Young adults are more skeptical of government and pessimistic about the future than any living generation before them. This is with reason, and it’s likely to decide the election.
Rough Years and the Most Pessimism Ever
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article on The Rough Years That Turned Gen Z Into America’s Most Disillusioned Voters.
Young adults in Generation Z—those born in 1997 or after—have emerged from the pandemic feeling more disillusioned than any living generation before them, according to long-running surveys and interviews with dozens of young people around the country. They worry they’ll never make enough money to attain the security previous generations have achieved, citing their delayed launch into adulthood, an impenetrable housing market and loads of student debt.
And they’re fed up with policymakers from both parties.
Washington is moving closer to passing legislation that would ban or force the sale of TikTok, a platform beloved by millions of young people in the U.S. Several young people interviewed by The Wall Street Journal said they spend hours each day on the app and use it as their main source of news.
“It’s funny how they quickly pass this bill about this TikTok situation. What about schools that are getting shot up? We’re not going to pass a bill about that?” Gaddie asked. “No, we’re going to worry about TikTok and that just shows you where their head is…. I feel like they don’t really care about what’s going on with humanity.”
Gen Z’s widespread gloominess is manifesting in unparalleled skepticism of Washington and a feeling of despair that leaders of either party can help. Young Americans’ entire political memories are subsumed by intense partisanship and warnings about the looming end of everything from U.S. democracy to the planet. When the darkest days of the pandemic started to end, inflation reached 40-year highs. The right to an abortion was overturned. Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East raged.
Dissatisfaction is pushing some young voters to third-party candidates in this year’s presidential race and causing others to consider staying home on Election Day or leaving the top of the ticket blank. While young people typically vote at lower rates, a small number of Gen Z voters could make the difference in the election, which four years ago was decided by tens of thousands of votes in several swing states.
Roughly 41 million Gen Z Americans—ages 18 to 27—will be eligible to vote this year, according to Tufts University.
Gen Z is among the most liberal segments of the electorate, according to surveys, but recent polling shows them favoring Biden by only a slim margin. Some are unmoved by those who warn that a vote against Biden is effectively a vote for Trump, arguing that isn’t enough to earn their support.
Confidence
When asked if they had confidence in a range of public institutions, Gen Z’s faith in them was generally below that of the older cohorts at the same point in their lives.
One-third of Gen Z Americans described themselves as conservative, according to NORC’s 2022 General Social Survey. That is a larger share identifying as conservative than when millennials, Gen X and baby boomers took the survey when they were the same age, though some of the differences were small and within the survey’s margin of error.
More young people now say they find it hard to have hope for the world than at any time since at least 1976, according to a University of Michigan survey that has tracked public sentiment among 12th-graders for nearly five decades. Young people today are less optimistic than any generation in decades that they’ll get a professional job or surpass the success of their parents, the long-running survey has found. They increasingly believe the system is stacked against them and support major changes to the way the country operates.
Gen Z future Outcome
“It’s the starkest difference I’ve documented in 20 years of doing this research,” said Twenge, the author of the book “Generations.” The pandemic, she said, amplified trends among Gen Z that have existed for years: chronic isolation, a lack of social interaction and a propensity to spend large amounts of time online.
A 2020 study found past epidemics have left a lasting impression on young people around the world, creating a lack of confidence in political institutions and their leaders. The study, which analyzed decades of Gallup World polling from dozens of countries, found the decline in trust among young people typically persists for two decades.
Young people are more likely than older voters to have a pessimistic view of the economy and disapprove of Biden’s handling of inflation, according to the recent Journal poll. Among people under 30, Biden leads Trump by 3 percentage points, 35% to 32%, with 14% undecided and the remaining shares going to third-party candidates, including 10% to independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Economic Reality
Gen Z may be the first generation in US history that is not better off than their parents.
Many have given up on the idea they will ever be able to afford a home.
The economy is allegedly booming (I disagree). Regardless, stress over debt is high with younger millennials and zoomers.
This has been a constant theme of mine for many months.
Credit Card and Auto Delinquencies Soar
OK, there is a fair amount of partisanship in the polls.
However, Biden isn’t struggling from partisanship alone. If that was the reason, Biden would not be polling so miserably with Democrats in general, blacks, and younger voters.
This allegedly booming economy left behind the renters and everyone under the age of 40 struggling to make ends meet.
Many Are Addicted to “Buy Now, Pay Later” Plans
Buy Now Pay Later, BNPL, plans are increasingly popular. It’s another sign of consumer credit stress.
For discussion, please see Many Are Addicted to “Buy Now, Pay Later” Plans, It’s a Big Trap
The study did not break things down by home owners vs renters, but I strongly suspect most of the BNPL use is by renters.
What About Jobs?
Another seemingly strong jobs headline falls apart on closer scrutiny. The massive divergence between jobs and employment continued into February.
Payrolls vs Employment Gains Since March 2023
- Nonfarm Payrolls: 2,602,000
- Employment Level: +144,000
- Full Time Employment: -284,000
For more details of the weakening labor markets, please see Jobs Up 275,000 Employment Down 184,000
CPI Hot Again
For discussion of the CPI inflation data for February, please see CPI Hot Again, Rent Up at Least 0.4 Percent for 30 Straight Months
Also note the Producer Price Index (PPI) Much Hotter Than Expected in February
Major Economic Cracks
There are economic cracks in spending, cracks in employment, and cracks in delinquencies.
But there are no cracks in the CPI. It’s coming down much slower than expected. And the PPI appears to have bottomed.
Add it up: Inflation + Recession = Stagflation.
Election Impact
In 2020, younger voters turned out in the biggest wave in history. And they voted for Biden.
Younger voters are not as likely to vote in 2024, and they are less likely to vote for Biden.
Millions of voters will not vote for either Trump or Biden. Net, this will impact Biden more. The base will not decide the election, but the Trump base is far more energized than the Biden base.
If Biden signs a TikTok ban, that alone could tip the election.
If No Labels ever gets its act together, I suspect it will siphon more votes from Biden than Trump. But many will just sit it out.
“We’re just kind of over it,” Noemi Peña, 20, a Tucson, Ariz., resident who works in a juice bar, said of her generation’s attitude toward politics. “We don’t even want to hear about it anymore.” Peña said she might not vote because she thinks it won’t change anything and “there’s just gonna be more fighting.” Biden won Arizona in 2020 by just over 10,000 votes.
The Journal noted nearly one-third of voters under 30 have an unfavorable view of both Biden and Trump, a higher number than all older voters. Sixty-three percent of young voters think neither party adequately represents them.
Young voters in 2020 were energized to vote against Trump. Now they have thrown in the towel.
And Biden telling everyone how great the economy is only rubs salt in the wound.
I’m late to reply, however previous generations bear some responsibility for the pessimism that exists in Gen Z. How many times have you heard the saying? “We’re mortgaging our kid’s future.” We’ve saddled youthful generations with a $33 trillion national debt; forced them to buy healthcare insurance to spread the risk; left them with sky-rocketing tuition resulting in enormous student debt; left ballooning and nearly incalculable unfunded pension obligations for Federal, State, local governments and public safety officials; and they can’t afford a home. Is it any wonder, with all of these obligations unwillingly foisted upon them that they might feel as though something in our current government structure is amiss? One could argue that their current situation is a form of socialism forced upon them by their predecessors. The foregoing doesn’t justify a movement to socialism by any means, but it does deserve inclusion in the debate and solution.
If they’re fed up with both parties, the premise of the article is invalid. Stopped reading right there.
What’s the next label after Gen Z? Do we loop back to Gen A? Or Gen Z-A?
The next gen is called the Alpha Generation. The oldest are 10-12 years old and they are quite different than Gen Z.
I suspect once RFK jr gets on the ballot in 50 states in a few months and people actually can hear more than surgical sound bites from the media to make him look bad he is gonna do some serious damage to both Trump and Biden
If you still vote in Federal elections it means you haven’t been paying attention.
This is why Biden is pushing for student loan forgiveness. Its to buy votes.
yiiihaaa…..I definitely belong to the generation Z !
Mike Pence NOT endorsing trump. I doubt all the name called RINOs will show up for trump either.
link to apnews.com
Nicki Haley supporters won’t show up for trump. Count Mitt Romney out too. The list gets longer as time goes by…
Any supposed gains by Gen Z will be offset by stay-at-home republicans. What a sad state of affairs for republicans.
Sad.
Most voters don’t really care who endorses whom.
I notice you forgot to mention how many votes Biden is losing to “undecided”, along with a significant percentage of black and Hispanic voters. Sad state of affairs for the democrats.
Exactly why I keep predicting a Biden win. It will be more Republicans losing than Biden winning. Abortion is also a bigger factor than most think. And the economy will be better by election day because the Fed won’t cut or raise rates.
The economic system is based upon Debt creation allowing for those entities which have business models based upon skimming money off that very same debt creation to be successful.
But for those young and broke all they focus upon is how they can maneuver a Debt based economic model and come out ahead. Wrong place to focus upon.
There is however something the young and broke can be successful at, use your youth and build sweat equity. Developing calluses on your hands can go a long way towards gaining what can not be purchased with Debt.
It is a tried and true method centuries old for gaining equity.
Would suggest path to freedom begins with realization you are getting hosed by debt and then decide to try a different path.
People like Krugman are not your friend.
Will add one more thought. Even Government has not figured out a way to Tax you on what you do for yourself.
Any thing you do as a result becomes tax free income direct to your bottom line. No more needing to earn two or three dollars so as an end up with one dollar to actually spend.
Please note: counterfeiting is usually illegal with severe penalties.
Am at a bit of loss here, Where does my post discuss counterfeiting as option?
Consider dumping Marx and reading some Emerson or Marcus Aurelius.
A life of Debt servitude is only result as outcome for those who choose to live the current economic model as it is constructed.
Lot of complaining by others in several posts about how everything is rigged against them. Yet when an alternative way of living gets presented it is beyond comprehension of most that debt expansion is only way to run an economy.
I’m not 100% sure but I think what Lisa Hooker is saying in a somewhat humorous and sarcastic way is that doing something yourself instead of having a government licensed contractor do it is sort of like counterfeiting in the eyes of the government since they don’t get to take a piece of the action via taxes or licensing.
Why do you think we have a central bank, and a financial so-called “industry”, again…..?
Obviously you are from the 20th century.
The callused sweaty guy doesn’t the the loan.
Callused sweaty guy does not need a loan was the point. They live outside the system and prosper in spite of it.
It amazes me that Boomers are only at 15% being “CONFIDENT” with the Press. HOW CAN ANYONE trust CNN/NBC/CBS/PBS when we consider the Censorship going on???
The only part of “confidence” that applies are the first three letters. If you believe the Evening news on anything important (other than Accidents and the Weather), you are being easily CONNED.
Two nights ago, the Propaganda on TIKTOK was in full swing.
Speaking of Gen-Z. Is there something in the water?
—-
Survey: Almost a quarter of Gen Z adults identify as LGBTQ+
Jacob Knutson
3/13/2024
7.6% of adults in the U.S. now identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or another sexual orientation besides heterosexual, according to a Gallup survey released Wednesday.
Why it matters: That’s a new record for adults who identify as LGBTQ+, a community that’s grown by over four percentage points since 2012.
What’s inside: The survey found that women are nearly twice as likely as men to identify as LGBTQ+.
…
link to axios.com
Something in the public schools and colleges.
30% of society is mentally ill – throw in binge drinkers and those on prescription medications it’s even higher.
The stigma of letting people see ones insanity and cries for help has diminished while the rates have doubled in 35 years. Hence the bizarre transgender manifestation in the youth who are simply depressed and despondent, convinced there is something wrong with themselves. Of course? This malady is immediately seized upon as an income stream by our completely vile, rapaciously greedy, immoral medical system, “oh, you’re sad because you were born with the wrong genitals.”
The problem is “us”?
The elephant in the room is the rates of suicide in youth that’s makes it way to younger and younger children, some as young as 8 year olds.
National surveillance data suggest that roughly 7-8% of adolescents attempt suicide each year, and roughly 17% report serious suicidal ideation. Roughly 157,000 individuals between the ages of 10 and 24 receive emergency medical care for intentional self-inflicted injuries.
Persistent sadness and hopelessness is a byproduct of the control grid that wants everyone feeling this way. “Yeah it’s bad but there is nothing you can do about it.” Despondent listless people are just so much easier to control. That’s what’s happening in Gaza and what’s been happening here.
EVERYTHING YOU SEE – IS ABOUT DEMORALIZATION
Getting people to a helpless baby state is the goal.
Social engineering is real.
We are rats in the lab.
There is nothing organic about any of this.
The 70% of Gen Z who are not mentally ill see this far better than anyone over the age of 30.
A nation of mentally ill people eating or starving them selves to death, too anxious and depressed to work, to addicted to drugs and alcohol to stay on track will never prevail against countries that are mentally more healthy.
China and Russia will wipe the floor with us.
Women are twice as likely to self-identify as men.
Even though citizens have the most confidence in SCOTUS, confidence in Congress is surprisingly close second.
Perhaps the host of this blog is a member of Gen Z? Even if not, Gen Z members have nothing on him when it comes to pessimism. 🙂
I try to minimize the amount of knocks I throw at Mish, but yeah, true.
Nope. Those who avail themselves of BNPL are financially uneducated and living above their means.
Young adults are ALWAYS annoyed and upset with the establishment. But while they are good at signing petitions, making TikTcok./YouTube videos and marching in protests, they never really show up to vote in meaningful numbers.
So I would discount counting on any significant effects due to Gen-Z as a voting bloc.
They decided the last election. Take away the youth vote and Trump wins.
We will see said the blind man to his deaf buddy.
Here’s hoping Gen Z learned a thing or 2 since 2020. Oh and that there will not be drop boxes this time around.
On the other hand, if you are very pessimistic, the only way is up when something good happens. My parents grew up during the Depression which was much more depressing than anything we have experienced, and after the war was over they were in Hog Heaven for years.
The “depression” was hardly even a bump in the road, compared to current day dislocations.
And neither was WW2,compared to the severity of any war capable of dislodging the current “system” of absolute end-game hellishness from the outside.
They’ll all be suicidal by 2026 if biden wins.
When the two biggest growth industries in the US are Geriatrics and Illegals, there is cause for concern with Young People
Well I guess neoliberalism(deregulation, privatization, lower taxes) doesn’t solve a lot of problems. Mainly family structure and healthy families. We need a better government. Massive changes must happen. Hypercapitalism is destroying society.
It’s not hypercapitalism; capitalism is pretty dead in US. You now have fascism.
Thank you for that, Allan. None of us have experienced true capitalism in our lifetimes other than say for a garage sale. Every aspect of our lives is licensed, taxed, managed and regulated by the corporate state.
“Well I guess neoliberalism(deregulation, privatization, lower taxes) doesn’t solve a lot of problems.
Yes it does. But only if you deregulate, privatize, and lower taxes for real. OTOH, merely claiming to do so, while in reality: Piling on billions of pages of ambulance-chaser-enriching Mickey-Mouse “laws”, “mandates”, bans and other regulations; handing control of still-government-regulated-and-competition-protected “industry” to absolute morons with connections; and the biggest across-all-governments budgets in history; is what is not working.
“Capitalism”, to the extent it has any useful meaning; refers to unfettered competition. No, zero, protections for ANY incumbent. As in, build, create, sell whatever you can. No permits required. No ambulance chasers nor anyone else able to intervene. Noone in government having he faintest clue how much of what that who sold to whom nor for how much; hence not being in any position to shake anyone down while attempting passing it off as “taxes.”
The current “system,” in the Argentina style dystopian ghetto which once was the US, has nothing whatsoever to do with “capitalism.” Much less “hyper” anything; aside from pure, 100%, totalitarian kleptocracy.
No mention of the 4 generations running things in The DC Beltway right now.
Did you actually mean running thing or ruining things???
The twelve graders boomers front end was in the late sixties. They faced Vietnam,
LBJ, college riots, inflation, and Nixon, but with free sex and LSD they were happier than the Zoomer.
The drugs and sex were nice, and the music was much much better.
Music from that era was pretty cool but the best stuff out there is 2020+. Can’t possibly get enough new stuff. Helps a person stay young to keep on keeping on.
let’s see, Biden wants to:
-give home buyers a $10k credit – this should help Gen Z and millennials
-continue student loan forgiveness – this should help Gen Z and millennials
-protect women’s reproductive rights – this should help Gen Z and millennials, older generations are barren.
-raise taxes on the rich – do people think Gen Z and millennials are against this?
What does trump want to do?
-cut entitlements
-drop bombs on Mexico
-let Ukraine fall to Russia
I don’t think Gen Z want any of these trump ideas. The funny thing here are all the people that think Gen Z, blacks, hispanics and women are going to flock to Trump, that shows you that deep down inside, you know trump is gonna lose. Pinning your hopes on people that would never vote republican is pure sad desperation.
See you Nov 5.
And yet they are miserable so I guess you are completely wrong about how people actually feel.
Biden wants to inflate the economy with as much free money as possible. Biden has a never ending list of new entitlements paid for by the rich. Maybe GenZ knows that Biden is a snake oil salesman.
“Biden wants to inflate the economy with as much free money as possible.”
Yeah, Trump really cracked down on that stuff.
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Biden and Trump will not be around to suffer the consequences of their extreme and reckless profligacy.
You’re right for the most part.
The flipside, 45 years of job creating tax cuts that created jobs in China, Mexico & India – then the blame goes to entitlement spending for the resultant debt & accrued interest at a time when the bulk of those entitlements go to Baby-boomers.
I highly doubt obsessing over immigration, or restarting the “liberals want your guns” routine will sway them.
It kinda makes sense a psychotic nutjob is the go-to for the GOP presidential candidate, the alternative is the same old dog n’ pony.
.
The vast majority of voters are single issue or at most two issue. They will vote for the candidate that promises to fulfill their expectations on that/those issues. Anything else will be ignored.
“The funny thing here are all the people that think Gen Z, blacks, hispanics and women are going to flock to Trump…”
Polling data data show that Trump is gaining support from blacks and Hispanic citizens. Those groups are being harmed by Biden’s illegal immigration policy.
You will likely be in hiding on Nov 6
“In South Carolina, foreclosures surged 51%, while Missouri saw a 50% jump and Pennsylvania a 46% increase. Foreclosures in Texas rose 7%, and in Indiana they climbed 0.8%.”
link to foxbusiness.com
These are the same folks that freak out if you don’t constantly tell then how great of a job their doing. In other words, they are like where is my participation trophy even though they screw everything up. God help us.
Seems Gen Z is much wiser that the Boomers with regards to politics. Why would anyone have any confidence in the lying press or the grifters in DC. Plus Boomers have rigged the system to have the young supplement their retirement and health care benefits. Now the Israeli Lobby is plotting go take Tik Tok away because we can’t have any honesty about Israel’s war crimes. It’s antisemitism!
Gen Z primarily seeks advice and thier news from online pundits. Many of these pundits (doesn’t matter which side of the isle) are persistent “the sky is falling” types. They rarely give advice, and if they do its often self serving. In my opinion, the constant consumption of this drivel leads to a predominately Black Pilled (i.e. no hope) Gen Z. What’s interesting is that many of these pundits are no different from main stream media types. It’s nothing but constant negativity. If it “bleeds”, it leads. No wonder Gen Z feels awful about themselves and thier future. They are basically inundated with constant nihilism.
Couple the above with being coddled thier entire lives by nutty helicopter parents, and you’ve got an entire generation of frightened risk averse people. Most Gen Z’ers had thier entire young lives scripted for them. They were whisked from one activity to the next with little to no free time to explore themselves or the world around them UNSUPERVISED. Why? Their parents foolishly thought that by controlling every aspect of thier kid’s lives they could prevent thier kid from failing. Failure = learning and it promotes mental toughness (pick yourself up and try again). The best part about failing is when you overcome your failure. The sense of accompliahment from such an event can often be life changing for the better. Preventing a child from failing will breed a helpless adult whom can’t handle any type failure.
With that said, I don’t blame the young people for how they feel. How could I? They are, after all, a product of thier upbringing. I hope they snap out of thier funk soon. However, no one will make thier lives better but them.
Just 2 cents…..
Nay! I’d say it’s the irresponsible Boomers saddling them with $Trillions in debt, having housing too expensive to buy, mass import of illegals to drive down wages, endless wars and being told with a straight face that boys can be girls. But who knows, perhaps you think this foul leadership is good things
Ok, so what? I don’t disagree with any of what you said. My question to you is this….How is bitching and moaning about the stuff above making your life better? Does it make you feel good to constantly ruminate over the stuff you listed above? I used to do that very thing. It didn’t make my life better, in fact, it had the opposite effect.
Alot of people get consumed with things that are outside of thier control. Focus on you and what you can control.
So put your head in the sand and whistle past the grave yard. Only, things can’t get better until the problems are widely recognized and action taken to correct them. But unfortunately that won’t occur before the problems are catastrophic because most people would rather hide the problems and pretend they don’t exist.
Alex, it is obvious that what you need to do is invest in Canadian oil and gas companies. Or perhaps, write some naked calls – choo, choo.
Since they turned out in mass to vote for Biden then I can understand why they are so pessimistic now.
No worries. A new mouthpiece for the Biden will appear before their eyes when TikTok is sold to a Dem-friendly corp and they pump it full of propaganda for the 60% Gen Z audience. They’ll soon feel better.
No mention of RFK? C’mon. If Gen Z votes for Biden then you deserve what you get. Also, if they cannot recognize the issues affecting their lives, then again, you get what you deserve. Boomers suck. I hate to say it, but I’m at the tail end (born 1964) and I wish I could be part of a big protest group like the late Tea Party. I looked years ago for some branches here in Northern Cal, but nothing. Boomers, like all others, just care about themselves. This is natural, but no concern about anything else. Well, if you haven’t figured out that you can’t do anything effectively without a group then you’re stupid. Me, I take care of me now, but I advise you young people to get out and protest. You’re not going to change anything sitting no you asses. Get a group together in all major cities and state capitals, and I’ll march with you. Otherwise, just patiently suffer.
Yes, yes.
Group think is much better than individualism.
If you are still voting you haven’t been paying attention.
Another source of dissatisfaction for Gen Z is their health. They have more chronic conditions than other generations have had at this point in their lives. My kids and their friends are part of this. Fortunately, my kids are healthy but they appear to be the minority. It seems like everyone that comes over has some sort of condition. Food allergy, crones or something else. Also a large portion are overweight with a more than normal percentage obese. Take all this and add in the negative influence of social media and you can see the awful toll it takes on them. Suicide rates that are a national tragedy.
What’s tragic about suicide?
It’s just cleaning up after yourself.
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If someone believes they are doomed deeply enough, they are. Stagflation here we come as immigrants and robots might not be enough to replace police, the military, prison guards, factory workers (boring), engineers ( math is hard), or any medical speciality that requires years of sacrifice.
I am appalled to see so few voters not be repulsed by Biden vs Trump. Anyone old enough to remember the ‘best and the brightest’ ? What message does this send to the world? The Empire is dying.
I’m in my early 60s. My experience, like everyone else’s is obviously anecdotal. I’ve been in senior management positions with the ability to observe hundreds of people’s lives in fair detail. For years, I’ve pulled up to intersections and looked around, noticing that even though I have always been in the top percentages of income earners, I often have the oldest and most plain vehicle. I know what cars cost. That observation, along with watching how poorly even professional people manage their money, has always left me wondering when real economic consequences would finally slap our entire economic model down. Of course, every time cracks start to show the Fed has stepped in and blown another bubble. Maybe I’m wrong about a big crash, and maybe we’ll see a more continuous, slow motion grinding down of the middle class. I’ve given up trying to understand or predict the future, but our whole system seems to be built on unsustainable behavior propped up by the US dollar’s status as the global reserve currency. I’m guessing we’re in for a long decline, just like the Roman Empire, just with worse roads.
Good observations! But one must ask, where did these values (or lack there of) come from? Its the result of the self serving, narcissistic Boomer parents. The drug addled flower children of the 60s.
The counter cultural revolution started by the boomers along with second and third wave feminism are definitely big factors in the erosion of logic and culture
Also TV (everyone wants to live “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous”), marketing and the internet.
Inflation causes depression.
Bipolar?
This was all covered in Repo Man.
Sad to see such a pessimistic outlook. It makes sense though when you can’t buy a decent car, can’t afford a house and can’t afford to start a family.
Recent statistics. 40% use drugs. 25% declare to be bisexual.
Don’t have family, no kids, no faith, no stable relationships. No knowledge many times, only ideology.
Really depressing.
Being reminded constantly that nobody thinks you will move out of mom and dad’s home to buy your own place has its effect.
Especially when it’s true
Interesting article – thanks, Mish.
About these generational attitudes, this old quote comes to mind:
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, Those Who Remain
For clarification, I would tweak it as follows, for the Disinformation Age that we live in:
‘Too much bullshit creates strong minds. Strong minds create good times. Good times create weak minds. And, weak minds create too much bullshit.’
Now with AI we will be able to manufacture bullshit at almost the speed of light.
Well, it is, at least explainable. I call it the “reverse Titanic” theory: Adults and the old to the life boats and for the young, back to your cabins! High college costs, no national day care policy, off the charts rent and home prices, and on it goes. The biggest issue is less about the role of government. It’s the inability, in too many instances, for government to implement and execute good policy at the local, county, state, and federal level. As an observation, one positive outcome from Covid is that state DMV’s automated many processes. It’s a small example
of how government can actually improve things. It’s doable. We are having all the wrong conversations in this country. A lot of daily noise but mostly on trivial matters. The late historian Daniel Boorstin called these “pseudo-events.”
I think the role of the Federal Reserve in artificially holding down interest rates and facilitating massive government debt can not be underrated as the root cause of our economic woes. Going off the gold standard was a watershed event in our inflationary trajectory.
There are too many stakeholders and vested interests in keeping things as they are now to expect any real change.
Any real change is going to require AI Overlords who won’t be concerned with incoming $$.
@Sam – you actual did state the whole point about minimizing the role of government when you wrote “It’s the inability, in too many instances, for government to implement and execute good policy at the local, county, state, and federal level.”
Government is inherently bad at those things – structurally, in terms of all the human and other incentives – and that is WHY conservatives argue that it’s important to minimize the role of government. Government does not make utopia possible, it merely takes the everyday suck and makes it worse.
Also, the whining about high college costs and no national daycare policy is complete nonsense to those who lived through the Depression (you couldn’t even go to college) or any period pre-1990s (there was no daycare system) … yet those people faced their challenges, worked their way through them and built a lot of what makes this nation still great today.
It’s the being blocked, not inability, to do things by higher levels of government until you reach the federal level where they all play the parlor game of “bureaucracy”. sit in a circle, first person to move loses
What is funny is that they are not curious enough to look into who gave them direction (get that degree in Lesbian Dance no matter how much debt you have to take on). They would seem to be ripe for the picking for a Libertarian ideology and at the same time, ripe for the picking for socialism and/or marxism. What surprises me is that only 30% have a negative view of Biden and Trump. I’m a formerly unclaimed (folks born 61 thru 64 used to be in no named generation, then they expanded boomers and put us in there) and I think plenty in my age-bracket are not thrilled with either one. It could certainly be argued that Trump was not the economic and foreign policy tran-wreck that Biden has been … but he certainly didn’t shrink gobvernment or bring down the debt (even pre-Covid … those omnipork spending bills said yes to everything). I believe Biden’s open border could seriously lower the overall US standard of living if he wins (or anyone on his side who would keep the border open) … but neither one is willing to truly tackle the debt … and that will eventually cause a crisis like we’ve not seen in many decades.
I’m in the same age group as you. I don’t consider myself a Boomer, but according to birth (1964), they put me there. I think the border, debt, wars, and crime are biggest issues. If the younger gen don’t see this, then the country is doomed. Also, if they don’t see the importance of ALL of our Bill of Rights then again, the country is doomed. As someone that likes history all empires are doomed. They’re trying to put the squeeze on Russia and China to contain their growth meanwhile allowing their home (America) to degrade into a mess. Amazing to watch as someone with decades of life. What happened to my country?
Having friends of many ages I have an observation to share.
The Lost generation and Gen Z are similar, both remain capable of critical thinking and rational thought. Everyone else was subjected to intense brainwashing and trauma based mind control. Compliance from Gen Z, like with the Boomers will require a draft and war to remind them “who’s the boss.”
Being raised on the thunder dome of illusion and influence (internet), they had to become very selective about what to believe. Gen Z believes almost nothing they are told from the authorities and only half of what they see digitally. They had hundreds of non TV channels to chose from, it wasn’t just Walter Cronkite and Fox news. That’s a lot of critical thinking, heavy lifting – “is that real? are they bullshitting me? who wrote this?” Their brains were architected differently because of this. TV brain and the interactive participatory internet brain are fundamentally different brains.They also had their cohort of trusted fact checkers “trusted friends” to help them filter it all.
The results of this can be seen in their divergence of opinions about Israel, the economy, the Holocaust, value of college, fake wars on terror and the draft.
They are mostly immune to the systems that brainwashed Boomers, X and and 75% of millennials.
I contend, if the US survives the current spate of brainwashed idiots running the show, the US will not improve until the Boomers are dead and Gen Z predominates in power in around 20 years.
Boomers generally hate them for the same reason the Greek government hated Plato and Socrates whose knowledge was sourced from Egypt.
(BTW I’m excluding the super mentally ill cohort of Gen Z about 30%)
I love dancing Lesbians
” I’m a formerly unclaimed (folks born 61 thru 64 used to be in no named generation, then they expanded boomers and put us in there) and I think plenty in my age-bracket are not thrilled with either one.”
I read a couple of Canadian demographic books roughly 30 years and they had you classed as a “gen x” a subset of the baby boomers. I had always considered myself a gen x as a result of reading this books. According to the terminology that has evolved, gen x now refers to those born later.
The subset that you refer to was the largest subset of the baby boomers and had it a little more difficult than the front end boomers. The best jobs were taken, more competition, higher grades required for university, portable classrooms, housing much cheaper at front end, faced higher interest rates, etc.
The books were The Pig and the Python and Boom, Bust, Echo. When you were born does have some effect on your luck in life.
One of the predictions of one of the books was that stocks are now set to face headwinds as the baby boomers now become natural sellers.
Boom, Bust & Echo: Book Review from TCI Management Consultants (consulttci.com)
It should be the baby boomers (of whom I am one) who have the least confidence in government and the future, as they have the historical perspective. Yes, we generally have more assets than most, but what good does that do you when the government goes full blown totalitarian, or civil war erupts?
I dont like either candidate either – but I will vote for TRUMP
I don’t like either candidate — but I will vote against BIDEN
Krugman tells them this is the best of times and they just don’t understand
Krugman calling out partisanship is sort of funny.
People listening to what Krugman has to say is entirely pathetic
Krugman playing the role of the clown or the economist?
He’s the ultimate “let them eat cake” elitist who never leaves his bubble of wealthy surroundings.