Financial planning

Debate as millennial angrily blames older generation for ‘harder times’

Mar 09, 2018

A huge debate between generations has been sparked. (Picture posed by model).

A millennial has sparked a wide debate on social media after openly blaming older generations for making everything from buying a house to paying for education much harder now.

In a post on social media site Tumblr, the user shared the foul-mouthed message with people right across the world – and it sparked a very mixed response as other users rushed to share their views.

The post, named “YOUR generation“, used real-life scenarios from the user’s own family to demonstrate their point. They began by revealing their parents worked as teachers, and managed to buy a four-bedroom house in the US, as well as put their two kids through private school.

However, the 25-year-old user then added: “MY generation can’t buy a home when the average cost is $440k (AU $565,000) and a combined income of two teachers is only $70k (AU $90,000), and they have to pay 35 per cent income to rent, let alone trying to afford children.”

The user went on to cite their uncle, who had managed to put himself through college and law school by “washing dishes”, but added: “MY generation is in student debt on average $29,400 (AU $38,000). And we have scholarships but they only cover 40 per cent of the cost and when law school costs $120k (AU $154,000) for two years, you do the math.”

The angry youth blamed a string of worldwide government decisions for their struggles, writing: “Don’t tell me that it’s MY GENERATION that f***ing things up.”

Insisting their generation was 11-years-old when war was declared in 2001, they distanced themselves from that decision, before saying they had no part in “de-funding mental health institutions in 1975”. They then took aim at rising tuition fees and less scholarships for education, and blamed past generations for a rising housing market.

The post concluded: “So don’t tell me I ‘just’ need to ‘get a better job’ or that I ‘only’ have to send my kids to ‘a good school.’ Because it doesn’t work like that anymore. And don’t blame me.”

It got a mixed response in the comments, with one user agreeing, writing: “I’m making 100k per year and I’m broke raising two kids, insurance, food and rent. Yes, rent. 100k ain’t s**t anymore,” while another added: “It’s NOT merely 25 y/o feeling this… 30/40 y/o’s are too. When 42 y/o’s were 25, they had hope that they could afford such things but $7/hr jobs didn’t cut it then anymore than now.

But others disagreed, and pointed out they couldn’t comment on a time when they weren’t even alive. A user hit back: “I think it’s funny that kids who weren’t even alive at the time act like they know how it was for us all. News flash. We all struggled.”