Quote:Answer this question.  Are you better off now at this point in your life than your parents were?  I don't know if you are old enough to have adult children, but if so ask yourself this.  Are they better off now than you were at their age?  What about the young ones growing up now?  Is the opportunity there for them to succeed?

 

If we are talking career and money than yes, I'm better off at this point in my life than my parents were.  I have two kids, 6 & 2.  The school they go to, which is public, is pretty well disciplined and they hold all kinds of events, thing I do not remember when I went to school (the frequency of them).  As far as the education standards, I honestly can't remember too much of kindergarten other than reading books in class, but they have a much different system than I had growing up.  Are they better off?  Well, hard to answer that as I had a good childhood, but my Dad divorced my mom when I was 2 and he was pretty unstable (alcoholic) until I turned 20 (sobriety).  I would be whisked away every summer and pretty much lost that part of my childhood since he lived in New Hampshire.  Often times I was by myself there, but it wasn't all bad.  Currently my wife and I have been together since we were 15 so as of now our kids have had both of their parents their entire lives.  Better?  I don't know.  Different, yes.  This of course is only my experience.  I try not to judge the world solely through my own eyes.  

 

It used to be that high school students would work part time and/or summer jobs in fast food and/or retail in order to have some spending money and also to save for college.  Today those jobs are filled by people that either dropped out of school or are unable to find gainful employment.  You have people that think that working as a fast food employee or a retail clerk at WalMart is a "career".  They are demanding higher (unrealistic) wages and benefits at the cost of the normal "average" wage earner.  Granted, there are many people that actually move up within a company and go on to be successful in those kinds of industry, but the one thing that makes them stand out are work ethic and the characteristic of working hard to achieve.

 

The job market has changed.  That is based on supply and demand.  Walmart is the largest company in the US and employs 2,200,000 people.  That wasn't the case before.  I guess we should blame the consumer or middle class whose wages have stayed basically the same for 40 years shopping at a store whose main selling point is low prices because they couldn't afford the rising living costs?  In 1955 General Motors was the largest company.  Is that the fault of the workers that there are less of those types of jobs?  

 

Correct, they are demanding higher wages and benefits.  I don't get the unrealistic part.  Minimum wage is under what it should be when adjusted for inflation and when you add efficiency into the mix it is way under, but of course, there are different opinions on the math and what it should be.  Lets go back to the good ole' days though.  Back then in 1955, CEO's were paid about 20 to 1 compared to their works.  In the 70's it was 30 to 1.  Now, depending on if you count stock options cashed or invested, we have figures from 200 to 1 up to 400 to 1.  9 CEO's make 800 to 1 compared to their employees.  So maybe if all the high executives and CEO's weren't making way more than they use to they could afford to pay their employees more.  You say unrealistic.  I'm just having a hard time digesting that.  I thought free market was supposed to work for the workers?  Based on the numbers, that is not occurring.  These companies are bringing this upon themselves and the workers are fighting back, yet you are sticking up for the super rich.  I don't get it.  

 

You say people worked harder then and now and the average American is lazier, yet more by a substantial amount are going to college if they graduated High School than they did.  You state things, but never back it up with anything.  

 

You don't see that today.  Many want to "get paid now" for work/positions that were once considered a stepping stone to a better career.  More important is the latest cell phone so they can "tweet", the latest cars, clothing, etc. as well as cable/satellite television.  They have been raised around it and expect it to be something that is "a given" rather than something to work for and achieve.

 

But minimum wage isn't keeping up with inflation.  Let's start there.  Workers overall are making their CEO's way more profitable than they use to.  Their reward?  

 

Yes, we are in a different age.  I won't argue against everything you say.  People could make better purchasing decisions, but also, we have a lot more to choose from than we did.  Also, if Americans are buying more and making these companies more money, shouldn't they be earning more?  If Americans stopped purchasing than more companies will go out of business.  It is a double edged sword.  

 

Feel free to sight some actual statistics on Americans expect to be given things and not work and achieve it.  Again, more are going to college than they did in the past.  

 

Typical trades such as being a plumber, carpenter, electrician, auto mechanic, etc. are "looked down upon" as "working class jobs" even though the skills necessary to perform those jobs are much higher than the skills required to work at McDonald's. People working in those trades are very much more higher skilled and earn (starting out) around what people that think that McDonald's is a career are demanding.

 

Per PayScale the average pay for a plumber, pipe fitter, etc...  in February 2016 was about $55,000.  If a fast food worker earned $15 an hour at 40 hours a week they would make $31,200.  Maybe your math is off or you didn't bother looking.  Per PayScale as of January 2016 the average income of a fast food worker was $17,000,  I think $23,800 difference per year which is more than average income of fast workers now is not around what plumbers make.

 

I would say that today's younger generation hasn't learned one important lesson that my generation and those before me learned.  SACRIFICE.  Nothing comes easy and nothing is a given.

 

I think they have.  The OECD ranked the US 29th out of 34 countries in work-life balance.  I think Americans are sacrificing plenty.  The middle class has sacrificed a lot.  Productivity is way up yet pay is basically the same.  CEO's on the other hand are cashing in.  Are Americans not working harder and sacrificing or are they being underpaid? The middle class being stagnant while production and profits are up along with the 1% continuing to gain ground would suggest Americans are under paid.