Posted on 06/01/2013 10:55:17 AM PDT by YankeeReb
They’re narcissistic. Apathetic. Pampered. And addicted to their four-inch screens.
If you believe the conventional wisdom about the millennial generation — those 16 to 34 years of age, by most calculations — you’ve got considerable reason to worry about the future of the U.S. economy. Millennials show far less interest in buying cars, homes and other big-ticket items than their parents did at the same age, which has generated an intense effort among companies that produce those things to crack the code of these crazy kids and figure out how to sell them stuff.
But the millennials may not be as mystifying as an army of sociologists makes them out to be. “Every generation eventually sheds their most extreme characteristics,” says Jason Dorsey of the Center for Generational Kinetics, a consulting firm in Austin, Texas. “What is different about millennials is delayed adulthood. They’re entering into many adult decisions later than ever before.” And the reason may be fairly straightforward: They don’t have much money. Not yet, anyway.
One of the biggest mysteries of millennials is why they seem to have little interest in cars, which have been an irresistible source of freedom and mobility for young people since the interstate highway system opened the whole country to Chevys and Mercurys in the 1950s. Yet millennials seem to scoff at the open road. The percentage of 16-to-24-year-olds with a driver’s license has dropped sharply since 1997, and is now below 70% for the first time since 1963. “Millennials are demonstrating significantly different lifestyle and transportation preferences than older generations,” declared a recent report by the U.S. Public Interest Group. Overall, it concluded, “the driving boom is over.”
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
I heard the same crap about the "Boomers" in the early seventies. We wouldn't be able to provide for our retirements because our parents owned all the stock and there wouldn't be any for us to buy. We wouldn't find jobs, because our parents wouldn't give them up.
Yada, yada, yada. It's always the same and no one thinks to blame government intervention in the economy as the root of the problem.
Last I checked Obama was a Boomer. I said the folks who passed Obamacare were the boomers.
Top five reasons the “millenials” aren’t interested in owning cars:
1. Car insurance premiums
2. Gas prices
3. Car prices
4. No more true “muscle cars”, or cars that home mechanics can work on unless they have years of technical training in computer diagnostics.
5. A greatly expanded - - and broke - - Democrat moocher base
congratulations! and I also like to thank the good Lord. :^)
For that generation, driving is not as necessary. More people live in urban cores or suburbs with mass transit, where a car isn’t necessary. They can take classes online or borrow a car. Owning their own car is less necessary than for prior generations.
My Generation Y boys are already married and off to a good start, too. One is 28 and just bought a townhouse for himself and his young bride. He said he finally feels like a man. I feel blessed all three finished college with no debt. Virginia schools are affordable. Thanks to the good Lord and Mr. HokieMom. Congratulations to you and your family!
forget antiques.
I've got a whole household of collectibles and antiques bought for my pleasure but also to give to the kids....but....they don't care anything about old stuff...IKEA is the way to go...or World Market or the nearest import store....
they like Indian food, LOVE thai food, and any other exotic foods that we did not grow up with...
to hell with that generation NEEDING to buy stuff....if they are happy with older cars, taking the bus, cooking different foods, more power to them...
hey...they don't buy traditional phone service and they don't buy a big cable package, if any...
Good for them....maybe with all their faults, their idea of eschewing materialism is the best thing that could happen to society...
I think the big mistake Boomers made was coddling and indulging their kids to a much greated extent than their parents did, and therby making them (for them most part) a bunch of whiny self centered wusses. But, that is a trend that has been in place for a long time. Look up Benjamin Spock. People naturally try to make it better for their kids than they had it. Their efforts may be wrong headed, but they try.
“People naturally try to make it better for their kids”
Name one thing they’ve done that’s actually helped their kids. We’ve had a shitty economy since the day we hit the workforce.
Boomers don’t care unless it benefits them.
As a Young Gen Yer myself, it never ceases to amaze me at how people love to talk about how I live my life.
Seriously, it’s rough out there. Sure a lot of us are spoiled brats but look at who raised them. A lot of them are Ex-Hippie loser Boomers who never grew up and parented properly.
We’re trying to make it by, a lot of us want to have families and not live in a debt ridden lifestyle, which means putting off houses and cars.
Not only that, but it’s really demoralizing to hear Boomers and Gen Xers talk about how rotten it is and say things like, “Man I don’t envy you guys, the country’s going to collapse. You missed out.”
If people gave us half a chance, I think we could rise up to the occasion.
When you say “we”, I assume you mean the Boomers kids. They would have started entering the workforce around 1985. I think there have been some very good years since then. There were some very bad years in the ‘70s that you never had to deal with.
“Man I don’t envy you guys, the country’s going to collapse. You missed out.”
I remember 20 years ago thinking about how lucky a friend of mine was who was retiring. I wondered if that would ever be possible for me. I suppose it is natural to look ahead into the unkown and be a little scared. All I can say is that I have made it to 57, and barring a health crisis I will probably be able to retire comfortably.
“We’re trying to make it by, a lot of us want to have families and not live in a debt ridden lifestyle, which means putting off houses and cars.”
Putting off buying those houses may well have been a great move. Your generation now has an unprecedented opportunity with the low fixed interest rate and the depressed housing. I wish we had 3.5% mortgages 30 years ago. Do some leg work and find a distressed property that will appeal to you in the long haul (preferably, IMHO, on a few acres). Buy it with a fixed rate mortgage and don’t worry about paying it off early. In the early 80’s the banks were offering people who had 5% mortgages from the 60’s big discounts to pay them off. Inflation is coming, probably sooner than later. You will not regret making this move.
You shouldn't give a damn about your fellow "Y's". Lot's of them truly suck. Be glad they're your competition, it clears the way for those of you who have your heads on straight.
My oldest finished college and is getting married to a go getter. the two of them have good jobs and will do well.
My next is out of country in missions and is trying to choose whether to make missions a career or not. She has two jobs waiting if not. Both in management. She is still 20.
My next just finished homeschool and a voc program and has been offered an entry level job in rigging with lots of opportunity.
The youngest is still in school. Self motivated kids with good middle class and upper middle class values are doing well and finding work and opportunities. Has it ever been otherwise?
They’re all living with mom and dad, living off school loans well into their late 20’s and early 30’s. Outright Communism is the only hope they have.
_____________________
Not really.
The older cars could be repaired. The newer ones have sensors and computers that break and then the car is junked.
I have had two perfectly fine cars that would not meet government standards that had to be junked because putting the money into them was fruitless.
We live in a planned obsolescence that his much worse than in the sixties and Vance Packard days.
there will be no more cheap cars. Regulation and computers required by the government will cause cars to have to be junked.
Ah... the good old "it's all someone else's fault" line. Nobody needs to "give you half a chance" because you have been given a lot already... easy school loans (use it to learn something that's actually USEFUL in the real world), all sorts of public assistance ranging from easy SBA loans to food/housing assistance, laws protecting the rights of gays and other "groups" in the workplace, easy credit, and so on.
Perhaps we've made things TOO easy for kids these days.. and that's the root of the problem.
They are being trained to do with less, just like people in the eighties were trained to expect to work 80 hours a week.
they follow orders just as well.
You’re right, that’s what I asked for. I’m a Freeper because I want all of the above.
I’m just sick of the generational bashing, as if Boomers and Gen Xers were perfect themselves. At least we didn’t blow up ROTC barracks. So save your indignation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.