How bad is the Economy in the U.S.? Look to the struggling youth.

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
I love it when the older generation, take shots at the younger generation for going to college and getting an education. In my country. This wagging finger generation, enjoyed the benefits of free University education, a job for life, cheap housing and cheap energy and food prices. Now they all need caring for in one form or another in their cushy retirement.
Pretty much leaving one type career option for young people as a low paid care workers. Wiping the butts and cleaning up the mess of the older generation. In more ways than one.

Agreed. One thing I cannot stand is people over the age of 45 telling people 21-34 about this that and the third. They have no clue how awful this environment is. They were able to find jobs, buy houses, start families...people in my age grouping cannot even do that.

OP, I graduated college 8 years prior to you and it took me over 4 years to find decent work, and even after that, because of the way things are I had to job hop(which looks great on a resume to these scumbag corporations) and even went for the better part of 2010 unable to find work, I had to do under the table things to pay my rent, insurance, etc.

In 2011, when I gained work, I became fed up with the whole process and started living frugally, only spending on important things(rent, food, gas, insurance). I then began to pool every spare cent into starting my own business, and I am completely dedicated on a path towards self sufficiency. It is not easy, and there are painful moments, but I enjoy every second of my decision to no longer be a slave to this rat race.

I say this not to say that everyone can just do that...but it's a thought. You're a few years younger than me but I understand you...and like you, I felt that this country has pushed my back against the wall. So I decided to push back.

Don't take this beating lying down. Sit down. Start listing down your gifts, talents, abilities, and your know how. Then start figuring out you can do to convert those into something that can provide you with earnings. Then, write down a plan for yourself. Start small. 3 years at a time, and goals to achieve.

You can't build an empire in a day, so remember that. One step forward is always a step towards progress, no matter how small the step is.

Good luck to you, and everyone else in the younger generation. Like I said, I'm 33 at the time of this writing, but I know what you're all going through and its painful, and you feel betrayed and lied to by the older generation and the government who fed you this illusion of "go to college, get an education, blah blah blah" and then callously shrug their shoulders and call you spoiled or entitled brats when your degree and your schooling can't help you even to get a job bagging groceries.

Work is out there but if all the people you hang with are not working thats not much of a contact list. Find people that are working and hang with them wether it be a bar or anything. From what I've seen locally most young don't want to work. I even know several people in ther 50's that say they have to take care of their parents. But really it's free room and board for mowing the lawn

reply to post by mikell


I agree... Networking is the name of the game. Get on sites like LinkedIn.com and build a profile that shows who you are. Then connect with people at companies you want to work in. Join the necessary groups and spread the word that you are looking for job xyz....

On Linkedin i have recruiters constantly approaching me.

Your generation is faced with a rebuilding effort. May have to literally start from the ground up like your great grandparents did. It has cycled around to this point again. Maybe get acquainted with hand tools all over again so to speak. The education as economic stabilizer dream is faltering and we cant expect them to warn us. Big ol paper mills. Might have to settle into something that may take a decade or more to start showing results above the survival zone similar to what happened after the great depression.

Originally posted by supremecommander


Good luck to you, and everyone else in the younger generation. Like I said, I'm 33 at the time of this writing, but I know what you're all going through and its painful, and you feel betrayed and lied to by the older generation and the government who fed you this illusion of "go to college, get an education, blah blah blah" and then callously shrug their shoulders and call you spoiled or entitled brats when your degree and your schooling can't help you even to get a job bagging groceries.

My parents grew up in the post depression/WW II era. Long story short they haven't been paying attention to what's going on in the last several generations. It paid to save money with interest rates as high as 7% in the 70s for example. They worked with promises for pensions and SS for retirement. Their paychecks were not to far out of whack with the cost of living. Many were able to work at the same place all of their lives before our industrial base became a shell of its former self. It was much less of a survival game in its hay day than it is now. The price of gas for example was cover by a very small fraction of their paychecks.

reply to post by darkbake


Actually, the United States economy has leveled off since 2008 and make up the greatest share of global GDP. Just because it is impossible for any one country to constantly make up close to 40% of the world's economy doesn't mean the US is failing. The US is simply reaching an equilibrium as countries like China and India rise.

Russia and Japan, on the other hand, will be dead within 40 years.

Don't let the news or other people get you down. You can make as much or as little as you want. A College education should prepare you to get a job. Even if it's not in your field of study.

I graduated in 2006 and got a great job out of school. I make a six figure salary and now have a software company in addition to my regular day job.

My secret is to not put any limits (both external or internal) on what I can accomplish. I feel like far too many people use the "bad economy" as an excuse. You might have to work for success...it might not come as easily as it once did a few generations ago, but it absolutely is possible with a great work ethic and attitude.

Originally posted by darkbake

The Jewish bankers (note: religious and banker overtones) are the problem with society...

Strangely enough, after 80 years doesn't seam to have changed much. The jewish are still the bankers

Originally posted by Bassago

Originally posted by SubTruth
reply to post by darkbake

 

Everyone is entitled to live a good life.........

. Pie in the sky rainbows pooping chocolate.


I hate to tell you guys this but life is what you make out of it. And history has shown over and over again when the government helps out the poor people will turn to fascism. How the heck do you think a guy like Hitler got into power?

OK this is an example of an absolutely asinine belief. If you think the "government" is causing all of this then you obviously skipped your economics classes.

Damn man, have you even looked at what the IBS, IMF and central banks have been doing? Do you really think the government is in control? If you do then rock on as you have no clue.

We have no governments anymore. It is one global oligarchy. And it is run by the federal reserve and the IMF is arm of the same beast.


I understand all to well what is going on. This is global and to be honest nothing we do will change anything.

reply to post by Cancerwarrior


My message was a simple one when people beg for change and handouts the governments will listen. Germany was able to fall into tyranny because people needed change and were starving to death. And when times got better they did not want them to change back. They turned a blind eye out of apathy and fear.


Sound familiar?

Originally posted by SubTruth
reply to post by Cancerwarrior

 

My message was a simple one when people beg for change and handouts the governments will listen. Germany was able to fall into tyranny because people needed change and were starving to death. And when times got better they did not want them to change back. They turned a blind eye out of apathy and fear.


Sound familiar?

Oh I agree, about the second part anyways. There are alot of parallels to modern American society and 1930's Germany. Even if alot of people are blind to it.

However Germany was in a much different situation than what modern America is in today. Still, I can see the rest of the world totally uniting to "destroy the evil America". Much like the world did to overthrow Hitler in WWII.

And Hitler did not have overwhelming support from the german people if you read some of their own accounts of Germany pre and postwar. He actually faced several assissination attempts by members of his military and civilians as well.

Unfortunately I believe we have a ways to go to get to the levels of the great depression. The average American is an amazingly spoiled creature.

I remember my grandmother talking about the soup lines and living homeless in NY during the depression. People nowadays have been so used to just buying all they want/need at Walmart I don't think many people today could cope well with it.

Government mainly caters to the baby boomers (they're the ones that vote after all) but I think its a stretch to say that they will give everyone handouts. And all of a sudden the poor people are fascists.

If anything, most of the poor people in this country are democratic socialists but have no idea they are because of the stigma attached to that word.

reply to post by mikegrouchy


So Financial security is in direct relation to touching children?

reply to post by djr33222


Don't let our GDP fool you, the only reason it continues to rise is because the Fed injects large sums of money into the economy every month. GDP hasn't reflected the state of our economy for a while now. Looking at the national GDP as a measure of economy is the same as looking through a heavily tinted window to get an idea of what's inside a room. Sure you can get an idea, but you won't be able to see everything and some things can be drastically different.

reply to post by mikegrouchy


Yes, you are so right about this! A lot of atheists do not tend to differentiate between Catholicism and other Christian denominations, or separate Christian denominations at all. I think the main source of arrogance actually comes from certain protestant denominations, especially in certain areas of the U.S. -

Also, as you say, religion is a great way to reconnect with the community - and it offers networking. Networking is pretty much the most important aspect of getting a decent job.

@Zonetripper, no it is related to networking and community. Religion isn't the only thing that offers that, but it does a good job at it because there is an inherent amount of trust when you know what to expect from someone else.

Originally posted by Logarock
Your generation is faced with a rebuilding effort. May have to literally start from the ground up like your great grandparents did. It has cycled around to this point again. Maybe get acquainted with hand tools all over again so to speak. The education as economic stabilizer dream is faltering and we cant expect them to warn us. Big ol paper mills. Might have to settle into something that may take a decade or more to start showing results above the survival zone similar to what happened after the great depression.

You are completely right, it is a rebuilding effort, starting from the ground up. That's exactly how I felt when I left my parents' house 6 months ago for Idaho with the back of my car filled with what little I owned -

It felt like leaving on The Oregon Trail or something, abandoning the old society as a pioneer.

And yes, we might have an oligarchy today, but that does not mean we are going to have an oligarchy tomorrow - the nature of the current oligarchy suggests that they are unable to adapt to the changing times, and instead of adapting, are going to struggle to hang on to what they have through the use of totalitarian tactics as it slowly goes away.

That does leave it up to us to rebuild a better society, or at least a society that is able to handle the new challenges we face, the new freedoms and opportunities we have been given, and the social restructuring that needs to be done -

I don't think there has been any time in history (The Industrial Revolution being the last similar one) where so much has changed in such a short time - a lot of it due to technological advances.

The social restructuring is basically unavoidable and complex.

There are a lot of issues - mega corporations, free access to information, woman's rights (a lot of people don't understand this, but women are people just like men - and men are people just like women), religion being respected but not getting out of line, dealing with the surveillance issue,

intellectual property is probably going to undergo a major, unavoidable change - and then we have increased severity of weather due to global warming (rising sea temperatures make more energy for hurricanes and tornadoes),

There are opportunities everywhere, and there is also decaying society everywhere.

reply to post by darkbake

One of my friends graduated with a degree in astrophysics

Don't you think it might be good idea to jump into an occupation where there is a demand?

reply to post by Propulsion


Do you mean astrophysics has a demand? I'll go with that.

Side note: if you meant getting educated in something with practical use, that is not a bad idea for the current economic situation

It's probably a good idea, but his parents are farmers and have him whipped to their farm... because of the situation many farmers are in currently, they have to farm their land in order to pay for the taxes and fees - but usually lose money.

However, if his parents were to not farm their land for a year, they would lose $100,000 - which is more than his mother's modest income and their savings combined -

Unfortunately, events that are seemingly unrelated, like the farming situation, are indeed related to other aspects of life - like him pursuing a career.

That is why it is in everyone's best interest to make sure that everything is running okay for everyone - the next Einstein (okay, well he helped design nukes so...) might be prevented from pursuing his or her career due to something as relatively simple as bad farming policies in the U.S. -

Or maybe the next Martin Luther King, Jr. is prevented from pursuing his or her career due to reverse discrimination.

In a more concrete example, bad governance in politics or the corporate world - leaving your population or clients stranded and starving is a recipe for disaster - an absolutely terrible idea to destroy the very thing that gives you power.

If you are a farmer (I'll go with this again) and expect to get paid for your crop without caring for it, when you go to your truck to transport the wheat, you realize the fields have been barren for years. What are you going to do, sell dirt?

Times are changing at an exponentially accelerating rate. Technology is now capable of making better technology itself. Robotics, the hardware and software to run them...

I remember when I was a kid I dreamed of an age where robots and machines would do all the work...grow our food, harvest it and package it and we "the humans" would be able to pursue the arts, music or exploration. We would be in want of nothing...kinda the "Star trek" idea of the extinction of greed and selfishness.

Back then it never occurred to me that the people that made the machines would keep it all for themselves.

This is the way it is. The perfect "Utopian" possibility will never happen.

I grew up though and have spent the last 29 years in construction engineering. It's been a good field though it has had it's up and down times. I am self employed and I make a living. I could make more if I went back "in-house" and chained myself to a desk and a computer for 8 to 10 hours a day...but sometimes there are things more valuable than money...to me anyway. My freedom to choose is by far worth more. I can choose what projects I take and what not to take, as long as I make my schedules and deadlines I can choose to work 8 am to 5 pm or I can start work at midnight and work till morning...my choice...and that is more precious to me than money is.

I have 3 kids myself...the youngest is about to start her third year of college. My oldest is an EMT and my middle child is working on her masters in linguistics. I let them make their own choices and try to support those choices as best I can...it is their life and they will have to be happy living it after I am gone. I hope they chose well and I hope they are happy...that is all that we parents can do.

Originally posted by Krazysh0t
reply to post by djr33222

 

Don't let our GDP fool you, the only reason it continues to rise is because the Fed injects large sums of money into the economy every month. GDP hasn't reflected the state of our economy for a while now. Looking at the national GDP as a measure of economy is the same as looking through a heavily tinted window to get an idea of what's inside a room. Sure you can get an idea, but you won't be able to see everything and some things can be drastically different.

Agreed and I'd also add in that, although there has been improvement in the GDP for the US, those benefits are not being dispersed throughout the populous but largely going to the top slice.

www.brookings.edu...
money.msn.com...
money.cnn.com...

From the Bureau of Economic Analysis:


Now let's put this into terms of scale. If youth (Millenial) unemployment is/was at around 16%, what does that mean? Well, in terms of population size, the size of the Millenial population is equal to the size of the largest generation--Baby Boomers. That's not good. It's also really very fascinating that the Millenials, who actually do have a bone to pick with the Baby Boomers, have actually been targets of generational bias as promulgated through the press and social media as being the equivalent of an "entitled generation" or nothing more than spoiled brats. It's like a verbal generational warfare. It worries me because 1. this younger generation do have a reason to be angry and 2. the only generation equivalent in size is the Baby Boomers and they are getting older...Plus, when the Baby Boomers started getting irritated in the 60's and 70's, there were still opportunities for them to be "assimilated" into the status quo. Considering the above links, that's not going to happen very soon for Millenials. Not good.

For the record, I'm Gen X.

I agree that the economy is mucked and kids today have a tough challenge if they try to match their parents level of financial success, it is not going to be easy.

Keywords: Match their parents level of financial success.

I (was lucky enough?) grew up dirt poor. My parents were alcoholic drug addicts who paid no attention to their kids or environment. My mother was happy to live on welfare, get food from the food bank and trade food stamps for alcohol, and my father was too busy to care.

Why do I mention this? Because for me making $45,000 a year I live way beyond any means I imagined as a child. I get to eat every night so that alone puts me ahead of the way my parents were as I was growing up. My electricity never gets turned off, I always have running water, and creditors are not calling my phone all day everyday. To many $45,000 is nothing but to me it is the highest standard of living I have ever had and I am thankful and grateful to be making it. So growing up poor I appreciate the good times and can weather the bad with a great attitude because I have lived much worse.

Many it seems are trying to match their parents 2 story, 5 bedroom, 2 car garage, 401K, new car, cheap family healthcare and savings account. It will not happen for most of people today.

You need to set your own standards and unfortunately this is a down turn in the cycle and you get to live beneath the success of your predecessors. It is a bitter pill to swallow but I suggest focusing on the success you do have and do not compare yourself to another generation.

I imagine a generation coming out of this financial mess with a great appreciation for the value of money and success and they will find a way to bring things back in about a decade. This can pave the road for protecting your children's financial future, if it can be saved at all.