Agreed. It is precisely because I found myself on a trundling career that had little in the way of prospects after graduation (and that job I found by literally showing up on doorsteps and being a general pain in the ass), no hope of ever owning property in London, being stuck in a squalid flatshare, and having nothing to lose that I gave it all up (not that there was much to give up), started a company, lived in a squat, and a decade on employ 50 people and own (well, the bank owns me) the roof over my head.

What was it Baldwin said? "The most dangerous creation in the world, in any society, is the man with nothing to lose."

This world is currently producing vast numbers of young people with nothing to lose. Some despair, others start businesses, others start criminal enterprises or join IS.

While there's something to be said for the motivation that the total absence of prospects can grant, it's a generally crappy situation which would better be served by reducing wealth inequality. Dare I say "Universal Income".

I agree with the sorts of benefits that this feeling can induce in the best of cases.

On the other hand, I don't think that everyone really understands what "hard work" means. To the self-entitled it means "got a college education" and "show up for work every day". Well so did everyone else.

I don't know, I have mixed feelings about this. I realize that this generation is getting stiffed in a sense, by circumstances beyond their control. But hey, we aren't growing up having to go to war in Europe, or during the Depression, or the Bubonic plague for that matter. So we've got that going for us, which is nice. Ever rising economic standards on a magnified level (meaning every generation is richer than the previous, not just by overall trend) doesn't seem plausible over the long-term. We need to get used to that.

Killing off unions and free trade has been awesome for those at the top, but shit for 99% of the population.

https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2016/01/...

"From 1948 to 1979, productivity rose 108.1 percent, and hourly compensation increased 93.4 percent. From 1979 to 2013, productivity rose 64.9 percent, and hourly compensation rose 8.2 percent." http://www.epi.org/publication/raising-americas-pay/

Figure 3: (1979 - 2013) Top 1% up 138% Bottom 90% up 15%.

The data you are citing is restricted to a slice of the top 20% of the world. Indians and Chinese (i.e. the bottom 50% or so) don't count?

Also note that you cite data on productivity for the economy as a whole, but hourly compensation only for "production and nonsupervisory workers". That's a weird comparison to make - what if the increase in productivity was caused primarily by people outside this narrow group?

So, it says just about nothing about the US income distribution.

PS: I suspect that bump is basically China + India, and the Dip is the US/EU middle class. Yes, outsourcing and free trade is great for other people.

It's not great for wealthy people who were enjoying economic rents by excluding desperately poor people from the global economy. So what? Do people earning $2,000/year (1/10 of what a poor American consumes) not count?

Of note the rich got a free ride while breaking the US middle class. That's actually bad for long term economic growth. It also entrenched and entrenched authoritarian governments around the world ex: China.

etc etc.

Or: "It sure does cause people to work harder."

Both of these sentences cannot be true at the same time.

/drove a checkout part time for 4 years a while back, proud of my scan rates. There is an art to it the mastery of which brings great satisfaction.

PS: I am sure the company’s bottom line loved your metrics. But, again that’s just driving corporate profits not middle class incomes.

I agree. Going to college and showing up is baseline. I do think that kids today come across as entitled, but I'm sure I was the same way at 18 years old.

Having grown up helping my dad do labor type work for 2-3 jobs while trying to make ends meet, I know hard labor work. That is something I never want to have to do again.

Is this generation getting stiffed? There really are more opportunities now than ever before. College is simply not required for anything in IT. The rise of free online education is amazing. $5/month gets you a server on the internet that lets you start any business you can come up with. Many of the traditional barriers are gone. What has changed though is that people are required to be self reliant, which can be a tough thing for many.

IMO, the main people getting stiffed are the poor and blue collar workers. The people who would never have gone to college regardless of cost. The people who would have had great lives in a factory situation.

This is fairly myopic and complements the common tech-centric sentiment seen around here of "Why don't you just teach yourself to program and pull in six figures? You can do it for free!"

> What has changed though is that people are required to be self reliant, which can be a tough thing for many.

Our current upheaval in economic relations makes it next to impossible for many to plan to make a living in the long-term. Pulling a jack-of-all-trades switch up every few years is less self-reliance and more desperation.

> IMO, the main people getting stiffed are the poor and blue collar workers.

This has always been the case. The problem now is that what were once secure, well-paying white collar jobs no longer are. As time marches on, these degree holders are not seeing fair compensation or opportunities for a career. These people are being driven into being the new poor and blue collar working classes.

And that's always been a shit place to be.