libertarians".

They still want government funded healthcare and a well funded government provided retirement also 

They seem to be mostly interested in legalized pot and the end of traditional morality.

Emphasis on the pot.