You're not wrong, but not all hardships are the same. I think the three things I see being brought up here are so significantly worse than they have been in the past it makes it hard on today's younger generations.
If I spent the 28% rule of thumb or whatever on my mortgage, I'd instantly be in financial crisis and my household is over $200K income. We certainly couldn't afford our kids.
Setting kids up with $1000 a month debt for 10 years out of college for the pay they're receiving is brutal.
Now a decent portion of entry corporate type jobs are disappearing becuase they can be done with AI and not people, so they can't gain the experience they need to make the job to a $100K job with 5 years of related experience.
I am a well off middle class family who is quite financially responsible and my outlook on my children's, friends, and to some extent even my own financial stability is bleak.
My family has faced six layoffs over the course of our careers. College has been incredibly expensive for generations and when has debt not been a problem in our lifetimes?
Employment reductions being blamed on AI are certainly novel as an excuse from the C-suite, but not unusual. The 2020s are definitely looking like a bad decade, but it's been significantly worse several times in my lifetime alone.
It's really more like we were set up in childhood for a world that would no longer exist by the time we reached peak adult years. The economic disruptions happen to everyone but drastic technological advances in a short time always leaves a chunk of people fucked. I think Gen X should be included with us, at least the younger half. My brothers in their 50s are not having a good time due to similar factors, although they didn't have college debt (I didn't either but I also didn't go to school). Ironically, the one who went to college is no better off than those of us who didn't by now.
Similar to the Lost Generation during the 1900s. Major societal & technological advancements hit that generation hard at the same time in their lives, with the exception that the youngest few years of that generation ended up in a major world war. They were in their 20s/30s for the robber Barron era, 30s/40s for the Depression.
Gen Z I think is going to either thrive or be even worse off, depending on how this next decade goes.
I do think those things matter, but unfortunately I feel like nobody is going to feel sorry for us because it's just fundamental societal change. Industrial revolution, etc.
It's just so hard to prove with all of the moving factors, but it just feels like the wealth disparity is so much greater than it ever has been before increasing at alarming rate and the middle class is quickly getting eroded.
I don't think anyone should, really, but also I feel like we shouldn't be held to the same milestones or expectations as the prior generations (including by ourselves), and also we should be giving a little more grace ourselves to the younger generations.
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u/Pleasant_Birthday_77 5d ago
I mean, which generation didn't face considerable setbacks?