financial nihilism, and related matters

[BackAgain]

An interesting article.

Why My Generation Is Turning to ‘Financial Nihilism’ — The Wall Street Journal

It might seem reckless for Gen Z to gamble money on meme coins and sports, but many of us have lost confidence in the traditional ladder of success.

apple.news

To boil it down: it analyzes an alleged new social phenomena. “financial nihilism.”

It defines it as “[It] describes the sense that the economic system no longer rewards prudence or long-term planning.”

It seems to suggest that the younger generations are economically so screwed by our “economic system,” that they are investing in things like crypto-currency.

“Nearly two-thirds of Gen Z and Millennials think that the only way to build wealth today is through alternative methods like gambling and crypto, according to the Harris Poll.”

SPOILER ALERT! !! !!!

The author concludes:

“Their attention has shifted to wherever an upside still feels possible. Sometimes that’s a startup. Sometimes it’s crypto. Sometimes it’s betting a triple parlay on a football game.

These attitudes say less about the values of a generation than about the structure of the economy they are navigating. When people start treating the economy like a game, it’s a sign that the traditional ways of winning no longer feel real.”

(All quoted material is from the linked WSJournal article.)

Comment: I suspect that we, as a society, permitted the present conditions to become our reality. How? By collectively accepting the incremental inroads into the nature of who and what we are. We have clearly veered far off course.

And yet, having any national conversation on that concern really yields the same old political/exonomic arguments. And we’re at an impasse. Neither side ever really convinces the other side of anything.

We need to maybe consider using a new paradigm in how to communicate amongst ourselves to reach a larger consensus, fairly and squarely. I am wondering, how we might go about doing this?

 

[LibertyWeeps]

Well, the corrupt corporations of this country have made it this way.
They stopped valuing employees with intelligence, work ethics, and grade A skillsets back in the late 80's, and it's just gotten worse and worse every year.

Now, the entire workforce is 90% made up of people who HAVE to work in order to pay bills, taking anything they can get, because corporations have gone lightyears past greed and avarice, making Scrooge look like a philanthropist. Businesses today hire strictly for THE CHEAPEST SLAVE WAGE they can get. They do NOT care about intelligence, ethics, skills, or hard work. ALL they want is THE CHEAPEST LABOR POSSIBLE.

And after decades and decades of employees becoming haters of work, jobs, and companies, employees don't give a shit anymore.
They do the "bare minimum" in order to keep that job, and don't give a shit about anybodys ethics, especially their own. And all of this, over the decades, has bleed into all other social entities and industries.

An entirely new social structure is being developed......and we are now in the beginning of it. Will WE see the end result? No. It takes a minimum of 100 years to facilitate a social order of change.

More than likely, the future will be made up of 2 classes of people.........the have it alls and the have nothings.
The social order will be "work until you die, just for food and shelter" or become Soylent Green.

 

[Concerned American]

An interesting article.

Why My Generation Is Turning to ‘Financial Nihilism’ — The Wall Street Journal

It might seem reckless for Gen Z to gamble money on meme coins and sports, but many of us have lost confidence in the traditional ladder of success.

apple.news

To boil it down: it analyzes an alleged new social phenomena. “financial nihilism.”

It defines it as “[It] describes the sense that the economic system no longer rewards prudence or long-term planning.”

It seems to suggest that the younger generations are economically so screwed by our “economic system,” that they are investing in things like crypto-currency.

“Nearly two-thirds of Gen Z and Millennials think that the only way to build wealth today is through alternative methods like gambling and crypto, according to the Harris Poll.”

SPOILER ALERT! !! !!!

The author concludes:

“Their attention has shifted to wherever an upside still feels possible. Sometimes that’s a startup. Sometimes it’s crypto. Sometimes it’s betting a triple parlay on a football game.

These attitudes say less about the values of a generation than about the structure of the economy they are navigating. When people start treating the economy like a game, it’s a sign that the traditional ways of winning no longer feel real.”

(All quoted material is from the linked WSJournal article.)

Comment: I suspect that we, as a society, permitted the present conditions to become our reality. How? By collectively accepting the incremental inroads into the nature of who and what we are. We have clearly veered far off course.

And yet, having any national conversation on that concern really yields the same old political/exonomic arguments. And we’re at an impasse. Neither side ever really convinces the other side of anything.

We need to maybe consider using a new paradigm in how to communicate amongst ourselves to reach a larger consensus, fairly and squarely. I am wondering, how we might go about doing this?

I think this phenomenon that you speak of has been around for every generation and every generation has found different ways to deal with it. The numbers have increased, but the basics of navigating them have not. My first year of working for wages, I earned $6K and I could buy a cheap house (shack) for about $18K. A cheap running car was about $1K. Now, starting wages are in the $40K range, a cheap home can be found for $120K-$150K and you can find a cheap car for $5K. What's changed is priorities. We didn't have $1K cell phones and service charges of $50/mo., internet and TV that adds up to a couple hundred bucks a month etc. Life isn't easy for most--it has to be figured out.

 

[Winston]

Well, the corrupt corporations of this country have made it this way.
They stopped valuing employees with intelligence, work ethics, and grade A skillsets back in the late 80's, and it's just gotten worse and worse every year.

Now, the entire workforce is 90% made up of people who HAVE to work in order to pay bills, taking anything they can get, because corporations have gone lightyears past greed and avarice, making Scrooge look like a philanthropist. Businesses today hire strictly for THE CHEAPEST SLAVE WAGE they can get. They do NOT care about intelligence, ethics, skills, or hard work. ALL they want is THE CHEAPEST LABOR POSSIBLE.

And after decades and decades of employees becoming haters of work, jobs, and companies, employees don't give a shit anymore.
They do the "bare minimum" in order to keep that job, and don't give a shit about anybodys ethics, especially their own. And all of this, over the decades, has bleed into all other social entities and industries.

An entirely new social structure is being developed......and we are now in the beginning of it. Will WE see the end result? No. It takes a minimum of 100 years to facilitate a social order of change.

More than likely, the future will be made up of 2 classes of people.........the have it alls and the have nothings.
The social order will be "work until you die, just for food and shelter" or become Soylent Green.

Good post. Yes, the workforce is made up of people that have to work to survive, for the most part. And there in lies the root of the problem. Companies think that is a good thing, it is not. Best employees I ever had were not working for the money. And one of the best things Dad ever taught me, how much one is paid is pretty far down the list of reasons a person STAYS on the job. Respect and Appreciation are at the top.

But that respect is earned, not given. Things started going south when companies quit respecting their employees. Now, the employees don't respect the company, most are riding it out for a paycheck. And the worst part, there is no pride. At this point, the blue collar worker has been completely beat down. And sorry, while Trump may have tapped into that angst, he has only made it worse.

 

[Votto]

Well, the corrupt corporations of this country have made it this way.
They stopped valuing employees with intelligence, work ethics, and grade A skillsets back in the late 80's, and it's just gotten worse and worse every year.

Now, the entire workforce is 90% made up of people who HAVE to work in order to pay bills, taking anything they can get, because corporations have gone lightyears past greed and avarice, making Scrooge look like a philanthropist. Businesses today hire strictly for THE CHEAPEST SLAVE WAGE they can get. They do NOT care about intelligence, ethics, skills, or hard work. ALL they want is THE CHEAPEST LABOR POSSIBLE.

And after decades and decades of employees becoming haters of work, jobs, and companies, employees don't give a shit anymore.
They do the "bare minimum" in order to keep that job, and don't give a shit about anybodys ethics, especially their own. And all of this, over the decades, has bleed into all other social entities and industries.

An entirely new social structure is being developed......and we are now in the beginning of it. Will WE see the end result? No. It takes a minimum of 100 years to facilitate a social order of change.

More than likely, the future will be made up of 2 classes of people.........the have it alls and the have nothings.
The social order will be "work until you die, just for food and shelter" or become Soylent Green.

AND, AI is just around the corner to take those jobs, and no, they don't give a damn.

 

[Dragonlady]

Well, the corrupt corporations of this country have made it this way.
They stopped valuing employees with intelligence, work ethics, and grade A skillsets back in the late 80's, and it's just gotten worse and worse every year.

Now, the entire workforce is 90% made up of people who HAVE to work in order to pay bills, taking anything they can get, because corporations have gone lightyears past greed and avarice, making Scrooge look like a philanthropist. Businesses today hire strictly for THE CHEAPEST SLAVE WAGE they can get. They do NOT care about intelligence, ethics, skills, or hard work. ALL they want is THE CHEAPEST LABOR POSSIBLE.

And after decades and decades of employees becoming haters of work, jobs, and companies, employees don't give a shit anymore.
They do the "bare minimum" in order to keep that job, and don't give a shit about anybodys ethics, especially their own. And all of this, over the decades, has bleed into all other social entities and industries.

An entirely new social structure is being developed......and we are now in the beginning of it. Will WE see the end result? No. It takes a minimum of 100 years to facilitate a social order of change.

More than likely, the future will be made up of 2 classes of people.........the have it alls and the have nothings.
The social order will be "work until you die, just for food and shelter" or become Soylent Green.

It won’t take 100 years. Just look at South America from the 1970’s until today. The same “capitalism on steroids” trickle down crap that was imposed on South American governments in the 70’s has resulted in the financial collapse of these economies and poverty for all but the wealthiest of corporations and individuals.

It has been suggested that Milton Fried be tried for war crimes for the murders of leftists that resulted from the imposition of his policies.

It’s taken longer in the USA because Democrats keep cleaning up the fiscal messes made by Republicans and buying more time, but Trump’s latest fiscal incompetence may very well bankrupt the US economy.

Already, your bond markets are failing and the first world is looking to replace the US Dollar as the world’s baseline currency because your government is too unstable and your nation is unreliable.