Short version: help me find some resources that you like to present to older folks that pretend like everything is the same as when they were kids. Graphs and other visuals are a big plus.
Long version: I was visiting family in my hometown recently and ran into our neighbor of 20+ years. Nice guy but has always been sort of a traditionalist. He signed up for the navy out of high school, studied engineering and carved out a nice life for himself, which I respect. I always kinda knew him and his family as the wealthy folks on the block.
After the reunion, he invited me out for a beer yesterday and I accepted. After some unrelated discussions he suddenly asked me why I (and much of the millennial generation from what I've gathered) are choosing not to have children? We don't seem to have any drive, we just want everything handed to us. Don't know that if you want the decent American dream with 2.5 kids a car and a nice suburban home you just have to work hard and be motivated to climb your way up the ladder?
I told him that I believe one big factor folks are having less.kids, aren't buying houses, and generally don't give a fuck about their job is the cost of living versus the wages people are paid today, even adjusted for inflation means most people today are (as far as I've understood) paid less for the same work than they were when he joined the workforce on the 80s, eventually resulting in a lucrative career working as an engineer for a local power plant. Many of us, myself included, are working paycheck to paycheck and even folks like me that are at least getting paid a good 10 bucks over minimum wage in my state (CA) aren't looking at anything that would be a drop in the bucket when it comes to putting down payments on a house, especially in this state as living costs skyrocket.
He asked me to show some statistics to back this claim up which is my plan for today. I asked him to produce evidence that this is not the case as well. So it's a bit of a friendly debate.
Now while I've READ a lot of material, including graphs and other visual displays I'm never the one to actually post them. Tbh, I'm not sure where to start, I have formed much of my opinion from the empirical evidence I've seen here and across other mediums starting to some extent with Bernie's run in 2016.
To some extent I'd also like to research this and challenge and hopefully justify my opinion for my own edification since this experience made me realize while I strongly believe this stuff, I don't have a go-to thing to point to that demonstrates it in an easy to understand format for folks that refuse to believe it exists and instead blame it on the next generation. He contends that we're as a while blaming them for working harder than we do lol
But before I wade in I figured I'd ask you folks… When you get the whole “what's wrong with your generation” from older folks, what is your knee-jerk source material you'd immediately cite?