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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[TNTom]

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

[willm.]

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

[jonathannerz]

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

[LynetteTheMadScientist]

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

[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.

[ashleypenn]

I ABSOLUTELY blame the Boomers for our economy.

The Boomers on The Hill, that is.

[isaacchapman]

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.

[mattevans]

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.

[harrisonbalduf]

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.

[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

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

[Bolbi]

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

[corruptuser]

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.

[carkat]

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.

[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.

[afrikasmith]

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.

[kaip]

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.

[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.

[youssefkodira]

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.

[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.