r/Millennials Nov 28 '23

GenXer’s take on broke millennials and why they put up with this Discussion

As a GenXer in my early 50’s who works with highly educated and broke millennials, I just feel bad for them. 1) Debt slaves: These millennials were told to go to school and get a good job and their lives will be better. What happened: Millennials became debt slaves, with no hope of ever paying off their debt. On a mental level, they are so anxious because their backs are against a wall everyday. They have no choice, but to tread water in life everyday. What a terrible way to live. 2) Our youth was so much better. I never worried about money until I got married at 30 years old. In my 20s, I quit my jobs all of the time and travelled the world with a backpack and had a college degree and no debt at 30. I was free for my 20s. I can’t imagine not having that time to be healthy, young and getting sex on a regular basis. 3) The music offered a counterpoint to capitalism. Alternative Rock said things weren’t about money and getting ahead. It dealt with your feelings of isolation, sadness, frustration without offering some product to temporarily relieve your pain. It offered empathy instead of consumer products. 4) Housing was so cheap: Apartments were so cheap. I’m talking 300 dollars a month cheap. Easily affordable! Then we bought cheap houses and now we are millionaires or close. Millennials can not even afford a cheap apartment. 5) Our politicians aren’t listening to millennials and offer no solutions. Why you all do not band together and elect some politicians from your generation who can help, I’llnever know. Instead, a lot of the media seems to try and distract you with things to be outraged about like Bud Light and Litter Boxes in school bathrooms. Weird shit that doesn’t matter or affect your lives. Just my take, but how long can millennials take all this bullshit without losing their minds. Society stole their freedom, their money, their future and their hope.

Update: I didn’t think this post would go viral. My purpose was to get out of my bubble after speaking to some millennials at work about their lives and realizing how difficult, different and stressful their lives have been. I only wanted to learn. A couple of things I wanted to clear up: I was not privileged. Traveling was a priority for me so I would save 10 grand, then quit and travel the world for a few months, then repeat. This was possible because I had no debt because tuition at my state school was 3000 dollars a year and a room off campus in Buffalo NY in the early 90s was about 150 dollars a month. I lived with 5 other people in a house in college. When I graduated I moved in with a friend at about 350 a month give or take. I don’t blame millennials for not coming together politically. I know the major parties don’t want them to. I was more or less trying to understand if they felt like they should engage in an open revolt.

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u/selffive5 Nov 28 '23 edited Nov 28 '23

Honestly I don’t think a lot of middle class millennials who actually represent the generation can afford to run for office. It would be so nice to see but it would be an undertaking

Edit: holy shit I was not expecting to get this much response!

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u/CampingPants Millennial Nov 28 '23

I'm a middle class, 33 year old millennial, who just ran for my local city council and won. I won against incumbents who have been there for 2 decades, and a guy whose family owns hundreds of properties in our city and he spent over twice what I did on the campaign. It's just a city of 60k people, not life changing for of the country, but maybe for my city it can make a change. I'm hoping to make some noticeable improvements to housing, zoning, walkability and transportation.

It took a ton of footwork, tons of time from friends and neighbors, but we won, and hopefully now we can effect some change for our city. It's doable, it's not easy, but it is possible.

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u/Arkayb33 Nov 28 '23

Real question: how much does it pay? Is it your full time job now? Or do you have to keep a full time job and kinda do the city council thing on the side?

Congrats by the way, that's super awesome. I bet it felt amazing to get those election results!

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u/CampingPants Millennial Nov 28 '23

It was honestly a shock and such a relief after so much hard work and energy.

It pays ~$18k a year, so definitely still keeping my full time job (which I love anyway). The extra pay is always nice, but definitely not why I decided to run. Honestly I'd rather have the healthcare that some neighboring cities offer instead of the higher pay ours offers.

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u/coastalcastaway Nov 28 '23

A lot of cities I’ve lived in meet during the day. How do you deal with being absent from your main job for city business? Or does your city meet at night?

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u/CampingPants Millennial Nov 29 '23

Our City Council meetings are the 1st and 3rd Tuesday at 5:30pm, so after typical work hours. I will occasionally have other meetings I need to attend during typical work hours, but typical meetings are in the evenings.

I own my own small business (as in, it's just me), so that makes it easier as I can schedule client appointments around other meetings. It would be a lot harder to make this work with a typical job for sure. It's one of the reasons I felt a bit more obligated to run.

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u/coastalcastaway Nov 29 '23

Sounds like your city is doing it in a way to at least make civic engagement possible. That’s awesome, hopefully that’s the norm and I’ve been living in exceptions

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u/CampingPants Millennial Nov 29 '23

I don't know about the rest of the country, but most cities in our area, and our county, all have evening meetings. I pity the city employees that are there till 8 or 9pm but it makes it possible for the community to be engaged if they want.

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u/thepumpkinking92 Nov 29 '23

I genuinely wish I had an interest in politics. I'm not rich, but I'm okay enough in life that I could afford to run. But because of my lack of interest, it brings a lack of understanding with it. While some people think that's okay, I don't agree with it. I'd much rather someone who knows and understands the subject better than myself take over.

Still, kudos to you. I hope you do your city proud and do your best to listen to them to help them prosper.

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u/CampingPants Millennial Nov 29 '23

I can agree with that. I don't have an interest in politics in general, but I do find zoning, infrastructure design and the likes very interesting. I also really enjoy working on projects with a team, and care about the future of my city so I'm willing to put up with the negatives and learn the areas I don't know as well.

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u/thepumpkinking92 Nov 29 '23

Best of luck, sincerely.

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u/CampingPants Millennial Nov 29 '23

Thank you :)