These kids today are bitching because they claim we of the older generations had it easy. They claim since rent is $2800/month, things are harder now than they were.
When I first got out of the military I moved to Arkansas. My entire family wound up living in the storeroom of the business I was trying to start. My kids were bathing in a 4 quart ice chest. It sucked. The only job I could find was working for a plant that made aluminum BBQ bits. Not as a maintenance worker or as an electrician, but filing the burrs off of metal castings for $5 per hour.
I decided we couldn’t make a living there, so we moved to Florida. When I got here, the only job I could get was as an electrician for $7.25 an hour. I was working for a company called Palmer electric, and two of us would be tasked with wiring a house (rough in) each day. That’s a lot of work for two people. The company charged the contractor $400 for the job. There was no real profit to be made. That’s why they started using illegals- the companies who were doing that could charge even less and still make money. This was 30+ years ago.
I was making $1000 per month and using that to support a family of four. The rent on our two bedroom apartment was $550 a month. That left us $450 per month for food, utilities, clothes, all of the other expenses. WalMart sold hotdogs $1 per pack, and Mac&Cheese $4 for 4 boxes. Slice 2 hot dogs up and mix with the pasta, and you have 4 dinners for $5. WalMart sold blue jeans for $8. I washed them in Borax to get the oil stains out. That’s how we made the money last.
I managed to get a job as an electrician at the airport, repairing boarding bridges, conveyor belts, and car washes. The pay was better- I was getting $9 an hour. We still struggled, so I got a second job as a part time firefighter.
This extreme poverty was what led me to asking my wife to get a job while the kids were in school. I just couldn’t take being poor and working two jobs while she sat home all day and the kids were in school. She refused, telling me that she married me so she wouldn’t have to work, and we wound up separating. Less than three months after that, I was homeless.
That’s not struggling, according to them. This generation thinks that no one else can possibly know what it’s like to struggle, as they complain about high rent. I can find a dozen apartments for less than $2k. Looking in my old neighborhood, I see a 2BR going for $1600. When you take into account the difference in pay from then, and housing is about the same cost as it was 30 years ago.
The poverty level for a family of 4 was $15,600 per year when all of that happened. I made $15,100 that year with a wife and two kids. The poverty level today for a single person is $15,300 per year and $32,150 for a family of 4. The difference is that Florida’s minimum wage is now $31,200. In other words, it’s EXACTLY the same as it was then. Nothing ever changes.
These people bitch over and over again about how they are poor. Then people who used to be poor come forward and give them perfectly reasonable advice on how to change. Instead of accepting that, they say “things are totally different now, you had it easy” then go back to bitching about how they are poor and it’s all Elon and “capitalism” that has caused it.
5 Comments
William Wallace · June 15, 2026 at 10:56 am
I came of age in the early 80s. I can remember odd even day gas rationing. That was if the station had gas. First mortgage had an 11% fixed rate. New car loan was close to 13%. Thinking back to my youth in the 70s and I can remember no beef in the supermarkets. Pork and chicken was quickly bought up due to the lack of beef. McDonald’s was a once in a blue moon treat and they weren’t in every other town yet. Stagflation and high unemployment are some other memories along with the start of off shoring manufacturing. Good times.
Charlie · June 15, 2026 at 11:14 am
I will say tnis in defense of those kids: The Federal Student Loan program is a malicious unforgivable atrocity. It’s designed to put people into perpetual debt. Kids are stupid about money, and everyone has been brainwashed into the idea that a degree is necessary to success. They’re willing to go into debt that serves no one but the scum bankers and schools.
Because student loans are uniquely pernicious debt in that they cannot be discharged in bankruptcy, and the debt is further guaranteed by the government, there is no moral hazard for the banks. The schools know this, and have raised tuition exponentially. Tuition debt is like medical debt (another coercive cartel pricing situation where prices and debt are wrecking people) – people are willing to rack it up.
You used to be able to work your way through college without debt if you worked summers and a part time job, back in the 70’s and early 80’s when state schools’ in state tuition was under circa a thousand bucks a year or semester..That is no longer possible.
If student loans debt was dischargeable in bankruptcy, risk would force the banks to restrict their lending, and schools would be forced to reign in their avarice. Tuition would necessarily fall. Furthermore, only people really committed to getting a degree would do so, and this stupid credentialization situation where degrees are required for everything, as well as over production of “elites” would be moderated. IF no one can afford to go to school, they won’t. Only people who really should and want to be in school will be. Many lives of wasted hours prevented, a whole lot of debt eliminated, time and money saved.
In any case, the debt constrictor is killing its host. This situation cannot and will not continue. A debt and equity collapse approaches. There will be a debt jubilee when money inflates away, evaporates and no one can pay any more. Also, the property hoarding boomers will not live forever. In twenty years the Zoomers will inherit the world. With the concomitant collapse and recalibration there will be many opportunities and general “relief” of sorts..
Divemedic · June 15, 2026 at 11:23 am
No. What would happen is a person would go through college, become a doctor. Then the day after graduation, they would file bankruptcy and walk away to begin a $300k career with no debt. What needs to happen is:
1 the college agrees, as a part of the agreement with the government backed lender, that any person who receives a degree and cannot earn enough working in that major to repay the loan, the college must repay that portion the graduate is unable to pay.
When you claim the boomers are “hoarding” I assume you are referring to the fact that old people won’t sell you their home for a fraction of what it is worth.
The “zoomer” generation was born starting in 1997. They won’t be retiring, or even close, for another thirty+ years. In the meantime, Generation X (my generation) will be retiring in about 6 years, Millenials in about 20 years, and finally Gen Z will begin, some time in 2060.
Charlie · June 15, 2026 at 12:20 pm
The only reason medical schools are able to charge -300k in tuition is because students can go into undischargeable debt.
In 1963, average medical state school tuition was $243 per year roughly $2,400 in inflated 2024 dollars. Now, the average state charges charges tuition of $70,000 a year. This price inflation was only possible because students can go into nearly infinite undischargeable debt.
The Federal Student Loan Program was created in 1958 as an addendum to the GI Bill. Lending under the Program was privatized in 1965 with the loans guaranteed by the FEderal government, a huge boon to the banks. But that was not enough for the usurers.
In the 70’s they. egan to add longer and longer waiting periods before the debt could be discharged, finally making it impossible to discharge altogether. As they did this, the average loan amounts granted concomitantly increased, and tuition price skyrocketed.
Eliminate the undischargeable debt, reintroduce moral hazard for the usurious speculators, and the loanns will go away, and tuition prices will precipitously decrease.
The Federal Student Loan Program is yet another example of the Federa Government in collusion with monopoly capital, screwing the average person like a pooch.
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The following text is data pasted from Copilot Search:
When Student Loans Became Non‑Dischargeable in Bankruptcy
Student loans were not always non‑dischargeable in U.S. bankruptcy. Before the 1970s, they were treated like other unsecured debts and could be wiped out in bankruptcy without special conditions legalclarity.org.
Key turning points:
1976 (Higher Education Amendments) – The first major restriction: a five‑year waiting period before borrowers could discharge federal or private student loans in bankruptcy. Those who had repaid for fewer than five years had to prove “undue hardship” to discharge legalclarity.org+1. This was the first precedent that student loans deserved special treatment in bankruptcy.
1990 (Crime Control Act) – The waiting period was extended from five to seven years. Borrowers who had repaid for fewer than seven years still had to show undue hardship.
1998 (Higher Education Amendments) – The waiting period was eliminated for government‑backed loans. From then on, all federal student loans were non‑dischargeable unless the borrower could prove undue hardship in an adversary hearing.
2005 (Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act) – Congress extended the non‑dischargeability to most private student loans as well, making “undue hardship” the only path to discharge for virtually all student loans.
Further text from Copilot Search:
1960s: In the early 1960s, medical school tuition was relatively modest. For example, public medical schools charged around $243 per year in 1963, which is roughly $2,400 in 2024 dollars when adjusted for inflation, while private schools were higher but still affordable relative to household income.
Tuition represented a manageable portion of family income, often under 15% of average national household earnings..
1970s–1980s: Tuition began rising steadily. By the late 1970s, public medical school tuition had increased several-fold in nominal terms, reflecting both inflation and growing operational costs. Private medical schools also saw significant increases, though public institutions experienced sharper growth due to declining state support
1990s–2000s: The trend accelerated, with tuition increases outpacing general inflation. Public medical school tuition rose faster than private tuition in constant dollars, partly due to reductions in state funding, forcing schools to rely more on tuition revenue
By the early 2000s, average tuition for public medical schools was in the range of $15,000–$20,000 per year, while private schools averaged $30,000–$35,000 per year.
2010s–2020s: Tuition growth continued, with public in-state tuition averaging $42,555 and out-of-state tuition around $64,221 by 2026, while private medical schools averaged $69,548 per year
The total cost of attendance, including living expenses, books, and fees, often exceeds $100,000 annually at private institutions
Over the past two decades, tuition has increased faster than general inflation, with public medical school tuition rising 169% in constant dollars from 2001 to 2022, compared to 120% for all schools combined
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Divemedic · June 15, 2026 at 12:56 pm
I agree that the problem is too much demand and money chasing college education. The result has been an explosion of colleges and courses. I just don’t think the answer is letting people walk away from debts like that, and I say that as someone who has himself declared BK. I do agree that it’s ludicrous that colleges have endowments of over $60 billion, yet are being subsidized by tax dollars.
Harvard is nearly to the point where the college could be free, funded by the income generated by its endowment.