american dream?
Well let's see.
-There's no such thing as a career anymore because so many companies treat employees as cost centers instead of assets so people get fed up and the ONLY option they have is to leave their company for a meager raise.
-Student loans have reached the point where it's now obvious that they will be a major player in the next recession. If they haven't yet, student loans have eliminated any and all benefit to actually going to college in the first place. Assuming you can actually find a decent job where you make more than a high school graduate, every last dollar of that increase will go back to the loan companies for the next 10/20 years leaving you in the same damn place.
-Housing and rent is at a level that patently absurd. I look at prices and rents around my city and I don't know how people do it other than simply being lucky enough to have purchased their home over 10 years ago.
-Unions have been almost entirely eviscerated and the mere mention of a "Pension" to a millennial is met with stares of confusion because they will never know what it's like to have one of those.
-Medical care is no longer paid for by most employers and even when it's partially paid, it's still far more expensive than it ever was 10/20/30 years ago. Not to mention that if anything serious does go wrong that insurance will only cover a fraction of what it once did and you're on the hook for far more. Also, need a vacation or you get sick...too bad because we seem to be going for the same business culture model that the Japanese are.
-Young people can't buy houses, they can't buy cars, and many need roommates or are forced to live with their parents. If they do have the finances to get married and live as a family, they're lucky if they can afford kids before 30. Then the nuclear family has fallen apart because divorce rates are at 50% or more, which creates more financial setbacks.
Peachy, isn't it?
No...it's like The Comedian said in "Watchmen" (which was set in the 80's.)
"What happened to the American Dream..? It came true! You're looking at it."
For young people, the American Dream has come and gone. It's dead. The only way forward is to stop looking back and thinking that any semblance of the old ways and solutions are possible. They're not. We have to, hopefully, use the incredible technology at our fingertips to come up to solutions to solve these problems. Also, it's sad to say but very few of those solutions are going to come from the older generations and politicians. The world is just changing to quickly and they already got theirs. Best case scenario is they're not out to fuck you any WORSE than you already have been.
If you own a business, put some faith in young people that are willing to work. Spend time with them. Mentor them. Viciously hit them over the head with the reality of personal responsibility if necessary. Give them raises. Don't just talk about how to treat customers with respect and high levels of service....provide that high level of service and respect to your employees and they'll take care of your customers by default. Be loyal to them, earn their loyalty, and promote from within.
The only way out of this is to stop thinking that change is going to come from anyone but ourselves and our ability to work with each other in recognizing that we're either all going to move forward together or we'll all be fucked together.
NonViolentWar - reddit
