I don't know what to say. I got an opinion, but it's , just an opinion. Haven't those, credit companies / banks, learned anything from the past (?) (should be the last ones, in the list, of whom will get, bailed out next time) And those two... Both sides equally guilty.
You missed out on the entire article justifying the rather prevalent belief in socialistic ideas in gen Z through the millennials. There is literally a section titled The Rise of Socialism (Dependency to Bondage). ---- This article resonates with my experience as a millennial. Majority of the people of my generation I interact with want to punish the rich and wealthy severely for creating this divide. Even among my more conservative cohort there is a desire to return to Eisenhower margin tax rates where every dollar over some value like $4 million is taxed at 90%. Despite my distaste for taxes and my general Libertarian leanings, we have to do something to these people who continue to accumulate wealth at a rate unheard of even in the age of robber barons. No human should have the net worth of a small island off the coast of Asia. It's too much power politically, and globally for one person to be allowed to have. It risks compromising our democracy. I think its less about the decline about economic growth and more about the stagnant wages and the increasing gap between the highest and lowest paid employees in a company. Combine this with non-existent education on the use of credit and personal finance and you have a recipe for wage slavery. This hit home. The Trump tax cuts were worthless for the working class American. Trump's entire plan is to enrich his cronies through repeated swindling of the working class. He's not a Republican - he's a Democrat robber baron. You'll find candidates that talk about relieving debt through socialist programs (Bernie, Warren, etc) are rising almost meteorically in the polls. Trump is current getting beat out Bernie (which of course the lunatics believe is clearly the deep state manipulating polls) and Biden leads Trump by almost a full 9 points last I checked. People are tired of being shackled to multiple dead end jobs, living paycheck to paycheck, and being forced onto the ever-repeating cycle of debt slavery. If we don't address this cohort seriously, and instead act like @Nine_Ender, we will see the country completely flip blue and Republicans will be a thing of the past. It is far past the time to worry. The presidential candidate that acts on this economic information will win very easily.
I don't get the aversion to debt here. Well, I do, except most of you are hypocrites. Got a margin account? Guess what you are using debt!
@gaussian I agree with you, that the gap,should be reduced, (in which ways, how much, when etc. - that's another topic) yet - some insights, that go my attention : Victim mentality, isn't it. This is the human nature, that stays the same, through out the history. (it could be changed, but that would be, quite difficult) I think, it's correlating , with ability to lie, which we learn at age of 3 yrs old. It would go like this : It's not me > Yes it was him > I can't admit that it's my fault > I will blame him, because im no longer willing to see the truth, which is too painful. It also must be correlating, with cognitive ability, >which correlates with self actualization, > which allows, to break that cycle. Every day, i witness young men and woman, with victim mentality. Changing that, is only possible at individual level, with personal desire of individual, participation in process and consistent effort. Solution on generational scale , - educational system, teaching, concept of victim mentality, since primary schools/high schools. It is unheard of even in the age of robber barons and it can be changed ; yet the prosperity , is unprecedented. Never before, in the history of human kind, we lived, as good - as now. Another thing about universal basic income and fundamental problems - that are solved with more money :
The degree to which consumers not able to make ends accelerated since the 60's, that's also when world population started to explode according to this "World Population Growth" article: https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth. Although population growth was worst in Asia, but it's just one world. Blame the U.S. for actually having used nukes and the cold war. China really wanted to have a mutant population that would survive a nuclear holocaust if there would be one. Agriculture and health care success at the same time are also double edge swords, just like everything else. There's just not enough to go around.
Yes, I really don't think the majority of people holding that belief have a nuanced view on the subject. Much of it is envy. Everyone wants money but no one wants to work for it. However, this doesn't discount the quite real problem of a HUGE wealth gap creating a bonified serfdom. I think we agree there. This is very true. My primary argument about the wealth gap is not that it exists - there will always be wealthy people and poor people. It's mostly that the degree of excess is at a point it risks compromising democracy. If you have Bezos money you can quite literally buy congress. Given enough attempts it will surely happen. My fear is primarily a post-democracy world bought and paid for by the technocrats. We should worry when there is a such a dramatic difference between the richest and poorest. It has never bode well for the country they reside in.
I have very little debt. I own a house and 2 modest cars. I have money saved up for my kids education. I have never declared for bankruptcy. Yet i don't blame this couple. Blame the banks and government. They are the cause of education loan crisis even more so than the housing crisis. It makes no sense that a human being can't declare bankruptcy on a student loan. the banks and credit card companies need to start eating losses from people like this. Yeah we would all like to say "I wouldn't live like that at that age" but we weren't exposed to this exponential reliance on debt to this degree the young people face today. 430k for 2 advanced degrees ? Not everyone should be entitled to a college education where half of the degrees are a running joke.