To understand why millennials hate you, you must understand capitalism. To understand capitalism, imagine being forced to play a game of Monopoly where one person starts with nearly all the money in the bank and all the properties… and what about you? Fuck you, that’s what.
Well, it is true that there was a huge change in the 80's with the so called "neo-capitalism", with the power going from the entrepreneurs to the stockholders, from the companies to the stock markets. Culminating to what we have now: the most unequal capitalism system we've had since the creation of capitalism (I believe).
It did happen in a few generations in my opinion. But then the hate is up to you of course 😅
@fantazo Read up on Thatcher, Greenspan, and neoliberalism.
@aral It's still bullshit. Referencing Thatcher, Greenspan and Neoliberalism only to make your argument right is just name dropping.
Neoliberalism is bullshit, nothing new. That Thatcher destroyed the social state of Great Britain, nothing new. She even was proud that now the laborparty that she corrupted through her actions.
Ageism is still crap, need to be treated as fascism in itself, a way of trying to hinder solidarity and make each person fighting for herself.
@fantazo
I think you should not interpret the phrase "why millenials hat you" as "if you read this, every millenial hates you" (because that would be silly)
But many millenials have been given the very short end of the straw, and are justifiably unhappy about hearing from smug, well-off older people about how lazy they were.
I'm a bit too old to be a millenial, but comparing the stuff I dealt with to the lives of people 10, 15 years younger: I had no idea how easy I had it
@aral
@aral 1) you dont speak for a generation, and 2) this is senseless drivel.
In the US, 60% of all wealthy people were not born wealthy. 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the 3rd generation, and it's 95% by the fourth generation.
This is real information. This draws a picture of the real world. A witty quip with an analogy to a game that demonstrates a miniscule understanding of how it really works and only serves to reenforce ones own world view is not a picture of the real world.
@aral
@fm
And do you have the same stats for people below ... Say 35?
Also, you state that for wealthy people. Nice but it seems to me like the following:
Of all people who won the lottery, more than 70% paid 5[insert currency name here] for a ticket. To bee meaningful, you would need to add the percentage of the population sait wealthy people represent.
@aral
This is a baseless claim. I know people that became better off than their childhood selves without connections. I know more people moving up in life from rural areas than from urban ones, and in rural areas than in urban ones.
Connections are not as important as education and aptitude, and there's some luck involved of course. People of West Virginia by and large aren't moving up, but it isn't because they don't rub elbows with the elites, it is because their education sucks. Texas in contrast is a very rural state and there used to be a saying that everyone from Texas is a millionaire.
@aral
I don't have a clue what you said here lol. I doubt anyone does. I agree, our reasoning differs dramatically.
@aral
Yes, being born where you're born, and in the family, community and culture you're born into is pure luck. So is being born into a wealthy family or a poor one. But you have to be competent to earn wealth and you have to be competent to keep it. If you're incompetent and born poor you probably won't build much of anything. If you're incompetent and rich you'll probably squander it. I'm not saying that anyone can overcome anything with sheer competence, but most people have the opportunities around them to build a life they'd be happy with if they use those opportunities wisely.
I'd say education is like any service, you get what you pay for. And I'd add to that, the public education system in the US is a grift and our poor aren't getting what we pay for. But I'll also point out that there was a time when you got no education at all unless you could afford it, or unless you were very driven to teach yourself.
@aral
@fm
We seem to agree on facts then.
So if you are young now, you get worse education than the earlier generation. Since property is something you either acquire or inherit, you did not inherit and, because of education deficit have a lot less opportunity to acquire.
Seems a lot like @aral 's original message. Maybe with less monopoly imagery and profanity.
@aral
I wouldn't say you get a worse education than the previous generation. There's more information availability to us today than there was to our parents. I'd say the onus is on you to learn, but that has always been the case, it is just more evident now.
@aral
How is age relevant here? Age is not a concrete demographic. People that are 35 will be 40 soon. Toddlers are broke, is that an injustice? People start their lives young, build them as they age, and if they're competent, they may build the life they want at some point in their adulthood. It is the nature of time.
What percentage of the population is rich can be relevant, but can also be misleading. "Getting rich" is not everyone's idea of success. Also, what percentage of people are successful can be dependent on the competence and education of the overall populace. There are a lot of variables, so many in fact that slapping a "percentage of people that are wealthy" on something doesn't really tell you much. It gets totally meaningless when you determine what "wealthy" means based on what percent of the population it is.
No, just knowing how frequently random persons cycle in and out of different classes is enough to demonstrate upward mobility.
@aral
@ew Oh, the irony, it hurts! 🤣
@aral in addition to that, there is a huge and unfair factor of luck. The question is, if you ever found a huge source of gold, how much would you take and what would you do with it.
@aral Capitalism consists of a number of fundamentally false assumptions (infinite growth of the world economy, everyone can get rich, etc) and their PR tries to cover that up with lies.
No! Believe in yourself and give everything! You can do it!
@aral There was a conversation at a local board game group with plenty of them saying they don't want to play with someone who'll play Monopoly. And these are people desperate to play board games!
I have to concur...
@aral
I honestly don't understand the connection between the problem of uncontrolled capitalism and people born after the 1.1.2000 ! I doubt that there is one at all.
As a very rich millenial, almost all of my wealth is familial, and so many friends with good degrees are just... Unemployed or underemployed for years at a time
Successful millenials have shadow economies to support themselves
@ew
That is also not entirely true! The problem that having wealthy parents improves your chances to get wealthy on your own is a matter of fact, and the big problem especially in fully free market systems as that means a lot of possible potential gets wasted because people don't get their fair chances!
@aral
@aral I need to excuse my now following unpolitiness.
But what bullcrap is that? That's just ageism, hiding itself behind the veneer of social criticism. The capital distribution is not the fault of one generation (e.g the boomers).
But is the fault riding for now roughly 200 - 300 years a system called capitalism, which eats people, environments and produces capital and destroys the living conditions of what it needs to run.
A millenial speaking.