Last Chance posted:

wow, "weeks behind"? did you make this game?

Beachcomber posted:

I was a few years ahead of participation trophies, but I love how we keep getting insulted about something that was inflicted on us by our elders.

The MSJ posted:

Beachcomber posted:

I was a few years ahead of participation trophies, but I love how we keep getting insulted about something that was inflicted on us by our elders.

Phlegmish posted:

Despite all the protestations to the contrary, there are actually few fundamental ideological differences between boomers and their children, compared to boomers and their own parents where there was a huge generational gap and cultural revolution across the Western world. Boomers were just born at exactly the right time to completely cash in and gently caress over future generations

BrigadierSensible posted:

When I was a kid we had an Australian themed one where all the streets were famous streets from all the capital cities, (Swanston St. Kings Cross, Rundle Mall, etc.), and instead of the dog, we had a Koala. A Koala that my little brother promptly swallowed, and was never to be seen again.

Krispy Wafer posted:

Boomers and Millennials are a lot alike in regards to civil unrest, overseas war, and growing up in a drastically changing economy. Maybe that's why they hate each other so much.

Tiggum posted:

Maybe it's just that everything seems bigger when you're a small child, but I remember that koala being a pretty decent size. Like, not an easy thing to swallow.

BrigadierSensible posted:

You have never met my little brother, friend.

Phlegmish posted:

That's exactly why they hate each other. If we could have our avocado toast and eat it too, we'd be just as selfish.

Though about that, I was half-jokingly talking about the generational conflict to my parents and they told me they also struggled when they were in their twenties (during the early eighties). They bought their house for peanuts, sure, but in the aftermath of the 70's oil crises there was also double-digit inflation and high unemployment, at least in Belgium. I think it's just human nature to think that the world is falling down around you and everything is constantly getting worse.

Krispy Wafer posted:

Boomers get a lot of grief from later generations that they're lives were so much easier, but it's not like a Boomer in their 20's was somehow living the dream unless the dream is sex without consequences then yes the 1970's were awesome.

They had cheaper housing and cheaper college, but a worse war and globalization killing all the manufacturing jobs their parents promised would be available. It's probably a wash when it comes to which generation got the better end of the deal.

ToxicSlurpee posted:

The 1960's and 1970's weren't perfect but they really did genuinely have easier lives than the current generations. The 1970's is when things really peaked for workers in America. The late 70's was when wages started stagnating and things really went to absolute poo poo starting in the 80's when, you know, millenials started being born. Wages keep stagnating and those same boomers are now saying "well, back in MY day..." when millenials bitch about having to do stupid things like take six digits of debt then work for free as an intern for multiple years if they want to have any prayer of getting a non-lovely job.

In the days of boomers you could drop out of school at 15, get a job, then just work at that company for the rest of your life, climb the ladder, and have a pretty decent life. Obviously there were restrictions if you were black or a woman that would put limits on how far you could get or which opportunities there were but even so how much debt do you have to have to get a career and a house right now? Worker protection and union membership were also huge then. The turning point was really the Reagan administration. Boomers were also benefiting from post-war prosperity; most of the world was still rebuilding after WW2 but America was pretty much untouched. That's a thing to really consider; Europe had just burned itself down twice in recent memory but America mostly just sent dudes and stuff. We got bombed at Pearl Harbor and...well that was it, really. There just wasn't as much competition in the market.

It isn't quite as simple as "boomers are all dicks" but boomers are thinking about the world they knew which is very different from the world millenials know. The other side of it is that people are just living longer now, people are having fewer children, and retirement benefits the way we did them 40 years ago, well, the math doesn't really work. Now that the rest of the world is pretty rebuilt and developing countries are developing there's way more competition. Meanwhile borders are melting and the old systems in place are resisting any change at all. One of the things they're not letting change is the wage stagnation. A really serious issue is that wages have been stagnating for longer than millenials have been alive. The days of "just grab like whatever job, who cares, and work your way up" are gone. Unless you have certain high demand skills it can take a completely absurd amount of time to find a new job and employers know that. In the 70's you could literally walk off your job at lunch and have a new one by dinner.

ToxicSlurpee posted:

The 1970's is when things really peaked for workers in America.

WithoutTheFezOn posted:

Early 70s, maybe. By the middle of the decade things were going to poo poo, when about half the boomer generation was just becoming adults.

The “started in the mailroom” and “got my 30 year watch and pension” stuff was more (not all, but more) for their parents than boomers.

ToxicSlurpee posted:

The late 70's was when wages started stagnating and things really went to absolute poo poo starting in the 80's

Krispy Wafer posted:

Factory jobs were never meant to pay THAT much money or support 5 people on their own. But that kind of job security wasn't necessarily a great thing.

Krispy Wafer posted:

Since they don't have pensions, young people have an advantage as long as they actually budget for their own retirement.

WampaLord posted:

lmao wtf this is just loving wrong

Krispy Wafer posted:

What's wrong about it? Unskilled factory work paid great wages (in certain industries) for about two generations. Most factory jobs kind of sucked, but all we remember are those auto assembly guys making $60 a hour OT on a line.

And pensions tied people to the same company forever. If you're in your 40's and you've been at GM or Boeing for your entire working career, then changing jobs means forgoing a massive chunk of your retirement. There was absolutely no way you were going to make up that difference since a disproportionate amount of your pension counted on you reaching 25 or 30 years and averaging your last 3 years pay.

Krispy Wafer posted:

What's wrong about it?

WampaLord posted:

I would much rather have a guaranteed pension instead of having to risk a percentage of my earnings investing into a stock market that can come crashing down at any moment, to call the 401k system objectively superior is making a whole shitload of bad assumptions.

Krispy Wafer posted:

And the pension ties you to that company because no employer is going to allow portability or give you credit earned when you leave one defined benefit based retirement plan and join another*. The cradle to grave idea of employment isn't necessarily good and it doesn't always benefit the employee. 401k plans are objectively better as long as you open them while reasonably young and make consistent contributions. And yes, there is risk - but as municipal pensioners about to find out, local governments can rewrite those retirement benefits when the tax dollars run out.

The ideal situation is a good state-run pension system, but instead we have Social Security.

*public sector employees I think can get credit for years earned in another jurisdiction.

ShadeofBlue posted:

The problem that you are missing is that making consistent contributions is literally impossible for a huge number of people living in the US today.

Screaming Idiot posted:

My retirement plan is a shotgun.


To hunt for food to supplement my government benefits, of course.

Len posted:

It can't date itself any worse than my Cleveland Monopoly from the early 90s

Screaming Idiot posted:

To hunt for food to supplement my government benefits, of course.

Plastik posted:

Is nobody going to point out that an average worker in 1975 would have had a total compensation package worth more than twice what the average worker has today in equivalent dollars? Like, the former losing their pension still wouldn't fall to the level of the latter, or even near it.

The hand-wringing boomers in this thread are getting obnoxious.

Plastik posted:

Is nobody going to point out that an average worker in 1975 would have had a total compensation package worth more than twice what the average worker has today in equivalent dollars?

Phanatic posted:

Cite?