This is a letter for anyone who has the following statements part of their vocabulary: “nobody wants to work”, “the young generations are entitled”, “young people have no work ethic”, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps”, “get a better job if you don't get paid enough”, “move out to the country if housing is so unaffordable”, “nobody is having kids anymore because they are selfish and lazy”, “get another job if you need more money”. “They want socialism and communism”, “young people have no patriotism”, “nobody is grateful that we live in the freest country on earth” There's definitely more that I could list.
Listen up. The young generations of America want to raise children, want to get better jobs, and want to own a home. There's a combination of problems stopping most people from doing the things the older generations were able to do. Let's take a dive and view from my Zoomer perspective.
The current job market is paying peanuts and bread crumbs compared to what previous generations were paid. You used to be able to own a home, a car, and raise a family on a single income while one parent stayed home and raised the children. This is not attainable for almost all middle and lower-class families. Today, both parents work now, barely scraping by paycheck to paycheck.
Housing is getting more and more expensive. New units are not being built at a pace to match the demand. Most new units are marketed as “luxury” housing, be it apartments or single-family homes (SFH). These are rented or sold at premiums compared to regular apartments.
Large corporate investors are now holding a chunk of the housing market for renting and reselling, making it even harder for people to buy or rent a home. There are instances where people have been outbid up to 100k over asking prices on homes by investment firms like BlackRock, Invitation, TriCon, Zillow, etc.
Is this considered a free market anymore if every time someone tries to buy a home, they are outbid by a corporation with infinitely deeper pockets? Many disagree that we are in a free market. As of now, the corporations own enough homes that they can directly manipulate the prices of all the homes in an area where they own even just 3% of the homes. 3% is a large chunk in the grand scheme when it comes to housing. When they price their rentals high, even small landlords raise their prices. Does “the market justifies the price” ring a bell?
Our population has nearly flat-lined as of 2021. The younger generations are having fewer children than previous generations. It is not because they are lazy or selfish. People are having fewer children because they know they can't afford to raise them. Why would they bring a child into poverty or economic uncertainty? This is bad for the country as we need children to grow up as the next generation of workers, doctors, public safety, etc. You name it, we need people to have children to sustain the country.
I'd like to point out the boogeyman of the boomers, China. People point to China when mentioning authoritarian policies and atrocities committed by the Chinese Communist Party. One example people very often point out is the “One Child Policy”. The CCP instituted this rule when they determined their population was growing at an unsustainable rate, so they thought they needed to slow it down. I'd like to point out that people and animals alike only have multiple offspring when they feel secure and have access to food and water. For humans, we also need healthcare, secure income, and housing. As it stands now, people in the 1970s felt more secure having multiple children In communist China than people do in modern-day capitalist America. The economic policies of today's America will now be referred to by me as “No Child Policies” as such low amounts of people in the middle and lower class consider themselves secure enough to even raise a family. Every day Americans are not paid enough, one hospital visit could bankrupt them, and losing their job could bankrupt them. Even a car accident or car repairs could bankrupt them. The No Child Policies are going to damage the future of America for generations if something does not change.
The younger generations are much, much less patriotic than previous generations. And I don't blame them. Why would they be patriotic to a country that allows the classes above them to pay the bare minimum while they buy new yachts, mansions, private jets, and exotic sports cars every year? The few children raised by the younger generations will be even less patriotic as a result of this. People need to be proud of their country to be patriotic. If they have nothing to be proud of, why would they be patriotic? This is VERY dangerous for America. If there was a future conflict in the world, and America came under attack, few people will care to defend it. The workers of this country need something to fight for. As of now, if a foreign government was able to topple the US government, much of the younger generations would either flee or throw their arms up and say “well, anything could be better than this”. The lack of patriotism will come back to bite the US. The lack of patriotism and unwillingness to protect America will come from the failure of our government to effectively protect workers from being exploited by their extremely wealthy employers. If you want a population who's proud to be American and happy to fight to protect it, give them something to be proud of.
We have gotten to a point in America where “free” in the free market has gone too far. The Walton family, Jeff Bezos, and private investment firms that hoard houses are prime examples of what has gone too far in our free market. A study by the Economic Policy Institute points out that CEO compensation compared to their average worker pay has increased to 940% compared to 1978. CEOs and owners of companies keep getting raises, record profits are shown each year. None of it is passed down to workers, it ends up in the pockets of the rich.
The younger generations are not lazy and do want to work. They want to be paid a fair wage for the value of their work. They want to be able to go to the doctor without fearing they could be bankrupted. They want to raise a family and not have to worry if they can afford to feed them. The No Child Policies of today's economy leave nothing for the everyday American and everything for their employers. This is why socialism and communism are very appealing to the younger generations. You'd hear fewer people appealed to it if our free-market capitalist society actually left enough for everyone to be secure, but it falls VERY short of that.
US retail stores are now experiencing record-high rates of shoplifting and larceny. This is directly tied to strain theory and is a result of the current economy. The morals and ethics of shoplifters will not be argued until everyone's basic necessities are met.
Affordable Healthcare, fair wages for the value of work, reasonable prices for food and water, the banning of corporate ownership of SFH, rental price regulation, raising corporate taxes, and fair taxation of the top earners of our country should be the highest priority if we are to stabilize our economy and country.
Give the citizens of our country something to be proud of, give them something they are willing to fight for. Until then, you can pound sand.
Edit: word choice