They’re at it again. Everything’s great, according to somebody. Millennials will be the “wealthiest generation”. It’s Boomers versus Millennials in the housing market. Nothing happens outside of market samples.
Yeah, sure.
I’ve been watching stats and spin like these for decades. They’re always upside and always wrong. There are no gigantic socioeconomic disasters, just happy media, telling it like it isn’t.
Let’s translate the drivel:
Millennials will be the “wealthiest generation”. There is no massive disparity in wealth in that generation, unlike all others in recorded history. Everybody’s a billionaire.
Median incomes start at $50K No they don’t when you start at nothing or slightly less per hour.
Boomers versus Millennials in the housing market. Those who accidentally have capital vs those who are in a position to buy anything.
Nothing happens outside of market samples. No, it doesn’t, if you’re prepared to ignore all cost-of-living factors, massive homelessness, and evaporation of assets as a result of those things.
What’s wrong with this effervescent view of selective stats is that it’s entirely wrong. What’s worse is that it promotes political insularity. Decades of economic disasters starting with “trickle-down economics” and continuing with a total refusal to even mention core issues are the results.
Occasionally you’ll see a dissenting story among the hype. Something like “Millennials don’t want kids because they’re too expensive,” which doesn’t exactly vindicate the “richest generation” myth, does it?
Then there’s the very mixed bag of information about Millennial poverty. As usual, the media meeting-dwellers try to sanitize this nasty subject, but the contrary information is always there somewhere.
The question is why any of the “rich Millennials” stuff flies at all. Talking about questions, let’s ask some of the tonnage the wealth propagandists don’t:
Is wealth distributed equally?
Are the majority of any age demographic on Earth wealthy?
Do all Millennials come from rich families?
Can they all afford the qualifications they need to become rich?
Can they afford the health they need to stay alive?
Where are they supposed to live, while being so theoretically affluent? Mars? Because things are getting a bit pricey on Earth, y’know. People are having to innovate to keep a roof over their heads. …Or couldn’t our China hutch pundits be bothered finding out?
Do people making under $50K even get on the radar for this seemingly endless guided tour of Narnia? (There are a lot of those people.)
Millennials are the largest age group in the US workforce. Therefore, they’re all incredibly prosperous and have to use snow shovels to get the money out of the way before they can drive to work, right?
Most people with more than one job are trying very hard to make ends come anywhere near each other, if not meet. According to one set of stats for global Millennials, 26% of them have 2 or more jobs. Wealthy, you say?
The “rich” American Boomers are becoming homeless at rates not seen since the Great Depression. How’s that stat doing in Fantasyland?
The way I see it, none of these stats can survive for long, even if they were believable. This vision of unrestrained generational prosperity is ridiculous at best. Costs are rising so fast and for so long that there is no reason to believe that Millennials or anyone else is safe from them.
Here’s a theory – Propaganda doesn’t pay bills.
_______________________________________________________________
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
