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Young Vs Old: A Tale Of Two US Job Markets
Because we have discussed the issue of the age-bifurcated US jobs market extensively before, we are delighted to not have to say much if anything this time around, as absolutely everything is still the same. Since the arrival of Obama, the US workforce has been effectively split into two separate job markets: those 54 and younger (condolences) and those 55 and older. Specifically, since January 2009, the number of jobs created has been focused solely on the gerontocratic component of the US labor pool, those aged 55 to 69 (or more - gray line below), and who can no longer afford to retire as expected thanks to Bernanke's genocidal ZIRP policies which have made a mockery of savings. These older workers have seen a grand total of 4.02 million cumulative jobs created. Everyone else (or those 54 and younger - red line below)? A grand total of 2.8 million jobs lost, and now deteriorating once more, with those in the prime work demographic of 25-54 having lost the most jobs, 2.2 million, since the coming of Obama.
Jobs: young vs old:
And more granular, broken down by age group.
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Time to call for an end to the Senior Citizen Discount Entitlement
This generational battle is bound to be a Sizzler
Burn the old people!
j/k
You little rascals better not even think of cutting old age pensions and social security. Before railing against their elders, young people need to first look at the facts:
1. Social security is running at a SURPLUS. The IOUs in the SS fund are worth billions of dollars, and these assets will comfortably fund the SS liabilities.
2. Boomers have contributed more to this country than any other group in history. Boomers are the most educated, sophisticated and most financially capable group ever to have lived. Young people need to learn some respect and personal responsibility if they want to follow the legacy of the boomer generation.
3. Government pensions are written into legislation, so you BETTER stay away from these unless you want your representative to drown under an avalanche of class action law suits. These pensions are untouchable, so look elsewhere you little scoundrels.
Get off my lawn!
Without my monthly SS payment I would be forced to live off of the accumulated savings/investments I've made over the years. With ZIRP I will be eating into my capital, which will leave less for my heirs. The same goes for most other retirees. Do their children really want to inherit less?
Good news to those worried about SS funding - I have a 65 year old friend that just went back OFF SS to take a job - she could not live on her SS, and she is a very frugal divorcee. She truly figures she has to work until she dies, and she has worked (mostly secretarial and admin assistant jobs) and paid into what she thought would be her retirement since she was 19.
Enough folks do this, it will take a bit of strain off SS...
Why doesn't she collect SS AND work at the same time? Is that illegal?
If she keeps working she will live longer and be happier too. I always thought that RETIREMENT = quick lonely death.
And before you go there, it isn't like she is working in McDonalds......
Is this the Kevin Bacon ROTC moment of yelling "everyone stay calm" in the movie Animal House for MDB?
Blowjob!
Too late. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22042555
Obama 'offering to cut US pensions' for deficit deal
I'm planning to work until I keel over dead. Then I plan to sell my body parts. Then I can finally retire to the good life.
At least you have a plan.
I already levered my eyballs and kidneys 26x. Couldn't find any takers for my liver or lungs but I'm looking to short that position if I can find any bidders....
Securitize them with a few good parts and sell them to a boomer's pension fund as AAA rated, then short the snot out of them.
Maybe he'll cut his own throat while he's at it.
How dare you pofaced front call me a rascal? Be advised: Don't mess with me!
"Boomers are the most educated, sophisticated and most financially capable group ever to have lived."
That is so ridiculously funny, I had to up arrow you.
I had to upvote MDB for this gem:
"The IOUs in the SS fund are worth billions of dollars..."
I can't read that without laughing...mostly because I know some people will say it with a straight face.
Here's an IOU for a Lamborghini - two hundred seventy five thou - might wanna hold onto that one.
1. Except the IOU money is already spent. Making the GAAP balance only that of what is currently comming in. Any redemption of IOU will require more debt borrowing. On average, boomers will probably be getting more out of SS compared to their contribution to SS. Even though most got ripped off as the same SS money in their own retirement investments would have made most millionares by retirement.
2. Proportionally, this is very marginal. They contributed more due to there being more of them than any other group. However, I do agree they are more educated and financially responsible, on average, than younger generations. Then again they're old and more experienced, making it more difficult to measure.
3. It is the baby boomers that wrote the laws that have gotten us into this situation (70s to today). It is the boomers that made every government worker a multi-millionare with their extravegent pensions. The same pension systems that will have nothing for younger generations or ruin the government in comming years without reform.
4. Baby boomers will consume what they put into Medicare over their life in the first 3-4 years in retirement. Who's paying the rest?
One could say we gotten the best and worst from baby boomers.
It is the baby boomers that wrote the laws that have gotten us into this situation (70s to today). FALSE
It is the boomers that made every government worker a multi-millionare with their extravegent pensions. FALSE
The boomers didn't write the laws, CON-gress did, and many of us didn't vote for any of them.
As one of the so-called boomers (59), I can only say that my generation is cumulatively the biggest bunch of sell-outs since the days of McCarthyism. We protested Vietnam and fought the establishment only to become it, and make it worse.
Over the years, I had to fight the urge to punch people in the face when they said they'd pay more taxes for schools, SS, medicare, and all the other government programs that have bankrupted our nation.
I used to have six to ten good friends from my youth. Now I have none because I chose to find people who can actually think and act rationally, like a good number of 35 to 45 year olds, aka generation X. They have a better grasp of what's really going on than any of my rapidly-aging, hypocritical ex-friends.
You're the exception that proves the rule man...you can hang out with my gen-x cynical friends at the compound any time. We'll be having Millenials for lunch and I've found the recipe for Coq au Vin works quite well for aged boomers with just a few tweaks.
Long pig.
At least you guys stood up to the BS en mass. We need you all back online.
Does anybody have any recipes for Soylent Green? I have a feeling we may need them before this is all over.
http://www.churchofeuthanasia.org/e-sermons/butcher.html
Toady, Shit, there's all kinds in this world, read the first line and threw up a little, FUCK!
I wish i Could hit the down button to infinity on your reasoning.....I would go as far to say the boomers are the most selfish individuals to have ever graced this world, who think they have created greatness but have built this very house of cards we sit on.. They sit upon the top of the hill with blinders on looking at the sunset as everything else burns!
Are those "assets" insured or uninsured? Thinking that account is looking a little shaggy....
mdb... keeping posts per article up as needed. thank you for your time.
-spanky
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/charting-legacy-baby-boomers!
Million dollar TWAT!
Genius MDB, truly one your best posts ever.
Dude, what fukking surplus? Are you stoned? In what device(s) is that surplus invested in?
When I make a bad investment (pick the wrong stock, trust the wrong politician, allow my elected officials to treat my pesion as general income in exchange for IOUs, etc) I go bust. When the most self-absorbed full-of-sht generation in the history of America does it...I owe them.
Nice.
Just give them a red pill. It's Logan's Run 2013.
I have to warn people scrolling down this thread - Million Dollar Doofus is about to make you spit your coffee over your keyboard.... He's going to tell you that Social Security is running a surplus!!!
So, you know all the social security money that isn't there? That they spent? And it's not invested in the Lock Box? Those IOUs that the government wrote to itself?
They're all earning big returns apparently.
For reelz, if anybody pays MDB a salary, let alone a bonus, they're being fleeced.
There will be a tipping point
when the 25-54 year olds
shake their heads,
awakening from their
thousand yard stare,
and that is when it's gonna get fun.
The rise in senior employment doesn't make them better off than the young, it simply means ZIRP has destroyed savers. We are screwed, one and all.
"Young v. Old" will be the title of most stories going forward.
We're seeing more and more of some strange shit in the criminal justice system where the young acts out violently against the grandparent (who often cared for them in lieu of the dugged out parent) Just had a big one with a kid getting out and murdering his kin. It's spooky
Those people are plain ill.
"You Be Illin'" —Run-D.M.C.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ju9ZQLs9LQ
Zero Hedge is the lead on Drudge right now. Nice!
yeah... and drudge is taking alot of heat from the WH press corp., and...?
A lot of people read Drudge. A lot of those people will click on the link to Zero Hedge. A portion of all those people will continue reading Zero Hedge and become sentient as to what is going on in the world...
Isn't that how we all got here? I came from a reference at DailyReckoning.com. I suppose some people may have searched the web for "Krugman's ball sack in a vise" and ended up here.
Well, at least its not like having young, idealistic and hungry kids (who have been handed their lives on a platter) out on the streets is a bad thing, right? Bueller, Bueller...?
"Bernanke's genocidal ZIRP policies"
it's funny because it's true
Good point. If there were no ZIRP fewer older people would be working.
Don't you fall for this shit! There ain't no conflict between old and young. That's only smoke and mirrors. The conflict is between rich and poor, and that's the only one that really matters.
if the young knew as much about math and sceince and history after a 4 year degree as a '70s high school graduate, maybe things would be different. Facebooking all day doesn't help.
You may be right, but I think that's not the fault of the young. After all, we are the old ones, who ought to show the young how it's done the right way.
the boomers decided that after their kids were grown they didn't want to pay for public schools anymore (cough, Prop 13, cough), and the genereations after that decided that parenting should be left to the schools.
I could agree with you, but, to be honest, I doubt if they were so decisive about that ... maybe they were just unconcerned.
Proposition 13 was passed in 1978, so it was more likely the boomers parents and grandparents that passed that one, I was only 22 in 1978, and I have been paying peoprty taxes to 'educate' you ungrateful little fucks ever since. I have no children and get taxed to death. By the way, aren't your parents boomers? Do you hate them too?
I look forward to starting my career when I turn 55.
Enjoy this quality time off. I'm only jealous that I never benefited from a 30+ year sabbatical. It would have saved me from paying income taxes.
Slightly off topic, but if they released these abysmal labor statistics during trading, does anyone have an inkling as to what bomb may be dropped after the close today? After all, they love to throw the body blows (sovereign downgrades, etc.) when the majority of people aren't paying attention.
After obama decimates social security and raises the retirement age to collect to 70, he will impose mandatory retirement from your job at age 62. This way younger people can take the jobs and not get EBT cards and unemployment, and half of those between 62 and 70 will starve to death, relieving entitlement roles and balancing the budget.
Plus we can implement Soylent Green laws and convert the dead old people to food crackers to feed the poor. Another problem solved.
The rise of wisdom workers
You try to tell people that Obama's policies have only increased wealth for the top 1%, and they say you lie. You try and tell people that it is a fact that younger people have lost almost 3 million jobs under Obama, again they say you lie.
You show them charts filled with in your face facts on the matter. They say you must be a Faux News watcher and are printing their propaganda.
The idiots say right to your face that Obama tells the truth and wouldn't lie. That he has been the best president for the people in history, that he was dealt a bad hand and has done better than anyone else could have done in the same situation.
It is at that point that you realize, these people can't be helped and would truly be better off dead. Because when the collapse comes, they will be begging you for help or attempting to rob you of what you have.
Sounds like you've been watching "How Liberals Argue" on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=uGwtG8nVpUU&NR=1
I've given up trying to convince some people. They are wilfully blind. Some time ago I got into an online argument with a friend over some so-called improvement in the employment numbers and I brought up the labour participation rate and even pointed him to stats from a government site - which he dismissed with some spurious arguments. I realized then, that for this person, partisan ideology had superceded the rules of logic.
I'm regarded as a complete idiot at work for exactly those reasons. I just shut up.
Plus someone came by as I was buying 2x 1 oz gold coins from AMPEX on the web, and that story spread around like wildfire. What a loser - buying gold, and he doesn't even own an iPhone. I mean, can you imagine someone that dumb? Really.... What's next, buying food storage? Guns? What's this idiot planning, some sort of anti-obama terrorist actitivy? Better not associate with THAT one....
I heard the same thing ten years ago when I was buying rolls of silver quarters for $30 each. They're worth almost 10 times that now, and I'm still crazy!
Hey, ZH stole my thunder.
No, we just rehypothecated it ...
ZH Corzined me?
We never would do that so blatantly open. Think more like shadow-banking ...
Well I want my CDS payout then!
You know exactly which day that will happen, dont you? ;-)
I think the new term is "Cyprus'ed"....
Young people are fucked between the obamacare rigged 29 hour a week part time job market, and now meanial shit jobs putting the hiring bar so high because they can. This is just a fucking insult to everyone that McDonalds would even have the fucking nerve to put out a job wanted ad like this.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/mcdonalds-want-ad-demands-bachelors-degree...
McDonald's want ad demands bachelor's degree, two years experience for cashierWith colleges producing more graduates, and youth unemployment at a sky-high 11.5 percent, even landing a job selling Big Macs is getting competitive.
Consider: A job opening at a Massachusetts McDonald's restaurant for a full-time cashier requires one to two years experience and a bachelor's degree.
"Get a weekly paycheck with a side order of food, folks and fun," offered McDonalds.
It is not clear if the fast-food restaurant really wants that kind of experience or is fishing for the highest-qualified applicants. The website for the Winchedon, Mass., McDonald's also lists jobs in Spanish.
Youth advocates said the ad is proof of how bad the employment situation is for kids. "Sadly we've taxed-and-spent our way to an economy in which there's intense competition for just about any job. Combine that with government meddling in the student loan market that has artificially inflated the cost of higher education and young people are getting screwed over even worse than the country overall," said Evan Feinberg, president of the Washington-based youth advocacy group Generation Opportunity.
The ad via JobDiagnosis.com:
Crew (Cashiers)
Contract type : Full Time
Positions available : 1
Experience required : 1-2 Years
Studies level required : Bachelor Degree
Location : Winchendon
Weekly working duration : Full Time
And of course once this story broke they updated it by pulling back the ad, just like the ECB and Germans pulled back on violating depositors insurance after the initial grab to see if they could get away with it. This is glimpse of that wonderful job market that awaits all these kids.
Seriously when was it required you need a BS in English to ask someone if they would like to supersize that and would like a hot apple for a dollar extra.
These days, it's probably more appropriate to ask if they're fluent in Spanish.
When they found out high school graduates can't read or write and can't grasp the concept of showing up for work on time.
Because Ebonics and Spanglish piss customers off.
A bachelor degree is the new high school diploma, and that's being optomistic.
BS - bull shit
MS - more shit
PhD - piled higher and deeper
Yep, students are paying big money for the equivalent of a high school diploma.
A bachelors degree barely proves that one can read and write anymore. Some degrees you have to be more skeptical of than others.
Depends the degree and institution. Vocational training is probably a more realistic option for a lot of these kids but that is not where big money controlling the education system and financing wants them to go. Even today you can't fake your way through a math related or science degree at a 4yr state or private institution without knowing something. The quality maybe an issue but basic proficiency isn't. There really is no entry level jobs for these types of degrees. Also lack of critical thinking and work ethic is not a product of the college education system. Those problems are instilled a lot earlier in the game. The whole public education system from kindergarten to high school is failing to teach these kids the basic skills to survive in the real world which used to be part of the education process on top of the 3 r/s reading,'riting,'rithmatic. How they teach them which doesn't connect with a childs natural curiousity for understanding the world around them also hampers learning and critical thinking. I could go on but the whole system sucks from top to bottom as it currently is implemented. Then you have the outer influences like the boob tube/ipads reinforcing bad habits and social engineering from the MS&M in the form of news and entertainment piling on top of that. It is like pissing against the wind.
I've tried to explain this to my son. Vocational school/ apprentice position may be the new way through this coming economy for a few years. Can't outsource a ___________(plumber, electrician, carpenter...)
Yeah, but legal or illegal immigrants can swipe those jobs. They may be a little less fucked than people with bachelor's degrees and debt, but not that much better off.
Old fuddy duddys are coming back on contract after their 6 months into retirement at my local industrial conglom. "Retirement is twice as expensive as I thought it would be." Locking out the young'ns
Exactly what I did, only it wasn't my idea. The old guys stopped taking the retirement buyouts, and they still wanted to cut, so they gave me three months pay snd said hit the road. The first day I took a dozen calls,'how do we do this/that?'
The next week management was calling, 'they messed up, never should have let you go, come back under a different org structure '.
But it was too late, I had to stay out 6 months. I spent the next 10 years contracting to three different organizations that were housed in that data center, and not because I had specialized skills or masters degrees, because I showed up on time, wasn't afraid to crawl under the raised floor, and could organize three or four projects at the same time.
Good times;)
Since it's more attractive to invest for a living than to work for a living, it is no surprise that people are choosing not to work for a living.
I wouldnt worry folks,
Over here our inbred, mealy mouthed paedophiles inparliament reckon that we mugs can live off £53 a week. The wanker Duncan Smith earns roughly £53 an hour before he fiddles the fuck out of his expenses.
All on our coin boys and girls.
Glad to see another poster from the Island of Perpetual Cold and Gloom and Booming House Prices!
Hehehe,
Hello mate. We are still in the grips of winter here up north. Seven fucking months long and still going.
Chin up though, at this rate IDS will be either shot or hanged before the winters out.
Yo, friends, good to see you. And by the way, just yesterday I had to call my oildealer to ask for immediate delivery of heating oil, or else would now sit in the cold. Glad he came in time ...
Good thing all those million £ homes are beng given away to non-British with large broods. Oh...and you get to pay for their food and healthcare costs too. Oh...and they hate you for it, too.
Those young folks are drinking at the tavern, sun tanning at the beach, and living the good life living at home while 69 year old Dad is driving a bus and 68 year old arthritic Mom is checking groceries at the nearby market. So much for the young having to pay for the older generation of Social Security recipients.
They're young and they've got their health, what would they want with a job?
Hmmm, for years I have been planning to adjust to age discrimination where top companies wont tend to hire people 55 and older.
So I guess I can just role my career over to working as a Walmart shopping greeter instead.
Everyone is getting fucked here, dont kid yourselves.
I suspect many of the older workers are part of the growing trend of part-time jobs with no benefits. Workers in their 30s and 40s need to hold out for full-time jobs with benefits, if at all possible.
Anectdotally, older workers I know are getting open jobs because they can work an entire shift text-free.
As long as health benefits are not involved, employers I know prefer older, reliable, experienced, and more-focused workers.
I also see parents, as older workers, doing what it takes to get their kids through this tough economic period. Many older workers today began their working lives during the high-inflation years of the late-70s, or the last severe recession of '81-'83. They understand what it's like to have a career delayed by the economy. The new twist this time is the level of debt, public and private, preventing the discovery of a bottom to recover from.
Though no longer an older worker (or at least not a paid employee type of worker), I had my working career delayed by that nasty thing called The Draft. I, and many like me, graduated from college with a BS just as deferments for graduate school ended. Back then they were also drafting into the Marines, not just the Army, with the liklihood of an expenses-paid vacation in southeast Asia added in. I suppose most cadres of workers have similar, though less dangerous, obstacles to overcome.
If I'm ever the manager of the store talking/texting on cell phones will be grounds for instant termination. No...questions....asked.
My 65 yo friend that just got off SS to take a full time job had at least two advantages: loads of experience and job sense about getting to work on time and stuff, AND she keeps her Medi-Care, so the employee does not have to kick-in any health benefit payments...
That is really fucked, but is part of how screwed up the so-called labor market is.
Let's see, didn't the majority of that young demographic vote for OBullshit? I'd have to say that the punishment fits the crime - something about "getting what is deserved"?
Just wait until NobamaCare really kicks in next year. I've already been informed that I will end up paying a $2342 tax penalty next year if I refuse to pony up for a $14,000+ "mandatory policy" that doesn't cover much of anything.
Many more full time jobs will become 29 hours/week no-benefit jobs...
AND FUCK THESE AT&T POP-OVER ADS WHERE CLICKING ON THE (X) TO CLOSE IT IS THE SAME AS CLICKING ON THE AD.
The new norm is you retire at Age 21. (after you complete college)
Then you enter the workforce at age 55 as 'Wall Mart Greeter', and get your free> (health care and Obunga phone).
i say the youth just revolt n burn everything to the ground!
That line right around 55 is really closer to 48. That's where they want to push SS & Medicare availability to 80, the defining line of the end of the boomers. That has always been a major change point for .gov. It looks like they're get desperate enough to start screwing over the trailing boomers now...
This should end well.
The new normal in hiring these days is that you must have 10 years experience. Employers do not want anyone comes in as a 'junior'. No room for young people to make their mistakers, grow, or learn. it is a very anti-human stance.
Let's pretend you are an employer with a job that needs doing. You have 2 applicants, a 25 year old with purple hair and a snot ring, hunched over a tablet, texting or playing games, with a massive sense of entitlement who has never held down a job or been held responsible for anything. Or, a 55 year old who has a 30 year record of showing up every day, on time, sober, and doing a good job?
Your point is taken, but those are two archtypes. Most people who show up for an interview will at least have a haircut, fresh breath, and an at least an ill-fitting suit.
Unfortunately, the face and hand tats (along with the pierced eyebrows) kind of gives things away. One "goth" girl came to an interview dressed in solid black, wearing black fingernail polish to go with her orange! and green! hair, and wearing fake fucking vampire teeth. I shit you not. Personal strengths: "I'm an artist and a free spirit. I'm not constrained in my thoughts like others." (Paraphrased since "constraint" apparently had a rather different, specifically sexual, meaning to her...)
Not to mention the fact that these idiots can't put their phones down - I've had people walk into the interview room, phone in hand, plus text during the interview - and they didn't seem to even realize it was anything out of line.
Yes but here's the nightmare - eventually, you as the employer will have to hire young people. Cause you are only going to get 15 more years max out of the 55 year old. Eventually the music will stop and you will pay the piper.
Nice generalizations. May you get what is coming to your generation.
I see two curves: One populated by people with skills, experience and networked with decision makers, and another curve that is populated with people lacking these attributes.
My advice = Acquire these attributes by ANY means necessary. If you're waiting to "get" a job, you're clearly a sheep, a follower, a serf at heart. You're "Waiting for Godot." If you're a true libertarian, a builder, innovator, risk taker, then you go out and start a business. Like Tyler did (in the movie and on ZH).
"Ah, but I don't have the f****g money, you asshole!", the brainless trolls will say.
Unto them I say: "If you have a good concept and business plan, getting the money is easier than your know. Stop your bitching, get off your web-surfing ass, take a shave & shower, put on some decent clothes and... get productive". Or STFU!!!
Que for the trolls to down-arrow in 3,2,1...
As soon as the Boomers retire and the kids pick up the jobs, there will be bitching and moaning about having to pay into the Social Security system to support the Boomers. What I paid in should be in a trust. Ha!
There will already be bitching about paying into the Ponzi scheme. The kids pick up the jobs? Wake the fuck up. Do you know what is going on in this country, or are you some smug Boomer douchebag that doesn't see the country is being gutted? There will be a hell of a lot less jobs by the time the Boomers retire.
Stop with the skewed stats already. Every time you display these employment stats you keep ignoring the change in labor force distribution in age groups. This is complely misleading stats! here's why:
1. The civilian labor force for age group 16-55 is down 3 million. Some of those probably jumped on Medicaid.
2. Participation rate for 16-24 is down 2%. For 25-54, down 2%.
3. The actual non-intitutional population of 25-54 is actually down by 1 million people! Yes shrunk.
4. 55+ participation rate is up just 0.5%. But the civilian labor force for 55+ is UP 4.5 Million people!
5. The actual non-intitutional population of 55+ is up by 9 million people, in just 4 years!
6. By comparison, in the 55+, the number of people NOT in the labor force is up by 5 million people since 2009.
So those aren't new workers, just huge baby boomers groups moving from age 54 to 55 each year, litterally leaving a vaccum in the younger age group as seen in the actual number of capeable workers in the 25-54 range.
What remains is just the retired people working for low wages taking the youth low wage jobs.
In 5-15 years is when we'll see a huge drop from 54 million workers in the 55+ group to under 30 million workers, leaving a large workforce gap as baby boomers leave the workforce.
So, please fix your charts to represent what's really happening.
The Depends Job Market
Raising a child from birth to age 18 costs a minimum of $350,000. Next time you're out somewhere like the grocery store and you see one or two of the little darlings throwing a fit because mommy won't buy their favorite candy ask yourself - does this look like a good investment?
I love our son (now 41) but given what I know now I would never, ever have a child. Simply not worth the cost - financial and otherwise.
I guess I'm just a selfish old boomer.
"I guess I'm just a selfish old boomer."
Yeah pretty much, but at least you know it.
You are not selfish. Now, many in your generation are - but you are not.
You actualy worked for a living, unlike Pete Peterson.
This whole "Old vs Young" meme is really a campaign carried out by the elites and hedge fund managers who want to gut Social Security just so that tax break can get them a new yacht.
http://exiledonline.com/silent-majority-millennials/
They use the youth unemployment thing against ya'll, the populace falls for the "us vs them" like they always have, aaaaannnnnd......it's gone!
And this is the MINIMUM. I'm sure when you raised your child(ren), the cost was more in line with your wage growth (during the 1980s).
I also think is why consumer goods tend to be consumed more for kids than saving for them; the cost of college is inflating SO much, that most parents give up and resign to the fact that their children will probably have to go into debt for the piece of paper otherwise known as a degree. So they buy them an iPad instead (instant gratification)!
If you were to invert the money supply with wage growth, and add the cost of college (and other education programs) that would amplifly your child'schances to succeed in society and have a DECENT life (job/benefits/comfortable living standards/savings)....the cost of a child is probably around $700K-$1M (depending on where you live, and what college your child chooses divided by the grants and scholarships they get).
I'm never having a child because I can't afford it. Also, everytime a baby cries on the bus, a little bit of me inside fist pumps.
Imo, need those kids to change your diapers in the con home. Who else will visit you while staring at the wall all day?
I talk to the nurses/caretakers and some folks have no one that comes to see them. I'm thinking they are the ones who chose the 350k to spend on cars and vacations.
Cant take the 350k with you bro.
That is total BS, I raised four for probably $100,000. They all pulled their weight, worked together and today all have good jobs and contribute to society. Not having children because of cost is a real bad idea ... The problem is not the children, it's the morons in DC who care more about themselves than us ... reduce the Federal government by 50% and we would blossom.
Ages of some the employees at my job (NOT senior management):
66
67
75
79 (!)
I'm not looking forward to the next 40-50 years.
Everything is backwards, you are born into retirement and embark on your career when the wheels are falling off.
If you pull all the data on a nice range, using a pre-2001 baseline and some points ranging up to 2008 and then 2010 for averages, then compare it to now, you'll see some horrible shit. Focus on the age groups, because that's where everything is. Unemployment as well as participation rates. You gotta look at all of it though for it to make sense, ideally broken down into all the groups on the census. It's been over 10 years now and, yes, people do age.
What you see is this (a summary):
It's NOT a generational thing, where there's a bulge that accounts for the increase. If there was, you could follow it. What's been happening is the PRIME earning years are doing okish and you can track them progress. These are mainly your Gen-Xers right now. Everything below that has been screwed hard. They are not getting the experience they need, and as such, their prime earning years will not hit till much later on. OLD people are not just staying in the worrkforce, they are coming back into the workforce in a big big way. If anyone in government had even half a brain, they would right now, be looking at lowering retirement age and providing better benefits to keep them out of the workplace. Opening up positions to the youth who need that experience NOW. If they don't get it now, well, America's future is very very bleak, we're looking at a lost generation that will never be productive where they need to be, they will always be paid less and be overlooked when the younger cohort gets jobs assuming there is an actual recovery (old people die). It's actually quite a serious problem and it's growing larger every single day that no action is taken. This is also, to me at least, a big sign to buy PMs. Government is basically unwilling or unable to put into effect the reforms needed, and will continue to throw money at the problem forever. Even if the cash flow stops, there's so much money out there that it will continue to trickle back in and screw up the economy. Buy gold and silver, it's more or less the best protection against this horrid crap.
Money would be good, if it weren't morons doing the throwing ... Fischer, Solyndra, Tsa, Dhs, ... The list is pretty long.
If I were young, I'd be really pissed .... I'd finish this rant but I have to go back to work now
We need to turn things around. After school you should get a pension until you are 55 and then you have to work until you drop dead. Now that would be a life worth living.