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Nice, yeah but that is how it is everywhere not just NYC. Yeah and if you shack up with someone who does not have financial clarity or they have costly addictions and whatnot, it can really drag both partners down. And something as simple as a break up can totally shake the grounds of that dual income - quick.
But the way I see it: the economy is just about the same as it always was with the exception of the Baby Boomers. The Baby Boomers are the only wild card that upsets so many people because we lack anything else within reach to compare to. Plus they totally squandered everything. I think squandering wealth was not very much known until the Boomers came along.
Even further back in time, land ownership was reserved for royalty. That is where the term Land Lord is derived from because originally most everyone was in serious poverty and slavery except for the Lords, or the royalty, the very wealthy few. There may have been some merchants who were in the good graces of the royalty but they were probably just a few paychecks ahead of the slaves.
I’m sorry that you feel that way. As a baby boomer I think you’re wrong . When I got out out of the Army I roomed with another recently released veteran for 2 years in a basement apartment in the Bronx. Why don’t millenals live in the outer boroughs? Why do they expect to go to the front of the line immediately? We lived in a 5 Story walk up as children. What have you experienced? I was lucky to get an attached house in Queens as my first house. The kitchen had no cabinets. There was a 2X4 with nails to hold pots and pans. Each year we would use our tax refund to make an improvement to our house. I remember the night we closed on the house,we had a pizza a a six pack. You could not imagine the thrill of home ownership that we experienced.l don’ t know what you expect from life but don’t blame us baby boomers.
This is probably the thread that will make me leave this forum. SO MANY OUT OF TOUCH BABY BOOMERS. And when you say that we are struggling you have jerks like "Mr. Retired" (how lovely you can afford retirement, by the way, when my generation will be forced to work until we're over 70) saying "Oh, just pull yourself up from your bootstraps!! GO move to another state!" There are so many people who are NOT millennials saying they are on this thread. So many privileged people who were either recipients of a leg up from someone else but who refuse to admit it, or so many people who just happened to be born at the right place and right time.
And yes, we WILL blame you baby boomers. Your generation took, took, and took and does not give back. Your generation consistently votes against development of new housing ("Oh no! Not in MY backyard!"). Your generation killed the environment. Your generation got free college. YOUR generation could afford to live on minimum wage. YOUR generation has pensions. YOUR generation could walk into a job with any old college degree and get hired. YOUR generation didn't have to scramble and apply in the thousands for just one of maybe a dozen affordable apartments in a development. Your generation could afford to have dad work and mom stay home. YOUR generation wasn't saddled down with crushing student debt. Your generation didn't graduate during the worst recession since the Great Depression. MY generation has to work for your generation, even though you guys don't even know how to turn on a computer half the time.
Would you like me to go on?
"I was lucky to get an attached house in Queens as my first house."
So not only have you bought TWO houses (at least), your first house was in Queens. Try buying a house today in Queens with today's wages as a millennial. I am from Flushing for God's sakes, not a glamorous neighborhood by ANY stretch of the imagination, and the ****ty houses at the end of my block are all selling for over a million.
Do you get it now???
Get over yourself and take a look in the mirror at your privilege.
This is probably the thread that will make me leave this forum. SO MANY OUT OF TOUCH BABY BOOMERS. And when you say that we are struggling you have jerks like "Mr. Retired" (how lovely you can afford retirement, by the way, when my generation will be forced to work until we're over 70) saying "Oh, just pull yourself up from your bootstraps!! GO move to another state!" There are so many people who are NOT millennials saying they are on this thread. So many privileged people who were either recipients of a leg up from someone else but who refuse to admit it, or so many people who just happened to be born at the right place and right time.
And yes, we WILL blame you baby boomers. Your generation took, took, and took and does not give back. Your generation consistently votes against development of new housing ("Oh no! Not in MY backyard!"). Your generation killed the environment. Your generation got free college. YOUR generation could afford to live on minimum wage. YOUR generation has pensions. YOUR generation could walk into a job with any old college degree and get hired. YOUR generation didn't have to scramble and apply in the thousands for just one of maybe a dozen affordable apartments in a development. Your generation could afford to have dad work and mom stay home. YOUR generation wasn't saddled down with crushing student debt. Your generation didn't graduate during the worst recession since the Great Depression. MY generation has to work for your generation, even though you guys don't even know how to turn on a computer half the time.
Would you like me to go on?
"I was lucky to get an attached house in Queens as my first house."
So not only have you bought TWO houses (at least), your first house was in Queens. Try buying a house today in Queens with today's wages as a millennial. I am from Flushing for God's sakes, not a glamorous neighborhood by ANY stretch of the imagination, and the ****ty houses at the end of my block are all selling for over a million.
Do you get it now???
Get over yourself and take a look in the mirror at your privilege.
I agree with your sentiment overall but let's not act like "boomers" had it all easy. The older boomers (mid 40s to early 50s babies) had to worry about being drafted into a war in Vietnam and possibly dying over there. The 70s and 80s in NYC were rough and there was all sorts of social dysfunction that those who could not afford a better neighborhood had to deal with. That doesn't seem to be the case with this guy but I don't think it's right to generalize baby boomers (people born in an arbitrary time period, just like us millenials) as having had it easy.
By and large, baby boomers have been the most privileged generation the United States has ever seen. Of course every generation has its worries, but in the grand scheme, boomers have profited from policies and successes the likes of which no future generation will probably ever see. Those are just the facts, and facts are not biased.
Hell, if I were a boomer I'd think millennials are lazy and entitled too. But that would be because I had everything handed to me easily and I would underestimate how much grit and work it actually does take to eke out a living. Millennials are literally trying to survive, forget about purchasing homes or growing wealth.
By and large, baby boomers have been the most privileged generation the United States has ever seen. Of course every generation has its worries, but in the grand scheme, boomers have profited from policies and successes the likes of which no future generation will probably ever see. Those are just the facts, and facts are not biased.
Hell, if I were a boomer I'd think millennials are lazy and entitled too. But that would be because I had everything handed to me easily and I would underestimate how much grit and work it actually does take to eke out a living. Millennials are literally trying to survive, forget about purchasing homes or growing wealth.
New York City is way more expensive than most of the country. Living with your parents in your 30s seems to be more of a thing in expensive markets like the NYC and the Bay Area.
I know it's not feasible for everyone to move but my point is that home ownership is certainly not out of reach for millenials in general (especially when you don't have to compete with hordes of noveau riche Asian immigrants and yuppies).
... but in NYC you DO have to compete with rich Asians and yuppies.
And it's awful. It's bull**** that you can't buy a small starter home in the place you were born and raised. Of course nobody is ENTITLED to that, but when you have boomers say "Well, I bought a home in Queens for 50k!" or the like it sounds so tone deaf that it's actually shocking.
... but in NYC you DO have to compete with rich Asians and yuppies.
And it's awful. It's bull**** that you can't buy a small starter home in the place you were born and raised. Of course nobody is ENTITLED to that, but when you have boomers say "Well, I bought a home in Queens for 50k!" or the like it sounds so tone deaf that it's actually shocking.
Yeah I know it sucks but the country is only getting more and more populated, which means more demand for housing. At least in sought after urban areas. I'm not picky at all myself but the prices around here are getting ridiculous even for the most minimal kind of house in a mediocre (or even bad) neighborhood.
I agree with your sentiment overall but let's not act like "boomers" had it all easy. The older boomers (mid 40s to early 50s babies) had to worry about being drafted into a war in Vietnam and possibly dying over there. The 70s and 80s in NYC were rough and there was all sorts of social dysfunction that those who could not afford a better neighborhood had to deal with. That doesn't seem to be the case with this guy but I don't think it's right to generalize baby boomers (people born in an arbitrary time period, just like us millenials) as having had it easy.
The youngest Boomers are in their 50s. Other than that, I agree with your other points. No generation has had it easy. You were either born in the right place at the right time, or to the right family--or you weren't.
Housing prices have been so inconsistant with wages that I've given up the notion of buying. If and only if I have a kid will I consider the suburbs. I could afford to buy a nice house in Indiana, but I don't want to live in Indiana. I want to live in NYC and I can afford to rent here whilst maxing my IRA and 401k. The American Dream is just too damned expensive or contains too much social and mental sacrifice these days. I can only hope the US enacts policies similar to Canada that disuade foreign buying, but we care more about selling to the highest bidder.
It's all too frustrating for me when I can live in a nice rental apartment in neighborhoods that I actually want to live in. I don't see this changing anytime soon now that I have a gf whom is more than happy to split the rent. So long as I can stay rent stabalized, I'll probably never buy. I came to this conclusion at 23 and still think the same way at 27.
The youngest Boomers are in their 50s. Other than that, I agree with your other points. No generation has had it easy. You were either born in the right place at the right time, or to the right family--or you weren't.
No I meant "born in the mid 1940s to early 1950s" in regard to the earliest boomers. But I agree, that's a great way to sum it.
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