Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less

Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by ef4 on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @10:25AM (#5171077)

> Life is hard, and it’s most certainly unfair… perhaps more so for our generation that any previous.

Absolutely absurd.

You really think you have it worse than somebody born into slavery? Or worse than a medieval serf?

A large fraction of humans alive right now would look on your lifestyle as extremely privileged.

This kind of statement comes across as pitifully ignorant whining. You actually hurt the cause of fixing real injustices when you fly off into hyperbole like this.

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by jiggy2011 on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @01:36PM (#5172339)

I don't think the author is talking in an absolute sense like "our lives suck harder than ever before". More in a relative sense such as "it's harder to get a good job for life and afford a house than it was for our parents generation".

I do think that "perhaps more so for our generation that any previous" is hyperbole though.

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by cbarnsdale on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @10:34AM (#5171130)

You realize the article focuses on debt in regards to students and young people, right? Yeah, there's a bit of hyperbole, but I think my reference to "toughest... generation... evar..." makes sense in the context of "young people have it pretty shitty right now". Clearly you disagree, so fair enough. :)

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by Millennium on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @10:57AM (#5171288)

At the same time, this type of hyperbole makes it way too easy to dismiss arguments like these as whiny and lacking perspective. It's rhetorically unsound, and it doesn't do its side much in the way of favors.

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by dkarl on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @11:32AM (#5171503)

whiny and lacking perspective

Like everything else young people find persuasive? (That was whiny and hyperbolic, too, because young people like irony.)

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by dbecker on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @11:58AM (#5171685)

We are one of the few generations that can expect to live past 50.

According to Historian David McCullough, the functional literacy rate in 1900 was 11%.

Sure, the article focus on students. But, by historical standards, you are extremely lucky TO BE ABLE to be a student into your early 20s.

By historical standards, we are very privileged. This "toughest generation ever" bit is both naive and sad.

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by firefoxman1 on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @11:42AM (#5171565)

> You really think you have it worse than somebody born into slavery?

You really think we have it better than someone who owned a few dozen slaves, living leisurely on a huge plantation? History has treated some well, and some not so well.

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by fr0sty on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @11:50AM (#5171631)

Absolutely yes.

Four reasons off the top of my head:

    1. Dentistry
    2. Antibiotics
    3. Indoor plumbing
    4. Central Air

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by rscale on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @01:16PM (#5172186)

A person who owned a few dozen slaves and a huge plantation was incredibly rich, high in the top 0.1% of the wealth distribution.

Given the choice of being rich during the age of slavery, or being rich today, I'd prefer today.

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by firefoxman1 on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @01:35PM (#5172334)

Right, that's why "You really think you have it worse than somebody born into slavery?" is a ridiculous statement. Would being a slave in the past be any worse than being a slave today?

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by dbecker on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @01:54PM (#5172443)

Would being a slave in the past be any worse than being a slave today?

Historically, slaves could be (and were) raped or killed by their "owner." When you talk about "slaves" today, are you talking about someone with a low wage? That's not slavery.

Unfortunately, there is still slavery in the 21st century, but that has nothing to do with the people discussed in this article.

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by ChrisLTD on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @10:40AM (#5171180)

Yes, it should say "perhaps more so for our generation than the previous"

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by youngerdryas on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @11:29AM (#5171489)

Not even that. The good old days are selective memory, it was not better 30 years ago. Period. We shouldn't concede to fantasy to make our own struggle seem more epic.

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Re:Young Money – Beating “The Man” by Spending Less by ChrisLTD on Tuesday February 05, 2013 @11:51AM (#5171638)

As always, it depends on what groups and measurements you want to go by. In the United States, median income has been stagnant for 30 years. Young people have been dealing with an awful job market since the recession in 2008.

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