Gen Z is choosing not to drive
Gen Z is choosing not to drive
Less Gen Z Americans own a driver's license than previous generations, according to consulting firm McKinsey.
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Your previous comment really reads as "Kids these days can't afford housing, too busy with their avocado toasts and Netflixes" which is the likely reason for all the downvotes.
I can't fix people's narratives. I'm asking for data to illustrate the measurable impact of the economy on people's personal finance and leisure over the decades.
For one example, to compare 2020 to 1960, what is considered "leisure", what does that cost, and what percentage of a person's income is spent on it. I'm not really interested in polls where "Gen Z says they're struggling to afford a car" because that's subjective and relative. It's not at all about questioning their anecdotes; I'm curious what the graph or pie chart looks like over the decades.
I think, and am asking for something to prove me right or wrong simply because I'm curious, that there's more leisure and luxury available to all people today than ever before. And I feel pretty strongly that the culture of consumerism has grown much stronger over the past 30-50 years making everyone feel like they need to spend more than they were in the first half of the last century.
ProductivityPurchasing Power in The United States peaked in the'70slate '60s.The country's overall productivity sucks today[see below comments]. I believe the numbers show that we're all spending more of our income than we ever have before. And for those "earning" a salary based on archaic values set decades ago, it's certainly logical they'd be most hurt by the culture of consumerism that's so rampant today.Also, I'd be very interested to compare the graphs to credit card debt over time. It's too easy to click a button on our phones now to have something charged to a card without the stress of seeing it coming directly out of our checking account. This use of technology, I think, is a real factory for younger people who haven't grown up learning how to balance a checkbook or the need to save real cash money to make major purchases. The success of services like Mint and Acorn and Chime indicate this isn't my imagination.
No one likes when someone says your opinion is irrelevant when they're asking for tangible numbers. I'm well aware that the economy is harder for young adults today. I'm also well aware that most people on the internet are ultra-sensitive and lack reading comprehension. There's a large segment of the internet that can't be bothered to read more than headlines and watch ten second TikTok videos. I know younger people aren't the only ones guilty of this, but I have doubts they're not the primary culprits.
Productivity in The United States peaked in the '70s
I really did want to take your comments in good faith but asking for data and then turning around to say something completely and blatantly false (and easily verifiable) is making that hard.
Yeah sure, there's more leisure-type purchases available to us than ever before, and technology does make transactions ridiculously easy. However, the current economic situation for young adults is much too dire to attribute entirely to individual factors when clearly this is an issue on a societal scale.
Fair enough. This is a version of the chart I've seen and had in mind. I suppose the difference is in relation to minimum wage.
"We have seen that complete divorce between wages and productivity and massively increased inequality with most gains going to people at the top."
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minimum-wage-26-dollars-economy-productivity/"Purchasing power" is the metric I've been thinking about.
This decline in purchasing power means low-wage workers have to work longer hours now just to achieve the standard of living that was considered the bare minimum half a century ago.
https://www.epi.org/publication/raising-the-federal-minimum-wage-to-15-by-2024-would-lift-pay-for-nearly-40-million-workers/Here specifically is the web page I've kept in mind when referring to productivity (and I admit that off the top of my head "the 70s" was a bit off).
In fact, had the federal minimum wage kept pace with workers’ productivity since 1968 the inflation-adjusted minimum wage would be $24 an hour.
https://aflcio.org/what-unions-do/social-economic-justice/minimum-wageI concede that "young adults" and "low wage workers" shouldn't be confused.
I've edited my previous comment. Thank you for the point.
I have a hard time understanding how you can present this information (people working harder and longer for less purchasing power than before) and arrive at the conclusion that young adults' personal spending habits are to blame. The system is clearly engineered to keep the majority poor and enrich a tiny minority.
Want to know where the profits from the increase in productivity went instead of worker's wages? I suggest looking up CEO wages from the '50s to the present day, and compare with the chart from my previous comment.
the conclusion that young adults’ personal spending habits are to blame.
At what point did I ever suggest anything close to a conclusion or blame? But since you didn't ask, I blame Reaganomics, consumerism, and the deregulation of Wall Street. I blame the exportation of jobs for pennies and the mistreatment of workers. I blame disinterest and carelessness and I blame our value and reward of ownership over generosity. I blame "The New American Dream".
Can't you stop whining about being a victim for a moment and consider the implications of studying the history of economic and personal finance patterns to plan for the future? I am utterly bored of the repetitive copy/paste talking points and the whining with zero proposals for a solution other than "the boomers did it to us" and we're all out of ideas.
Look at the real historical data. Present hard evidence and propose how the country is doomed for economic turmoil in ten to twenty years. A couple of charts and anecdotal polls aren't going to push congress to do anything. No one cares if you can't afford to buy a car when the economy says people are loaded with money right now. I mean, General Motors just had their best year since 2019 so they don't care if young people aren't buying cars. So prove them wrong. I want to prove them wrong - why don't you?
This is what I mean by you can't fix people's narratives. You're blinded by your grief. No one is saying it's your fault. You, like the boomers before you, are so self-centered that, unless you get your faces out of your screens and fix this shit, you'll end up being responsible for a country worse than it's ever been (slavery aside / if it makes it through this election cycle). I'm absolutely terrified for future generations.
I really don't get it. I don't get all the stories and anecdotes and complaining yet no one has provided a full story of the reality of personal finance over the decades. Maybe this does exist and I just don't know it - it's probably paywalled. But it seems that without it, this "discussion" exists to divide us and generate clicks and ad revenue and political and corporate control. It's bullshit.
I have a feeling, without the data, that a lot of young people are spending way more on novelty and entertainment things than ever before while they're complaining about not being able to afford things.
Here, in that first comment, is where you suggest that young people's spending habits are to blame for them not being able to afford things.
Can't you stop whining about being a victim for a moment
I hardly see how I've whined during our exchange, it feels to me like you're having a conversation with someone who exists in your head and not me. We seem to agree on the major parts but I just can't understand your obsession with tying personal finance into the struggles capitalism is imposing on the current working population. It's largely irrelevant on a societal scale.
I really don't understand where you're coming from and this comment in particular is all over the place. Best wishes, hope the world isn't too rough on you.