Millennials aren't all worse off than Boomers, but the rich-poor gap is widening | Hacker News Reader

Millennials aren't all worse off than Boomers, but the rich-poor gap is widening

phys.org

13 pointsPaulHoule6 comments

There is a progression in 'richness'. We all start off 'poor' and gradually build up our riches as we go along in life. So we end up 'richer and older'.

Naturally the older group as a whole will be richer than the younger group as a whole.

Note that this happens in every generation. The young Boomers were 'hippies' or were protesting against the oldies back in the 70s *. The Millennials will have younger generations denigrating them that they are 'Too Old and Selfish' in another 30-odd years too.

* "If you're thirty, you're through!" - "Film: Wild in the Streets" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fozufGZubYc

Not trying to pick a fight here, just want to understand the truth. Is it possible that millennials are bombarded by internet and media that’s designed to keep your attention and entertain you, such that millennials are not focusing on how to earn a better living or increasing their skill set during a time in their lives when it matters most? The amount of information we have at our disposal is incredibly more accessible than it was for boomers in their 30s, for better or for worse.

Millennials were born centered around 1990. Most of them were in their late teens by the time social media as we know it today really entered the zeitgeist. Even if it's true that social media is distracting in a way that affects education and skill development, this would have an impact on younger generations, not as much millennials, who are used to the internet as a tool, not as an integral part of the world.

As for the premise itself, I find it doubtful. All of my friends below age 30 (i.e. past millennials) have a much stronger working knowledge of marketable skills than I did at a younger age, as well as more open and free resources to develop them. It is most often access and connections that block their career progress, not capability.

Look up the salaries for jobs boomers got out of college and compare to today. Also look at the amount of debt they took on to get their education. Next look at real estate prices at the time. Taken together these factors explain everything to first order.

Boomers rode a wave of affordable education and economic growth. They did not see fit to secure those benefits for their own children in the way their parents did for them. Their final legacy is climate denial and environmental damage that will haunt their descendants for generations.

Boomers were the generation who decided to cook food on plastic instead of normal pans because it saved them a few seconds of cleanup. Millennials are the generation who grew up eating food cooked on plastic and now have unprecedented rates of early onset cancers. This type of pattern touches many aspects of the intergenerational relationship in the US.

> Millennials are the generation who grew up eating food cooked on plastic and now have unprecedented rates of early onset cancers

I am curious about this. Do you have a source?

A bit of a strange article.

I don't know if I've ever seen anyone make the claim that Millennials are "universally" worse off than Boomers.

Usually it's just that "On Average" Millennials are worse off than Boomers, which is honestly a more interesting metric to dig into.

It's not useful to know that some Millennials are more successful than some Boomers, but it's very useful to know if the Average Millennial is worse off than the Average Boomer.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com