As usual in discussions on topics like this certain misconceptions get dragged out and repeated. That wouldn't happen without a little thought and maybe a tad bit of research.
Regarding the tangent about life expectancy in the United States, here's a little news flash:
life expectancy in the United States has been going DOWN. The US is in its longest decline of life expectancy since the 1915-1918 period. Back then World War I and the 1918 influenza pandemic were to blame. Today the averages are being driven down by multiple factors. Of the top 10 leading causes of death, only cancer has seen a decrease in mortality rate. Lots of Americans are dying in their 20's and 30's. We all know about drug overdose deaths hitting record levels lately. The suicide rate in the US is at its highest level in 50 years. More than 3 times as many Americans are dying by their own hand than are killed by others.
Many Americans believe we're in a population explosion. The truth is birth rates have fallen into regressive levels in almost every developed nation. The "replacement rate" is 2.1 births per female. That's what it takes to replace those who die. The US is at 1.77 births per female now, the US hasn't been clearly above the 2.1 level since the early 1970's. As I said earlier, all our net population gains have been coming via immigration. Most nations in Europe have even lower total fertility rates. Same for Russia. Japan is down to 1.2 births per female. TFR rates that low over a sustained time will create a major imbalance between elderly/retired population numbers and a much smaller working class.
Then there's the complaints about minimum wage being too high or someone starting out at a grocery store making $15 per hour. Here's a big question for those making the complaint: what city is that store located and what are the living costs like there? I can recall friends of mine here in Lawton griping about "communist liberals" when San Francisco announced it wanted to raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour. Well, $15 per hour in San Francisco doesn't buy squat. That would be like making $1 per hour in my town. Many large cities around the country have living costs that far outstrip minimum wage levels.
Another person rolled out the whole "you have to own your own business to get a decent paycheck." The problem with that ideal is many businesses still need grown adults as employees. Shouldn't those employees at least be able to afford to survive? The cost of living in my city is lower than the national average. But minimum wage pay ($7.25 here) isn't enough to cut it. Another comment I hear about "burger flipper" jobs is "those aren't career jobs." The implication is those jobs are just meant for high school kids to learn how to work. Fine. If that's the real purpose of those jobs then why don't we close down every fast food joint during school hours? Only let those places open a couple hours in the evening! If I go to Subway or McDonald's during my lunch break (and while school is in session) I see nothing but grown adults at the counter and back in the kitchen. They may not work at those jobs long term, but while they're working there they need to at least be able to survive. Under the current environment they need to work multiple jobs like that or have other "side hustles" just to make enough money for ends to meet. It's a catch-22 situation as well; how is someone going to train for a better job if all his time is taken up by working multiple s*** jobs?
Lots of Americans have this belief that anyone can excel at doing anything if they work hard enough. Some dude from the ghetto cleaning gas station toilets can go to Harvard and run a Fortune 500 corporation if he would just get off his lazy butt and do it. Simple financial math doesn't support that romantic trope of "rags to riches Americana." There is a tremendous inequity going in with public school systems around the nation. Poor school districts often guarantee poor outcomes. And then the latest scandal with rich executives and celebrities gaming college admissions systems for their kids is just another
sign to show how stacked the deck really can be. The truth is success comes to you a hell of a lot easier if you're the right race, you live in the right neighborhood, your family is well-off, etc. You still have to put work into it nevertheless. But if you're from the wrong side of the tracks you're going to have to work a hell of a lot harder and need more luck on your side to get there.
I'm really disgusted by the open hostility and hatred toward people of younger generations.
"Those lazy millennials!" People in my age group (Generation X) and older seem to think all kinds of vices and general laziness were invented just recently. The truth is all those problems have always been around. Every generation has its own big share of awful people.
In the end, we can try to defend the status quo and pretend things like "income inequality" or blatant price gouging of vital things like housing and health care don't exist. We can sit back and let the so-called "free market" sort it out in a form of Economic Darwinism. But letting the chips fall where they may will come at a big cost to this nation. For one thing it's the not-so-rich "little people" who
sign up to serve in our military. If we pummel the middle and lower income groups to where they can't afford to marry, start families, buy homes, etc our nation will not have a long term future.
The world's population is still growing overall. But the highest growth rates are in "poor" and not so peaceful developing nations. The 10 nations with the highest percentage of youth are all in Africa. Match that with the declining native populations in Europe and the emerging situation we have here. It makes for an
interesting geo-political situation a couple or more decades from now. But if you're an old, white dude only concerned about his own thing then it's not a problem!
