Is ‘We’re hella poor’ the inverse of ‘I walked uphill, both ways, in bread bag shoes’?
Maybe there’s something to that old-time religion ‘death and life are in the power of the tongue stuff after all. Because I swear, if I have to read one more accredited, empirical study about how yes, everyone who grew up with frosted tips and those weird, tiny sunglasses really is as poor as they say, I’ll be hospitalized with Terminal Sigh Syndrome.
Seems like starting a preemptive GoFundMe might be a good idea because the stories are going nowhere faster than any given water-treading public school teacher. Data from the U.S. Government indicates the presumed fate: that wealth is shrinking faster for the Millennial generation than any other in the past.
We’ve been through this for the past decade. College costs are up. Housing costs are up. Fuel costs are up. Employed experience requirements are up. Yet wages are being held down like employers nationwide are ride-or-die chicks gone horribly wrong. Bubbles are expanding and thinning every which way you look, and level 0 economics students can suss out how effed we are.
The cry heard through all of the age group from 23-38 has been rising like our sea levels. Now, with the Federales’ information blast on generational wealth and lack thereof adding to the pile, “inflation porn” just took on a whole new, SFW meaning.
But it’s not safe for work, is it? No one’s work is safe. No one’s money is safe. Even The Man® says so.
Think the implications of these volumes upon volumes of findings only spell doom for the young and the fundless? Think again, dear reader.
I’m already seeing it now, and so are you. Fast food places are proudly sticking ‘Start at $10, $12, $15’ per hour next to their hiring signs. Apartments are running move-in specials for years on end and pushing resident referrals like they were caught in a Scentsy scheme.
Smell that? It’s desperation.
People around my age, people with a dwindling modal income of people around my age, and the poor Gen Z’ers watching my generation yell at their grandparents are getting wise. We know that our apartment complexes aren’t at capacity. We know that no one else can take this demanding job without our skills. Sure, we’re stuck. But the adhesive is beginning to trickle upwards.
This is what’s going to happen to employers:
They will have a workforce of well-off, well-educated who will leave you after the raises don’t come because they have access to the best financial advice, and a safety cushion.
They will be bereft of admin, cleaning, and maintenance staff because the younger generation can’t afford to live where you need them.
They will have to accept that this means they’ll either lose time by doing things like booking their own flights, or they’ll have to suck it up and start paying people more.
This is what’s going to happen to landlords:
Their properties are going to stand empty longer.
Non-disparagement lease clauses are going to get ignored just like they ignore busted mailboxes.
They will have to accept that this means they’re losing money as less moneyed people flee the areas they concentrated their buying in, and moneyed people end up not filling the gap because those areas are ‘for poors,’ and their investments will stop making returns.
No matter how you feel about the issues, the fact remains: The combination of degree creep, economic inflation, wage stagnation, rising costs of living, lack of thorough public services, and us ‘snowflakes’ being BLASTED with trustworthy news about all of it on such a regular basis means you either are or are dealing with a generation constantly on the edge, and increasingly collaborating on locating outs instead of competing for crummy ins.
The crabs have stopped trying to climb each other out of the bucket, and we’re daring the cook to put his hand in here and make our claw-clickin’ day.
And unless our elders and richers are reaching out with a good salary/benefits/non-crumbling countertop attached to some tongs, these paranoid pincers are going to nip ‘em up GOOD.
We’ve got all the documentation. The pudding is 100% proofed and ready for flambéing.
Howsabout we throw a match, and get it off the table already?
You can't spell "Together" without TGOT: That Goth Over There. Staff Writer, April Bingham, is that goth; and she's all about building bridges— both metaphorically between artistry and entrepreneurship, and literally with tools she probably shouldn't be allowed to learn how to use.
