I really do.
I had a few over to the house the other day to fish one of the ponds. One of them exclaimed, "You must be rich!" when they looked around my house.
Um no, we aren't, but my generation had better opportunities like better paying jobs and college was much much cheaper! At some point the fact that this younger generation doesn't have the opportunities we baby boomers did, and either can't afford college or are saddled with debt when they graduate is going to hit the fan.
So what happens when the middle class younger generation can't afford a home or even a decent car and has to settle for fast food jobs below minimum wage? And they can't afford to move away from Mom and Dad? I see catastrophe in the making. Or am I wrong?
Well, I am that younger generation. I know people my age with college degrees, but serving tables as their main source of income, because it's the only job they can get. A lot of people my age don't own homes, and are waiting longer than usual to have children.
In many ways, I am lucky, but I have gone through a lot of trouble to get where I am. I have a good paying job. I own a house, and I have no kids, just a husband.
I went to college and struggled to find work. I drove out of state for job interviewers. I spent long hours in the car driving, and sometimes stayed in hotel rooms just for an interview. Many places were not interested in hiring somebody out of town, so I was shot down a lot for that reason. I often tried to hide the fact that I was out of town. I was willing to temporarily live in a hotel if I had to, because I was desperate to get something.
Sometimes people really liked my resume, and would have me come in for an interview. I would drive hours to meet them, but to my horror, they sometimes said they were in a hiring freeze and had nothing to offer, but just wanted my details for future opporunuties. That kind if stuff would make me mad, because I put some much time, practice, and energy into interviewing. What a waste of my time.
I ended up getting a job out of state and moving. I then had to have a major surgery, and diagnosed with a medical condition. I have medical debt and student loan debt. If I didn't have either, my quality of life would be much different. I wasn't able to buy a house until meeting my husband.
So here I am. I have a nice house, good car, and a good paying job, but my disposable income is bare because of student loans and medical debt. I don't know how I could afford to have children if I wanted them. My medical bills run 10 to 20 thousand, annually. I don't spend money I don't have, and I am not going into deeper personal debt. It's hard to save for retirement, but I have plans to retire outside of the US.
I am concerned about the budget deficit and the insolvency of programs like SSN, Medicare, state retirement funds, and all other spending budgets. I think my generation is going to be left with a budget crisis and insolvency issues. When Trump passed the last round of tax cuts, I remember Morning Joe saying, these millenials and their kids are going to have to pay extremely high tax rates at some point, just to sustain the current level of spending we have. I think he is right.
I have many, many concerns about the future of this country. I talk to my husband about it, and we both have determined that it's in our best interest to plan on retiring outside America. We research real estate, exchange rates, health care costs, etc. I am not counting in something or somebody coming along and fixing all these issues. We, my husband and I, are taking matters into our own hands.
