Boomers grieve not becoming grandparents–Millennials have little sympathy

by ganzuul on 12/7/2024, 8:07:03 AM with 2 comments

  • by glitchcrab on 12/7/2024, 8:29:16 AM

    https://archive.is/2CWJ4

  • by rekabis on 12/7/2024, 7:20:49 PM

    Boomers are so insanely out of touch with what younger people are suffering through, it’s insane.

    In my corner of the world, my own house was built and sold for $15,900 back in 1972. Minimum wage at the time was $2/hr, or $4,000/yr. That means a detached, 2,000ft² SFH on freehold land was only 4× minimum wage.

    This is what allowed almost anyone, at almost any wage level, to own a home, a car in the garage, support a SAH spouse and two children, and still be able to take yearly vacations and save generously for retirement.

    These days, that same home - 52 years old, now - is 28× minimum wage. A brand new detached SFH on freehold land, as per the above example? Just shy of 40× minimum wage.

    To return to that 4× multiple, homes would have to drop by almost 85% in value, or minimum wage would have to be over $150/hr, or $300,000/yr. And the median wage in my region - not even MINIMUM wage!! - is $45,000/yr.

    People aren’t going to start families when they don’t have stable and affordable housing to work with, much less the well-paying jobs that put a decent chunk of their labour’s value back into their pockets.