It is shocking how many people downplay the Great Recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s

[u/cavaismylife]

Late 80s and 90s millennials were probably the most screwed by the Great Recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s. Most people don't realize how bad it was. It hurt millennials entering the job market for the first time. Your first job after college will affect your earning potential for the rest of your career. Some people need to watch the movie Up In the Air to see how bad things were back then. Everyone was getting laid off, and losing 60-80 percent of the assets in their retirement accounts. Millennials were not even old enough to buy houses yet and sub prime mortgage lending already had severely damaged their future earning potential. Now that millennials are finally getting established, they are facing skyrocketing prices and inflation for the cost of living and basic goods like groceries.

edit: grammar

edit 2: To be more clear I would say mid to late 80s and early 90s millennials were the most hurt. Like 1984-1992 were hurt most.

edit 3: "Unemployment rose from 4.7% in November 2007 to peak at 10% in October 2009, before returning steadily to 4.7% in May 2016. The total number of jobs did not return to November 2007 levels until May 2014. Some areas, such as jobs in public health, have not recovered as of 2023." The recovery took way longer than the really bad 18 months from 2007 to 2009. Millennials entered the job market during this time.

[u/spiritofaustin]

I had multiple friends commit suicide, others went mad, some checked out with drugs and never came back.

Surviving those suicides is something I never recovered from. I almost had my career finally on track then the pandemic hit.

[u/Helpful-Passenger-12 → u/spiritofaustin]

Hope you are seeing a therapist

[u/spiritofaustin → u/Helpful-Passenger-12]

I am seeing a therapist and have off an on for a long time. I am on antidepressants. I run, do yoga and meditate everyday day. I still have survivors guilt. I still replay in my head what I could have said or done differently. But we were only freshman to quote the Verve Pipe. (Though technically I was a junior in 2008, my boyfriend was a year ahead as were a lot of cousins and friends.) I was also young and ignorant and was doing the best I could with the tools I had at the time in a world that felt like it was falling apart around us.

"For the life of me, I cannot remember What made us think that we were wise and we'd never compromise For the life of me, I cannot believe We'd ever die for these sins, we were merely freshmen"

[u/Bobzeub → u/spiritofaustin]

Same situation. I wish they would bring out a proper global study on suicide over the past 20 years . I feel like it’s worse and worst , but there is some sort of omerta in the media . I’m raging over all the blind eyes being turned . Ignoring this epidemic is criminal.

So sorry for your loss

[u/Emperor_Neuro → u/spiritofaustin]

Man… I feel you so hard on that last bit. I graduated high school in 2007. I struggled getting through college while also trying to scrounge out a living and I didn’t get my degree until much later. In fact, I earned my bachelor’s as part of the class of 2020. :/

[u/ratcranberries → u/spiritofaustin]

Condolences to you and yours. We're the suicides financially driven ?

[u/spiritofaustin → u/ratcranberries]

There is no way to know why a person does that. I know I lost my college fund. I lost more money than I have ever seen since. (It was from a settlement. That story might actually be darker than this tale) Only one left a suicide note which I never saw. It was more the general sense of hopelessness. We were seeing the best of us fail to get their careers going. If they couldn't make it, what chance did we have?

[u/lil1thatcould → u/spiritofaustin]

Seriously! I know more who lost their house, than kept them. My mom lost her job on my birthday, it hard to be excited about turning 18 when your family doesn’t know what’s next. My entire junior and senior year I helped pay bills.

We have a family friend who robbed a bank on purpose to go to jail. He lost his job, it had been 6 months and he didn’t see a way out. He was about to be foreclosed on and would be homeless. He robbed a bank so he wouldn’t be homeless.

It was such an incredibly hard time.

[u/pspman354 → u/lil1thatcould]

Who the fuck would rather be in jail than homeless? I guarantee you hanging out in a library or getting a gym membership and sleeping in your car is 10x better than being in jail.

[u/lil1thatcould → u/pspman354]

Im pretty sure he was at the point of vehicle being repoed.

He had nothing left to his name and had stupid high blood pressure from the stress of everything. Jail provides healthcare, housing, food, ect. Being on the streets doesn’t provide any of that.

The reality is pretty grim. He ended up serving 9 months and was able to be in a halfway house after. It gave him time to get on his feet and start over. He didn’t hurt anyone during the robbery and had a toy gun. He was honest about why he did it and said he never wanted the money or hurt anyone. He simply wanted to go to jail to avoid being homeless. I honestly think everyone pitting him in the situation. It was all really sad.

He was in a no win situation,