
Millennials Had The Best Responses To Article That Says They Should 'Just Work Longer'
By Mustafa GatollariApr. 24 2020, Updated 10:14 a.m. ET
Pretty much everything costs more now. I'm not just talking about inflation, I'm talking value.
Want to own a home? Well it's exponentially more expensive today than it was in the past. Pay for college? While it was possible to work summer jobs back in the '70s and '80s to pay for a year of tuition, that's not happening today.
It also doesn't help that property and income taxes are increasing, and if you want health insurance for you and your family — a portion of your salary's going to get deducted for that. In many cases, you're still going to front a percentage of the costs, which are insanely high compared to the rest of the civilized world. So what's the average person who doesn't happen to be rich do when they finally want to retire?
Apparently, according to this Politico article, you're expected to just work longer, instead of, you know, affecting laws to make sure that the top 1 percent doesn't horde even more of the wealth that they already control.
Analysis: Millennials should be willing and able to work longer than their parents and grandparents did https://t.co/NiWsxQY7SW
— POLITICO (@politico) June 7, 2018
The gut reaction many people had to the article was a simple one:
analysis: No.
— mattpotato (@mattpotato) June 7, 2018
People weren't buying the whole "suck it up" and "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" argument.
Probably because the bootstraps are exorbitantly overpriced and you need to finance a pair to own that incurs impossible interest rates designed to keep you in economic slavery forever.
Some people suspect a "baby boomer" wrote the article. You know, someone from a generation where working a single job (no side hustles required) was enough to purchase a home and have a spouse live at that home and take care of the kids.
I'm willing to bet a Boomer wrote this...
— Alex Cunningham🌈🌹 (@A1exCunningham) June 7, 2018
Affirmative. 75 year old former Assistant Secretary to the Treasury. They just want someone else (millennials) to continue to fund their (boomers') poorly planned spending and retirement
— Catriona (@CSARina88) June 7, 2018
The article had people responding with all sorts of dark jokes.
ANALYSIS: WE ARE PREPARED TO DIE YOUNG OUT OF SPITE https://t.co/DwxPYB9goc
— NOT A WOLF (@SICKOFWOLVES) June 7, 2018
While others broke down what the writer's argument was, in its essence.
"everyone should change the way they're doing everything except for the idle rich"
— mike (@MikeOdenthal) June 7, 2018
But then there those who started serving up facts — and it's that millennials, despite being ridiculously educated, knowledgeable, and skilled, are underpaid when compared to previous generations.
Analysis: #Millennials should overthrow the existing economic order & remove all incumbent policy-makers because they have flagrantly failed at their job of making the economy work for all but the rich. https://t.co/y9ndvyErhl
— Marshall Steinbaum 🔥 (@Econ_Marshall) June 7, 2018
Never mind the fact that many basic tasks can be solved (and usually are) with computer automation. So you have people sitting around at jobs, who could be innovating, performing mindless tasks.
We live in an era of unparalleled automation for some reason combined with crazy redundancies (i.e. bullshit work). There is no need for millennials to work more. We should be working less. What needs to stop is the redistribution of wealth towards the already rich.
— jenesaiswha (@jenesaiswha) June 7, 2018
The fact that it's "normal" for students to be tens, and in some instances, hundreds of thousands in dollars of debt for majors and professions that don't pay (adjusted for inflation) as much as they did a generation ago, is absolutely insane.
Here’s some analysis: millennials are the most educated, yet worst paid generation since 1980. The issue is not millennials — the issue is an economy in which stagnant wages and enormous student debt are being sold as a cruel new normal. It is not normal, and we must change it. https://t.co/z1wGZrQH6K
— Our Revolution (@OurRevolution) June 7, 2018
Imagine the economic stimulus of the gov’t wiping out all student loan debt? It would cost approximately 2 times the annual defense spending, but then all that money would be injected into the economy in the form of consumer liquidity. How about a bailout for the people for once?
— Tim Giles (@TimGiles01) June 7, 2018
It's enough to make people feel all sorts of hopeless.
who wore it best: millennials or Boxer the Horse from Animal Farm?? https://t.co/eQaq0gPNoQ
— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) June 7, 2018
I mean I've come across my fair share of defeatist millennials who don't hold themselves to the fire and hustle to go after their dreams. But for the ones who are, there's no question that the economic ads are stacked against them today.
Analysis: Corporations and the wealthy have hoarded the benefits of productivity gains for the last 3 decades so now Millennials should go fuck themselves and work until they die.
— Mike Selhorn (@selhorn) June 7, 2018
And we're already seeing the effects of it now.
My mom is 68 and not retiring any time soon; I’m 51 working and sure I will croak at my desk. If we’re not wealthy, we’re all in the same boat.
— "Scorch the Earth" Moxie (@ShesGotMoxieLMH) June 7, 2018
My own father is 65 years old and he's hustling now just to hold on to a property that his family has owned for decades.
But that's just the way things are now, I guess!