The Go Nowhere Generation

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opini ... ation.html

This was an interesting article. I wonder what caused this change?

In the early 80's it was just the reverse, most of my friends moved all over the place. Weird?
It's not just money either, we were always broke in our 20s too.

The likelihood of 20-somethings moving to another state has dropped well over 40 percent since the 1980s, according to calculations based on Census Bureau data. The stuck-at-home mentality hits college-Americans as well as those without high school degrees. According to the Pew Research Center, the proportion of young adults living at home nearly doubled between 1980 and 2008, before the Great Recession hit. Even bicycle sales are lower now than they were in 2000. Today’s generation is literally going nowhere. This is the Occupy movement we should really be worried about.

I read a similar article about young American males choosing to live with the parents after high school and un-motivated to start families, get degrees, or even date. Just play video games and hang out with buddies.

If my boys had been like that, they would have had to find a new place to live. I always told them when they finished high school, they can stay if they are going to school, or working and paying rent. My youngest started in the Army at 17, and is now married, my oldest moved to Nevada with his wife. He is 22. Some of their friends however, I see in those statistics.

Joe wrote: www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunda...here-generation.html

This was an interesting article. I wonder what caused this change?

In the early 80's it was just the reverse, most of my friends moved all over the place. Weird?
It's not just money either, we were always broke in our 20s too.

The likelihood of 20-somethings moving to another state has dropped well over 40 percent since the 1980s, according to calculations based on Census Bureau data. The stuck-at-home mentality hits college-Americans as well as those without high school degrees. According to the Pew Research Center, the proportion of young adults living at home nearly doubled between 1980 and 2008, before the Great Recession hit. Even bicycle sales are lower now than they were in 2000. Today’s generation is literally going nowhere. This is the Occupy movement we should really be worried about.

When I moved out in 1983 rent was $250 for a nice place, gasoline was 67 cents a gallon, my phone bill was $12, my electric bill was $22, tv, water and garbage service was free....... and wages have been stagnant since Reagan was president.. So it is different Joe..

Vice Lord wrote:

Joe wrote: www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunda...here-generation.html

This was an interesting article. I wonder what caused this change?

In the early 80's it was just the reverse, most of my friends moved all over the place. Weird?
It's not just money either, we were always broke in our 20s too.

The likelihood of 20-somethings moving to another state has dropped well over 40 percent since the 1980s, according to calculations based on Census Bureau data. The stuck-at-home mentality hits college-Americans as well as those without high school degrees. According to the Pew Research Center, the proportion of young adults living at home nearly doubled between 1980 and 2008, before the Great Recession hit. Even bicycle sales are lower now than they were in 2000. Today’s generation is literally going nowhere. This is the Occupy movement we should really be worried about.

When I moved out in 1983 rent was $250 for a nice place, gasoline was 67 cents a gallon, my phone bill was $12, my electric bill was $22, tv, water and garbage service was free....... and wages have been stagnant since Reagan was president.. So it is different Joe..

And the minimum wage was $3.35.

The average price of gasoline in the summer of 1983 was about $1.20 - $1.25 a gallon.

OmniScience wrote: The average price of gasoline in the summer of 1983 was about $1.20 - $1.25 a gallon.

And the minimum wage for 1983 was 3.35, So... what's your point?

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts ... ?Docid=603

This is what happens when you value your currency based on debt instruments instead of something that has inherent value of its own. Amazing what 30 years worth of budget deficits and printing money to cover those deficits will do to the value of the currency being used, isn't it?

What was it, 40 years ago or so that any ties to specie had to be abandoned because the folks who lent us money to cover our social program spending wanted to be paid back in something that had value instead of our paper money? The wanted our gold because gold was selling on the open market for more than we had it valued for to back our currency. And of course, thanks to the brilliant negotiations of FDR at Bretton Woods, and the merry band of Democrats controlling the Congress with their handy rubber stamps, the number of USD that it took to buy an ounce of gold was fixed by treaty and could not be adjusted, which ensured that it would, at some point, have to be abandoned. The more you know about FDR, the more you come to the conclusion that he should have been impeached and kicked out of the office for abandoning his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.

When I moved out in 1983 rent was $250 for a nice place, gasoline was 67 cents a gallon, my phone bill was $12, my electric bill was $22, tv, water and garbage service was free....... and wages have been stagnant since Reagan was president.. So it is different Joe..

Yes- I remember the Reagan era too- and you are correct, his economic policies helped us all - nice to see that even the lefties recognize this. Rent was reasonable, so was gas prices- with $8/barrel oil. Electric prices were a fraction of what they are now thanks to government regulations and taxes that have come along since Reagan left.

I remember those days too- they were pretty darn good when you look back at them, I would sure trade those days for what we have now! And government was about 25% of the size it is today- but even with 1/4 the size of government- Reagan thought it was too big.

The new generation- they do sit around more than we did back in the 80's. Video games were just coming out- but hardly any of us sat around on the couch and played them all day and night. You had to go to an arcade to play them. Nearly everyone I knew had a job- and jobs were easy to get.

Everyone wanted to work and get ahead, and very few of us were a part of the welfare state. A college student on welfare was unheard of. Reagan slashed money for welfare, because anyone who wanted to work could find a job no problem.

Very few of us were in debt- we could afford a college education by working nights (which is what I did). A college graduate with 100K in debt was unheard of.

I want my MTV and money for nothing and chicks for free- the 80's were good times- I bet there's alot of us who wish we could go back.

Todays kids are slackers and posers- with no identity or culture they can call their own, it's a culture of no ambition and entitled government dependancy. All I can say to the kids today- sucks to be you! Get a job, work hard and save- or you will wind up epic losers.

BearMtnHIB wrote:

When I moved out in 1983 rent was $250 for a nice place, gasoline was 67 cents a gallon, my phone bill was $12, my electric bill was $22, tv, water and garbage service was free....... and wages have been stagnant since Reagan was president.. So it is different Joe..

Yes- I remember the Reagan era too- and you are correct, his economic policies helped us all - nice to see that even the lefties recognize this. Rent was reasonable, so was gas prices- with $8/barrel oil. Electric prices were a fraction of what they are now thanks to government regulations and taxes that have come along since Reagan left.

I remember those days too- they were pretty darn good when you look back at them, I would sure trade those days for what we have now! And government was about 25% of the size it is today- but even with 1/4 the size of government- Reagan thought it was too big.

The new generation- they do sit around more than we did back in the 80's. Video games were just coming out- but hardly any of us sat around on the couch and played them all day and night. You had to go to an arcade to play them. Nearly everyone I knew had a job- and jobs were easy to get.

Everyone wanted to work and get ahead, and very few of us were a part of the welfare state. A college student on welfare was unheard of. Reagan slashed money for welfare, because anyone who wanted to work could find a job no problem.

Very few of us were in debt- we could afford a college education by working nights (which is what I did). A college graduate with 100K in debt was unheard of.

I want my MTV and money for nothing and chicks for free- the 80's were good times- I bet there's alot of us who wish we could go back.

Todays kids are slackers and posers- with no identity or culture they can call their own, it's a culture of no ambition and entitled government dependancy. All I can say to the kids today- sucks to be you! Get a job, work hard and save- or you will wind up epic losers.

What a crock! Do you really believe what you post, or are simply spouting the conservative lies? President Obama has 275,000 fewer federal employees than did Reagan.On January 21st, 1981, there were 2,875,000 non military federal employees. January 20, 1988, there were 3,113,000 non military federal employees, an increase of 238,000 employees under This number went down under Clinton, then rose dramatically under Bush. It has decreased under President Obama to less than 2.7 million, less than under Reagan.

So either your memory is really poor, or you simply do not have a clue.

In regard to speculation, currently there is a surplus of oil/gas on the market, lower demand than in years, surplus refining capacity, yet gas prices have increased.

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