Is Gen Z Really the Poorest Generation?

On this episode of Common Sense Soapbox, Seamus explains why Gen Z has a right to feel screwed over financially, but perhaps not to the degree they think (or feel).
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CREDITS:
Written by Sean Malone and Seamus Coughlin
Animated by LtAmazil, Adamdonk, and Emily Slatt
Voiced by Seamus Coughlin and nosoup4knowles
Layout by Jaime Velasquez, Trevor Smith
Produced & Edited by Sean W. Malone
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LINKS:
fred.stlouisfe...
nces.ed.gov/pr...
www.ssa.gov/oa...
www.forbes.com...

[@TNTom67890]

Remeber folks automatic weapons are too dangerous for normal citizens. However, giving the federal government an automatic printer is safe and responsible.

[@HTV-2_Hypersonic_Glide_Vehicle]

So is abolishing the glass stegall act

[@normalplayer7377]

But they're perfect to Leave in the hands of the Taliban.

[@robertkubrick3738]

Don't worry, Central Bank Digital Currency has fixed the problem by eliminating the need for a printer. Not a machinegun with a low rate of fire but METALSTORMtm.

[@turtlesauce482]

😂

[@nemoexnuqual3643]

Automatic weapons are too dangerous… unless you give the government an extra $200, then they become safe. We actually have 630,000 privately owned machine guns in the US and pretty much none of them get used in crimes. The government is constantly going after rifles which are used in less than 2% of homicides, a bit less than shotguns, way less than knives, blunt objects, or bare hands. The majority of homicides are committed with small pistols. The why is obvious, the bigger the gun the harder it is to conceal on the way to and from a crime scene.

[@LynetteTheMadScientist]

So the luxuries are easier to get while the necessities are harder…this seems suspicious

[@Xo-3130]

I mean the WEF which is headed by many politicians and corporate leaders kind of said it a few years ago. "Rent everything"

[@LynetteTheMadScientist]

@@Xo-3130 Yeah that's what I was getting at. This is intentional.

[@kurtpunchesthings2411]

yea 100% like look tv internet all that shit is great but what about the price of normal groceries no i don't mean avocado or soda just basic stuff like bread butter milk some meat eggs etc and general household items yea its way more expensive yes people get paid more today but the Purchasing power is alot less as you referenced this is not the worst part Lynette the worst part is this was deliberately planned a very long time ago to make the population as reliant on the government as possible so the Peasants will never rise again why do you think theres so much unhealthy food and drugs and addictive stuff its to make as many people too fat stupid and lazy to ever rally against an evil government the scary part is this worked if the mask mandates didn't cause a civil war i don't know what will another big one why the hell you think there trying to take peoples guns ? duh so they can continue to strip peoples rights even further without fear of resistance before anyone screams at me google it Australia literally was running a Concentration camp during the Pandemic years it was a facility where people were forcibly taken illegally and held in a concentrated area that had razar wire fences this is literally what America would be if the people were unarmed

[@theALTF4]

"you will own nothing and be happy"... In action 😮

[@person3070]

Yesterday's luxuries are today's necessities.

[@ashleypenn7845]

I ABSOLUTELY blame the Boomers for our economy. The Boomers on The Hill, that is.

[@shorewall]

100% don't let them get away with it.

[@commisaryarreck3974]

Imagine being a generation that sucked up every last penny and actively destroyed their children future by economic sabotage and iviting millions of migrants to devalue labor even more Then having the GAUL to complain about the generations you actively screwed over just to have a few more years of unrivaled luxury Reference, I work 6-7 days a week 7-10 hours a day and can barely even get by. In a job that involves customer service, if you know the state of that field in the modern day you know how quickly that'll make you suicidal Meanwhile boomer over there could just walk up to a construction site, ask for a job or ask his friends and as a fucking 13 year old get paid double what I'm paid now when adjusted for inflation

[@summerwind4590]

They aren’t even boomers they’re Silent generation that’s how old they are

[@boxgameing442]

they had us in the first half im not gonna lie

[@SunwardRanger83]

The only good trait about most of the people currently in government is that old age has to weed them out eventually.

[@willm.2271]

"Influencers... are the worst." Lol! That got me.

[@isaacchapman7628]

23 year old zoomer here. I jumped directly into controls work out of high school, and avoided student debt because I didn't have a plan to pay it back if I did go through college for a nebulous "whatever I end up wanting to do". My job isn't exactly easy, but I'm debt free(apart from my mortgage) and I make $35k, which allowed me to get a mortgage on a house last year. Debt without any plan to pay it back is the killer of our generation, just like how it killed generation Y. My little brothers are following what I did, but my younger cousins are being pushed by their mother into "the college experience" without any plan for the future after college. I hope I can convince her otherwise.

[@WinginWolf]

Yup. DON'T get forced into the college vacuum. Build up actual meaningful skills and experience, or just keep finding better jobs.

[@kotlolish]

Smart, but tell me.. he is comparing 1950's and 1970's wages to yours. And I like to ask. "Do you have a smart phone and PC? Do you pay for internet? Do you need them to do your work?" ...Cause in 1950's and 70's.. the Internet was either non existant or not publicly used or niche. What we confirm as the 1950's way of living... isn't the same as 2020's. And the housing crisis for house prices DOES NOT apply to the US alone. Many countries have expensive houses that causes issues. Even me... had to sell an appartment I lived in for 8 years (I was gonna go for 5 but then you know what happened and housing crisises started emerging) And that appartment in the Netherlands.. went from 180k to 300k in less then a decade. Wich was enough to help buy the house I live in. But YEEEESH! Double as much worth?! For what? a 1 living room, bed room appartment? Anyway... cost of living is up for these generations. Even this channel REQUIRES a good PC to render and animate on and a decent internet connection to do their job. So I kinda dislike how that was glossed over. Anyway! Good job on avoiding debts!

[@thejestor9378]

@@kotlolishI make about 900 every two weeks, I pay for internet, utilities, and insurance, and I have money still to purchase some luxuries and still be able to eat. The cost of internet and phone doesn’t have to be expensive if you are proactive in looking for deals.

[@kotlolish]

Indeed. It's not the hardest. But these are still costs you gotta add to the equasation wich is missed. Wich skews the numbers slightly. Even so the costs of living as a "Gen Z" is still higher then that of a 1950's worker. The digital age kinda ruins options that worked fine, but "COMPUTER BETTER"...wich I dislike. I prefer both living hand in hand.@@thejestor9378

[@tylerwhaley4872]

​@@thejestor9378true, and son't forget that you don't have to buy the absolute best interet service or have the absolute greatest pc depending on what you want. there's a lot of nuance to all of the modern tech stuff we all use now.

[@jonathannerz1696]

I love how Bob went from being Seamus’s foil to being someone he can have an intelligent discussion with.

[@treyjordan3168]

Unlike Ron who is still as Dumb as ever and set in His Ways

[@AmaryInkawult]

He's beginning to believe

[@WILIZIN]

All it took was some time travel and practical business expierence

[@JAY-1-2-3-4]

Character Arc

[@JohnnyManu40]

Makes sense. Bob was never dumb, just misled. Seamus (the character) knows that Bob isn't dumb, but just misled. So it was less about being his foil, and more about removing the cobwebs from his mind and the wool from over his eyes. Now that he can think and see clearly again, comparatively speaking at least; he can now have more of a 1 on 1 conversation with him, instead of constantly having to correct him.

[@harrisonbalduf3290]

An important point of *why* there aren't any 1,000 square foot homes is that the regulations, lot size minimums, and other rules, make it unprofitable to build new homes in that style. Over here on Long Island, there simply are not homes under 1,200 square feet to be had, never-the-less built.

[@matteblack5805]

Most homes I've seen in the 1k square foot range have been on leased land, which just feels like an apartment with extra steps

[@aivanther]

My brother once had a conversation with me about zoning laws (he's a developer) and demonstrated to me how his town makes it impossible to build what we used to call starter homes. Because of that, there are a few multifamily units, lots of mid to high range homes built over the past 30 years, and zero small homes built since the 1980s.

[@heroslippy6666]

Zoning has also ruined city design making everything further apart forcing the requirement of cars.

[@debanydoombringer1385]

The developer determines the size of the home. There are height restrictions and yard requirements, but not square footage of the home requirements for single family homes. They aren't being built because developers want the most they can get from the property they've purchased. The bigger the home, the higher the price, the more they make. Obviously there's a range because if you build too big they won't sell in that particular area. There are no small homes because the larger homes are worth more and will sell. There's a higher demand for a certain number of bedrooms and bathrooms so that's what they build. As for the claim they've not been built since the 80s, I call bs on that as well. Having recently been in the market for a house and to downsize, I'm aware of the availability and year built. Most of the homes I looked at were newer, some in recently built HOAs where the houses are cookie cutter. Most of them were 1,500 square feet or less. Certainly what would be considered a small home. They are in fact being built. The home I purchased was built in the 90s and is 1,400 square feet. My "starter home" was 1,100 square feet built in the 50s.

[@alanlight7740]

Many cities have outlawed construction of small homes - locally I'm familiar with a lower limit of 1500 square feet - because the state government mandates that municipalities provide various expensive services to residents. The purpose is to exclude poor people who require more services from the city limits. It is also in part a reaction to forced desegregation. Whereas government forbids citizens to establish neighborhoods with a shared cultural heritage or other unifying theme _other_ than wealth, people have naturally established communities based on wealth - which forces everyone into a game of chasing money just to not lose ground and live in a safe, high trust community. The long term result will be an increasingly low trust society, then demographic collapse - but it's the only game we're allowed to play, so that's the game everyone is playing. It's fine as long as you don't give a damn about future generations - which are those who are just reaching adulthood now.

[@ninjagirl226]

Ok I was wondering why no one builds small homes. I thought it was due to higher profit margins to make something bigger, but zoning also is logical because you’ll get people all in a fuss if you build anything near what might lower the cost of someone’s home. Like quite literally the town I used to live in keeps complaining how the town doesn’t have its own animal shelter and how the abandoned ymca is an eye sore, but any proposal to move forward with any of these projects falls through cause homeowners freak out that the ymca will become apartments or if the animal shelter is built across the street from the university going I pay too much in taxes for this….pick one like literally just pick one.

[@Dennis-nc3vw]

I always found it really weird we have so much homeless but so few ‘tiny houses’. My friend leased tiny houses for $200 a month. I suspected there was some kind of law behind the fact we didn’t see more of these.

[@729060]

The lie of everyone needing to go to college is the worst thing the older generations did to millennials and zoomers

[@Beetlesiri]

It wasn't a lie for their generation and then they made it a prerequisite for many jobs so that they can control the market. Once again their generational wisdom and greed punched down on the generations that came later.

[@clogs4956]

Politicians of older generations, please.

[@Beetlesiri]

@@clogs4956 It still is for the most part since most politicians are from those generations who have taken and held power. That is not to say the younger generations are smarter since they have been born and bred to fall for the same crap they pushed on everyone since Gen X.

[@Ethan-zt7ky]

What's worse is that it was actually a good option for STEM, but now that's saturated and so now college REALLY is not worth it. All i hear is how busy tradesman are, and how much money their making (self employed) and how college jobs have thousands of applicants.

[@Dennis-nc3vw]

Even finishing High School would be unnecessary for 90% of jobs if not for the stigma.

[@Thoroughly_Wet]

My grandmother would say that when she was growing up (the 50s) a part time job could afford single people a vehicle, a rental property, and their basic daily needs

[@SuperZebezian]

Getting people to believe that is possible nowadays is like trying to get them to believe in fairy tales.

[@jimmydesouza4375]

A thing you need to keep in mind was that a normal work week in the 1950's was ~50 hours and so anything less than ~50 hours is part time, meanwhile a normal work week now is 37.5. A current full time job would have been considered part time in the 50's.

[@Thoroughly_Wet]

@@jimmydesouza4375 you mean you don't hit your max allowable OT hours every week?I put down a good 50 a week because I like the money

[@debanydoombringer1385]

Rental property? So 2 houses? Yeah no. If you mean rent an apartment, sort of but they usually had roommates or a single room apartment in a building with a communal bathroom and kitchen. A boarding house basically. Renting a room. Not seperate bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, etc. A bed, dresser, and small closet. Things that would be almost impossible to rent today because people want more and privacy. Just like the video pointed out when it comes to homes. It wasn't houses you'd see on TV shows like Leave it to Beaver with 2 stories. A very small house. Just slightly bigger than what we call tiny homes today. Which are extremely affordable today. So you can indeed live very similar to how they did if you want, but you don't want to. You want the 2 and half times larger home for the same amount of money. Edit: Those boarding houses were also segregated. Men or women only which would never fly today. It's illegal. Seriously, go watch old movies. They detail what those were. While you'll see large apartments, they also show the person in them are very wealthy. You can also limit yourself to what was a necessity back then. Clothing and food only. Maybe a small radio. They might have a phone line, but that too was usually communal. You won't though.

[@Thoroughly_Wet]

@@debanydoombringer1385 I ment renting a property, like a house rental or apartment/boarding house

[@mattevans4377]

One problem with talking about what happened during the last 4 years. We aren't allowed to do that. Or, at the very least, you'll be stamped with the misinformation badge.

[@P2thaR]

Because facts are racism.

[@LynyrdSkynyrd.4Ever]

OK, that's it! You're CANCELED! (Also, you're right) ☹️

[@mattc9598]

Will you? This isn't 2021 anymore. If you talk online about things about "The Great Reset", the stolen election, WEF, etc most people these days will agree with you. Truth has been making a comeback ever since Twitter was taken from the FBI/CIA

[@sevenguardians7517]

Yup all those stimulus checks all that money printing and port closing screwed us royally

[@Bolbi145]

Degree inflation is very much a real thing, the bachelor’s degree is the new high school diploma.

[@jimmydesouza4375]

High school itself was originally an optional higher education (hence the name). This is an intended mechanism in the prussian system.

[@Walter-wo5sz]

I dropped out of college after 3 years of engineering because employment recruiters said a needed a masters to be considered. After working a few years I met several people working as engineers that only had a HS diploma. Who your dad is or who you play golf with is much more important than a degree.

[@shadowsa2b]

​@@jimmydesouza4375prussian system?

[@vidard9863]

The latest crop of college graduates are wiping out that requirement. Unless you are in stem, the government, or legacy corporations you don't need the degree to get in the door, and once you are in the door education is increasingly seen as a negative by employers, which means that degrees are only needed for government and legacy corporations and just to open the door in stem.

[@svgPhoenix]

It was for a while, but that's already starting to turn around

[@carkat3203]

I know a lot of people say "go into trades" or "go into stem" but even those have issues. If you have a disability like me, you're basically locked from trades, while with stem everyone was told to go for it so everyone is going for it. You essentially have no choice but to go to college sometimes, because a high school degree - unless you work in trades - is only part of a lame bundle for your college degree. The best you can do in this situation is get as many internships as you can so the company won't dump you because they have to train you.

[@1mariomaniac]

Yeah, I'm planning to become a game dev at some point so right now I'm working on my associates of computer science degree, where I'll then get a bachelor's in game design. The problem is, even with that job requiring a rather specialized skill set, I know I'm not going to get the salary required to buy a house for myself. It's infuriating that you can spend 6 years of your life preparing for the career you want and still just not have the money to support yourself despite having a "good" job.

[@youssefkodira5685]

It's a combination of bad choices, bad parents, and bad environment. That can lead to being poor. Of course you can still be unlucky as life goes even if you made good choices.

[@flyingturret208thecannon5]

Ah gee, that must be me! Student debt the size of a used car loan(I plan to have it paid off by the end of winter), and have the CompTIA A+/Net+/Linux+/Sec+/CySA+. Thirteen+ interviews with the 1 job offer being a temp position in another state that would pay enough to only cover rent. Or, I work at Walmart & make almost $16 an hour.

[@behcherry9815]

A huge factor is the gov ruining our lives The lefties goal is to destroy our lives Bidan doesn't care about you, he's rich and happy watching us suffer

[@afrikasmith1049]

I currently live in Florida with a minimum wage job and disability benefits, and it's still difficult because the healthy foods I want to buy is more expensive compared to a few years ago. Not to mention every year rent goes up by 100 dollars. I don't even have a car yet, but I'm kinda grateful because gas and other fees would make things a lot more difficult. I keep telling people that if they want to have it better than deflate our government and lower taxes for landlords, builders and maintenance. It's way better than asking for a raise.

[@kaip310]

Making 25% more than my ancestors did in the 1970s does not make up for the fact that every single good, commodity, or service that exists now costs over triple what it did in the 70s.

[@MDP1702]

You do need to keep the context correct. The 25% increase was already after inflation, so the price of goods due to inflation needs to be accounted for too. Things due to inflation increased by 7,76 times. if you do not account for inflation, you earn (on average) 9,71 times more than in 1970. So pure purchasing power went up. However the increase in big cost items like housing and college (maybe healthcare) went up much much more, which can have a higher impact on general financial welbeing. This is ofcourse for the US.

[@tombolt13thexehanort29]

By what metric, most commodities we have today are not the same as the ones from the 70s. Due to this fact, it is really hard to know if "commodities" have tripled in price.

[@rrteppo]

​@@MDP1702We stopped using goods like food, gas, and housing to measure inflation a long time ago. You know, the things people spend the majority of their income on.

[@nicholasrandall3507]

​@@MDP1702Housing has outpaced inflation by 5x. You cannot say purchasing power has increased without being specific about the commodity, and seeing if it has remained consistent with inflation.

[@MDP1702]

@@nicholasrandall3507 It was clear to anyone with decent reading comprehension skills that I meant purchasing power for regular day things. I specifically mentioned that high budget things like housing, debt, healthcare, ... increased much more and that this had a bigger impact on the financial status.

[@ChefEarthenware]

When I was young the average price of a house here in the UK was 2-3 times the average salary, now it is more than 10 times. I don't blame young people for complaining, they are right.

[@jimmydesouza4375]

Did you even watch the video?

[@Rracer300zx]

Tone def idiotic reply

[@ComissarYarrick]

@@jimmydesouza4375 I mean, video preety much says young people complaining have a lot of right, just not to a degree they think they have.

[@oaksparoakspar3144]

For the UK's conditions you can blame your government for allowing an endless stream of EU vagrants and boat people into your nation to consume your tax dollars and drive up housing.

[@jimmydesouza4375]

@@ComissarYarrick If “shows every one of their complaints is false” is what you think “shows they have a lot of right” then yeah i guess, but that’s weird.

[@RocketMan-vc8sr]

Simple rule: Don't go to college unless you're going for STEM.

[@jacobsecor5015]

Even that is hit or miss. I went stem, work in stem, and use maybe one of the classes I took on a regular basis. I would be just as good at my job without the degree. (and I went to a good college)

[@Zetact_]

Honestly even STEM might not work because your "entry level" job will still demand 2, 3, 5, maybe even 7 years of experience.

[@mr.e2962]

Don't you mean STEAM? The arts were included.

[@RVBMichaelJCaboose]

I’d have to agree with @jacobsecor5015. I went to a STEM college for a STEM degree and I hardly use anything from my studies. It also didn’t help that part of my graduation requisites were liberal arts electives.

[@pedrofromrio645]

Fuck

[@zaknelthepony7124]

I am an electrician. The running joke is when will our edition of the national electric code be smaller than the previous one? Every electrician I have asked has laughed at the idea that that will ever happen.

[@TheCatOfAges]

just recently, like 2013 they removed a bunch of stuff

[@zaknelthepony7124]

@@TheCatOfAges You mean the 2013 edition of the code?

[@TheCatOfAges]

@@zaknelthepony7124 i believe so yes

[@zaknelthepony7124]

@TheCatOfAges That seems unlikely. Seeing as the NEC was updated in 2011, and then the next time it was updated was 2014.

[@TheCatOfAges]

@zaknelthepony7124 my bad, 2014 then

[@TK-en2hq]

worth noting that the average house size increasing was at least in part due to an increase in regulation. With higher startup costs home builders need a larger profit margin, and the easiest way to do that is larger footprints. The permitting, zoning, etc doesn't really change from a 1000 sq ft house to a 10000 sq ft house.

[@corrupt1user]

The student loan issue is an existential crisis for the US, and the Western World as a whole. Going to college already delays the age at which you get married and start a family, and adding a couple hundred thousand dollars in debt BEFORE the person begins their career means that they can't even begin to think about buying a home and raise kids. While most degrees are NOT for the Best and Brightest, overall we've built a system to not only delay people from having kids at a time when birthrates are in freefall, but do so only for the "Better and Brighter". The solution isn't to make college free, but to figure out how to get people into decent jobs without requiring the degree in the first place; literally half of jobs today only "require" a degree because the companies want an easy way to get around government regulations around discrimination.

[@aname4390]

There's one more major factor that this video missed: the doubling of the workforce.

[@RandomBlackBox]

Back then one was working and the other was making food and tending the house. Now both need to work to keep the house and live.

[@oaksparoakspar3144]

@@RandomBlackBox Except that they don't - so long as they are living on groceries rather than eating out (and store brand, not organic-glutenfree- etc), only own one vehicle, live in a 1000 sq foot home, have a single phone of the cheapest type available, zero subscription services, etc. It is only when you redefine what you need to live to include hundreds of dollars a month in extra bills that you end up as you say. Obviously, a man's job might require more - but if you are just doing honest work, you can live without internet, cell phones, etc. People did for generations with nothing more than a cheap landline.

[@zakaryloreto6526]

Sad, because now you need two people to afford things, leaving nobody with the baby. And they wonder why birth rate is low.

[@HolyKhaaaaan]

The work rate is more complicated than that. Historically, everyone worked. Even women worked in the fields or handing money. (Peasant men tended to be the ones to learn trades, but women of status were usually peers with their husbands in terms of merchant and monetary work.) Factory workers during early industrialization consisted of men, women, and even children. The 1950s are an absolute anomaly.

[@RandomBlackBox]

@@oaksparoakspar3144 Sure, eat the cheapest food that is going to destroy your health. Use your few free hours to cook and not rest for the next day. One vehicle ist often already to expansive for many if you factor in the rest of expansive like a place to sleep, food, clean clothe, Taxes and insurance. Now you want any form of entertainment? Nee you don't need that. Internet so you can get news and get your paperwork ready? You just told me i don't need that. What? Banks are closing and shifting to online services? Whelp. We want to live better lives or else what is the point of progress? Sure many live over what they are making but more and more that live normal lives are starting to live too expansive lives. Just looking at the money, the top 1% has more than 50% of the money. How can this be fair? No honest work can give you that much more. They are born with money and have to do way less work to make a living just because they already have money. Just look at Elon Musk, you think that he would be this rich if he didn't start rich and just invested in Tesla and bought Paypal? You see what happens when he is in control of a firm look at Ex-twitter X. That is a dumpster fire, he could never build a firm from scratch.

[@1970bosshemi]

In 2013, Mike Rowe went to Congress and said there was a massive shortage of skilled trades workers. Congress per usual did absolutely nothing. Schools are still teaching kids that college is the best route. And there is still a massive shortage of skill trades workers. I make nearly 100k a year working ~2200 hours a year.

[@heroslippy6666]

It seems many industries have a labor shortage, but I feel many of them are artificially making the shortage.

[@1970bosshemi]

@@heroslippy6666 nothing artificial about it. If you want a job and you’re skilled you can basically name your price across the country right now

[@me-myself-i787]

But also, it's partly because of occupational licensing laws making it illegal to hire cheaper workers. Some places don't even allow you to do your own electrical work. And the licensing boards rarely accept new workers because that would lower their income.

[@ChristnThms]

Cellphones, internet and/or cable, insurance of several types... these are all considered essentials today, and weren't part of a 50s, 60s, or 70s average cost of living. Even by the 90s these weren't the norm in many areas. Now let's talk about vehicle costs...

[@bobowon5450]

vehicle costs just straight up infuriate me. The most basic new car available where i live is around 35k. It has every conceivable feature under the sun, is as large as a boat, costs as much in insurance as it does to buy, and breaks down in maybe 3-4 years. Nothing else exists cheaper, even used cars are getting up there in price because so few people can afford to buy new ones.

[@kotlolish]

I said this too! This is why that 25% basicaly evoporates because you gotta have a smartphone to access stuff, internet to access stuff, insurances are NEEDED or else you cannot even do work and these are WORLD WIDE PROBLEMS! As for the car.. that's purely America's problem. You can live in some countries without a car since public transit is good or you can go by bike even. But uuugh... let's not forget a lot of income taxes are MUCH MUCH higher these days. Like here in the netherlands some taxes went from 14% to 21% I lose almost 30% of my income on taxes, then pay 21% taxes if I buy something.. Food tax is from 8% to 11% So once again.. that extra income ain't doing much. Gen Z / Millenials aren't the poorest generation, but the generation with the highest cost of standard living compared to older ones.

[@ChristnThms]

Both of you are wrong. 100% wrong. It's 100% possible to stay connected professionally and socially without a cellphone bill, and it's 100% possible to get a reliable and efficient car for under $10k and insure it for about $50/month. You let your ego tell lies, labeling wants as needs, and you're too lazy to even find a better way. There's no hope for either of you. You'll stay poor and angry forever. Good luck.

[@mamadragonful]

@@kotlolish 30% of income on taxes. Just out of curiosity, how much of your income goes to health insurance and health care?

[@kotlolish]

Not as much 100 euros tops?@@mamadragonful

[@OctagonalSquare]

I don’t even have student loan debt and make 2x what my dad made with a wife and 3 kids in the 90s when he bought his house and I can barely afford rent. Average houses may be bigger and better at those higher prices, but if you compare similar homes in both size and safety, they are more expensive at a rate that still outpaces wages dramatically. Along with everything else being more expensive and many boomers and businesses buying up all the homes for rental, you have a market that actively makes it harder for the average American who just entered the workforce to ever buy a home.

[@evilblackcat6357]

It objectively was easier to live back in the day though. Modern amenities aside, your buying power was significantly higher back in the day and the cost of living was much, much lower. The problem is that every generation blames everyone but themselves and thinks if only they vote _harder_ next time it'll be better while our government avoids any and all accountability. We revolted against the Brits for FAR less than what's being done to us today. Just saying.

[@lukedornon7799]

"Easier" is NOT an objective metric...

[@evilblackcat6357]

@@lukedornon7799 I know.... that's why I wrote another sentence. Duh? There's always that one guy...

[@cerealguy6359]

​@@lukedornon7799i mean it was very much easier to live back in the day, you bought a car for cheap, maybe 3-4k for a really well designed car. It also came with the fact that it was all mechanical, thus making it less demanding to go to an auto store just to get a few things changed. Houses weren't the greatest, sure, but they've held nicer and better than alot of modern day houses. They also came with alot more land outside of the house. So property value was better. Back in the 70's, my grandparents were able to get a 1.5k sq ft house, multiple rooms, bathrooms, plumbing, etc. with lots of land in both the back and front yards. It cost a ton and they didn't finally pay it off for atleast 15-20 years, but even then it was a laughable payment compared to today. They now still own that, have had new hardware installed, and a back garage that he's built himself while he was in his prime. Both now have modern amenities.. At my networth currently, I'd be able to have gone back and buy all of that outright, however currently I can't even afford a monthly payment on that type of house let alone think about rent on a small apartment complex that's not cramped so tight I'll go 2 feet from the stove to the bed. My grandpaw was around my age when he was able to start paying payments on that house.. and still able to make ends meet completely fine, he was literally just a mechanic without a degree, and before that made metal utilities like nails in a factory. The boomer generation has fucked the economy so hard it's got a fucking anal fissure so huge it won't heal for a good 15 years, and even then it won't get better because instead of treating it, the government just puts a bandaid on it by printing more money. And then just tosses the used bandages to the new generations like the abusive step dad saying "here, dispose of these for me and take care of the issue, im gunna go have a smoke break and let your economy heal itself. Who the fuck cares about the after care. Lmao" TL;DR: you're wrong boomer.

[@alphahuner1116]

Didn't the Brits try sending soldiers to enforce the insane taxes and demands, some of which were outlawed in the Constitution?

[@Rracer300zx]

You are objectively wrong. You weren't there but I was. It's no more difficult to make it now than it was 30 years ago.

[@ninjalemurdude]

As a member of Gen Z, things do look bleak. I was one of the lucky few to not take out student loans, but most of us were tricked into it while still being literal children. Colleges pushed the idea that student loans were basically free money onto us starting at the age of 14 because it allows them to raise prices to absurd amounts. The state-run high schools allow colleges to come in and push this idea. Then, pretty much no one is hiring right now, but they're pretending they are. I legitimately had to fill out nearly 1000 job applications over the course of a year to get a single response, and I was applying to minimum wage jobs. Everyone has "hiring" signs right now, but few are actually looking at applications. Finally, yeah, housing prices are ridiculous. Any of us who don't have family to live with are stuck in a vicious cycle of giving nearly their entire paycheck to cover rent, something which has no longterm value. I know things could absolutely be worse, but it's also hard to have hope that things will get better. Practically none of us are in a position where we can save or invest any meaningful amount of money, but older generations complain about us spending $1000 a year on Starbucks and avocado toast or whatever like that's the reason we're struggling. By the way, even if you invested $1000 a year, with compound interest, you would have a whopping $15K after a DECADE. That can barely get you a used car to live in. It's better than nothing, but doesn't come close to fixing the problem.

[@jacobe2995]

I get sick of people telling me I just need to work harder. I already work full time and overtime. still not enough. I could work two jobs but then I would never see my family. I'm beginning to think I might have to just tell my kids I'll not be able to see them for a few years" work two jobs then finally buy a home just so I can then be stuck with all the new expenses that come with a home. idk man on one hand I feel bad about not working two jobs but on the other I feel like I should not have to. it all just sucks.

[@danielboone8256]

Thank God there is someone else who understands what it is like! I have applied to so many wagie jobs that say they’re hiring on indeed and then they tell me that there are no openings! More than that, I’ll see a place with 1 job opening and 25 different applicants! I then go to look for used cars so I can drive to a job, but I see a Toyota Corolla from 1994 going for 5k! 30 year old car for 5 thousand dollars! And to top it all off, almost no one believes me! It seems like there is no hope and the only solution will be a tumultuous one, so to speak.

[@ThatOneGuyWithTheEye]

I dont care how young you are. If you are in high-school and can't understand how tf a loan or interest rate works you deserve everything you got.

[@mrsleep0000]

Illegal immigrants need those minimum wage jobs now, back of the line for you!

[@danielboone8256]

@@ThatOneGuyWithTheEye Yes, let’s have zero mercy on the 17 year old kids who were duped into believing that college was universally a great idea by their parents, friends, teachers, counselors, and just about everyone else! “There will be no mercy to those who have not shown mercy to others.”

[@IchNachtLiebe]

2:02 This is my favorite depiction of the US government that I have ever seen.

[@pickyphysicsstudent201]

Crying TikTokers aside, there are a bunch of Gen-Z youths are not able to even get the first few steps onto the ladder. These are people like me who choose to study STEM and now have to work odd jobs under harsh conditions for enough experience to maybe one day have 2 years experience for entry level positions. We've over inflated our workforce and but are not reaching for any demands. The West does not create anything new or of value anymore. It's all thrown into woke training programs and sponsorships for underwater basket weaving. Even outside that technology has platuo'd. Think how mobile phones have changed between 2003-2013 compared to 2013-2023. The jump from the IPhone 1 to IPhone 5 is more than the IPhone 5 to the IPhone 27-X-Prime-Nexus.

[@schuylergeery-zink1923]

Even if the job listing says 2+ years of experience, apply for it anyway. I’d argue your education and any part time job can be translated to experience and if you’re willing to learn fast, I’d hire you anyway…

[@ashleypenn7845]

@@schuylergeery-zink1923 This. Hubby didn't qualify for the job he has now "on paper"... but his experience and technical knowledge wowed the manager so much during the interview that they not only gave him the job but offered more money than he was asking (and tbh, we were high balling hoping to negotiate to a lower rate, equal to what he made at his last job).

[@debanydoombringer1385]

Yes, jobs that pay high dollar want experience. They're paying you for someone else doing most of the training. I've seen this complaint from engineers too. You move to a place to work for a small company for 2-3 years. Don't tell me you can't afford it. Bus tickets aren't expensive. You can apply online now instead of just hoping you'd hear about a job opening somewhere else. I know of IT positions right now, though I don't know what STEM you did. Please define "harsh conditions" too. Unless you're working in the oil fields or on a fishing boat, I highly doubt it's that harsh.

[@IlluminaZero]

@@debanydoombringer1385 Bus tickets aren't expensive in money but time. Many people are making transits of .5-1.5 hours one way to their jobs. If you take the bus you can easily x2-4 that ETA. Its among many of the dysfunctions caused by NIMBY. HR has been a net detriment to future prospects - Actively promoting people basically lie on their applications. I've even seen it myself with a government contract doing damage control as the applicants they hired somehow got through for a software development gig while lacking sufficient programming skills. The requisites are so absurd that they are sometimes overtly impossible. Sebastian Ramirez for example found a job posting requiring 4+ years experience in FastAPI - Which he could not apply for as he CREATED FastAPI 1.5 years prior to that job posting.

[@pickyphysicsstudent201]

@@schuylergeery-zink1923 That is what I've been doing. I'm still beat out by people with work experience in the industry. TBF, I have gotten close but alot of the deck is stacked against me. Normally being beaten out by someone else who is an industry veteran. It is extremely competitive. Main issue is not being able to drive (which I am still learning) but it is a pain in the arse. There is no immediate shortcut to take.

[@CHIEF__]

Idk people's feelings on the guy but Peter Zeihan really put a lot of this in perspective for me. The decisions older generations have made really fucked us and it's not about our parents but the people in power importing low-wage work, doubling the work force (women), and automating, what did we expect would happen to wages?

[@CHIEF__]

2:53 ... yes Lmao sorry I am a fan but what? Are we supposed to be thankful for 25% increase to a $33k/yr salary when everything costs 500% more? I went to school in-state and have

[@alexanderrahl7034]

The oddest thing, is that doubling the workforce had a clear negative impact Buuuut because it was feminism... they refuse to accept it

[@maestrulgamer9695]

It only becomes a problem when there are also not enought employers! They can bring as many immigrants,women and machines to do jobs as they want,but if there aren't enought people to create jobs,then low wages and high unemployment happen.

[@CHIEF__]

@@alexanderrahl7034 The government loves the extra tax revenue but no one's ready for that conversation

[@Xiuhtec]

@@CHIEF__ The 25% increase is already after adjusting for inflation. So 1400% more wages than 1950 and things cost 1100% more if you want it put that way instead. Granted, some things (college and housing in particular) have outpaced inflation significantly thanks to, as the video mentions, terrible government controls on the production of housing and throwing tons of "free" loan money at the market.

[@AdamKlownzinger]

We’ve been screwed over, but because of our abandonment of capitalism, not our commitment to it.

[@Soloong_Gaybowzer]

Correct. Half of America wants to be communist, while ALL of America can't seem to tell the difference between capitalism and a corporatocracy.

[@jaywerner8415]

@@Soloong_Gaybowzer Agreed. With Corpoatocracy being one the MAIN problems we suffer from these days.

[@SweatyFatGuy]

Ya mean like Rockefeller and Hearst buying legislation to benefit themselves at our expense and its STILL affecting all of us more than 100 years later? Now we have a bunch of other ultra wealthy people who are doing the same thing, and want all of us to obey them... because they think they are better than we are, because they have money.

[@cubeman22]

The lefties will never admit it because it hurts their optics but corpatism is a tool of the socialist. Its how their demagogues will "socialize" the economy by ensuring their people are the heads of the needed corpos.

[@boywonderrr71]

Agreed! Why do we the tax payers bail out the banks, the automotive industry and others. In a true capitalist society they would fail due to poor management.

[@migueldelmazo5244]

People try to put us d-down (talkin' 'bout my generation) Just because we get around (talkin' 'bout my generation) Things they do look awful c-c-cold (talkin' 'bout my generation) I hope I die before I get old (talkin' 'bout my generation) This is my generation This is my generation, baby

[@HSpork]

2:25 "Isn't the median skewed by a few major cities?" Absolutely not. Averages can be easily skewed by high outlier prices, but medians are highly resistant to outliers. A home in CA costing $100 billion has no more impact on the median than one costing $500k. When you look at figures of actual income, desired income, or housing prices, bear in mind that medians are a far better metric for typical than average or mean. Whenever you see "average" or "mean" on a study like this, it's a huge red flag that the study could be skewed by a single high value; don't rely on these studies. Source: I am an actuary with 3 math degrees, including one in Statistics.

[@undoubtedcrow8010]

Thank you! But it doesn't take a math degree to realize that the median is not affected like that!

[@the_redpyro4906]

Although you have a fair point, it's worth noting that the sheer number of houses in these cities compared to cheaper rural areas could actually have an impact on the median. if there's enough of them, they become the median. However, I'm not going to pretend to know the total number of houses in each cost threshold or the distribution of these houses across the country. If there are not enough high cost houses to affect the median, then so be it.

[@TheNewChevyRoll48]

This is why I look at the median of X. Like median income given we live in a country of extremely rich people, but we know the common man ain't makin $60k/yr.

[@zarthemad8386]

Median and average are skewed by abnormalities... IE if you had a few hundred additional multi-million dollar mansions.... ohh wait cali pays that much for a 4 bedroom home.

[@HSpork]

@@undoubtedcrow8010 No, but it adds credibility to my analysis. Also, so many people (including Seamus, who I respect) demonstrate how they don't understand this, so I wanted to have more credibility than them.

[@arthurbrandonnielsen]

I think half the "Boomers had it better" narrative is backlash against that generation's equally garbage complaint of, "You young people have it so easy". My parents still try to give me the worst job advice.

[@bobowon5450]

"just walk in, grab a broom, and start working. you'll have a job by the end of the day" - unironically advice from my parents

[@ComissarYarrick]

​@@bobowon5450 Wow, I hope when I'll be old, I won't be so stuck in the past.

[@tylerian4648]

​@@bobowon5450They might have a point there. If he does that he'll be guaranteed three meals a day, and a place to sleep in a gated community. Not bad if you don't mind the all orange dress code.

[@kosmosXcannon]

​@@tylerian4648I think some people commit crimes to avoid living out in the street.

[@theethicalostrich1388]

@@bobowon5450 They aren't wrong (figuratively speaking of course). I am a millennial. In college I applied for a research assistant position with a professor. I did not get the job. No experience, mediocre grades, only a sophomore. That summer I offered to work 3-5 hours a week for free. The next semester I had a job there. The research and experience I got in that job landed me multiple job offers across the country despite mediocre grades. All because I "grabbed a broom".

[@IchNachtLiebe]

It really sucks that phones are required for most jobs. I'm still relatively young but I'm just old enough to remember when bringing your cell phone to work was a no go. Now you'll get chewed out for not having one, for not having access to a GPS 24/7 (so in many instances a flip phone isn't enough). We have more luxeries than any of the previous generations but we lack the necessities. Food is easy to get cheap but nutritious non altered food is harder to get ahold of. I can talk to anyone in the world on social media but deep close connections are becoming a thing of the past as people's psyches are being erroded by the very social media that was supposed to connect them. We have more than ever but its all cheap knock offs of what its meant to be. Tons of quantity and no quality. I'd much rather have a few quality things than an abundance of dime store trash items. I'm tired of the dime store quality reality the entire western world has seemed to become.

[@madtabby66]

If they require you to have a phone, they better be supplying it. My employer gets my landline number. My cellphone is for me.

[@IchNachtLiebe]

@@madtabby66 Fair. I haven't worked for other companies in a long time (full time). I've been self employed for a good while. Occasionally I'll take a part time job om the side during slow seasons. In those experiences it seems like people want to be able to call you at a moments notice. They want immediate responses. If you have multiple work locations they want you to be able to type it into Google maps. There are definitely ways to avoid the mediocrity but it gets harder and harder each year as more of the world sinks into it.

[@OldSaltyBear]

True I just joined a company that requires I have access to a smart phone authenticator app just to log in to their network. I can't do my job without a smart phone... and they didn't offer to provide me with a phone. On the plus side, I was able to get a $50 android phone from a budget service provider for that purpose.

[@dankmemes8619]

​@@madtabby66hah! That doesn't fly at my work anymore lmao. I know cus I tried. Gave them my landline not my cell. Nearly got in shit for not picking up extra shifts. God bless the inflated ego of companies that pay minimum wage and have a revolving door turnover rate

[@Ibian666]

Hold it right there. Houses went up 5 times. Wages up 25%. So are we worse off? YES! What is wrong with you?

[@jimmydesouza4375]

You should try to watch videos before screeching at them. It'll do you good.

[@rosezingleman5007]

None of my millennial kids went to college. They watched us slogging away to pay off student loans for our multiple advanced degrees each and opted to go from high school into the lowest rungs of the ladder in wildly different careers. Yes, they’re all doing okay, but no, they still cannot afford to go from renting into home ownership. Partly because they all live in metro DC, but it’s really inflation alone. The youngest is almost 34. Oldest 40. We couldn’t afford retirement in northern Virginia so we left (on J6 no less) for a cheap part of eastern Tennessee. Times are very bad.

[@kotlolish]

Luckily these days some jobs will take you in without a degree and want more expirence. OH LORD do companies LOVE expirence over anything. "We want a fresh young faced IT expert with 6 years of expirence in...--" Inflation and housing crisises are two of the worst aspects. And this also translated into less children being born since people have no money for themselves to barely survive, let alone a kid.... And the housing crisis and money problems isn't American only.. it's worldwide.

[@debanydoombringer1385]

@@kotlolish Yet people had kids during the Great Depression and other much harder times. No that has nothing to do with it. It's because they're discouraged by society to have them in multiple ways. Constantly telling them how expensive if it is, told to spend it on themselves, they're destroying the environment, overpopulation, etc. We were dirt poor and had 2 kids. If you wait until you can "afford it", you'll never have them because you'll always convince yourself you can't afford it. Yes places love experience. They always have. It's why my husband's 10 years experience translated to a new job where we're pushing $200,000 this year. Insurance covered 100%, a real pension plus 401k matching, etc.

[@debanydoombringer1385]

Living in DC was the first mistake. Sorry your kids aren't doing well. My Zoomer ones are and most of their friends. At 24 and 25 they're making good money and the oldest is about to purchase his first home, though I wish he'd wait until interest rates go down. Most of their friends own a home and a couple are married with children. Yes times are bad, but they've been much worse and always get better.

[@kotlolish]

The problem is... we live in a society that's hyper fast. But I do am glad you got a good life! Ugh.. the less birth rates and not affording it is one thing, but there are other things sneaking around causing problems and I am NOT smart enough to point em out. Anyway just look at Japan and compare some problems of Japan over America's birth rate decline. Why do I bring up Japan? Cause it's the easiest example... but there are parellel's. Time and Money are both reasons in Japan why there are less child birth. And I would say Japan is an even stricter work culture compared to the west.@@debanydoombringer1385

[@Brent-jj6qi]

@@debanydoombringer1385in the Great Depression, the mom was there to raise them, and the kids were doing work at a much younger age

[@nickmedley4749]

Government spending is a tough issue to tackle no doubt. Republicans are a bit better but both parties have been spending like crazy. We need leaders who can budget.

[@kotlolish]

They need leaders that are leaders... both parties gotten sloppy.

[@dirtyblueshirt]

It's not a leadership problem, it's a fundamental political one. It's called concentrated benefits and distributed costs. Everyone wants the federal government to balance the budget, but they only want to do it by cutting things other people support. As soon as you talk about cutting their favorite bit of pork they scream bloody murder. And since every dollar the government spends benefits somebody, there's someone to scream over every potential cut. Even across the board cuts that affect everyone can't get off the ground because everyone says that their program needs to be an exception. That's why I think that the only way out of this without a massive collapse is to fund the deficit with a head tax on the states.

[@JacobNeff-oq5km]

Two thirds of the federal budget is the welfare state, and we allow the recipients to vote. You can't fix a broken system within the confines of itself.

[@danielboone8256]

We are absolutely more worse off than we were in the 70s in terms of housing affordability and college affordability. Saying the houses have increased in quality doesn’t mean anything if you can’t even buy one! Also, I don’t know where you got that 19% cost of living number, but the Consumer Price Index underestimates the real cost of living changes.

[@laurapeterson12]

seriously, my bf and I were laughed at by a realtor when we looked at a house and said what we could afford. she was like it's $250,000 just to buy the lot and do the improvements and landscaping on it. wtaf

[@RebelCowboysRVs]

Looked at several houses for less than half that this week. Location, location, location. But also, a realtor works on commission. Selling you a cheap house is not in their interest.

[@laurapeterson12]

@@RebelCowboysRVs unfortunately any houses by us that cost about $125,000 would be in Milwaukee or other undesirable areas. We’ll just keep waiting.

[@matteblack5805]

I'm in that boat too. I've been trying to get a place but I've given up. So far I've been outbid 237 times in 3 years, and all houses went for 10-100k over asking price. I'm a working man, im not made of that kind of money.

[@laurapeterson12]

@@matteblack5805 That is so frustrating. We could have locked in a really good interest rate when we were looking, but 20-40k over is 1-2 cars, no thanks. I didn't want to get my hopes up either and be outbid every time. Silver lining, now I'm not stuck in my state if I want to move - lol...

[@LibertarianEnt]

That realization that yeah, it's gotten a lot worse in just 4 years just hit me like a freight train

[@patrickrolan8680]

ACTUALLY... medians aren't impacted by outliers. High high and low lows don't effect the middle value in a particular set.

[@jimmydesouza4375]

Medians absolutely are impacted by outliers. Do you understand what a median is? It's less effected than mean and more effected than mode. Additionally they're more specifically meaning how Cali housing is both a large group and higher than the rest of the country so push up the entire median of the country without actually representing anywhere other than the hell on earth that is california.

[@zarthemad8386]

In Cali a 3 bedroom home is $1,000,000 .. If cali has 800k such homes the median home price for the US is adjusted upwards vs the 300k $80k starter homes in Idaho

[@patrickrolan8680]

Fair point, the quantity of outliers does effect the median, just not the value of each outlier. Stating "California alters the average for everyone else" is not entirely accurate. Usually let that sort of thing slide, but not with Seamus.

[@Harley_Mitchelly]

@@patrickrolan8680 It's well known in stats if you do median work that yes, if Bill Gates shows up anywhere, the average net worth of individuals there will be in the millions. Outliers of sufficient size absolutely can alter a median through sheer force of outlier. Considering California has a lot of houses and probably has a few make-work scams going, it's easy to see how Cali's market on crack and stupid juice can throw the median number outta wack by at least a few 100K.

[@JacobTheStrangeOfficial]

See, this is somewhat true, but they themselves leave out that if the cost of housing was 80k on average when someone made 33k on average, that's making your income 41 percent of cost of the home. But if you have the modern median of $416k for a home, and then $41k for median income, that makes your income only 9 percent of the home's cost. Even if you factor states like Cali boosting the median, and modern improvements to the home, they're still probably nearly half as affordable as they once were.

[@nicholasgutierrez9940]

A few of his videos are like this. They say they the common complaint is comparing apples to oranges. Then they only say what the apple is and ignore the orange. Wages have gone up no doubt. But expenses have outpaced it. It would be better said that everyone's purchasing power has gone down. That makes wage growth irrelevant since money is worth less. He only states the number going up, not the value behind it.

[@Harley_Mitchelly]

@@nicholasgutierrez9940 You... ignored all the parts where he pointed out where the oranges are and why they're oranges. Housing regulations getting stricter, the need to shove more stuff into a home, the expanding footprint of the average home, FED making the money printer go brrr, all of which are not simple easy explanations you can fit into a 5 minute or less video on why Gen Z having it worse is not what Gen Z thinks it is.

[@settame1]

A few months ago I went down the rabbit hole of figuring out what my grandparents spent on their housing back in 1954 when they bought their tiny ranch home in at the time a smallish suburb. They were very frugal and didn’t spend an outrageous amount. Because they were a single income family (owned their own business) they actually ended up spending significantly more of their total income on housing compared to my husband and I. They didn’t have debt, but we don’t either because we focused on paying it off before we bought a house and had kids. So at the same place in life, we would have to buy a house about 3X what we have to match what the household % income going to housing was in 1954, or we’d have to go back down to a single person income to match what they had.

[@flyingturret208thecannon5]

0:40 Please, don't strawman. I know you're better than that Seamus. There are legitimate struggles to find employment in my generation. Currently making $15.50 at Walmart, and despite possessing A+/Net+/Sec+/Linux+/CySA+, I can't get my first job in the IT industry. Sure, at first I asked for $30 an hour. By the third interview I was down to $20, and I was looking for as low as $13, but I've pulled out altogether, because the one opportunity I did get was a temporary position(3 months or less) with a pay cut compared to Walmart, and I'd have to move to another state. Got a buddy who couldn't even get employed at Walmart. Now, I'm looking at a *different* approach, which I will keep to myself for now. Edit: Seamus, it doesn't *matter* if there are better homes these days, if you can't even buy one. Let's take that to a reducto absurdum - *MAJOR NEWS: Agricultural company heavily funded by the government & billionaires now producing food that amplifies muscle growth, provides all the calories and nutrients one would need in a day! The price of this new food is $100 per meal. No older food will be produced going forward, and as old foods expire, there will ONLY be new food on the market!* No one could reasonably afford the new houses being built, and as old houses are condemned, revamped, updated, or what have you, just housing alone is more difficult. Also, refer to my earlier numbers - I'm making less than $16 an hour. Your figure must be missing some variables to account for(if it's accounting for solely inflation, then that means it's ignoring the other factors of buying power, including but not limited to, increased costs for rent or mortgages) if I should be able to buy a house like one from the 70's off the money I make at Walmart. I was lucky that my total loan figure upon finishing college was simply a used car loan. But of course, because the quality of living has improved for those that can afford the cost of living, suddenly we can't be the poorest.

[@dankmemes8619]

Yeah this episode was kinda ass, simping for capitalism just because it's capitalism. I'm in a similar boat to you. I just was declined a job because. Well I don't fucking know why they didn't go with me. Hiring multiple positions. Literally the exact job I do, but higher pay. Hell my current job does more than that job had. But nooooo didn't get it because. Again I don't fuckint know. So I'm stuck working at 15.40 CAD. Can barely afford to live. I even tried getting jobs closer to where I live now, and not a single one responds. I'm one more bullshit job declined from saying fuck it and joining the French foreign legion or some shit like that.

[@flyingturret208thecannon5]

@dankmemes8619 yeah. I’m Libertarian/minarchist. Around that area, anyways. And I’m of the belief that our most important fundamental function of government is the military, and on part for the reason that it creates the most jobs and opportunities. No employer will hire someone at $30,000 a year, pay for $70,000 of training, and then expect them to be busy training for a whole year - before they start making money off of the employee, they’re already $100,000 in the hole. That’s why the volunteer-based military is needed. Those who can make it without the military(or want to make it without the military) will stay out, and those who need its support can go in.

[@cheesemakerkeesee395]

Short answer, yes

[@unusuarioimportante]

Because of government intervention

[@BirdRaiserE]

Keeping housing low is also very profitable for a small group of people, though it looks like an accident that the government caused the way it's portrayed in this cartoon.

[@mustang607]

Ah yes, the pre-woke years when America was more civil and more free.

[@sevenguardians7517]

I’m sick of the woke shit Im down for going back a few steps cause obviously we took a wrong turn somewhere

[@kosmosXcannon]

Bring me back to the late 00s and early 10s. I grew up watching Batman the Animated series. Shit like that would not get produced today. Amazing it got a PG rating.

[@Terabit3]

Did you notice that all of this garbage started happening shortly after women were given the right to vote? Think about that

[@TomKayito]

You just admitted that 25% higher average wage vs. 80k to 416k price leap. For the house itself, even if it's 260% the size, modern building techniques and construction styles should also be LOWERING the cost of houses, so even if the new stuff in them cost more, the price should've remained at least vaguely similar. 260% size = 260% price. Now let's math. 80k house +25% wages higher * 260% bigger house size = 260k. So why are the houses 416k? That means that the current generation would need to pay- on average- 60% more for a similarly sized house, all factors considered. And that's not something that just happened in the last 4 years. That's government fuckups for decades. (Not that the last 4 years hasn't made it much worse.)

[@Yabuturtle]

We are at the point where must fix it ourselves, as our leaders have not only not fixed the issues present, but they have actively made then worse, created new problems and have no intention of changing their ways. If everyone in every single country knew what their leaders did, what they are doing, and what they plan to do, you would see a world wide revolution. We can't depend on a savior or saviors that may or may not it show up. We must unite together.

[@brianjohnson5272]

Gen Z ISNT the poorest, it has the LEAST buying power.

[@Toastfreak]

Gen Z here (24 y/o Canadian) I've been job hunting for almost 3 years now and have only gotten 2 interviews. I'm not deluding myself into thinking I'll get some overpaid 6 figure job right away. I've been applying to anything I'm remotely qualified for; including lots of minimum wage service jobs. I've even tried a number of volunteer positions with non-profits just to pad out my resume. I haven't found anything. How am I supposed to not feel screwed?

[@jimmydesouza4375]

"I've been applying to anything I'm remotely qualified for; including lots of minimum wage service jobs." If you have only gotten 2 interviews, no you're not. I have spent a lot of time around the chronically unemployed they always say this, like you are, but when you force them to give you a list of what they're actually applying for it's always a small number of jobs that they are 100% underqualified for, but they delude themselves into thinking otherwise. It'll be the same with you.

[@My_Old_YT_Account]

​​@@jimmydesouza4375I very much doubt you live in Canada, otherwise you would know this is exactly how fucked things are here

[@dankmemes8619]

​@@jimmydesouza4375yeah okay tardo. I have a list of shit I've applied for, some yes were moonshots (some of those were genuinely the ones who got back to me and only failed because of some degree or license I lacked!). So many basic jobs? Nothing. Intermediate? Nothing. Advanced jobs that I applied to just try and see? Well again, some did get back lol. Resume change and update? Nothing. Making a new account and reapplying? Nothing. Emailing/calling to inquire about it? Nothing. I have applied to around 190 jobs within about 1 year timespan (ovr the course of 2 years, I did get one to get back to me and got the job but no longer work there. I was the only person who applied to thay job that could legally work it so that's why I got it). Maybe 20 total responses, 10 interviews, 6 if you don't count times I reapplied to those jobs and somehow they let my ass back into the interview room. If you somehow think you have the wisdom to impart on me about what I'm doing wrong, go ahead. At this point I'm all ears.

[@Toastfreak]

@@jimmydesouza4375 Okay. I give up. In what way am I 'delusional' for thinking I'm qualified to be a McDonalds cashier? I have over a decade of relevant (volunteer) experience and I know for a fact that people have been able to get those jobs with far less qualifications. And what number are you considering to be "a small number of jobs"? Because I measure in terms of how many pages of Indeed (and similar sites) I've gone through filling out every listing that has "entry level" or "trainee" or a similar title; which is a few hundred pages. That's not even getting into the days where I'd walk to every business in walking distance and ask about a job. Please tell me what incredible training it takes to flip a burger and and how many tens of thousands of applications I should fill out before I should expect to hear back from somewhere? Pet medical bills don't pay themselves and if someone offered me less than minimum wage to scrub toilets with a toothbrush I'd gladly take it. (Though I'd image you think that requires a masters degree)

[@cp1cupcake]

I think the worst I have seen someone complain about the cost of living was a couple with well paying jobs who were losing money week after week because they didn't know how to manage money. They bascially had the classic 'poor person wins the lottery and overspends' mentality. I think also most of the people I know who complain about the cost of living are also ones that refuse to buy cheap products, ie "organic" produce instead of regular.

[@j0kerr1]

I know people that complain about the cost of living then go out and get a dog, have another kid, send other kids to gymnastics and skiing, and then refuse to buy anything that it isn't organic for food.

[@Xiuhtec]

But they neeeeed to drive a brand new car every 3 years and just keep leasing. They neeeeed that daily $6 latte. They neeeeeed the latest $1200 phone refreshed biannually instead of a $150 budget model with only 2 year old specs. They couldn't possibly get a roommate to control housing expenses. Easier to complain than change their habits.

[@HTV-2_Hypersonic_Glide_Vehicle]

​​@@XiuhtecEven then, that is a demographic that gets attention. I don't do what you listed, but I complain about how expensive everything is. The only thing I do that costs a lot of money is fast food, but that's because I don't buy groceries and I don't waste time preparing for a dining event for myself, ever. My biggest purchase is my first car, a 1999 Toyota 4Runner and I am nearly finished paying it off. My second biggest payment is community college per semester. 3rd biggest is maintenance on my vehicle. 4th biggest is my phone which cost me $200 5th biggest is my shoes for work because I deliver for Amazon 6th biggest is a Bluetooth speaker I got for $55 7th is clothes 8th is food. I don't watch movies, I don't go to concerts, I don't travel, I just exist, and everything is too expensive.

[@Shade7x]

@@Xiuhtec the roommate one is my biggest peeve. "back in my day!" (I'm not even old) we got roommates to cut our rent and bills in half. Living solo was a luxury to work towards after we got a footing outside of the nest. Now I always see these calculations about how minimum wage being technically unlivable, always conveniently neglecting to mention that simple solution.

[@debanydoombringer1385]

@@Shade7x My husband had 2 roommates when we got married. They're rent per person was just over $300 and that was in the mid 90s. Only people that had more than a single room apartment solo were the ones in management.

[@rrteppo]

Did Shamus really just say, "gen Z doesn't have it as bad because even through a house is more expensive that's because they don't use lead paint anymore?" That's a really shit argument.

[@MarlKitsune]

Nah he said housing today and housing 40 years ago have become apples and oranges.

[@robertbeisert3315]

"Houses are about twice as big, so it makes sense that they take roughly 7x longer to pay off (with a 7x higher down payment) than they used to." None of it's built to last, either. From shoddy workmanship on the foundations to lower quality materials, to expensive-but-garbage appliances and other major purchases, the cost of keeping a home is up quite a bit, too.

[@rrteppo]

@@MarlKitsune The house my dad bought when he was my age was 130K. That same exact house costs 3x as much today only 20sh years later. I am comparing Apples to themselves. And the amount of income people make hasn't tripled in those same 20 years. So idk man.

[@MarlKitsune]

@@rrteppo Yep. Mostly due to the housing shortage,Which is the problem that NEEDS to be addressed.(i'd argue that you have to go back 30+ years before the apple/orange argument holds weight as internet was the last major change to housing construction)

[@rrteppo]

@@MarlKitsune My grandma's house was build during the depression and still has an internet connection. They just had to put a box outside the house and replace a few telephone outlets because it's the same copper.

[@GrandpaBaner]

It is way easier to fall into debt nowadays with credit cards and payment plans for almost everything. It wasn't until the early 2000s where you could use a credit card anywhere, like at McDonald's, and now you can take payment plans when buying trivial things like an Xbox or a big OLED tv. I suspect this is the big problem as it can end up being a financial trap.

[@kotlolish]

Credit Cards, Bad financial advice, having to spend more on technology to be able to keep up to social norm/getting a job. Trust me.. if you don't have a smart phone these days... you are excluded from a lot of things, even some banks who have NO building to enter and are just ONLINE BANKS. No smartphone? No service. The smart phone has become the second ID you need to have. But I do agree payment plans and credit cards are just ONE of the MANY trappings we got. But there are also things you jsut need to get to even be able to keep up with society due to the tech age.

[@debanydoombringer1385]

You've been able to lease new electronics for a couple of decades or rent them. Rent to Own stores have been around a long time and you could rent gaming systems where you could rent games.

[@GrandpaBaner]

@@kotlolish yeah, and a lot of the phone companies will just add your smartphone cost to your monthly bill over 3 years making it look cheaper. So now there's a bunch of people walking around with a $1000 phone that they don't own while complaining about expensive bills

[@shorewall]

Credit cards are not equivalent to a smart phone. You are right that most people need a smart phone. They don't need the newest one or a new one every 2 years though. But no one should have a credit card. That is a saw trap just waiting to get you in crazy debt with high interest. Credit cards should be illegal. They are worse than hard drugs.

[@Steven9567]

and debit cards pay with cash@@shorewall

[@frzstat]

In the 1950s most home were smaller, with smaller bedrooms that were shared, 2+ kids per bedroom. The House had one T.V. that received 3-4 channels. Kitchens were small and very basic, the same with bathrooms. Central heating/air was not the norm.

[@bobowon5450]

i would love it, because you know what that beats? the rampant homelessness overtaking my home town. Right now the gap between being homeless, or occupying a modest home is insane, it feels like you either have a mansion, or are homeless, because small houses just don't exist anymore.

[@dankmemes8619]

I'd be fine with houses like that Returning, literally just have basic heating system (live in canada, it's a requirment) and give me those post war bungalow houses n shit. I would love a small place to live until I got a family.

[@firstandforemost87]

Millennials and zoomers have their issues, and we/they are really annoying and kinda sad, but Boomers and X need to start acknowledging their hand in it all. They raised them. They staffed the schools. They designed the curricula. They stuck them in front of addictive digital media so that they didn’t have to parent. They stuck them in daycares where the kids learn to get attention from the thin stretched workers by causing a scene. They insisted on the kids going to post secondary school, and insisted that student debt was/is good debt (I still hear this tripe) and that all ‘educations’ are worth it. They propagandized them into angry, often deranged and broken, ppl obsessed w change for the sake of change. Listening to older generations slag the kids is like listening to owner of an abused and neglected dog complain about how it craps on the rug and chews the furniture. You should have trained it better and spent some time w it.

[@johnnyjones5385]

The things you need have gone up.Homes, Energy, Fresh food. The thing we want have done down. Holidays, takeout/Packaged food, electronic good. So the baby boomers that have paid off their homes are sitting pretty. They can grow some of their fresh food, and even though their energy cost have gone up. Overall their sitting pretty. The younger generation that a living a shallow life living with their parents are kind of doing OK. The ones that want to live that traditional life with family kids and a white picket fence are basically got a bad deal.

[@AtariDad]

You're very naive for thinking a simple change in leadership is going to lead to things getting better. What's going on right now isn't a system that's broken, it's a system that's operating exactly as intended for the people at the top. The dystopia we live in now is exactly what Lewis F. Powell envisioned when he penned that memo back in 1971. Do you honestly think our representatives are remotely interested in making things better for us when they and their rich donors are doing better than ever?

[@jamoecw]

people were paid less, but had more back in the day. thanks government for 'saving us' from that horror.

[@TheAllSeeingEye2468]

So the lesson is that college sucks and you shouldn't do it

[@Shade7x]

I think more "don't just wander into it without a plan"

[@nicholasrandall3507]

Unless you know the exact job you are applying for, have had an interview and tour at said job, know the specific minimum requirements, and there is no alternative way to get the qualifications.

[@abcdefghij337]

Just identify as someone with melanin and you’ll at least land the interview.

[@TheAllSeeingEye2468]

@@abcdefghij337 melanin? Never heard of that breed

[@flyingturret208thecannon5]

@@nicholasrandall3507 Not even this works.

[@JackieOwl94]

I appreciate the nuanced take on this. I’m one of the latest millennials, and I was lucky I was able to pay off my student debt with my husband behind me to do it. We are almost done paying off a car we bought just before prices ballooned. However, we still can’t afford a home of our own and currently live with my parents after my husband suddenly lost his job. We’re still ok, ahead of where we need to be in terms of our loan, but it’s still difficult and a LOT different compared to my father’s situation-one of the last boomers-at my age. And it took a long time for me to convince him we weren’t just “being lazy” compared to him back when he had 2 houses with one on a lake by age 30.

[@user-op8fg3ny3j]

College isn't worth it anymore

[@talongreenlee7704]

I went to community college for a machining degree. Cost me 8 years of minimum wage work and $10K student loans. Paid it off in a year and bought a house by my second year out of college. It really depends on what you’re going for.

[@ashleypenn7845]

@@averageblonde5496 Hubby: >has GED >makes $95k/yr in the tech industry Nice try, though.

[@user-op8fg3ny3j]

@@talongreenlee7704 true. A degree in gender studies and dance isn't going to pay the bills 😂

[@zarthemad8386]

@@averageblonde5496 Diesel mechanics start at 60k/year... try again pipe welders can make over 150k/year (in 1995) try again

[@ashleypenn7845]

@averageblonde5496 "entry level" He started at $16/hr. As did many of his peers who *have* degrees. Most of the jobs he applied for required a Master's and paid $60k. Unless you live in Silicon Valley, $95k a year is not even remotely close to "entry level". His brother has 2 Masters' and doesn't even make that much and he works for the government.

[@eloimireault8401]

In Canada, according to banks' data, only the top 10% of earners could be approved on a mortgage for the average house on income alone. 115k$ if anyone is wondering (84,8k USD)

[@MidwestArtMan]

Healthcare and education both skyrocketed since the 1980s. I'm guessing childcare has, as well. As for housing, they don't make new affordable housing anymore. Unless you're getting a manufactured home and the land to put it on, the cheapest things I've seen are townhouses for $250k and HOA fees on top. I'm sure plenty of people in their 20s would be fine with a 900 sq ft house if there were some available. My townhouse isn't even that big. Oh, and when it comes to cars, I don't know how bone-stock you can get them anymore. If I got a new car, I'd want something small without any drive assist features, but I'm not sure if they build anything like that anymore. Add to that the price increase for electric vehicles, and it gets even worse.

[@freedomforever6718]

Buy it for $450,000 and 20 years later sell it for $900,000. Nice poem, Seamus.

[@Soloong_Gaybowzer]

Gen Z may not be the poorest generation, but you'd have to be a liar to say that they eventually won't be due to policies enacted by Boomers. Ex. Federal welfare, open borders, housing market, ect.

[@ashleypenn7845]

I honestly wish they'd let us opt out of Social Security. Let me fund my own retirement, pls. They're already teetering on insolvency, and we'll never see a dime of what we paid in. it's already spent.

[@jimmydesouza4375]

The issues with that is that A) Those aren't policies enacted by boomers, they predated the boomers and B) The Z'ers support those policies and as such have no grounds to complain about them.

[@ashleypenn7845]

@@jimmydesouza4375The first part I disagree with because although the ideas may predate them, they SEVERELY exacerbated them to unprecedented levels. The second point is spot on, though.

[@jimmydesouza4375]

@@ashleypenn7845 They really didn't exacerbate them. Non viable policy simply gets worse over time, and that non viable policy predates the boomers (for example mass govt subsidisation and price control is Roosevelt era).

[@debanydoombringer1385]

It's called a housing bubble and it will pop. They happen from time to time. People acting like the prices of houses that shot up during COVID are going to last forever are completely ignorant of the past. You want to see out of control pricing and inflation? Look to the 70s and early 80s. They were I believe the lowest points of home ownership in history. Cars were outrageously expensive too. Nobody could afford anything for several years. Gas shortages with people waiting in line for hours to purchase just a couple of gallons. The difference is nobody acted like it was forever. It was just a rough period people needed to get through. This defeatist attitude is the real problem. People were upset. People felt depressed. They didn't wander around all day complaining acting like it was everyone else's fault and problem. If my generation had acted like this when we had to create an entire new economy as our jobs were all shipped overseas you wouldn't have half the stuff you enjoy today. I'll explain why they shot up. Smart people that saw an economic downturn coming purchased property and took out longterm loans to lock in the value of their money. People like me. Massive inflation was written all over the wall when the lockdowns started. That's why they increased at a higher rate than inflation. Many of them are already back on the market in an attempt to capitalize on the current higher prices before the bubble bursts. Eventually they'll run out of people able to afford the prices and the prices will fall. Quickly.

[@tonythekillab8189]

Something that you should have also mentioned as a major contributor to the massive increase in the price of housing is decades upon decades of mass uncontrolled immigration. Granted, it's way worse in the UK than it is in America, but it still is very bad here.

[@shorewall]

And foreign investment.

[@user-do5zk6jh1k]

Immigrants are poor. They aren't driving up prices.

[@robertbeisert3315]

​@user-do5zk6jh1k except their net economic production is on the order of -$20k per person per year, on average.

[@Crime_Mime]

@@user-do5zk6jh1k There's an argument to be made that they're driving up the prices for small homes, rentals, apartments, etc - all of the 'starter' properties. Though I'm thinking UK more than US.

[@Needagoodnamebutcantthinkofone]

We need more of this, even I find myself falling victim to it, and I'm not tooting my own horn but I'm pretty well up-to-date on politics and economics and things so if I can fall victim to believing lies like this just imagine how someone who's not paying attention could do so. We definitely need more of this I wish you would do a long-term video on this stuff, I know it takes a lot of money and energy and time to do but even just a video of you in person explaining it with examples and statistics and things would be awesome.....

[@Tang-qi6zw]

Another thing: MEDIAN price of home and MEDIAN price of housing is used specifically so a couple of extremely high markets don’t influence the price changes, unlike mean, since those are the true middle value and don’t change if the tops and bottoms of the curve change.

[@BioGeneticsEcoariums]

My… my semester price is almost as much as an individual man’s salary back in the 1970’s? Half a year of university for me is what an average guy back then would make in an ENTIRE YEAR?!?! IN TODAYS DOLLARS?!?!? My price per semester costs 22-41K depending on if I take a full in person course load… I have so much schoolwork I can’t even dream of working rn… I can only make about 16k a summer working 6 days a week 10hr days because I need to spend at least 18hrs a week per class on schoolwork in order to keep up… I have 5 classes… I spends 90hrs or more on my schoolwork per week… and I’m just throwing away this guys salary EIGHT TIMES OVER?!?!? Oh christ what have I done?!?!? I knew I should have listened to my friends and myself and told my family more harshly I didn’t want to go… I have to pay for this by myself, my family signed a document to my student loan program saying they aren’t financially responsible for me anymore… I’m only two years in I can’t afford residence anymore I’m staying at my grandparents and I have to commute from 2hrs away daily, gas is eating me alive but it’s still more affordable than 10k residential fee with 4 other roommates…

[@undoubtedcrow8010]

I graduated in May. If I could do it again, I would have quit college and been an electrician.

[@flakerflip01]

Also, we’re talking about a production vs a consumer economy. Kids coming out of high school back then expected to work in a factory, but college graduates now aren’t expecting to go for more abundant service jobs.

[@LynyrdSkynyrd.4Ever]

"we need to look at the people and policies that have made our life worse over the past 4 years"...if those idiots cheat their way back into office again, hopefully many others will join me in a mostly peaceful "immediate adjustment" of US leadership 😑

[@noticedruid4985]

Lets do some simple math okay folks. Average cost of rent across the us: $1300 Average cost of utilities: $413 Average used car payments: $528 Average cost of food per person: $415 Average cost for car insurance: $102 Average cost for Phone bill: $114 For grand total of $2872 per month. Just a reminder, this just the average and doesn't account for miscellaneous expenses, entertainment, or even healthcare its just the bare minimum. Its about $34,464 per year. In order to afford this, one would need to have to make $35,000 dollars per year after taxes. You would need to make about $729 per week. Or about 18 dollars per hour at a 40 hour work week. So you need to make 18 dollars per hour at the minimum likely this should be higher to factor in taxes. Just so folks know the federal minimum wage is $7.25 dollars. Which comes to $13,920 per year. At 40 hours per week, not including taxes. So if your making federal minimum wage your essentially frucked, you would need to make three times what you make in order to survive.

[@cherubin7th]

Poor person: Has a house, 4 children, wife at home, and enough food for everyone and some cash for fun Rich person: Can't even afford a apartment without roommates.

[@Cross_Malaki]

As a working class poor person, I have no children, no home, and food is too expensive for us to buy without help from our roommates.

[@krunchyapples]

I like the measured take that these complaints are not entirely wrong. Young people and people my age have been completely screwed over, but not bcos of "muh capitalism". It's because of government overspending, terrible fiscal policies, and overregulation. All the problems making young people poorer is almost entirely the fault of expansive government

[@darthhodges]

Also remember that the single family home figure is for ALL homes known to exist in each year referenced. How many of the homes that exist today are 70 years old or more? If you look at the average size of homes built in the last five years it will be much larger than the 2600sqft number given.

[@roflocopter1337]

Theres also rent to consider, since everyone not buying an overpriced home are likely living in an apartment. Rent is insane at the moment, I'm paying 2 grand a month for my apartment which isn't even in a nice area. There was a drive by shooting at the front gate and another car rammed the fence line. So yes while people are earning more money; the consumption of said money is also far higher.

[@markmoonfang5895]

It always goes back to the Government. As it should.

[@jasont80]

This makes an excellent point. My grandfathers first house had a dirt floor, but it was WAY cheaper than my first house.

[@ankhmortus1470]

So did the price of most things increase by 25% or less since 1950s (2:34)? So a average 25% (and that includes the 1%?) Increase in pay, and a (most likely, from 1st person accounts not actual studies) greater increase in prices of common daily necessitates than 25%. We make more? Not in context of inflation.

[@robertbeisert3315]

Necessities like food basically doubled last year, alone.

[@Harley_Mitchelly]

Problem being, you've changed the topic. If we're talking pound for pound currency units generated, Gen Z makes more. However, when you add inflation you screw with the game at that point and open the door for a litany of other issues which the video did touch on. Objectively, you are making more currency units than the boomers. It's equally objective that thanks to things like inflation, you are paying far more, *and that is the root issue.* The whole issue in the first place is people foolishly choosing to focus on what they make and trying to streamline something that is already very streamlined to compensate for the actual millstone around their neck instead of... you know... trying to take off the millstone.

[@dgarrard100]

You say the average home has increased in size as if that isn't also part of the problem. There are luxury apartments and giant houses everywhere, but finding a "starter home" is significantly harder. As you point out, this has a lot to do with the government's bad regulations and printing money like there's no tomorrow, but that doesn't change the fact that many millennials and younger are completely priced out of the housing market.

[@TheVexCortex]

Time to address the elephant in the room. Number of immigrants 1970: 9.6M. Number of immigrants 2022: 46.2M. That we know of. Yeah, Seamus left a lot out on this one (other commenters have touched on some of the other things he left out), and I think he came to the wrong conclusion because of it.

[@dankmemes8619]

Not the only reason, BUT you are absolutely right, its a massive fucking reason. I was straight up told by a interviewer for one of the few interviews I got that said something along the lines of "I'd hire you, but you don't have your driver's license currently, so now I need to go through the multiple applications from people from south Africa now. " fuckers couldn't even hold the Job for me until I got my license (which I got a few months later) for a job that could have easily been like "okay just no driving until you get the license" It's easier for them to get a immigrant than to invest in the countries own citizens. It's equally the government and companies faults for this. One allows it to happen and the other exploits it.

[@_Stormfather]

I'm a millennial, almost a Gen Z, and I was able to buy a house in 2021 as a single man, getting (statistically) underpaid in my field and in one of the most competitive housing markets in the country. It wasn't easy, and I had to work my ass off, working 60 hours a week to get enough overtime to afford it. But it is certainly possible, and it would be easier for couples (who have two incomes) or people in less competitive markets.

[@Baconmanperson]

I think this misses just a little because it's using CPI-adjusted numbers, but CPI is heavily manipulated and not a good measure of inflation

[@captainheat2314]

What they should use is housing cost to median income and then you will see huge increases

[@jimmydesouza4375]

Misses in what way? If you use true inflation figures it means the prices of older goods would have been even more expensive after adjustment so supports the overall thrust of the video even more, which I assume is the reason why they went with the lowered figures.

[@captainheat2314]

@@jimmydesouza4375 it also overtime gets cheaper with more matured production or greater quantities made

[@Baconmanperson]

@@jimmydesouza4375 You have it backwards. If a house adjusted for inflation should be $200,000 instead of $80,000 then it means the situation has changed LESS than was presented here

[@jimmydesouza4375]

@@Baconmanperson You seem to have misread my post.

[@Mika-ph6ku]

I'm down to blame the current regime for our current recession, but I also always make sure that no one forgets that the issue of the US dollar being devalued started with its conversion into a fiat currency. Going off the gold standard made the American people more poor and created a massive wealth transfer to the upper echelons of society. Our problems we experience today started there. Inflation is taxation with extra steps.

[@Cross_Malaki]

0:24 And I already can tell where this is going. 0:35 Yeah, no. We're not asking for 200k a year. We're asking for LIVABLE wages. 50k is the current 'minimum' calculated by the Fed, but for most people even making 100k is living paycheck to paycheck. Some of it is our fault, sure, but a larger sum of it is because of inflation, and guess who has held more power in congress over the last 30 years? 1:15 Alright, Seamus making some good points. Better than most Libertardians anyway. 2:01 And what generation put those zoning ordinances in Seamus? 2:25 And a lot of that size increase was pushed by what generation again? Who pushed for those ammenities? Come on Seamus it's not that hard to figure out... 2:46 And the purchasing power of that increase of 25% is less than 70% of that 33k. 3:04 So we should completely ignore all the things conservatives and right wingers did wrong in the past to make us worse off, and instead only focus on what Biden has done. Nice Special Pleading argument Seamus.

[@kingalastor936]

Are we talking about silent gen?

[@Cross_Malaki]

​@@kingalastor936No. Boomers. Boomers voted for the policies that have made it almost impossible for Millennials and Zoomers to actually have a life, all to protect Boomers' retirement funds. (And their grifts in Washington and the Economy.)

[@Fish_tank75]

Couple problems in your argument here firstly is that judging by the trend most inflation today happened in the last 3 years instead of the last 30 over the period of 1990 to 2020 the economy stated relatively stable only dipping majorly in 2008 Also raise it minimum wage will make everything more expensive because the businesses need to make more to pay more thus raise prices to make a profit we should be developing more Housing like you said

[@Cross_Malaki]

​@@Fish_tank75 Firstly and foremostly, when I was 10 I remember soda being a dollar at most out of a vending machine. Then, in 2012 when I got out of high school vending machine sodas were a buck fifty. Now a soda from a vending machine is almost three dollars, and that price was going up starting in 2012. It is not the last three years. Greedflation has been happening for far longer and has happened under BOTH parties. Raising the minimum wage isn't the solution, but not because it will raise prices. Banning stock trading and investment is the solution, as companies will continue to use stock prices as justification to screw over workers for ages. Stocks created this mess. Get rid of investors, force companies to actually cater to their customers, watch how quickly they collapse when no one can afford to buy their bullshit any more. Yes, building more housing is important, but again, Seamus makes it sound like the housing blocking zoning laws only got implemented under Biden. They weren't. They were signed into law under Reagan, and have been maintained and upheld by governments both Republican AND Democrat. BOTH parties are screwing the American People over, but Seamus wants to frame it as exclusively the Democrats' fault.

[@Cross_Malaki]

​@@Fish_tank75Also, you aren't making 50k a year on minimum wage in ANY state in the US. 50k isn't minimum wage, it's the minimum you need to survive. Most people aren't making that.

[@TheCatOfAges]

people made less back in the 50s, but everything cost waaaaaay less even with adjustment. 1.64 per gallon of gas with adjustment, a large house was only 10k, cars were at most 35000 for a reasonable car (not 60000 for a cadillac lol, and many other things just cost less. thats why it seems we were better off back then.

[@amergingiles]

The dollar of 1980 was worth ten times the dollar of 2020. We've lost 250% of our buying power since then. A burger flipper making 7 bucks an hour was making 70 bucks an hour now. Boomers are the ones that got it easy. My family and I have been homeless twice and I've been working aince I was 16. It's not even a matter of devt or costs, its that shit keeps happening. I almost got us to upper middle class working a stagehand gig in vegas. Was making 27 bucks an hour, 40-80 hours a week, great coworkers, 5000 dollars every two weeks. You know what happened? The government, and their Covid bullshit. Contarcts cut, jobs lost, economy in shambles. Gamestop? I bought in when it was 15. Would have made 60k if Robinhood didnt pull the plug on us. I got many stories. I am one of the few people in the world that can confidently say most of my problems are actually everyone else's fault. I'm not stopping the hustle, but for fucks sake, I'm sick of hearing how awesome things are or were from people who do have it easy.

[@MelancollieCandybutt]

Thank you Seamus for explaining these things in quick, digestible cartoons. I know it is a lot more complex than you are explaining, but you are helping show the work that most people are curious about, but don't have the time to rabbit hole information for. Thank you for all your hard work ❤

[@jester9217]

Biggest thing i can advise young people just stepping out of high-school to is go to a trade school and while doing that work part time at a big hardware store. The trades are going to desperately need employees as the older gen retire, and its at hardware stores where you can meet people working on the trade talk to them and possibly get your foot in the door.

[@shorewall]

I've also heard that trades and skills travel well, especially to small towns that are cheaper. Because the town is small, they are less likely to have adequate tradesman around.

[@LovingPrinceTamayuki]

I like how they both now get along so well now, considering that Bob used to hate his guts. But this video also gives the impression that they are also drifting back apart (maybe I’m wrong.)

[@dreamwolf7302]

My only addition to this is that GenZ, and Millennials like myself, were pushed to go to college, and many of us did. I have 2 doctorates (dual Doctorate program) two Masters, and 1 Bachelor degree, as well as an associates in electrical engineering (but i wont count that, my father in law paid for it, as a wedding gift). I am addicted to learning. However, by the time most Millennials hit the work force...they were already tens of thousands in debt. I will literally NEVER be able to pay off my student loan for my original Masters. I have a maximum monthly payment, and paying more than that, results in penalties and fees for 'over payment' that is part of my Early Pay Off fees. My yearly payments, the maximum i can pay off in a year, is about 200$ less than the yearly interest on my loan. and i got this Loan through a federal program.

[@justincancelosa5773]

I’m from gen z and I’m not living the good life. I have a stable job, 0 debt (and I mean 0), I have a car, an apartment, and I don’t eat expensive food nor do I ever really eat out. With that said I’m barely making it by in a run down 1 bedroom. My job is in the city because that’s where all the big jobs are. Food is expensive and it’s fake and makes me sick. Electricity is expensive, medications are expensive, doctors visits, etc the list goes on. It seems like my generation is getting nickeled and dimed at every opportunity when we’re supposed to be saving for a house, kids, etc. I’ve been living like a monk and I can’t even afford to take a day off anymore whereas my parents had their first house by my age. Idk what’s wrong but something is really messed up with our economy and it’s pricing the lower class out and making it impossible for me to get off the ground. Getting a loan for even an old clapped out sedan is damn near $200 a month. My dad told me stories of him and his buddies buying a whole clapped out sedan for $200 in the 80’s. Yes yes yes inflation I get it but it’s more than that. It’s my buying power is going down the drain faster than I can react so there’s no “just invest in gold bro” because food is more important in the short term than gold is in the long term. That’s how tight my monthly budget is.

[@paul_warner]

Boomers did have it easier. We are worse off than we were in the 70s. "Modern luxuries" don't mean anything. I'd rather have a job and a home than this damn handheld supercomputer.

[@ExPwner]

No we are not economically worse off. We are much better off

[@Greenyt1234]

Yep, while I hate whiners, when you adjust for inflation and wages as well as the cost of goods younger generations are screwed and are poorer than their boomer counterparts at the same ages. For example avg income was 5,600, by extension avg cost of a home was 11,900 this is roughly 55k and 123k respectively in todays money. Someone of the same age today has an income of roughly 37,000 with housing prices avg 200k+

[@ExPwner]

@@Greenyt1234 no they are not. He literally debunked this in the video. Incomes are higher after adjusting for inflation. Cherry picking housing prices is not an argument and he also addressed that in the video.

[@paul_warner]

@@ExPwner yes we are worse off. I'm glad you're doing well, now stop trying to gaslight me.

[@Greenyt1234]

@@ExPwner his video did nothing to disprove my point. I was comparing what a mid 20s boomer could expect compared to a mid 20s person now. Also 200k for 1k square foot house is what I was talking about. It is why I didn't use his 400k number. I wanted as close to apples to apples comparison as possible. It takes more time worked for the average person now, to have the same amount of personal ownership . Quit opening your mouth and making yourself sound like an idiot before looking at the data and isolating the variables, instead of saying "cartoon man said it good so it good". Literal stupidity. Technology has gone up. But you being a forced debt slave has also increased. The way shit is going the "you will own nothing and be happy" mantra is the end goal.

[@angryfoxzd5233]

These laws and restrictions have made it harder to buy a house or even build a house!

[@cheesemakerkeesee395]

The thing is though, without college or being rich to begin with you are f****.

[@fakade2987]

not really I was a high school dropout got a hardware job at 18 and went from the trash guy to a supervisor in the last 6 years it sucks but you do extra work for no pay to ever move up bare minimum is completely fair but you'll always be looked over for promotions if you do it.

[@cp1cupcake]

There are tons of good paying jobs which you need to go to a vocational school or community college for. They are way cheaper but the university marketing over the last decades have gotten people to forget about them.

[@cheesemakerkeesee395]

@@fakade2987 I'm sorry but you are statistically irrelevant. Just about every national statistic will show that

[@cheesemakerkeesee395]

@@fakade2987 And you're lucky you haven't been shortened on checks every job I've ever had has shorted me on checks. Half the job is working and the other half is fighting to get what your earned

[@fakade2987]

@@cheesemakerkeesee395 sue them

[@deitieofall6634]

I have gone back and worked out salary based on what stuff cost compared to today. You can buy over 100% more in the 50s and as you come forward each decade the amount u can get of each item slowly decreases. And given that inflation takes everything into account, most items like cars don't increase that much but things like power bills and groceries increase more. Just because the avg inflation is around 19%, everyday items have increased 100% in that same time period.

[@bobowon5450]

a lot of inflation calculations also don't include housing and education despite those being some of the biggest expenses that will suck away your income, they're also almost entirely unavoidable, and they outpace inflation by nearly double the average or more per year

[@zacke.1286]

Useful tips for people my age: 1. Only use 3% of your credit cards balance and pay it back at the end of every month. Credit points go up fast. 2. Budget out how much you need for basic survivability and put at least 1,000 dollars in savings for an emergency only fund. Whats an emergency? Anything you didn't plan for. 3. Pay off all your debts by taking whatever leftover on your check after your new budget and putting it towards your debts and loans. This means no room for going out to eat or fun stuff unless someone else is buying or you budgeted it beforehand. 4. Congrats! You're debt free and your credit is good! Now put at least 6-8 months worth of pay into that emergency fund. Tip: when someome you know applies for a loan, don't co-sign it. If they default, it falls on you. My mom is stuck with my dad's student loan from back in 99 and she can't get rid of it.

[@robertbeisert3315]

Cost of Living is one of the most manipulated numbers ever. According to the CPI, all forms of insurance have halved in cost; according to everyone I've met, they've nearly doubled.