Student loan repayment pause about to un-pause

[Baldy]

Just curios as to what the boomers did to ruin the country?

This, I'm a boomer and don't understand how I ruined this country. I came from a really poor family went to bed hungry a lot, got my first job @ 10 years old at $1.00 an hour. At 18 knew I couldn't afford college so with no other option enlisted did 5 years. Got out and used my military experience to get a good paying job. Worked hard, volunteering for every overtime shift I could get, worked most holidays. Didn't live outside my means, saved what I could, made a lot of sacrifices to get financially ahead and after 30 years ended up with a decent retirement.
Now I get told by the younger generation I ruined America. Someone please explain to me as you would a child how I managed to that.

 

[WLDWUN]

If you cant deal with the fact that the boomers ruined this country, and that rustles your jimmies, then that probably makes you one of those dipshit boomers who cant deal with facts.

The country isn't ruined, it is just your perception that it isn't how you want it. No, it is not perfect and needs a lot of work. but blaming one group (without any facts) is childish.
all groups are to blame for the condition of this country. I will take some blame, but so must you.

But, hey, enjoy my paycheck in your retirement while grumbling about how millennials should just try harder.

Your paycheck?
you do realize people that collect on SS have been paying into the system their entire working lives.
I do not want money out of your check, I want the money that was taken out of my check for that purpose back.
yes, the systems doesn't work well, but that is because the government runs it. but until it is fixed, it is what we have.

 

[Stingray]

This, I'm a boomer and don't understand how I ruined this country. I came from a really poor family went to bed hungry a lot, got my first job @ 10 years old at $1.00 an hour. At 18 knew I couldn't afford college so with no other option enlisted did 5 years. Got out and used my military experience to get a good paying job. Worked hard, volunteering for every overtime shift I could get, worked most holidays. Didn't live outside my means, saved what I could, made a lot of sacrifices to get financially ahead and after 30 years ended up with a decent retirement.
Now I get told by the younger generation I ruined America. Someone please explain to me as you would a child how I managed to that.

Thank you for your service,
And thank you for doing what most of us did to be a productive member of society and not be a drain on the system, if you are collecting SS I for one know your collecting well below what you contributed.

 

[Stingray]

But, hey, enjoy my paycheck in your retirement while grumbling about how millennials should just try harder.

I'll be retiring in less than a year, I will have a pension from my company, Pleas explain how my company pension in any way is tied to your paycheck?

I'll also be collecting SS but only after 5 years of retirement. I can show you I've maxed out SS contributions for the last 30 years and will be drawing a fraction of my contributions.

Everyone gets a printout yearly around your birthday showing your contributions.

again feel free to show where your paycheck comes into play kid.

Otherwise STFU.

And did you read my post about how my son is doing?

Sounds like you could take a lesson.

 

[Baldy]

Thank you for your service,
And thank you for doing what most of us did to be a productive member of society and not be a drain on the system, if you are collecting SS I for one know your collecting well below what you contributed.

You're welcome. I don't get SS even though I paid into it for 15 years, I simply get a pension.

 

[Stingray]

You're welcome. I don't get SS even though I paid into it for 15 years, I simply get a pension.

So in this scenario your funds are going unused on the contributor and being sent to someone else. Yet we still are on the brink of SS collapse.

Not pointing fingers but the system is seriously broke.

I've got 39 years at the same company, and a work history prior and I know for sure I contributed far more than I will ever collect, I'm not happy but I've done well being self sufficient, and setting myself up sans SS.
anything above my own savings will be gravy.

 

[Clemson13]

My household: 2 millennials who are a decade into maxing their SS contributions. I reflect to maybe see 30% back, not inflation adjusted of course

It's bullshit. I don't begrudge my boomer parents for taking the max SS payouts. They both paid Max contributions in for 25 yrs.

I'm in the camp that SS should be limited to what you paid in. Until the program heals itself.

 

[mechanicalmongoose20]

Do I get a refund for being responsible and paying for college by budgeting and working?

Wanna know how I know you're obviously racist? 🤣

 

[Clb]

Mike p hawking Thompson just sent out an email gloating about expanding the debt ceiling
Fukkin idiots need to live on a budget
And give up the revenue stream know as taxpayers (yea I know) .
Pay yer bills, then go play people...

 

[JR4X]

This, I'm a boomer and don't understand how I ruined this country. I came from a really poor family went to bed hungry a lot, got my first job @ 10 years old at $1.00 an hour. At 18 knew I couldn't afford college so with no other option enlisted did 5 years. Got out and used my military experience to get a good paying job. Worked hard, volunteering for every overtime shift I could get, worked most holidays. Didn't live outside my means, saved what I could, made a lot of sacrifices to get financially ahead and after 30 years ended up with a decent retirement.
Now I get told by the younger generation I ruined America. Someone please explain to me as you would a child how I managed to that.

You worked hard. You paid your debts. Despite any obstacles you found your own way. You saved money and you didn’t complain about it. You upheld your obligations to your family and your country. Paid off your house in time to enjoy it.

This set an impossible standard for millennials to achieve. It is unfair that they have to follow in your footsteps and the shadow upstanding men like yourself cast is to great for the entitled to outshine. Instead of striving to be like you ( or even better than you) a millennial is blaming you for making them look bad. If only you had failed at life like the hippies who shared your time frame there wouldn’t be a successful rags to retirement story to have to fail to live up to.


Signed: a millennial who didn’t take on debt he didn’t intend to pay back.

 

[[486]]

Signed: a millennial who didn’t take on debt he didn’t intend to pay back.

but it's much easier to bitch about how life is hard

(our material wealth is a whole lot better than it was in the '80s and '90s, despite the socialist policies that have been growing for more'n'a century)

 

['84 Bronco II]

Pointing out that boomers flushed this country down the toilet so they could ride their golden parachutes into retirement while the next generations get to pick up the pieces is a fact. Its not me blaming someone else because i have a mortgage. Thats asinine.

If you cant deal with the fact that the boomers ruined this country, and that rustles your jimmies, then that probably makes you one of those dipshit boomers who cant deal with facts.

But, hey, enjoy my paycheck in your retirement while grumbling about how millennials should just try harder.

I am really confused how you think Baby Boomers are responsible for your station in life. Frankly, I have never understood why people get off so much on blaming entire generations for whatever the cause du jour is.

I frequently have people telling me I don't seem like a millennial at all, but I find it somewhat annoying because not everyone in my generation is a lazy woke piece of shit living with their parents. The whole concept of generations is pretty dumb in my opinion. People are more or less the same as they have ever been, they just reflect the pervasive culture of society at the time of their youth.

Just want to leave this here because it'll

1. I haven't paid my loans since 2020(ish)
2. Each month since then, "counts" towards my forgiveness payments.
3. I now have 120 months of qualifying payments, and I just submitted request for forgiveness in the amount of around $300k.

I will say, I've paid back over $100k at this point. Student loans are dumb. Boomers complaining about loan forgiveness are also dumb. I could have easily paid back my schooling expenses without assistance if the government didn't single handedly encourage every college in the country to increase its tuition rates by making loans available with no restrictions on what colleges had to do to get them. Further, colleges increased every other expense of college, which is by all accounts the most expensive part-- room, board, books, living costs, etc. I paid for college myself, but graduate school was impossible. I got out of school with $239k in debt. After making over $100k in payments, my principal went up (UP) to $280k. Interest is 8%, a number which is unconscionable on its own, but also non-negotiable. There is simply no other way of getting an advanced degree without loans.

Tuition for colleges, trade schools, and licensing centers should be free. The model we have doesn't work, and the government is going to pay for it one way or another. Same thing with healthcare. I already paid way more than I should have had to pay; the system is stupid.

Imagine getting $300k and not having it affect your life in any appreciate way. Whatever. I just work here.

Somehow I managed to get myself an advanced degree without any loans or parents paying my way I finished grad school in 2016 for reference before you claim I must have gone to school at a more affordable time. I never had economics classes in high school and had to figure it out like everyone else.

Maybe you got sucked into the scam of having to go to the "best" school that you really couldn't afford and did not consider the return on your investment? I believe you are a lawyer if I remember correctly, so you probably make pretty good money, but starting nearly $300K in the hole at 8% interest was pretty stupid. I don't see why you think it should be society's burden repay your debt while you are likely living an above average lifestyle.

I had opportunities to go to Cal Tech, Texas A&M, and others, but ultimately I attended NMSU because it was the cheapest option and the return on investment just wasn't there to pay for attending a "good" school. Now I work right alongside people who graduated from MIT, Purdue, Stanford, etc. and guess what? They do not get paid extra for going to a "good" school. It must really suck to be getting paid the same with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands in debt

Maybe instead of blaming the elderly for your bad decisions, you should do some self-reflection.

boomer

Seriously, how old are you? I am 29. When ever I hear people slinging "boomer" as an insult to dismiss what someone is saying, I immediately dismiss them.

I see your point, and yes, signer should pay back all debts.

But, after years upon years of "don't even consider trade school, you gotta go to college. Go to college man, all your friends are. No matter what, you gotta go to college." And then the loans are made artificially cheap, and young people are financially preyed upon (personal finance is NOT taught in highschool), and then you make those loans bankruptcy proof, all while the jobs that the really expensive paper qualifies you for all pay $40k a year tops....some of that responsibility (NOT ALL) falls on the system and its creators that preys upon the ignorant (i am lumping myself in that class) and aimless.


Why do we have so many young people that are absolutely aimless? Why do we have high-school graduate that don't have a clue what a checkbook is, let alone how to balance it? Why do we push all our young to college, regardless of their natural inclinations and specializations? Our young kids didn't create this system, they are a product of it. Ignorance isn't a defense, but it is a factor.

I agree with your points, but that doesn't absolve people of personal responsibility. People should pay for making bad choices, and in this day and age, all the information in the world is at your finger tips so there's no excuse for ignorance other than being lazy.

Millennials and other young Americans now face a steep climb. Even before stock markets tumbled this year, younger generations were lagging behind Boomers. In the working paper’s most recent data, the wealth gap between adults over 60 and those under 40 has more than doubled since the 1960s and 1970s.

You realize that millennials have been around for one of the biggest economic booms in US history? From March of 2009 to November of 2021, the DOW grew by 550%. That's a pretty damn good 12 year bull market. I only got to ride the last 5 years, but it did pretty well for me.

I'm in the camp that SS should be limited to what you paid in.

It is. They use up to the 35 highest income years during your life and your age when you start collecting benefits to calculate your payout. The higher your average income adjusted for inflation is, the higher your payout is. The social Security tax is 6.2% of your income up to $160,200 in 2023.

You can read about how it is calculated here: Social Security Benefit Amounts

 

[Rockbuggy84]

These losers blaming past generations for their failures is pathetic.

Past generations lived nothing like your average American does today.

Past generations-
Husband worked his ass off to support his family and the wife typically stayed home to raise the kids and run the house. Meals were made in the home, baby diapers were homemade cloth and reused.

Repairs and Maintenance on the home was usually done by the husband and he’d have friends help him if needed.

They usually had 1 car that was repaired when it broke down in the driveway and kept for many years. Going out to eat was considered a treat and hardly ever happened.

Their homes were typically in the 1200 square foot range or smaller, was cookie cutter and remodels weren’t common. Their income was usually mediocre and they worked fucked up jobs and didn’t have the employee, health, safety and pay rules to protect them.

They invested as much as possible into their home or savings for the future.


Your average American today-
Husband complains constantly about his 40hr work week, because he’s “overworked”. The wife works also and their combined income could mathematically support buying 2 houses easily, but they’re always broke and complaining about it, because “everything is so expensive and they can never get ahead”.

The wife drives a new, massive suv to take their 2 kids to school, practice, friends houses, shopping, etc. She usually trades them in every 3-4 years. The payment including insurance is anywhere from $500-$1200 per month.

The husband drives the biggest pickup the bank would finance. The truck is polished, never has anything actually loaded in it, has rims, tires and a lift that were all financed, to match all the other trucks on the block. This is also traded in every few years and keeps an additional $500-$1400 monthly payment.

There’s usually 1 or 2 financed toys sitting in the driveway or garage that are hardly ever used. Anywhere from $20,000-$100,000 of debt on these alone. I’d guess a $300-$1200 extra monthly payment.

The house is anywhere from 2200-3500 sq ft, has granite countertops, crown molding, massive tvs in every fuckin room. Every time the house gets a little equity, they need to pull it out so they can update the outdated 7 year old kitchen.

The landscaper comes weekly to mow the lawn and repairs sprinklers as needed. Another few hundred a month.

When the house has an issue, the husband is a lazy retard and has no real life skills, so they call a company to come out and make the repairs. Shit like a $500 water heater cost them $2500-$3000 on the credit card.

The husband, wife and 2 kids all have the latest and greatest cell phones. They cost $3000-$4000 but “they just add it to the monthly bill”, so it’s not a big deal. Their bill is easily $500 per month.

They have all the coolest tv apps and services so they don’t miss an episode of Yellowstone, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to tell the non mouth breathers how much they’re missing. Couple hundred dollars a month.

The entire household eats out constantly because the wife refuses to cook or clean the dishes and the wife sure as fuck isn’t making lunch for her husband to take to work.
They’re usually in the Starbucks drive through 4-5 times a week. She’ll have a $9 coffee and the kids will each have $4 flavored waters.
The money wasted on eating out and stupid coffee drinks every month is flat out ridiculous.

They put nothing into savings and have zero plans for the future.

I get a kick outta the whole argument where a prior generation is blamed for todays cost of living. Society today, is 100% to blame for our current situation.

Why are vehicles and homes so expensive? Because people ignore the actual cost and look at the monthly payment. That $70,000 truck wouldn’t be happening if you had to actually pay for it with cash in hand.

That home remodel wouldn’t be happening if you had to actually pay for it with cash in hand, without refinancing your house like a fuckin idiot. Instead they say “oh look, our payment only goes up a couple hundred bucks a month”.

You dumb fucks drove the cost of everything up by constantly financing shit. There is nobody to blame but yourself.

 

[Mr Stubs]

Fractional Reserve Banking
All the bitching and blaming here stems from this core issue.
It’s not a generational thing, it’s the long term repercussions of this system being implemented.

The “Boomers” just happened to be born in a time where this system or “ponzi scheme” worked well. They were much closer to the top of the pyramid.

If you don’t like it then work on getting this shit changed, it hasn’t always been this way. Read some books like The Creature from Jekyll Island and learn about the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank.

https://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal-Reserve/dp/091298645X

 

[Whistlepig]

These losers blaming past generations for their failures is pathetic.

Past generations lived nothing like your average American does today.

Past generations-
Husband worked his ass off to support his family and the wife typically stayed home to raise the kids and run the house. Meals were made in the home, baby diapers were homemade cloth and reused.

Repairs and Maintenance on the home was usually done by the husband and he’d have friends help him if needed.

They usually had 1 car that was repaired when it broke down in the driveway and kept for many years. Going out to eat was considered a treat and hardly ever happened.

Their homes were typically in the 1200 square foot range or smaller, was cookie cutter and remodels weren’t common. Their income was usually mediocre and they worked fucked up jobs and didn’t have the employee, health, safety and pay rules to protect them.

They invested as much as possible into their home or savings for the future.


Your average American today-
Husband complains constantly about his 40hr work week, because he’s “overworked”. The wife works also and their combined income could mathematically support buying 2 houses easily, but they’re always broke and complaining about it, because “everything is so expensive and they can never get ahead”.

The wife drives a new, massive suv to take their 2 kids to school, practice, friends houses, shopping, etc. She usually trades them in every 3-4 years. The payment including insurance is anywhere from $500-$1200 per month.

The husband drives the biggest pickup the bank would finance. The truck is polished, never has anything actually loaded in it, has rims, tires and a lift that were all financed, to match all the other trucks on the block. This is also traded in every few years and keeps an additional $500-$1400 monthly payment.

There’s usually 1 or 2 financed toys sitting in the driveway or garage that are hardly ever used. Anywhere from $20,000-$100,000 of debt on these alone. I’d guess a $300-$1200 extra monthly payment.

The house is anywhere from 2200-3500 sq ft, has granite countertops, crown molding, massive tvs in every fuckin room. Every time the house gets a little equity, they need to pull it out so they can update the outdated 7 year old kitchen.

The landscaper comes weekly to mow the lawn and repairs sprinklers as needed. Another few hundred a month.

When the house has an issue, the husband is a lazy retard and has no real life skills, so they call a company to come out and make the repairs. Shit like a $500 water heater cost them $2500-$3000 on the credit card.

The husband, wife and 2 kids all have the latest and greatest cell phones. They cost $3000-$4000 but “they just add it to the monthly bill”, so it’s not a big deal. Their bill is easily $500 per month.

They have all the coolest tv apps and services so they don’t miss an episode of Yellowstone, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to tell the non mouth breathers how much they’re missing. Couple hundred dollars a month.

The entire household eats out constantly because the wife refuses to cook or clean the dishes and the wife sure as fuck isn’t making lunch for her husband to take to work.
They’re usually in the Starbucks drive through 4-5 times a week. She’ll have a $9 coffee and the kids will each have $4 flavored waters.
The money wasted on eating out and stupid coffee drinks every month is flat out ridiculous.

They put nothing into savings and have zero plans for the future.

I get a kick outta the whole argument where a prior generation is blamed for todays cost of living. Society today, is 100% to blame for our current situation.

Why are vehicles and homes so expensive? Because people ignore the actual cost and look at the monthly payment. That $70,000 truck wouldn’t be happening if you had to actually pay for it with cash in hand.

That home remodel wouldn’t be happening if you had to actually pay for it with cash in hand, without refinancing your house like a fuckin idiot. Instead they say “oh look, our payment only goes up a couple hundred bucks a month”.

You dumb fucks drove the cost of everything up by constantly financing shit. There is nobody to blame but yourself.

Exactly this!!

 

[the conservative atheist]

Another one I always here is "our generation will never be able to afford a house".

I mean yeah prices have been skyrocketing, especially with Bidenflation that they voted for, but what the fuck kind of McMansions are they looking at? If you can't afford "a" house after going to college and working for a few years, you're doing something wrong.

 

[Whistlepig]

Another one I always here is "our generation will never be able to afford a house".

I mean yeah prices have been skyrocketing, especially with Bidenflation that they voted for, but what the fuck kind of McMansions are they looking at? If you can't afford "a" house after going to college and working for a few years, you're doing something wrong.

They don't want a plain old rectangle these days. Got to have 2700 to 3000sqft with 15 different roof pitches...

 

[Duc]

The good Ole lifestyle creep. Life was easy when I made 15/hr but also had way less bills. Fuck the bank looks at us weird when we apply for a loan with a 10% debt income come to the 50 or more that most have

 

[AKnate]

I'll be retiring in less than a year, I will have a pension from my company, Pleas explain how my company pension in any way is tied to your paycheck?

I'll also be collecting SS but only after 5 years of retirement. I can show you I've maxed out SS contributions for the last 30 years and will be drawing a fraction of my contributions.

Everyone gets a printout yearly around your birthday showing your contributions.

again feel free to show where your paycheck comes into play kid.

Otherwise STFU.

And did you read my post about how my son is doing?

Sounds like you could take a lesson.

SS max is currently at around 160k of income...

 

[Wilson]

Good, I’ve been waiting for people to default on their loans. I’m looking to pick up a post grad degree for a good deal.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Typical ibb loan default anawer

 

[Rockbuggy84]

Another one I always here is "our generation will never be able to afford a house".

I mean yeah prices have been skyrocketing, especially with Bidenflation that they voted for, but what the fuck kind of McMansions are they looking at? If you can't afford "a" house after going to college and working for a few years, you're doing something wrong.

Instant gratification.

Instead of buying a cheap home in a ok neighborhood to build wealth and work your way up, they want to start out in a massive, custom home, fully landscaped in a nice neighborhood.

But obviously, you can’t have an old beater in a nice neighborhood because the neighbors will look down on you, so you gotta buy a new truck and suv for the wife first.

You show me a persons financials that claims “housing is unaffordable” and I’ll show you a financially irresponsible person with unrealistic expectations.

 

[speed bump]

One of the things I wish my parents would have taught me was it's okay to take on certain debt. Looking at this whole student loan thing I should have built a house in 19-20 when interest rates were nothing instead of paying for my wife to go to school. Then just make payments into a bank account until the republicans start grand standing again.

 

[OutlawRider]

Why would you pay your loans back during this period? Instead you should have been taking the $$$ you were going to pay the loans down with & putting it in money market accounts or the highest earning bank accounts you could. You would be up 10% over the last three years. Now that its time for interest to restart, lump sum payment the principal on that bitch.

You pay no more interest than one who paid the whole time & you either have $ in your pocket or are 10%+ further along on paying off your debts

Edit: i realize that this is a strategy that works for those who are good with money. Often not the ones with debt/student loan issues It doesn't change the fact that its a good strategy.

Exactly what I did. Funded and extra 2k a month but the returns didn’t end up that great.

 

[arse_sidewards]

This, I'm a boomer and don't understand how I ruined this country. I came from a really poor family went to bed hungry a lot, got my first job @ 10 years old at $1.00 an hour. At 18 knew I couldn't afford college so with no other option enlisted did 5 years. Got out and used my military experience to get a good paying job. Worked hard, volunteering for every overtime shift I could get, worked most holidays. Didn't live outside my means, saved what I could, made a lot of sacrifices to get financially ahead and after 30 years ended up with a decent retirement.
Now I get told by the younger generation I ruined America. Someone please explain to me as you would a child how I managed to that.

You voted for policy that drove the country off a cliff and greatly changed the amount of effort per amount of wealth accumulated. Yes, younger people can still make it but the budget for less than perfect decision making is much smaller these days. Notice how there are much fewer "I fucked around all throughout my 20s and still did alright" stories coming from the young guys on this site than than the old assholes


At the macro level, obviously. No one asshole dropping a wrapper or a needle is responsible for the park being full of trash but every little bit matters just like every vote for dumb neoliberal and/or globalist policy.

(our material wealth is a whole lot better than it was in the '80s and '90s, despite the socialist policies that have been growing for more'n'a century)

And most of that is wasted by increased societal expectations.

Can't live without a smartphone and shit without being a weirdo. Can't buy a car without a bunch of money wasted on regulatory bullshit, etc.

You realize that millennials have been around for one of the biggest economic booms in US history? From March of 2009 to November of 2021, the DOW grew by 550%. That's a pretty damn good 12 year bull market. I only got to ride the last 5 years, but it did pretty well for me.

How much money were you putting into the stock market in 2009? 2010, 2013? 2015?

Only the oldest millennials really benefited from that boom much if at all.

 

[[486]]

And most of that is wasted by increased societal expectations.

Can't live without a smartphone and shit without being a weirdo. Can't buy a car without a bunch of money wasted on regulatory bullshit, etc.

Try and find a car with a/c as an option. I haven't seen one come through without in a very long time

 

[dntsdad]

I heard Rush say once when I happened to be listening..........Kids outta college want the things and lifestyle that their parent's have after a half lifetime of work, accumulation of assets, lessons learned and trading up a couple times.

When they don't have it within the year of graduating, they are pissy crybabies.

Not verbatim but the gist.

 

[Bonanza]

I am really confused how you think Baby Boomers are responsible for your station in life. Frankly, I have never understood why people get off so much on blaming entire generations for whatever the cause du jour is.

I frequently have people telling me I don't seem like a millennial at all, but I find it somewhat annoying because not everyone in my generation is a lazy woke piece of shit living with their parents. The whole concept of generations is pretty dumb in my opinion. People are more or less the same as they have ever been, they just reflect the pervasive culture of society at the time of their youth.



Somehow I managed to get myself an advanced degree without any loans or parents paying my way I finished grad school in 2016 for reference before you claim I must have gone to school at a more affordable time. I never had economics classes in high school and had to figure it out like everyone else.

Maybe you got sucked into the scam of having to go to the "best" school that you really couldn't afford and did not consider the return on your investment? I believe you are a lawyer if I remember correctly, so you probably make pretty good money, but starting nearly $300K in the hole at 8% interest was pretty stupid. I don't see why you think it should be society's burden repay your debt while you are likely living an above average lifestyle.

I had opportunities to go to Cal Tech, Texas A&M, and others, but ultimately I attended NMSU because it was the cheapest option and the return on investment just wasn't there to pay for attending a "good" school. Now I work right alongside people who graduated from MIT, Purdue, Stanford, etc. and guess what? They do not get paid extra for going to a "good" school. It must really suck to be getting paid the same with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands in debt

Maybe instead of blaming the elderly for your bad decisions, you should do some self-reflection.



Seriously, how old are you? I am 29. When ever I hear people slinging "boomer" as an insult to dismiss what someone is saying, I immediately dismiss them.



I agree with your points, but that doesn't absolve people of personal responsibility. People should pay for making bad choices, and in this day and age, all the information in the world is at your finger tips so there's no excuse for ignorance other than being lazy.



You realize that millennials have been around for one of the biggest economic booms in US history? From March of 2009 to November of 2021, the DOW grew by 550%. That's a pretty damn good 12 year bull market. I only got to ride the last 5 years, but it did pretty well for me.



It is. They use up to the 35 highest income years during your life and your age when you start collecting benefits to calculate your payout. The higher your average income adjusted for inflation is, the higher your payout is. The social Security tax is 6.2% of your income up to $160,200 in 2023.

You can read about how it is calculated here: Social Security Benefit Amounts

I don’t “blame” boomers for my situation. Rather, I firmly believe, and evidence supports, they had it easier than any other generation in the history of humankind on planet Earth.

I went to school because when I graduated college, the economy was beginning its long free fall. In 2008, when I graduated, the recession was already exploding. The sub prime mortgage scam was, for all intents and purposes, laid at the feet of the boomers. Millennials simply enjoyed that disaster without being responsible for it one iota.

To suggest 2009 was an economic boom is absurd. The economy under Obama was atrocious, with GDP growth moving slower than Biden down a set of stairs. Things didn’t get better until the end of his second administration and into trumps first years.

It’s easier put this way— raise your hand if you wish you could’ve entered the workforce as a millennial rather than a boomer.

Anyone? Bueller?

 

[Baldy]

You voted for policy that drove the country off a cliff and greatly changed the amount of effort per amount of wealth accumulated.

Wow so you know how I voted and since you know, what did I vote on that drove the country off the cliff cause I have zero idea what yer talking about.

 

[DRTDEVL]

I will say, I've paid back over $100k at this point. Student loans are dumb. Boomers complaining about loan forgiveness are also dumb. I could have easily paid back my schooling expenses without assistance if the government didn't single handedly encourage every college in the country to increase its tuition rates by making loans available with no restrictions on what colleges had to do to get them. Further, colleges increased every other expense of college, which is by all accounts the most expensive part-- room, board, books, living costs, etc. I paid for college myself, but graduate school was impossible. I got out of school with $239k in debt. After making over $100k in payments, my principal went up (UP) to $280k. Interest is 8%, a number which is unconscionable on its own, but also non-negotiable. There is simply no other way of getting an advanced degree without loans.

Bullshit. There is actually an easy way, its called the military. They will pay for advanced degrees in return for a period of service as an officer (so you don't even have to deal with the bullshit of being a Private). Go get a JD and be a JAG. Get an MD and do residency at a Military hospital, becoming an O-4 and serving as a doctor. DDM? Sure, go be a dentist at a military clinic treating the troops and their families at one of our installations, worldwide. IN the end, you are fully qualified, enter the workforce with years of experience, and have NO STUDENT DEBT.

I had opportunities to go to Cal Tech, Texas A&M, and others, but ultimately I attended NMSU because it was the cheapest option and the return on investment just wasn't there to pay for attending a "good" school. Now I work right alongside people who graduated from MIT, Purdue, Stanford, etc. and guess what? They do not get paid extra for going to a "good" school. It must really suck to be getting paid the same with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands in debt

Funny, I read your earlier post and thought "I saw the same behavior in college" (I graduated in 2019)... turns out we have the same Alma Mater. I could have gone ANYWHERE I chose (good test scores, veteran's preference, GI Bill paying the tuition), but I completed a triple-major in Community College instead (EPCC, 3.78 GPA) and transferred to NMSU to double-major (Business and Economics) because it was overall more affordable. If I lose my job over health concerns later this year, I'll just use the rest of my GI Bill eligibility and get an advanced degree... possibly online at NMSU (they bug me every semester to enroll).

 

[TSEJEEPERS]

Yep we had it easy.

The early 1980s recession was a severe economic recession that affected much of the world between approximately the start of 1980 and 1983.[1] It is widely considered to have been the most severe recession since World War II.[2][3] A key event leading to the recession was the 1979 energy crisis, mostly caused by the Iranian Revolution which caused a disruption to the global oil supply, which saw oil prices rising sharply in 1979 and early 1980.[1] The sharp rise in oil prices pushed the already high rates of inflation in several major advanced countries to new double-digit highs, with countries such as the United States, Canada, West Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan tightening their monetary policies by increasing interest rates in order to control the inflation.[1] These G7 countries each, in fact, had "double-dip" recessions involving short declines in economic output in parts of 1980 followed by a short period of expansion, in turn, followed by a steeper, longer period of economic contraction starting sometime in 1981 and ending in the last half of 1982 or in early 1983.[4] Most of these countries experienced stagflation, a situation of both high inflation rates and high unemployment rates.

Globally, while some countries experienced downturns in economic output in 1980 and/or 1981, the broadest and sharpest worldwide decline of economic activity and the largest increase in unemployment was in 1982, with the World Bank naming the recession the "global recession of 1982".[1] Even after major economies, such as the United States and Japan exited the recession relatively early, many countries were in recession into 1983 and high unemployment would continue to affect most OECD nations until at least 1985.[2] Long-term effects of the early 1980s recession contributed to the Latin American debt crisis, long-lasting slowdowns in the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan African countries,[1] the US savings and loans crisis, and a general adoption of neoliberal economic policies throughout the 1990s.

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