Why Millennials Feel Hopeless About the Economy

I saw a comment recently that described the shift to a "consumer economy." Relative to boomers, millennials have increased access to goods and services like high-definition televisions, computers, international travel, and luxury foods (e.g., avocado toast). But in terms of wealth and assets, millennials have reduced or less feasible access to things like home ownership or college degrees (not to mention childcare or healthcare), compared to boomers. Though the causes of this shift are up for debate, it does seem that boomers had an easier path to ownership or growth, while millennials and beyond face more rent-seeking adversity.

I think it's of course not so simple, and the abstract of the paper they refer to [0] seems to contradict the Business Insider article. Sure, inflation adjusted median income is up slightly. In addition to this educational costs have exploded, and to earn a median salary it has become necessary to buy in. The overall wealth in society has increased dramatically, but the vast majority of gains are going to the outliers.

That is to say, the real conflict isn't between boomers and millennials, it's between billionaires and everyone else. But generational friction is not new, a more common experience, and easy to exploit in media.

0: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/feds/files/2024007pap...

[delayed]

Technically probably true since that class of people see rich and wealth as very different. Having better food/electronics/entertainment is being rich. Having assets that pay out or maintain value forever is wealth.

To me that idea is just using technological progress as an excuse. That because we have new inventions that didn't exist before we are all automatically better off.

It's upsetting that it's commonly pushed that something as complex as "the economy" could ever be summerized or understood through a single, uncontextualized number. E.g. GDP, jobs reports, SP500 or unemployment rate.

Even just breaking down unemployment rate by race starts illuminated a better understanding of our current conditions. Labor participation sees at least some discussion in the main stream but trying to distill everything into a 5 second headline is hurdling us to doom.

It also drastically changes opportunities. Hard to get into welding or machining or smithing from an apartment. Hard to start a business when you can't take any financial risks because housing is half your take-home and you'd be risking homelessness within months.