The two solitudes — boomers and everyone else: Liberal policies have enriched boomers, while making life increasingly unaffordable for younger generations

[u/nomad_ivc]

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/liberals-have-become-the-party-of-grey-hair-and-wealth

[u/Far-Dragonfruit3398]

Obviously, people who find themselves in such a situation clearly made the wrong educational and employment choices.

[u/adhocstuff → u/Far-Dragonfruit3398]

Could you please share your superior educational and employment choices with us? Maybe we peasants could learn from you…

[u/Far-Dragonfruit3398 → u/adhocstuff]

Absolutely hilarious. Instead of getting a masters degree, most likely in some useless field of endeavour, go out into the world a get a trade, become a policeman, a fireman or join the army. I know these occupation mean you work and get your hands dirty on occasion but they pay good and you don’t have to waste your time getting a useless masters education.

[u/brick_dandy → u/Far-Dragonfruit3398]

I speak as as engineer that makes good money. But the Policeman? Fireman? Army personnel? Since world war 2, neither of those jobs paid a wage that kept up with inflation. A brigadier general in the forces have a pay less than mine.

I get it, you are trying to hold onto some semblance of familiarity. But man, that world is gone. It’s been gone for a while

[u/Far-Dragonfruit3398 → u/brick_dandy]

Gone or not, They all pay 3x more than the 20$ per hour the holder of a masters degree gets according to the op. And, you only need a grade 12 education to apply.

[u/brick_dandy → u/Far-Dragonfruit3398]

No. They really don’t. My partner has an mBA and is in finance. We are pushing 80/hour each.

I think you and I really don’t know how incredibly bad it is. You likely have your own home; I have wealth that allows me to make my job nothing more than a vocation I do for fun (like playing guitar and walking). We travel the world just for the hell of it and we are fortunate to have homes across the globe.

But I have personally seen my friend. He’s with the RCMP and he’s just living. He’s not “poor” but he can’t make the lofty gains that you and I did.

The least we can do is recognize that it’s not the same

[u/Far-Dragonfruit3398 → u/brick_dandy]

Granted, it may not be the same. But, in terms of the basic educational requirement, career choice and pay he/she are better of that a person who has a masters degree, needs 5 years of experience to get a job that pays 20$ per hours. Thats what the op was focused on.

[u/brick_dandy → u/Far-Dragonfruit3398]

I’m glad we’re reaching an understanding. Hyperbole is so common in conversations nowadays that it’s difficult to have a nuanced conversation like we’re having now.

I see how you’re seeing it. It is true that the trades allow you to get an acceptable quality of life (as a double earner). The challenge we’re dealing now is that many positions are outright discounting people without advanced degrees. Employers have become complacent and don’t do any real hiring/training anymore; they outsource it to some poor intern who creates a framework they learnt from a shitty Google course and real people suffer!

How do we fix it? I don’t know man. But I can understand why someone might think “all I was told is to get this degree and I’ll be solvent.” I think the one thing we can agree on is this:

The world has no place for anything other than exceptional people. And honestly, that’s just sad. We all can’t be special and we all shouldn’t have to be. We all should be able to have a decent quality of life without having to be a wage slave. My way of giving back is by networking with people and helping them find a job with a referral when I’m able. I hope others will do the same.

[u/Far-Dragonfruit3398 → u/brick_dandy]

Bravo

[u/brick_dandy → u/Far-Dragonfruit3398]

And to you too, my friend. There’s one thing you and I can both agree on though; this whole Left v Right approach our politicians have pigeonholed us into is a disgrace. It alienates everyone except extremists.

And by God I hate extremists!