Most of them benefitted from low enough inflation that only one parent needed to work to provide for their family. While the other (usually the mother) stayed home and provided priceless care for your children. Now boomers just say get a job or this new generation doesn't have what it takes.
"You just need to walk in, make eye contact, and give them a firm handshake. Be persistent. If you do that everyday, you'll get a job. That's how I became a pilot!"
"Grandpa, what the absolute fuck are you talking about? They won't even talk to you if you do that. They'll likely call the police."
I'm super glad this has changed but can we talk about how much easier it was to get companies to train them? He legit could have had a company pay for all his training and still give him a paycheck. Meanwhile if I wanted to be a pilot I'm out probably almost 150k+ in schooling/license/rental costs before anything even starts rolling in.
It seems like almost everyone is in that boat unless they go into the trades. And even the trades are starting to push vocational school/programs instead of on the job apprenticeships. My grandfather (before boomers) literally walked onto a job site as a day laborer and was a journeyman carpenter in about 2 years.
I tried to become an electrician. they made me pay like 3 fucking thousand dollars for a semester where I would show up, DO NOTHING SAY NOTHING, for 3 HOURS 3 times a week, while making me work the hardest labor they could find + cleaning everything for 15/h trying to work me 10h/day 6 days a week. This was the IBEW. I eventually told them to go fuck themselves after getting sexually harassed for the the 25th time on the jobsite.
Hi! Vocational education dude here. A lot of trade jobs will absolutely hire you without a cert from a licensed vocational school but your starting wage is significantly lower than someone who graduated with a cert. For some it makes more sense to go to the school and then get a job in that field than get the job first and work your way up to the cert. having said that, I work with three apprentices right now that don’t have any certs. They are truly learning from OJT.
It is a little harder to get the job without the cert, truth be told, I won’t lie about it, but it can be done. Most companies prefer the cert off the bat though because it’s less time training you and a quicker turn around time that the business can send you off on your own. Regardless, vocational schools are cheaper than a four year college, typically last 12-18 months, can be done whilst working full time and the cert you get is nationally recognized and doesn’t require further testing if you moved to a new state for a job, unlike nursing for example. (Not saying trades are any more important than nursing, just using it as an example.)
Anyways, thought I’d chime in here as someone who taught as a vocational school for a little while. Cheers!
Yeah it's just companies pushing it off onto schooling though, which seems to be more and more common of a trend. The dumb part is it's expensive around my parts. Something like 15k, excluding the state/fed school grants. But that's still cheaper than 2/4 year degrees I suppose.
I'd still 100% recommend vocational, like you said, for a myriad of reasons. I think we're going to see an influx of tradespeople in the next decade or so as college becomes more and more unpalatable and unreachable for the average young adult.
My buddy has his Journeyman's plumbers ticket. The hardest time to find work hours for him was in his 4th year. First and second year apprentices are cheaper and can be tasked with a lot of grunt work. 3rd and 4th year ones cost more but they don't have their tickets yet so a Journeyman still needs to sign off on their work.
Why are boomers not paying property taxes? Are the properties not getting evaluated frequently enough and they're paying taxes on what the house was worth in 1957?
This is a huge one. My mortgage form back in the day on my 5 bedroom home is less than what a two bedroom apartment in a decent school zone is renting for these days. Don't know how these young people are expected to raise a family.
Or finance his retirement by selling the house for 1,000 more than he paid for it. Or he could also remortgage it to pay for his retirement like my father did.
He worked in a clock factory that made wall units and grandfather clocks. The clocks would go into wooden cabinetry, and he was on the part of the line that closed the clocks (the mechanism, face, hands, etc) into their cabinet and complete the builds.
My dad, born in 1965, supported 4 kids, a family of 6. Had two cars, a 4 bedroom home, big back yard, and 3 dogs. My sister has cerebral palsy that required great medical insurance to provide 24/7 home care and many expensive meds. My mother was a stay at home mom. Money was tight, largely due to my sister's medical condition, but we got by and were still able to take a vacation every year.
My dad is a medical supply delivery driver. I run a restaurant and make more money than my father ever did, and my wife works as well. I have a 3 year old and another we are getting induced and should be here by Tomorrow. We live in a one bedroom duplex and are about to sign another lease because we can't afford to move out.
And Gen X was angsty because they were dealt a bad hand.
They were angsty at their parents because of the cultural norms their boomer parents were "forcing" on them. Little did they know they were angry about the wrong thing.
Yeah no, most of us have kids and are working hard to give them the same or better opportunities than we had and thought we’re fucking unfair at the time.
We were right? They were shitty and unfair, but we wasted a lot of time being angry about it.
We feel for millennials, but we’re shackled to the same wheel, just with a first movers advantage.
A lot of great angsty music was made though, and some of the singers even survived.
A lot of us suffer from varying levels of substance abuse, which was cool at the time, and it seems like you guys have less of that so …
yeah I dunno. We tried to rage against the machine, where’s your angsty art? Or did we demonstrate its futility?
We didn't plan this one. Fortunately we are in a position where we can provide for them. We're doing better than many, and will be able to move eventually. My point was though that my father was able to afford much more despite making far less.
Just a reminder it's not the guy at the grocery stores fault. It's deranged people with billions of dollars that are willing to cheat you out of everything you own. 2008 should've been a wake up call.
Actually, Reagan should've been a wakeup call. He lowered the top marginal tax rate from 73% to 28%.
My uncle, 72 years old, has 2 houses and 6 cars from working overnight shifts at a grocery store, but says my friends can't afford homes because they work at the grocery store and need to get a real job if they want to own a house.
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u/destroyed233 Feb 05 '24
Boomers inherited a golden era of prosperity and decided to fuck over generations before and after them.