Originally Posted By ramairthree:


Yeah, I’m not rooting in defense for the ones that see themselves as a victim.
Were some things harder?
Sure, you had to spend hours in the library looking up, copying, etc, doing references for a pub and type it up. vs doing it online from home with a word processor with a magic cite function.
Were some things more expensive?
Sure, 35 years ago a 19 inch color TV and stereo VCR on sale were the equivalent of about 2200 bucks now.
And that rack stereo system with huge speakers, dual cassette, cd six packs, and turntable was about 2700 bucks in today’s dollars.  Vs 100 bucks a month now for some streaming and internet and a $1000 phone or iPad or a 500 dollar TV.

But that’s pretty much the shit that’s not important.  The soma/opium/entertainment/ etc.

I very much understand and don’t see myself as a victim.
I grew up rural poor.  I spent an enlistment in the military.
I got married.  My wife had her associates and three years of college.
I used the GI Bill, got a work study job, plus worked extra in the reserves.
Could I have gone to college for free?
Well, if I had been raised in a different background, yes, I would have known how and done it.
I turned down an offer of admission to West Point to get married.
I took an ROTC scholarship but they changed it and the requirements and I did not take it.
My wife worked full time and I did take some small student loans that were paid off.

But-
My tuition was 1/2 proportionally what it is there now.
My exact same apartment is now 2-3 times proportionally what it was then.
Buying a three year old all weather, low mileage, reliable vehicle for work is twice as much proportionally.
Our medical insurance was 1/2 proportionally what it is now.
I knew from talking to people that had been in my shoes 20-25 years previously they had things - same apartments, same school, etc. also proportionally better than I had.  And recognized “inflation” or whatever being off in those things.

I don’t see what’s so hard about recognizing someone now in the shoes I was in 35 years ago have rent, education, transportation, and insurance costs way beyond what I did when I was struggling.  And what a shitshow the increased travel, bigger debt, worse living, etc. must be for what they can afford.

After college I went back on active duty, and was selected for an assigned to an area with massive springboard potential and opportunity.  Plus life changing education and training,  my wife worked full time plus finished her B.S.  
We bought a small SFH on a tiny lot with a tiny fenced yard 12 miles from work, with amazing schools, close to outdoor recreation, with zero crime, etc.  We worked crazy hours and were smart with our money.  That home was about 350K in today’s dollars.  Those are now 750K to 800K homes.  Someone in my exact shoes now that I was in then would have two to three times the commute, crappy schools, crime, etc, for 350K.  I was already working so many hours and things were already tight enough more vehicle and transportation expense, hours wasted commuting, etc. would have had a very negative impact.  I want some 25 year old young couple now to have things as good as I did then, if not better.  

Around a decade later I bought the big wonderful dream house that was a fantastic place to raise a family.  The oldest was in grade school, one in preschool, etc.  My wife had been able to stop working and we did single income starting around 30 when we started our family.  It was around a 475K home.  That home just sold for 775K dollars.  I could not have remotely afforded it / my life if it had been 475K a couple of decades ago instead of 300K.  Even if my wife worked full time and we did the day care and all that crap.  Which would not have worked because I averaged about 6 months of each year away from home for the decade we lived there.  We would have lived someplace way shittier with crappier schools, more crime, etc, than we did.  For the same effort and accomplishment.

Around a decade ago, or even now, I could be fully retired/not working and have 130K coming in each year.  I decided to keep working 30-40 hours a week.  My federal income taxes are about the same as the 130K passive.  But…
Still working allowed me to give the wife her farm I always promised her since I took her away decades ago, be a little more rural, keep the kids in good schools, be away from crime, pay for their college, etc.  Now, the farm was about 1M in today’s dollars.  Plus I added about 400K in todays dollars in a new building, pool, etc.  I pay property tax on an assessment of 1.2M.  The house would sell for 1.8-2M.  So, the house proportionally would have been half again as much to buy a decade ago.
Under the current economy, I would never had had this home.  Someone a decade behind me with the exact same accomplishments, drive, potential, sacrifices, efforts, etc. can’t have what I have.

Things got progressively better for young Americans -
And for various reasons have slid back -
While trying to paint over it with cheaper, fancier crap that doesn’t matter-
While the real things that matter are being stolen.

I am absolutely not a communist.
But we have fucked over the younger generations.

Originally Posted By eagarminuteman:

I’ve been told that empathy is liberal propaganda and we should all be cold heartless assholes who shame those younger than us. Or at least that’s what GD has taught me.

Originally Posted By Scalped:
Can you boomers please stop writing your biographies in Youtube comment sections at least? Thank you