The only place I see this behavior is here in GD

This. I also have another message from the white collar abyss: don't assume that a good start leads to a strong finish.

I have many friends whose parents said all the optimistic stuff I'm reading on here like "my kid has a degree, a good job, a likely spouse, and they're working toward their down payment. Everyone else's kids must be weak-willed losers!" And that was 20 years ago when shit was easier.

Today? Let's take a sample of people I've known since college. Al's a master machinist but hates every second of it. Paul, Ben, and Alex left their tenured professorships because academia sucks. Kyle, Allison, and Danielle left medicine after going through all the MD and residency rigamarole because medicine sucks worse than a junior IC role at a tech firm. Other Paul, Colin, Andy, and Jon are the smartest of us with huge credentials, and yet are strangely the least employed currently. Matt, Chris, Tyler, and Nick have done decently well in software but have knowingly sat at the terminus of their careers ("principal engineer") for the past 5 years with no clue what to do for the next 25.

That's for those who've survived. Eric? Surprise heart failure. Dave? Colon cancer. Nate? More heart failure. Austin? Unexpected fentanyl. Tom? Glioblastoma. Death digs ~40ish educated good people I guess.

Another pattern that's emerged is that people my age with a decent cash/investment pile usually haven't lived, they've earned and existed, planning to survive past retirement to tackle their life goals. Those who've checked things off their bucket list like buying a house or having children usually don't have money. The middle-aged person with both is exceptionally rare.

The darkest thing I've heard recently comes from a staff augmentation firm. They've had great difficulty selling their usual technology talent except for one category, something they call "youngsourcing". Essentially they find a kid out of college, give them six weeks of mentorship, and send them off into battle. The sales leader told me the offering isn't successful because of its price per se, but because of the young workers' tractability. Senior engineers have pesky opinions.

This labor market wants you skilled, not smart. Today's glut of job-seekers are mid-career and most of them had a great start, too!

Well to name a few...  our country would have a border, we wouldn't be paying off student debt to the tune of a couple trillion, we wouldn't be pandering to hamas/terrorists, and kindergarteners wouldn't have play-dates with drag queens.

Another victim of the information war heard from.  99% of your information about the world comes through your screens, information that is curated specifically to induce the response you're demonstrating, to demoralize you.  Step away from the screens and go out in the world and see that things are largely OK and that America is fucking awesome.

I’m not buying it.  This generation wants to be millionaires at 22 years old.  New everything, $1600 phones, cars, houses, and no skills.  Angry that the world is the same as it always has been.  Get out there make good choices, work hard and a good life will come to you in time.  I still drive the first truck I bought in 1992 not because I have to but because I can.

This is due to the algorithms that tiktok app does

This thread is boomertastic.


I love it.  


Yeah everything is fucked. Has been fucked since the late 90s.


Now it’s just when does everything collapse.



Enjoy the ride.

I was making more money 10 years ago in my early 30s than I am now in my early 40s and I am talking about raw dollars not even taking into account inflation.

I'm not talking about the ones saying "we can't make it", I'm talking about the ones that have figured out being the richest guy in the cemetary after killing yourself for a company that would have your job posted before you funeral if you died isn't the end all be all of life like some people here seem to think

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I’m in.

Huh. Here I thought GD was really old not really young.

I'm 53 and right there with both of you.  I see my country dying before my eyes and I feel like there's nothing I can do.

someday i will tell y'all the story about JLP3 meeting the college rower girl at 0400 on friday at SEA on the shuttle bus and getting shot down like a chinese fighter pilot.

i'm a big dude so those yuge rower thighs and bulky shoulders and yuge lats don't bother me but i could see how a petite to normal sized man would be scared and/or offended by those thighs on a woman.

hit the range, hit the gym, hit the bag.

embrace the hate.

The meltdown is entertaining.

Uhh, no. It's called actually living near a city. My opinion is from observing the real world. Go touch concrete in any urban shithole where the bulk of the US population resides.

I'm happy whatever bubble you're living in hasn't been exposed to the rot yet. Small town Ohio probably isn't there yet, and that's great for you, but my part of America sucks. Life is more than consumer shit on tap at your local Walmart. It's nice to live in a place that doesn't have a trash culture and where you don't feel like a foreigner.

@snakes19 You and I are experiencing the exact same thing. I thought I was just getting started back then, not peaking.

You're gonna be up all night listening to them getting railed.

I don't blame them.  They were conned into getting a PhD with a Major in Advanced Barista and a Minor in Bitterness and Irrelevance because everyone they know has a degree from NYU  and now they got $200k in debt that the Potato has promised to forgive only he doesn't have that authority so they go from elated to depressed and it's someone else's fault and their parents don't understand and they can't figure out their own sex and nobody seems to care anymore unlike the Boomers who sucked all the money out of the economy and there's none left for them and they will never own a home and their landlord is a jerk who wants paid every month.  

It's enough to drive a non-binary person crazy, I tell ya.

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My company sent an email out today. They said they will be restructuring the organization with some layoffs. Apparently we are too management heavy. Could have told you that without an email telling me so. They also stated that they will still be moving forward with DEI actions. That’s when I knew that the company was screwed. I have yet to meet a happy employee who thinks that the company is going in the right direction. I absolutely f’ing hate going into work every work day.

All the rural Nebraskans I know are convinced the world is ending.

In college I lived in the finished basement of a house of D1 cheerleader teammates of my now wife. Beds coming through ceiling every night

Meanwhile the republicans you and I continue to vote for are not much better, they just pretend to be conservatives but they’re really pretty much alike. Republicans know how to lie to the older Fox News crowd. Absent a complete immediate overhaul of this nation we are all truly fucked.

Oh, I don't have a lot of faith this country is heading the right way, and I truly fear for my kids and now grandson; and covid reaction stuff open my eyes wide and I'm planning accordingly.

Hate MSNBC, but that dude is correct. There are a number of dynamics at play here. One, you can't inject trillions of dollars into the economy and expect good results, period. Two, if you're young, you should overwhelmingly be voting for pro business, anti-bureaucracy candidates.

Three, there has never been more opportunity than now for young Americans. Look, I'm pretty well off at 38 yrs old, I have money to spend with contractors on home improvements, construction, landscaping, etc. I constantly run into inadequate, incompetent contractors for things like plumbing, electricians, carpenters, etc. These industries are ripe for the taking for somebody that is squared away, good at what they do, and honest and hardworking. If you are young and reading this, start your own business in the trades, become skilled, and dominate. Be punctual, polite, and detail oriented and you will absolutely make a fucking killing today. Your peers are goddamn worthless in these areas, be the exception to the rule. This is the way, and it is simple.

Young people see a Democrat future.

So do many others.

Left has consequences.

Things are great right now, but millennials are kinda dumb and zoomers haven't been able to verbalize it because no one understands their slang. fr fr

See, here's how I see it.  Democrats are racist.  

Ive worked around dying people for a couple decades now, a lot of dying people. See, when your around dying people the truth comes out.  Shits laid bare, there isn't any more fluff to hide behind, no price you can pay, nothing but real naked truth.

Ive been next to plenty of rich white people who died alone and miserable.  family waiting in Jersey to fly in for the will reading kinda shit.  These boomers laid a system of metrics on their kids to go out, kill it, make tons of money, take no prisoners.  That means that the kids gotta hit the streets at 17 or 18, get a degree or three, travel to a city with big jobs, make big money, buy big shit, move to a bigger city for bigger jobs and bigger shit.  Mom and pop are sitting alone at home enjoying their Golden Years and then Old Man Death comes calling and the hollowness of that life plan is laid bare.

Go find yourself an ICU doc or nurse and ask them about visitors-  I am certain they'll have stories about some poor brown or black family that had 87 people in the hallway waiting and taking turns, eating tiny sandwiches probably too.  Some dude like me shows up and asks Tia or Auntie if she has a facility she wants to go to and she looks at you and says "the hell? Im going home." and sure as hell, she goes home and a bunch of family is out in the living room.  Some schumck like me shows up at her house to check in, no chairs left, plenty of tiny sandwiches or tamales if it's the season.  

Now this isn't every time, and it's not 100%, but it's for sure a pattern.  Why?  Because for a lot of people their culture and family is more important than chasing the dollars.  In the words of Jacko "good"

See, here's the rub.  A bunch of dumb ass rich white folks in big ass cities that last saw their step-dad at a cafe 10 years ago think their shit bag lifestyle is worth a fuck and our system uses their Luxury-Condo-Dreams as metric to judge Americans by.  Their life SUCKS, they just have too much therapy to know it yet and their fur babies won't shame them.  

How's this related?  its related because nowadays, kids are seeing the mall crawler and HOA-tiny-Versailles as less of a trophy and more of a yoke.  Everyone's like "oh no! the kids will be poor!" but the kids are like "hey fam, I can post feet pics twice a week and pay my bill, live in this kick ass van, chill with my friends, and just generally enjoy watching the world go by."

Sure, some maladjusted degenerates want to swap the Vanagon and lady with hairy armpits out for a BMP-1 and a bro down to tea-bag a warm corpse in a trench. Im not here to judge.  

Kids are alright.  They just play by an old set of rules.

I'm 63 and I'm pissed off at everything too. FJB!

Very True,... BUT, generally they get much worse before they get better.  

While I don't consider myself a Christian, I was raised in the Faith and there truly is something to be said about the Serenity Prayer.

We all need to take that one in no matter the faith.

Well, no, it hasn’t gotten easier. But it’s also not easier if you don’t find someone to tackle life with. Putting marriage off or not getting married doesn’t really help. And spending 20K or more on your wedding isn’t a great start.  I think the ones that want to make it are doing ok. Not great but managing.
I say it used to take one man to support a home. With the income tax and the Fed, and women’s lib. It started taking two people working to make ends meet. Now with increased socialization, it’s going to take two people working 2 jobs to make ends meet. And the voters will cry for more socialism. Democracy’s downwards spiral, when people vote for other people’s money.

Your final sentence nails it. To paraphrase Alexis Tocqueville (French statesman, early 19th century), the American experiment in democracy is noble, however it will only last until the citizens discover that they can vote themselves money.

I agree.

Even during the Jimmy Carter years, I never thought Carter or his administration was actively, deliberately trying to destroy the country; and I had confidence the government agencies were actually trying to put actual criminals in prison and not political opponents for disagreeing with them.

My kids are all young, successful, and at the stage they are going to start having children. I hate to use the word "afraid", but I have a genuine sense of dread concerning what the future holds in store for them and my future grand-children.

I am older, and if something happens to me, it happens, but my kids have so much life to live.

LOL, ARF boomers part of the generation that f-d shit up and don't want to take accountability for it. What is the national debt at again? How much did you pay for your house and cars when you were their age? What generation raised the younger generation again?

That’s nice and all, but unless he can come up with say 1600 a month for rent, he’s stuck living with his parents until he can. I wonder if people really understand just how fucked everything is for anyone that doesn’t have theirs already.

Can do all the back breaking work he wants but if it doesn’t cover living expenses, then what?

47 and construction starts on our overseas home this year.  Sometimes one must play a different monopoly game to get ahead.

If they are expecting a future to be handed to them, they have a lot to learn about freedom. Some get it, they are in the military. They know what is at risk. People don't owe you a car, house, job, or a six-figure paycheck. Sooner for later, they are going tomlearn. That is how the School of Hard Knocks works. Some are figuring it out. Some have serious issues with entitlements.

Originally Posted By Danus_ex:


This. I also have another message from the white collar abyss: don't assume that a good start leads to a strong finish.

I have many friends whose parents said all the optimistic stuff I'm reading on here like "my kid has a degree, a good job, a likely spouse, and they're working toward their down payment. Everyone else's kids must be weak-willed losers!" And that was 20 years ago when shit was easier.

Today? Let's take a sample of people I've known since college. Al's a master machinist but hates every second of it. Paul, Ben, and Alex left their tenured professorships because academia sucks. Kyle, Allison, and Danielle left medicine after going through all the MD and residency rigamarole because medicine sucks worse than a junior IC role at a tech firm. Other Paul, Colin, Andy, and Jon are the smartest of us with huge credentials, and yet are strangely the least employed currently. Matt, Chris, Tyler, and Nick have done decently well in software but have knowingly sat at the terminus of their careers ("principal engineer") for the past 5 years with no clue what to do for the next 25.

That's for those who've survived. Eric? Surprise heart failure. Dave? Colon cancer. Nate? More heart failure. Austin? Unexpected fentanyl. Tom? Glioblastoma. Death digs ~40ish educated good people I guess.

Another pattern that's emerged is that people my age with a decent cash/investment pile usually haven't lived, they've earned and existed, planning to survive past retirement to tackle their life goals. Those who've checked things off their bucket list like buying a house or having children usually don't have money. The middle-aged person with both is exceptionally rare.

The darkest thing I've heard recently comes from a staff augmentation firm. They've had great difficulty selling their usual technology talent except for one category, something they call "youngsourcing". Essentially they find a kid out of college, give them six weeks of mentorship, and send them off into battle. The sales leader told me the offering isn't successful because of its price per se, but because of the young workers' tractability. Senior engineers have pesky opinions.

This labor market wants you skilled, not smart. Today's glut of job-seekers are mid-career and most of them had a great start, too!
View Quote


Did you ever hire an engineer who could not read, follow instructions, or do geometry? If they went to college and didn't spend their summers shadowing an engineer,  they aren't interested in engineering. The engineering firm my brother worked with in the summers was a clearing house for future engineers. If you showed the right stuff you were invited back. He has worked in automotive engineering ever since.

Most customers won't pay more for punctual, polite, and detail oriented. Society gets the contractors they deserve.

You know why the world wasn't scary back then?  



You weren't aware. Any generations childhood is "the best" simply because they didn't know how bad things really were at the time.

Get a room mate and a cheaper apartment? Fuck. $1600 is a downtown two bedroom apartment in the 7th largest city in the US.

This. Anyone telling young guys to go be a tradie and be "punctual, polite, and detail oriented youll make bank blah blah" should actually just shut the fuck up forever.

My skilled trade friends back in Indiana only make 200K.
You can buy a house within 20 minutes from their work for less then 200K.
But why tell young kids this.

Maybe you should go back and reread the post. You weren't being very detail oriented the first time.

Also what trades are they in, and in what industry, making $200k? Be...detail oriented.

Electrician trade.
Industrial work.

Because half of them have been raised by single moms that have never told them no, never made them work for anything, never gave them any discipline, etc.....

No, you just have to be unable to grasp basic math.
Once you understand mathematics, the unsustainable nature of our current position becomes frighteningly clear.
Whether it's the economy, demographic trends, birth rates... basic math says we're doomed.