If it makes anyone feel better – and I don’t know why it should – Alexandrea Ocasio Cortez is not the only Millennial economically challenged.
“Under capitalism man oppresses man, under socialism it’s the other way around.” – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Apparently a good swath of the Millennial generation mis-misunderstands the facts and realities of finance and economics.
Exhibit #1: 68% of Millennials Feel They Have It Worse Than Any Other Generation. Millennials were asked a total of 15 questions to gauge how much more or less difficult they believe life is for their generation compared with other age groups.
Nearly 70 percent of respondents said the financial impediments they face are as bad or worse than any other generation.
Roughly two-thirds of millennials polled either "agreed" or "strongly agreed" that they have it worse than any other past generations.
Nearly half of millennials believe they're facing a worse economic climate than the generation who lived through the Great Depression.
The Great Depression!!
The Reality: According to researchers, every generation has experienced periods of financial hardship as well as long stretches of rapid economic growth. While the Great Recession of 2008 is still fresh in the minds of Millennials, it pales in comparison to the Great Depression in the 1930s which happened when the Silent Generation were children. Also, Baby Boomers lived through an extended period of unemployment while the economy was suffering through stagflation in the early 1980’s.
Let me add that the entire decade of the 70s was pretty crappy too.
Exhibit #2: Millennials feel they face more financial woes than other generations
Millennials think they are facing the toughest housing market - evah! Far tougher than the one Baby Boomers had. A full 74% of them think they have it much harder trying to buy that first house than any previous generation.
Survey Question: Which of the following generations do you think has (or had) the hardest time buying and owning a home?
Generation (age range) % of Millennial Responses
Millennials (ages 23-38) 74.1%
Generation X (ages 39-54) 11.1%
Baby Boomers (ages 55-73) 7.9%
Silent Generation (ages 74-91) 6.9%
Ha! I guess they don’t remember when mortgage rates hit 18%.
By October 1981, the average rate for 30-year mortgages reached its all-time high of 18.63%. Today's rates, while currently on the rise, are still at all-time lows compared to previous decades.
Nor would they have any idea what that kind of rate did to the monthly payment. Oh that’s right, how could they? They weren’t born yet.
The Reality: Researchers concluded, based on Zillow’s mortgage affordability index, Millennials are completely off base on this one. According to the numbers, a mortgage averaged 15.1 percent of a median income from 2008 to 2018, which is lower than any quarter going back to 1979.
“Boomers searching for a starter home in Q3 of 1981 could expect to pay a whopping 42.2% of their income to their mortgage,” the report said.
Exhibit #3: Millennials feel their generation faces the toughest job market ever as well.
The Reality: Older Millennials, who were hitting the job market just as the Great Recession started may have more of a case than younger Millennials, who have been experiencing record gains in employment for 118 straight months. But researchers conclude that Baby Boomers might have actually had it the worst.
“For boomers, the 9.7% unemployment rate in 1982 was the highest since 1947, and the 9.6% rate in 1983 ties the level in 2010 at the peak of the post-housing crash slump,” the report said.
But let’s not allow facts to intrude on our little pity party.
Here’s what I find most interesting though: despite the fact that Millennials are less wealthy than previous generations were at their age at any point between 1989 and 2007, with lower earnings, fewer assets, and less wealth," they still by and large expect to be rich “when they grow up.”
More than 50% of them think they'll be millionaires one day, according to a 2018 TD Ameritrade survey, and more than a quarter of that group believes they'll reach that milestone by age 40. - BI
It would seem that, all evidence to the contrary, they still remain pretty optimistic about the American Dream. Yet they all plan to vote for some moron who will promise to waive their student loans, give ‘free’ medical to all, eliminate the Electoral College and expand the size of the Supreme Court to make things ‘more fair.’
A Future To Believe In? Socialism? Really?
Like I said, AOC isn’t the only Millennial without a firm grasp of basic economic principles. Although she is currently the only one serving on the House Banking Committee.
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