[Thanos]

Most of the Millenials doing the worst of the complaining seem to be the ones who fell for the rah-rah "go to university!" bullshit and ended up with something ridiculous like an English or Sociology degree that really left them kind of unemployable and carrying a massive debt they'll never be able to pay off. That it happened to them at the same time, in the US anyway, as a major economic collapse made it even worse for them. I read the comments from these kids in the reader's comments sections at places like Gawker and they're genuinely pissed off at being lied to so badly about the value of university and what getting any kind of degree was supposed to do for their lives. Hard to blame them for feeling that way. Previous generations did great with their degrees for the most part, before the job market got over-saturated with graduates to the point where merely having a single degree (but with no practical experience) began to mean less and less to employers.

[Jabberwalker]

They are counting grossly debased dollars, I would say.

[andyt]

ad just ed for in fla tion.

[ShepherdsDog]

Professional degree holders usually have/had little trouble securing employment. Engineers, nurses, doctors, and most teachers are usually guaranteed a job on graduation. Most of those with English, History, Sociology, Poli Sci and Women's Studies degrees are tossing the dice - will it be Starbucks, McPukes or Burger King?

[Jabberwalker]

ad just ed for in fla tion.

I have rarely seen that done in a manner that makes sense to me. I remember what things cost a generation ago and houses that went for $200,000 then are selling for $1,200,000 now (same houses). Fuel is the same way. Automobiles have doubled in price. I don't know what is being adjusted but it is being done to satisfy someone's agenda. There is a 1984ish tinge to the "adjusted for inflation" numbers that we see. When I was growing up, my father's $7,000 per year executive salary was on the high side. A half century later, the same sort of job pulls in over $120,000 per year. That's buying power 14 - 15 TIMES what we have now. Our currency has been seriously debased (by printing ever more money) and our "adjusted for inflation"rates are a lie.

[andyt]

Reports I read in the paper say it's' not nearly as bad as it's made out to be for arts students. They can't jump into a dream job right away, maybe they could in the past. But most, after 5 years are doing OK. The big thing is the debt they carry coming out.

[Thanos]

We're also losing about 50% of what we earn to the massive over-taxation and cost of living increases that have sky-rocketed since the early 1960's. Those two factors alone are probably more responsible for the problems the younger people end up having than any watering-down of currency has been.

[Jabberwalker]

Thanos Thanos:

We're also losing about 50% of what we earn to the massive over-taxation and cost of living increases that have sky-rocketed since the early 1960's. Those two factors alone are probably more responsible for the problems the younger people end up having than any watering-down of currency has been.

... and a lot of that increase is because of the carrying charges (interest being paid) on huge collective debts run up by our governments a generation + ago. Want to pay off your debts more quickly? Pay them off with a watered down currency.

[Thanos]

All I can say for myself is that if I had the same tax rate today (all taxes combined, not just income tax) that my dad had I'd probably be looking at having the house paid off by the time I was 50 and not by the time I'm 60, if then.

[ShepherdsDog]

$1:

cost of living increases that have sky-rocketed since the early 1960's.

You mean people 'needing' three gaming systems, 60" LED or Plasma TVs, the newest Smartphone, tablet and all the other toys?

[Jabberwalker]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

$1:

cost of living increases that have sky-rocketed since the early 1960's.

You mean people 'needing' three gaming systems, 60" LED or Plasma TVs, the newest Smartphone, tablet and all the other toys?

We do not load our household with too many goodies like that, nor do we blow a bundle on "March Break" junkets, etc. We like low debt. It is a safer and more efficient way to live. Our family are not dramatically bigger spenders than my parents were (proportionately a little less, I would say) and I make times more than my father did. "Adjusted for inflation" is s much bullshit ... lies, damned lies and statistics.

[Thanos]

Those kind of expenditures keep the economy going though. And the money spent by individuals on allegedly frivolous items is tiny compared to what's been lost to inflation (especially the runaway inflation of the 1970's and '80's) and the tax haul that is invariably wasted on too many unnecessary government expenditures. I hate to think about how many gaming systems or big screen TV's that could have been bought by taxpayers with, for example, the $140 million that the Chretien team wasted on new computer systems for the military that they never used or the $400 million on those shitty British subs that turned out to be more lethal to their own crew than they were to any enemy they ever would have imaginably faced.

[Regina]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

$1:

cost of living increases that have sky-rocketed since the early 1960's.

You mean people 'needing' three gaming systems, 60" LED or Plasma TVs, the newest Smartphone, tablet and all the other toys?

Not to mention designer hair, clothes, nails, essential vacations, cottages, snow and water craft, sunglasses, $40 ball hats, Vegas Stag................etc. etc.

[Jabberwalker]

That's the "circuses" part of "bread and circuses" that we're being fed. We feel richer because we have easy access to so much frivolous crap but it is an illusion.

[BartSimpson]

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

ad just ed for in fla tion.

I have rarely seen that done in a manner that makes sense to me. I remember what things cost a generation ago and houses that went for $200,000 then are selling for $1,200,000 now (same houses). Fuel is the same way. Automobiles have doubled in price. I don't know what is being adjusted but it is being done to satisfy someone's agenda. There is a 1984ish tinge to the "adjusted for inflation" numbers that we see. When I was growing up, my father's $7,000 per year executive salary was on the high side. A half century later, the same sort of job pulls in over $120,000 per year. That's buying power 14 - 15 TIMES what we have now. Our currency has been seriously debased (by printing ever more money) and our "adjusted for inflation"rates are a lie.

Exactly.

As I point out to many people in 1974 the US dollar was worth 1/20 of an ounce of gold.

Now it's worth 1/1293 of an ounce of gold.

Gold did not go up or down in value because it is what it is. The difference is that the value of the dollar declined tremendously.