Studied in every dimension, including our sexual habits,
arrested development, and our place among other generations. Born in 1983, I am
a Millennial. And I can tell you a think or two about my generation.
My generation is in a very weird place. Some of us were
growing up in some of the best economic times, and some of us were born into
the worst recession since The Great Depression. The divide in my generation is
loud, large, and has created two generations, where most only recognize one.
The Millennial Generation is not one generation. It is two.
And the Millennials aren’t just a generation; they are an economic and social
class. There’s a contradiction there, but it is for a very good reason.
The way we define generations is kind of stupid, which is
okay – most of the things we think are stupid, yet useful in some ways. The way
we think about Millennials and generations is a remnant of prior thought
processes, which allows for the grouping of people by some common thread. In
this case, the date range in which we are born.
The problem with Millennials is more complicated than most
people think. The generation is not as homogenous as our idiot academics have
framed the discourse about Millennials. I am one of those idiot academics, and
perhaps guilty, just by talking about these kids in this way.
But back to the point: The Millennial Generation is a single
generation that has two sub-generations within it and the generation actually
has its own social and class structure, in part like every other generation,
with some unique characteristics.
As I get to know more and more people from my generation, I
have come to realize that the oddities and extremes are those who are trying to
achieve or are achieving “independence.” Independence used to be a thing; a
goal; and a way to identify whether one was successful. It was also not really
an option – graduate from high school, get a job or go to college, and wean
yourself off the parental cash teat suddenly and by the age of 21.
Back in the day, before the day of the Millennial, this
thing called independence was achievable. It wasn’t something that could only
happen by 35 or 40, and college was something reserved for only the top
students with the most richest parents. And of course there’s myth involved
here. Prior generations weren’t perfect, either. So many screw ups have built
us up to this point.
Millennials are the generation of parental support. Members
of my generation live the lives of the rich and famous on wages that are too
small to pay living costs today; drive nicer cars than my parents do; and eat
better food at nicer restaurants than I experienced until I was making over
$50,000 per year in a professional job.
My generation is the generation of child support – and I don’t
just mean the money that daddy pays to mommy after the divorce… I mean the
money that mommy and daddy pay little Joey to pay his or her bills and have
food on their plate.
And I hate ripping on my generation. But my generation has a
class problem that has nothing to do with disparities in education and personal
income. My generation has a class problem that stems from the parents of the
Millennial Generation.
The class problem in the Millennial Generation is that there
are kids who are supported by their parents, indefinitely, and there are kids
who are trying to achieve independence, either by force or by choice. Though, let’s
be real; Rarely by choice. Who would ever try for independence by choice? It’s
miserable.
The kids around me are largely parentally funded. Almost
every day, I learn of someone new who is making $16 per hour, living in a
haughty place, like Denver or San Diego, and is still living the rock ‘n roll
lifestyle.
The problem isn’t that Millennials are living well – it’s
that they’re living in their parents’ tax bracket, not their own. $16 per hour
isn’t enough to afford a $1,100/month apartment, a newer car, insurance, cell
phone, and the party life. Just the list above leaves the 40 hour per week
bloke with negatives in their account register.
So, what the fuck is going on? Why is the Millennial
Generation such a bunch of screw ups? Why are some of us living in RV’s and
looking at living in their truck, while others are living in downtown Denver
and eating sushi on half the wage?
The reason is that the prior generations have propped my
generation with such rickety scaffolding that all we are is a façade of success
and economic health. My generation will see more bubbles in short order, and it
will come as these perma-child-support kids start to have to achieve
independence.
As their rent bills start to become their own responsibility
and there is no longer a parental care check that buys the sushi and martini’s,
my generation will cause yet another economic collapse. My Millennial
Generation is an intensely poor class, as far as wages go, yet an extremely
rich class as far as quality of life goes.
Quality of life costs money – a lot of money. And my
generation isn’t making it. Many of my engineer friends are doing well – they have
good pay that most often pays more than the average household income for the
USA. Yet, even some of them struggle with money. Considering that many of them
are making over $25/hour, the new minimum wage for independent living appears
to rest around $20 per hour for just about anywhere in my area.
The problem with The Millennial Generation isn’t what many
of the professional academics appear to think is wrong. The problem is the
parents of the Millennial Generation. The parents have created a class divide
within the generation that will be very difficult to reconcile as time goes on.
New cars, sushi dinners, college tuition bills that total up to the sixth
figure, and an indefinite pool of backup cash has shaped my generation.
For those of us who are trying to achieve independence, and
particularly those who are doing it; The vision isn’t pretty. Even $25 or $30
an hour is no longer enough to live the rock star lifestyle. After taxes, rent,
food, gas, insurance, utilities, and such, even $30 per hour quickly goes away.
And it goes away because of the relative value of that amount on the market.
Relative value is what this economic problem is all about. Those
who have money provided have bumped up the value of everything else. These
supported individuals can buy without having the individual economic value to
buy on their own. In other words, one Millennial has the buying power of
potentially two professionally successful parents, without any of that success
on their own.
Whether this is a problem or not is up to the beholder. Is
it a problem when a 28 year old is making $16 per hour and cannot actually
afford to live anywhere but the most squalid places, yet is living like that of
someone making $30+/hour? If not, cool – seems like a utopia for such
individuals. For me, that looks like a $14/hour deficit. Is it you or your
parents in this income tax bracket, as Cake says.
I think the Millennial Generation is misunderstood. I think
we’re better in some ways than we get credit for and far worse in others. I
look at my generation and realize that I’m looking at an awful lot of people
who are actually bordering on homelessness, but are propped up by their
parents. It must be nice to have the whole world melting down around you, yet
be insulated from the bare economic forces. It would just be nice to see more
humble attitudes get sold along with those molten-lava-resistant kicks mommy
and daddy bought you.
I’m going to continue being independent, but I’m going to
continue to do it off grid and off market. Mark my hashtag.
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