Unemployment Simulator 2018 video game

[mowens]

Which generation set all of the policies that have led us here? And which generation continues to do so?

I'm not saying generations previous to the boomers didn't do that same but the scale over everything is breathtaking now. By any measure your hard earned money went way farther 100(50? 25? 10? 5? 1?) years ago. Why is this?

If I remember correctly, the government did all of that. Newbeee may be over the top but there is a kernel of truth to most of what he says. We, no matter what generation, have little to do with what the government does and little ability to change it.

[Zoffen]

the government did all of that

The .gov is made up of people....

[mowens]

The .gov is made up of people....

A very select group of people.

[Smit]

The best time to realize this was yesterday. The 2nd best time is now. I commend you good sir!

Which generation set all of the policies that have led us here? And which generation continues to do so?

I'm not saying generations previous to the boomers didn't do that same but the scale over everything is breathtaking now. By any measure your hard earned money went way farther 100(50? 25? 10? 5? 1?) years ago. Why is this?

I'm guessing Boomers set all the policies and always have? The younger generations have no say so. None at all.

The big beautiful bill? 100% boomer! No other generation even got a vote! We suck!

Our money went further 70 years ago. Yes! It's great being a boomber!

Of course YOUR money went further 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 5 years ago, even 1 year ago. However, that's totally unrelated. Different thing entirely. But it's still the fault of Boomers!

Mowens, in particular. 

[YoDoug]

A very select group of people.

Perhaps if you actually read up on the subject versus just calling me stupid you would see that the boomers, having voting numbers that outweighed any other group, voted in the politicians that facilitated their benefit. AKA, boomers voted for the conditions that allowed them to become the greediest generation. As I stated previously, there are many articles, books, and papers that discuss this in great detail.

[Zoffen]

A very select group of people.

They are still people. Who belong to a certain generation.

They set the bear trap. They tell you about it and how to avoid it. Most don't take heed.

If you actually raise your children instead of let the .gov raise them you can teach them about said bear traps and how to avoid. Its not rocket surgery.

[Zoffen]

Just an anecdote from my personal life. My mom, a boomer, who lives out of the country and has for 5 years still votes in Washington state. She is historically a liberal voting person. She is voting on policies that will not affect her at all.

Why does she still vote in my state I asked her? She had some convoluted reason about her opinion still maters yada yada yada.

[Bucky Cornstarch]

Let's not forget that boomers came of age when there was literally no economic competition because well, they bombed it to oblivion in WW2. They enjoyed a very affluent lifestyle and the fact that they would want to hang on to it is completely understandable.

[Zoffen]

They enjoyed a very affluent lifestyle and the fact that they would want to hang on to it is completely understandable.

You can live an affluent lifestyle and still pay it forward to the next generation....

[Smit]

You can live an affluent lifestyle and still pay it forward to the next generation....

Sure. Post your PayPal and I'll send you a dollar.

[mowens]

They enjoyed a very affluent lifestyle and the fact that they would want to hang on to it is completely understandable.

Unless you have a different definition of "affluent" than me, that statement is not universally true. My parents went from extreme poverty to solid working class. That's how I grew up. That's how everyone I knew growing up lived.

Sure. Post your PayPal and I'll send you a dollar.

I'll make it two.

[neurosis]

Mowens, in particular. 

Thanks, Mowens! 

[mowens]

Mowens, in particular. 

Yes, I am the man behind the curtain!! Just be glad I am a benevolent dictator.

[Newbeeee™]

If I remember correctly, the government did all of that. Newbeee may be over the top but there is a kernel of truth to most of what he says.

Ahem!
It's good to see you gradually seeing how the BIG constructed world works.
I'm very restrained

/RestrainedOFF They're all a bunch of kuntz

[CNCAppsJames]

Who is responsible for young people to not want to have families and kids anymore?

I think this is a really good question. It's a pretty complicated answer for sure. However, rather than "who", personally I'd change that word to "what".

World War II changed "us" in a lot of ways. One of the most significant and drastic ways is the "home". The "home" used to often be multi-generational, wife stayed at home and managed the affairs of it, and the husband went to work. Leave it to Beaver-ish if you will.

During the War, a great many men went off to war (and a significant number of women too), the women that remained stateside, their roles often expanded. They not only still had to care for and manage the "home", in many cases they had to make ends meet as well. Some went to work supporting the war effort, and others kept the day to day "things" of society that make the communities/world turn for lack of a better explanation rolling. Once the war was done and the men (and women) returned home, and returning to their former homemaker roles wasn't an option for one reason or another, or wasn't a desire. They either opted to become entrepreneurs (my Grandmother - dad's mom - fell into this category), or they chose to remain in the workforce in other ways. Some changed roles out of desire, and some out of necessity. With those changes come strain. With strain can come some really bad things.

Prior to the end of WWII, divorce was a pretty rare occurrence.  The "Per 1,000 People" stats are as follows;
1860 - ~.25
1900 - ~.75
1920 - ~1.5
1946 - ~4.25
1960 - ~2.25
1981 - ~5.25
1990 - ~4.75
2000 - ~4.0
2010 - ~3.75
2019 - ~2.75
2023 - ~2.4

With the blessing of the end of WWII, 1946 gave us the curse of the highest rates of divorce in US history. My Grandmother and my dad's dad... got divorced about a year after he returned from the war ... when she was pregnant with my dad... in 1944. As a child of divorce, I can attest to the negative, if not downright devastating impact it can have on children. The old adage "kids are resiliant" while true, does NOT mean they are immune to the effects of it and will emerge unaltered or undamaged. Oh contraire, they are FOREVER altered by that decision they had no voice in. Depending on when that divorce happens in their life it can affect them in different ways. Those effects are as varied as the individuals impacted. Things like difficulty in forming healthy relationships, difficulty in managing the hard parts of relationships, trust issues, substance abuse, etc... all potential symptoms of the devastation.

With the percentages of women working outside the home increasing dramatically since the end of WWII, more children being essentially raised by outsiders. In 1860 7.5% of mothers were in the workforce. In 2010... that number was at ~67%. 1980, according to historical data gave the largest single year increase in workforce participation by mothers at 12.6% YOY. In 1980, workforce percentage of mothers reached 52%. People can say all they want about "childcare outside the home being great for blah, blah, blah...", the fact of the matter is all things being equal, children are better off being cared for by a parent, followed closely by a close relative. It's just a fact.

Government intrusion into the home via. welfare has had an especially devastating impact on families, and african-american families have been exponentially affected more than other races... probably due in large part to their higher than average percentages in the poverty percentiles. Once a pillar of American society in family unit strength, now since the left's "War on Poverty" and it's trillions of dollars spent, what does that segment of american society have to show for it? The number of families with both parents in the home has flipped almost completely inverse I'm thinking it was 75% both and 25% single before the "war on poverty" to now ~75% single and 25% both. Regardless of the actual statistic, it IS that striking of a difference. Why you may ask? Well, the rules for welfare recipient benefits pretty much require single (ie., unmarried) households. Essentially the recipient would lose benefits if they married. Thank you LBJ... you racist piece of shit!

Back to the stay at home mom... I can speak authoritatively on this subject as my wife has been a stay at home mom since we married in 1994. It is possible to do today regardless of what the naysayers tell you. Is it easy? Heavens no. The sacrifices run deep and aren't always necessarily fun.
"Let's get that new car honey..." Negatory. You're going to drive that 10 year old vehicle that needs repairs often until it's dead. Hopefully you know know how to do routine car maintenance.
Oh, you want to go out to eat whenever you want? #NotSoMuch
Those new clothes you want... every year? #ThatAintHappeningEither The growing kids get the new stuff (if you're lucky), you'll wear those clothes until they have holes in them, then you'll use them when you work around the APARTMENT. We got a lot of clothes for the boys from used kids clothing stores in the early days (mid-late 90's). Then the clothes that were in still in good shape where passed down to the next one, and so on until they were no longer wearable.
You want steak? #YouWillEatChickenUntilYouGrowFeathersAndLikeIt #PastaToo #HamburgerHelperFTMFW
We often got food from the Church food pantry... NEVER from .gov ...
You're tired? STFU puss and get to your part time job and be a man! Nobody cares, work harder!
Oh, and don't forget to do your homoework because you want to get the most out of your night school classes... so hopefully you won't have to work two jobs your whole career. 

Personally, I was unemployed I think twice early in my career ( <5 years in IIRC ) and I applied for Unemployment exactly once in my career. Total time unemployed in ~35 years <4 weeks. It was one of the most dreadful experiences of my working career.

Bottom line, if we had it to do over again, we'd STILL have her stay home. I would still go to night school early in my career to advance as quickly up the income scale as humanly possible. I would still work the part time jobs. Took me ~8 or 9 years in the industry to reach the $100k mark. Dipped below that mark 2 years in the last ~26 years. It wasn't easy raising a family on a machinist, programmer, and young Applications Engineer's wages. And if I didn't have the wife I have, not sure I ever would have made it. I know for damn sure she is the cause for much of my success.

Both my wife and I are children of divorce and we vowed to make it work no matter what... and 1) NEVER even speak the "d" word, 2) not commit the ultimate of sins in a marriage; adultery or abuse, and 3) always work it out. Hasn't been easy. I am an only child which comes with it's own set of issues... many of which are not great traits... just ask my wife, but hey, we all have not so great traits. It's our duty to acknowledge our own issues and fix them... or at least never stop trying to fix them.

I could go on, but the bottom line is people's lives are shaped by their childhoods. That baby boomers' generation was marked by war, divorce, civil unrest, destruction of the family unit often at the hands of the very government that is charged with giving the family fertile "land" in which to grow.

That's my take, and no matter what, Capitalism at the end of the day is the ONLY economic mechanism that will allow people to rise from one economic strata to another. For all it's flaws, it' still the best system. @YoDoug if you don't think so, good, change careers, go back to farming and live the agrarian life where you can live free from the burdens of modern life. Ge that windmill cranking for your water well, get you some good strong draught horses because all that CNC tech, robotics technology, AI that you use on a daily basis... Capitalism gave that to you to do with what you will. Personally I'm appreciative of the system. It has served me and my family well. IDGAF how much money Pedo Gates is worth. That is of no concern to me. What is of concern to me? That I live in a system where I can be paid what I believe is a fair wage for the skills and services I provide to the employer I choose to partner with.

People don't like capitalism, cool. Move somewhere that is more to your liking. It's that easy. Or, maybe not, because some countries actually have standards for entry so maybe you'll meet them (I'd say your skills would be in demand anywhere you choose if I'm being honest).