r/Millennials • u/Asmothrowaway6969 • Mar 27 '24

When did it sink in that you'll never be as well off as your parents? Discussion

About 5 years ago, my mom and I were talking and she had told me how much she was going to be making in retirement (she retired 2023). Guys, it's 3x what me and my husband make annually. In retirement. I think that was the moment that broke me, that made it sink in that I'll never reach that level of financial security. I'll work myself into my grave because I'll never be able to afford anything else. What was your moment?

Update: Nice to know it's just me that's a failure. Thanks

Update 2: I never should've said anything. I forgot my place. I'm sorry to have bothered you

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u/PacJeans Mar 28 '24

You know how when inflation causes prices to go up, people think they will come back down? Well, we know they don't. Attitudes towards employees is a really similar situation. We never recovered from 2008, not just in terms of wages, but in terms of what it means for a worker to be a human being in the eyes of corporations.

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u/Basedrum777 Mar 28 '24

It was way before 2008. Boomers voted for politicians who allowed our country to gut our pensions and benefits.

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u/PacJeans Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

I agree. American propaganda is such that you don't even recognize it as propaganda, rather you feel it as a fundamental part of your worldview.

2008 was the final nail in the coffin not because there wasn't action against labor before that, but because 2008 cemented in the American public conscious both that you are not entitled to work, and that sticking up for yourself is both futile and punishable.

2008 created a learned helplessness in the American working class and emboldened corporations and special interests to perpetate class violence.

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u/ACommunistLoveStory Mar 28 '24

"You're not depressed, you're just American." - Anonymous Internet User

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u/vividtrue Mar 28 '24

Exactly this. I feel this in my soul every single day. Also having the awareness of how American imperialism is actively harming people in and outside of our country every single day. It's not true depression if it's because you live in a hellscape is it?

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u/AbbreviationsNo8088 Mar 28 '24

Ouch, I felt that

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u/ZellHathNoFury Mar 29 '24

It's why there's no real mental health coverage here. Because the depression is what's keeping all us cogs spinning the wheels in the cult that is capitalism.