Are Gen Z and Millennials really lazy ?
The answer might just surprise you.
There is no shortage for arguments in debating either side of this question. In this article however, I hope to answer this question, and debunk the “lazy generation” theory all together. There are actually dozens of factors that have changed since the “Greatest Generation” stormed the beaches of Normandy. It is also my belief that the previous generations had a much different, and debatably far better balance to their incentive systems. If this is the case, what is the next step for them on a path to fixing it ?
Let's start with some much needed context. The term “Gen X” describes the people born between the years of 1965 - 1980. The generation following them are known as the “Millennial Generation” or “Millennials” born between 1981 - 1996. The last main generation we will address is “Gen Z” who were born between 1997 - 2012.
These 3 generations have seen a such a drastic change in the balance of wages earned and cost of living that they are now furious about it and openly complaining. To the older generations it looks like they are just brats for a few reasons. It seems to have happened gradually enough, that the older generations who have retired already, never even noticed it. They look at the actions of the younger generations as lazy and uninspired, while missing huge portions of context. The reality of the matter is that Gen X may have actually been the last group to see a wage balance that was fair enough that only 1 parent, or partner could work full time, and pay all of the monthly bills. That wage balance is long dead, and gone. Since then Gen Z that have come out of school, and tried to move out of “Mom and Dads” house, have felt this imbalance more than any of the past 4 generations. The sad fact is that they could now work 2 full time jobs, and still not be able to afford to split the rent of a 2 bedroom apartment, and cover the utilities, and a car payment. The “Take home” pay from a full time, minimum wage job now is roughly $350 per week after taxes. That's a rough total of $1,400 per month. Given the fact that the average rent for a moderate 2 bedroom apartment in Florida is $2,100 that would make their half of the rent $1,050, leaving them $350 for Electric, Water, Car, Insurance, Fuel, Food and any toiletries or other needs. The boomers, and some of Gen X could still pay the whole rent with 1 wage. So as you have seen, a full time job, and a person now, can't even split a small apartment. Yes, they are angry about it, and complaining, just as they should be.
How are Millennials, and Gen Z supposed to feel good about working hard, and paying their bills, when there is no longer any ability to reward themselves afterward. The Boomers had a great balance, they still had the ability to keep the “Nuclear Family” template, where one parent / partner worked, and one was a homemaker, and they could still afford 2.5 kids, and a dog. They could usually pay the whole months rent with 1 weekly paycheck, and then had their other 3 weeks of pay to balance the other monthly bills.
It really is like so many other things in modern society, that remind me of the analogy of the Frog in the slowly boiling pot of water. This is simply because the change was so gradual, that by the time anyone realized there was a problem, it had already progressed to a tragic point. What actually caused such a vast “Wage / Cost of living” imbalance? When we begin to find the many answers to that question, I think that we can build a set of solutions to start repairing it. So let's attempt to uncover the seeds of truth in this massive farm of bullshit.
To do this we will first look at the main aspect of the issue, then we will work our way out to some of the smaller variables, and that is the value of the dollar itself. We have almost all heard the stories from our parents, or grand parents, about how “In their day, they could go to the corner market with a single dime, and that 10¢ would buy them a soda and a candy bar.” Those generations are explaining the exact issue at hand. One word that has been the “root” of this problem. Inflation* … The very value of the currency is so depleted, and diluted, that it now takes more than 10×’s the amount of $’s to buy the same “soda and candy bar” but people are only making about 2×’s the wage the boomers were back then. Property values*, and costs of rent are another huge factor, these have been driven up artificially by investment firms, and other large corporations who are buying all of the empty homes, that in any areas with some type of current growth or development. This is driving the market in an upward direction. This is done many times by banks, and investors, that then lose money by holding them until they fall into disrepair, or because of the simple fact they are so expensive to rent out or sell that average people can no longer afford them. This is when the government steps in, and using our tax money, subsidizes them. In turn the Tax Payers money is buying Black rock, Citadel, and State Street this property, then taxpayers are having to pay for it again later by being charged an extortionate amount to rent it themselves. This is #Tax money being abused simply for personal profit. There is no way, this can be justified, to say that it was “in the best interest of the tax payers”. It was a violation of the “Oath of office” for politicians* to allow it, and criminal for the companies to do it. Then there are the basic Banking bailouts, these mistakes were also paid for with #taxpayer funds. Banks that made reckless investment choices, or had bad loan balances, got the government to use taxpayer funds to cover the losses, again this winds up costing the taxpayers more, and the banks get to keep all of the defaulted property on top of it.
The craziest part is all of the #gaslighting that is happening in this scenario. The victims are being blamed for the crimes committed against them. Through the use of Network News, and Social media, they are being convinced that Capitalism* is the cause of most of it, and this lie has even been perpetuated by several sitting public servants. These are the very people who profited off of the cycle that has grown into the bloated, behemoth of a lobbying system, and from the profit motivated contributions to their super pacs in turn for political favors allowing it all to happen. The #UniParty is responsible, and it was super easy to do, given that the people were convinced that they didn't exist, and they were either Democrats, or Republicans fighting for their beliefs. Then they convinced most of their voters, that the problems that they as politicians caused, were actually being created by the opposing party, and it's average voters. The Final “Big Lie” that we will discuss, is the one that “Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, and Norway are so much better than America because of their social programs”, yeah no shit, they aren't sending trillions of their taxpayers dollars to other countries, so their politicians can get a cut of it. You know the ones I'm talking about, those (10% for the “big guy”) type of situations, just like Burisma*, and Rosemont Seneca* where US money is sent to a foreign entity, with no discernable reason as to why, other than a politicians kid is on the board of directors, or advisors there. The lie isn't that those countries are better. The lie is that America couldn’t already have that also, when in reality, if we had kept our Tax money to be used inside the country, for the betterment of the taxpayers… we actually could have that, and probably an even better version than Germany, or Norway. These generations have been Extorted for their labor, brain washed, stolen from, and been lied to.
So is the term lazy appropriate here ? Maybe in the case of a just a few Millennials and small portion of Gen Z, but as a whole generation the answer is absolutely not. They are working twice as hard, and only getting half as much, because of decisions made by politicians that were supposed to be looking out for their best interest. This is happening while half of them, are watching the other half be propagandized into believing that the very system that can save them is the cause of their problems, and the country they live in is systemically rotten.
They DO have a very valid reason to be pissed off and screaming about it, and So Do You !
This is J. Ash Odinsson from the one and only #TribeOfTheGreyhornPagans signing off. You folks have a wonderful day, and always remember, You have to start. #LoveYourNeighbor to #SaveTheWorld
Links and Sources -
Oath Of Office* : https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/senate-and-constitution/oath-of-office.htm#:~:text=I%20do%20solemnly%20swear%20(or,that%20I%20will%20well%20and
ArtII.S1.C8.1 Oath of Office for the Presidency - Constitution Annotated https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S1-C8-1/ALDE_00001126/
Gen X - Gen Y (Millennials) Gen Z : Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins - Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/
Property Value* : Definition of Property Value - Home Guides https://homeguides.sfgate.com/definition-property-value-6890.html
Affordability the casualty amid ever-climbing global property prices https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/affordability-casualty-amid-ever-climbing-global-property-prices-2021-12-16/
Capitalism* : https://www.britannica.com/topic/capitalism
Inflation* : Inflation: Prices on the Rise - International Monetary Fund https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/Series/Back-to-Basics/Inflation
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL
Black Rock* : BlackRock: Investment Management & Financial Services https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual
BlackRock says we're all doomed. It's being optimistic | openDemocracy https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/blackrock-asset-management-economy-prediction-inflation-recession/
Citadel* : Citadel - Identifying the Highest and Best Uses of Capital https://www.citadel.com/
Citadel Investment Group - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/topic/company/citadel-investment-group
State Street* : State Street https://www.statestreet.com/us/en/asset-manager
State Street tumbles as it loses key deposits - Yahoo Finance https://finance.yahoo.com/news/state-street-tumbles-as-it-loses-key-deposits-122940909.html
Burisma* :
Hunter Biden, Burisma, and Corruption: The Impact on U.S. Government Policy ... https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/HSGAC%20-%20Finance%20Joint%20Report%202020.09.23.pdf
Sources: Dem lobbying firm under federal investigation for Burisma work - POLITICO https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/03/blue-star-burisma-justice-department-investigation-491681
Rosemont Seneca* : Rosemont Seneca Partners LLC - Company Profile and News https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/0225355Z:US
Wikipedia deletes entry for Hunter Biden firm Rosemont Seneca Partners https://nypost.com/2022/04/23/wikipedia-deletes-entry-for-hunter-biden-firm-rosemont-seneca-partners/amp/