"Nothing can take the sting out of the economic crisis like watching millionaires provide each other with golden statues."
— Billy Crystal, crystallizing the Oscars in one sentence.
![theatlantic:
Adulthood, Delayed: What Has the Recession Done to Millennials?
Generations are social constructs. There is no chemical or biological difference between Gen-Xers and Millennials, but we talk about them as if they were different species. That Gen-Xers grew up “independent” and Millennials grew up “entitled” aren’t anthropological observations. Rather, they’re marginally useful stereotypes. If it’s true that members of a certain age group have commonalities that they don’t fully share with older or younger groups, this isn’t the result of generational determinism. It’s just circumstance.
The circumstances surrounding the Millennial generation are particularly strange. Many came of age in the longest economic expansion of the 20th century and graduated into the worst recession since the 1930s. The abrupt contraction of opportunity has left a mark. Unemployment among 18- to 24-year-olds was 16% in 2011, twice as high as the national average. Median earnings fell more for the young than any other cohort, and college debt, most of which is held by 20-somethings, is at an all-time high.
With education comes opportunity. That’s the deal, as this generation understood it. Now, they’re the highest-educated generation in American history, and they’ve graduated into … this.
When adults wonder what’s the matter with the Millennial generation that has increasingly chosen to live with their parents and put off marriage and homeownership, the first thing to say is that they’re using the word “chosen” wrong. Nobody chose this. The economy chose for them.
Read more. [Image: Scarleth White/Flickr]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lze4daMFNq1qcokc4o1_500.png)
Adulthood, Delayed: What Has the Recession Done to Millennials?
Generations are social constructs. There is no chemical or biological difference between Gen-Xers and Millennials, but we talk about them as if they were different species. That Gen-Xers grew up “independent” and Millennials grew up “entitled” aren’t anthropological observations. Rather, they’re marginally useful stereotypes. If it’s true that members of a certain age group have commonalities that they don’t fully share with older or younger groups, this isn’t the result of generational determinism. It’s just circumstance.
The circumstances surrounding the Millennial generation are particularly strange. Many came of age in the longest economic expansion of the 20th century and graduated into the worst recession since the 1930s. The abrupt contraction of opportunity has left a mark. Unemployment among 18- to 24-year-olds was 16% in 2011, twice as high as the national average. Median earnings fell more for the young than any other cohort, and college debt, most of which is held by 20-somethings, is at an all-time high.
With education comes opportunity. That’s the deal, as this generation understood it. Now, they’re the highest-educated generation in American history, and they’ve graduated into … this.
When adults wonder what’s the matter with the Millennial generation that has increasingly chosen to live with their parents and put off marriage and homeownership, the first thing to say is that they’re using the word “chosen” wrong. Nobody chose this. The economy chose for them.
Read more. [Image: Scarleth White/Flickr]
(via npr)
Why everyone overestimates American equality of opportunity.
Read an excerpt from Senior Editor Timothy Noah’s upcoming book, The Great Divergence: America’s Growing Inequality Crisis and What We Can Do About It, published in the March 1, 2012 issue of the magazine.
“Most of Western Europe today is both more equal in income and more econmically mobile than the United States. And it isn’t just Western Europe. Countries as varied as Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and Pakistan all have higher degrees of income mobility than we do. A nation that prides itself on its lack of class rigidity has, in short, become significantly more economically rigid than many other developed countries. How did our perception of ourselves end up so far out of sync with reality?”
—Timothy Noah, “The Mobility Myth: Why everyone overestimates American equality of opportunity.”
The ruins of Detroit, Michigan — Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre document what remains of a once-great city
This is eerie, and depressing.
(Source: 1000scientists)
The Top 1 Percent: What Jobs Do They Have?
Explore the occupations and industries of the nation’s wealthiest households.
(via sunfoundation)
Wonkbook: On debt, the conventional wisdom vs. the markets
In Washington, 2011 was all about dangers posed by America’s deficits. Republicans said deficit reduction was priority number one. Democrats mostly went along. But in the markets, the story was precisely the opposite. As Daniel Kruger reports in Bloomberg, demand for American debt was stronger in 2011 than in any year since 1995. It’s cheaper for the U.S. to finance its debt today than it was when we last had surpluses. For all that Washington is sure we’re borrowing too much, the signal from the markets is that we’re borrowing too little, that they wish we would borrow more.
Hmmm…
(via ryking)
sunfoundation: A Visual Guide to US Income Distribution
Ok, so we’ve all heard about the people protesting US wealth distribution. Are the disparities in our country too great? That’s for you to decide. In the meantime, we’ve created a visual guide to how one important aspect of wealth –household income — is distributed state-by-state. Click on “launch infographic” above to take a peek at the data.
"
In a study released Wednesday, the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California reports that the proportion of households it defines as the middle class — those with annual incomes between $44,000 and $155,000 — has dropped below half, to 49.7 percent.
Households below that level account for 36.6 percent of Californians, and those above account for 13.7 percent.
The percentage of Californians in the middle class is the lowest in at least 30 years, the report says, and has consistently fallen since its peak of 60 percent in 1980.
"—
Fewer than half of Californians can now be called ‘middle class’ » Ventura County Star (via shorterexcerpts)
Wow.
(via shorterexcerpts)
The damage of prolonged unemployment goes deeper than dollars. Skills deteriorate, anxiety and depression set in, and sometimes an outlook changes forever. Megan McArdle argues that the true cost of unemployment is even worse than we thought.
(via theatlantic)
"The bottled-water industry, air and water purifiers, electronic security systems, residential backup electric generators, (possibly revived) paid “trusted traveler” programs at airports, and congestion charges, road pricing, and sale of passes for previous high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes — all use advanced technology to insulate those who can pay from everyone else."
— Does Technology Insulate Elites Dangerously? - Edward Tenner - Technology - The Atlantic (via infoneer-pulse)
(via infoneer-pulse)
"The future of ice cream is having trouble surviving today. Dippin’ Dots Inc., the self-described “ice cream of the future,” filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Paducah, Ky., near its headquarters, after fighting off foreclosure efforts from Regions Bank for more than a year, according to court documents. At the time of the filing, the company owed about $11.1 million to the bank."
—
Dippin’ Dots Files for Bankruptcy - WSJ.com
I have always thought that the Dippin’ Dots slogan (“Ice Cream of the Future”) was genius, because kids of all ages think it’s brand new, and cool. Plus it sets targets for commercial success way out, well, in the future.
Though it appears that future may not come after all.
On today’s Fresh Air, the spread of the informal off-the-books economy.
(via nprfreshair)
(Source: newyorker.com)
EMPTILY EVER AFTER Sue Schmidt sorted through her purchases at a Borders bookstore in Solon, Ohio, Thursday. The chain is going out of business. (Photo: Amy Sancetta / AP via the Wall Street Journal)
We scored a great deal (19 books, most of which we already had on “to-read” lists, for an average of $3-4 each) this past weekend, but it’s still a bit sad to see Borders go under.
(Puts on optimistic hat)… perhaps the crash of the big booksellers will reopen the space to small independents, to succeed in a market that still has people who enjoy, and will pay for, the browsing experience.
My guess is that there’s hope for small booksellers in small towns and in cities, but not in the suburban strip malls that Borders—and probably B&N to follow—are leaving behind.
