“I’m not voting until the economy is so good that an entry-level worker in their 20s can be absolutely assured of living alone” Look, call me a troll or whatever, but I think some of the economic gloom among young people might be coming from totally unrealistic expectations
There are some costs that are way too high and we should get down - housing, education, health care. But in the aggregate, cost of living as a share of income is low right now. People’s sense of the economy is set against expectations - maybe THOSE have gone a little haywire.
@whstancil And of course, not voting & ensuring that the far-right, which wants to do away with pesky things like "child labor laws" and "minimum wages," comes to power is the best way to ensure that those very realistic expectations are turned into reality...
Both my parents worked blue collar jobs at a Walgreen's diner in the mall. My dad was a cook, my mom a waitress. They bought their first home on those salaries & had me. Things began to change when Reagan came to power & the term "Latchkey Kids" was invented; a term used to describe kids who came home from school by themselves because both parents were working. That didn't used to be the norm will, it because however mandatory due to the rising cost of living. If you look back on our history as a country, for many decades the norm was only 1 person worked. Why? Because you could literally make it & survive by just working full time down the street at the local ACE Hardware store. I'm Gen X, my generation is the one which experienced this drastic change & lived through it. Anyone working full time should be able to survive on the wages they earn. That's the original intent of what "minimum wage" means; the ability to work a job full time & survive. Sadly, we've lost sight of that & made "minimum wage" the bare minimum an employee can pay a worker & it taken out the factor of being able to survive on those wages. It's important to remember that you're speaking to young voters who make less than their parents did doing the same job while the cost of living has skyrocketed. Greed is now a pillar in this country & it will only get worse until we come together collectively to solve it. I urge you to follow the hashtag #PoorPeoplesCampaign here in Twitter.
@whstancil Everyone has missed the real problem. The American idol of “self-sufficiency” has taken so much from our lives and resources. Life is better and more prosperous when we rely on each other and in turn provide for each other. “Self-sufficiency” creates hollow and lonely lives.
@whstancil @joshtpm It's the entitlement of saying that place has to be a high end one bedroom with a four piece ensuite bathroom, granite countertops and laundry. The kind of place most anybody over 45 didn't get until they bought their first home.
@whstancil What would these people have thought of boarding houses, which were a totally normal way for young men to live until like 100 years ago
@whstancil 35 years ago I had no way to pay for school and couldn't afford to live alone, so I joined the army. When I got out of the army, it was a serious struggle to find work with a health care plan. It never once occurred to me that this had anything to do with the President.
@whstancil It isn’t a high bar, but this is the smartest thing you’ve ever said.
@whstancil Yes, possible, just not probable for a young person - as it was for me and generation before. To a person, we all have fond memories of those times - the 1/mth dinner (pasta - the least $) becomes the fav meal memories. Budgeting to the penny, used furniture, haggling, two jobs…
@whstancil How much of those expectations do you think come from luxurious campus accommodations?