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Boomers say to stop wasting money on "luxuries." This millennial says they have it backwards.

It's not the "luxuries" that are holding young people back.

via Canva

Millennial man says "luxuries" aren't the reason young people can't afford to live.

Being a human being has really gotten expensive. Millennials constantly lament the high cost of living and the fact that so-called "American dream" is out of reach for many of them. Housing prices have skyrocketed, as has the cost of a college education. Eating out has gotten drastically more expensive, and making food at home with fresh groceries is hardly any cheaper. It's just so hard, they say, to get a foothold in the modern economy. Boomers, who grew up in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, however, aren't wasting any sympathy tears.

One of the big talking points in the great American millennials versus baby boomers debate is that, yes, things are more expensive; but has the younger generation has knee-capped itself by its lavish spending habits that have prevented them from owning homes? If millennials stopped buying $14 avocado toast and $1,000 iPhones, would they be able to save enough for a down payment on a modest house?

Freddie Smith, 36, of Orlando, Florida, recently went viral on TikTok for a video in which he challenged the boomer argument with statistics from the Bureau of Labor, Federal Reserve, and the U.S. Census Bureau.

Smith believes that the older generations misunderstand millennial finances because their concept of luxury is based on 1980s economics. That's when most boomers were coming of age and buying their own family homes, and their ideas of saving up for a down payment and affording a monthly mortgage are heavily outdated.

Smith says that for baby boomers, essentials such as rent and child care were much more affordable, but items considered luxuries (TVs, CD players, computers) were much more expensive.

How is the economy different for millennials than it was for baby boomers?

"The main shift is that core essentials—housing, education, healthcare, and even food—have become more expensive," Smith said. "Housing and rent, for instance, now outpace wage growth, making homeownership feel unattainable for many. The cost of childcare has also skyrocketed, and food prices have increased.”

The home price to income ratio is currently at an all-time high. The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University writes, "In 2022, the median sale price for a single-family home in the US was 5.6 times higher than the median household income, higher than at any point on record dating back to the early 1970s." That ratio was closer to 2.5 in 1980.

Even transportation has skyrocketed. Buying a new car now costs about as much as the median yearly salary, with entry-level vehicles disappearing rapidly and being replaced with high-tech, fuel-efficient offerings.

"As a result, I think older generations have a different perspective on luxury versus necessity,” Smith continued. “They grew up in a time when hard work typically led to financial stability, whereas today, even with hard work, many people struggle with the high costs of housing, rent and medical expenses. Basic survival used to be far more affordable, allowing people more financial room to build a stable life."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Smith’s numbers don’t lie. For a person in the '80s to own three TVs, a CD player, a cellphone, a microwave, and a computer, it would cost them 3.5 years of rent or a 20% downpayment on the average home. So, it was irresponsible for someone in that period to purchase all of what was known then as luxuries.

However, for millennials, these "fancy toys" are a lot more affordable compared to the big ticket items of housing, childcare, and college education. Skimping out on them won't make a meaningful difference in the attempt to save up the massive amount of cash required for a down payment on a modern home. To wit:

"But if you skip that daily $6 Starbucks drink, you’ll have enough for the downpayment in 29.22 years," Yokahana joked in the comments.

"I hate that housing and transportation have become luxuries," Molly added.

"Imagine spending 3x your rent on a microwave," Donutdisaster wrote.

Older people may see millennials with multiple TVs in their home, along with iPhones and tablets, and think that money could be better saved up in service of the "American dream." But the truth is that those savings won't really help, and worse, they'll make life pretty unenjoyable in the meantime!


Why are luxury goods more affordable now than they were in the '80s?

The price of manufactured goods has steadily fallen over the last few decades due to technological improvements and trade policies that have allowed the U.S. to import goods from places where labor costs are cheaper.

"International, global competition lowers prices directly from lower-cost imported goods, and indirectly by forcing U.S. manufacturers to behave more competitively, with lower prices, higher quality, better service, et cetera," Sociologist Joseph Cohen of Queens University said, according to Providence Journal.

Even as recently as the early 2000s, a high-quality TV was likely to cost over $1,000. Nowadays you can get an equivalent, or better, television set for just a few hundred bucks.

Why are housing prices so high?

Housing prices in the US have soared due to the low inventory caused by the Great Recession, mortgage rates, and zoning laws that make building more challenging.

Rents have increased considerably since the pandemic due to low inventory, inflation, barriers to home ownership, and the fact that more people want to live alone than with a roommate or romantic partner.

Smith’s breakdown of the economic changes over the past two generations makes a strong case for the idea that millennial financial troubles have more to do with systemic problems than spending habits. The boomers got a bad deal regarding luxury items, and the millennials with necessities. Wouldn’t living in a world where both were affordable in the same era be great?

This article originally appeared in February. It has been updated.

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12 of the most unbelievable moments ever captured on live TV

It's hard to believe how many world-altering events were unintentionally broadcast to millions

CNN/YouTube & Robert H. Jackson (29) - Flickr

The Challenger space shuttle tragedy and the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald were both shown live on television.

The first television was invented in 1927. In the early days, much of the programming available was previously recorded. It wasn't until around the 1950s that we had the technology for live broadcast television.

Simply put, live TV changed everything. It was only a few years earlier that the Hindenburg disaster had the world's attention rapt. The incident saw a state-of-the-art Zeppelin flying machine burst into flames without warning, killing 36 people. You might remember, even if you can't place it, the iconic and tragic radio broadcast of the accident: "Oh, the humanity!" Though even that commentary by broadcast journalist Herbert Morrison was recorded live and broadcast to the world much later.

Soon, the biggest most earth-shaking events were being broadcast all over the world live, not just for people to hear, but to see with their own eyes. In some cases, they were even being captured (sometimes unwittingly) before producers had a chance to cut away.

Here are some of the wildest and most famous incidents to have ever occurred in the roughly 75-year history of live television.

1. The second plane hits on 9/11

Almost anyone who was alive in 2001 can tell you where they were the morning of September 11.

Though there is some footage of the first plane to hit the World Trade Center, it wasn't until after that impact that news and media began to descend upon the area. No one knew the extent of what was happening at first, except that it was a horrible tragedy. And then the second plane hit the South tower as millions watched in absolute horror, changing the world forever.


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

2. Randy Johnson obliterates a bird during MLB game

Not all the crazy things that have happened on live television had such far reaching impacts. And, thankfully, not all of them have been quite as tragic.

Well, I guess we should try telling that to this poor bird. It flew through the middle of a baseball diamond at the worst possible time, getting instantly annihilated by pitcher Randy Johnson's fastball! The freak incident was a one-in-a-million occurrence that's still known as one of the wildest things to ever happen during a pro sports game.


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

3. The Challenger tragedy

In 1986 the world watched eagerly as the space shuttle Challenger launched out of Cape Canaveral, Florida with seven crew members aboard. The event was being broadcast live in schools all over the country when the unthinkable happened: The shuttle exploded without warning just 73 seconds into its flight.


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

4. Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walk on the moon

Thankfully, here's one space flight with a happy ending. In 1969, Apollo 11 took astronauts to the moon for the first manned landing. Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the moon as millions of onlookers watched on live from their homes, with the help of incredible NASA camera and satellite technology.

(Of course, to this day some people still insist the whole thing was faked!)


- YouTubewww.youtube.com

5. The killing of Lee Harvey Oswald

Though there was much media coverage of JFK's doomed appearance in Dallas in 1963 and, of course, his assassination, the actual moment of his shooting was never shown live on television. However the death of Lee Harvey Oswald, his presumed killer, was.

Just two days later, while being moved through the police station in handcuffs, Oswald was approached and shot by a man named Jack Ruby. The entire thing was captured and broadcast to a huge audience who was tuned-in constantly for updates on the case.

6. Gary Plauche murders his son's kidnapper

It was a horrible story, but all too familiar. No one watching at the time had any idea that they were about to witness a historic and shocking moment.

A man named Jeffrey Doucet had been arrested on charges of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a young boy, and a news crew was waiting for him to arrive in police custody at the airport in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Unbeknownst to Doucet, the police, the reporters, and the live audience, the victimized boy's father was also waiting. Gary Plauche remained incognito until Doucet walked past him, at which point Plauche pulled a gun and shot, killing him.

Plauche did not serve significant time for the murder, receiving a lenient sentence.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com


7. A guy wins $250,000 on a scratch-off while being interviewed about a winning a new car on a scratch-off

OK, that was a dark stretch, right? Here's another one-in-a-million moment that's a lot more fun.

In 1998, an Australian man named Bill Morgan was down on his luck. He lived in a truck and nearly died twice in a small period, once from a terrible car crash and then from an allergic reaction to medication. His luck turned around when he won a brand new car on a lottery scratch-off ticket.

A local news station came out to cover Morgan's story and asked him to scratch off another ticket for B-roll footage for the story. In the live video, Morgan is absolutely stunned to find that he won $250,000 on the second ticket.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

8. Magician dies on stage and the audience thinks it's all part of the act

Tommy Cooper, a comedian and magician, was performing on the UK television show Live from Her Majesty's in front of an audience of roughly 12 million people when he suddenly collapsed during an illusion.

The audience, knowing Cooper liked to have a little fun with pretending to fail the trick, began laughing. In reality, Cooper had suffered a heart attack and was dead on arrival by the time he made it to the hospital.

9. Damar Hamlin goes into cardiac arrest on Monday Night Football

About 15 million people watch a typical Monday Night Football game. The audience was likely bigger than that for a highly anticipated showdown between the Bengals and Bills in January of 2023.

Early in the game, after a seemingly routine tackle, Bills safety Damar Hamlin stood up, wobbled, and collapsed to the field. Trainers rushed to his side, and soon, first responders and an ambulance showed up as well. Viewers had very little idea what was happening, except that the stadium was absolutely silent and players on both sidelines were shown crying.

Hamlin had suffered cardiac arrest on the field, more specifically an episode of commotio cordis which is almost always fatal if not treated immediately. The Bills' training staff that rushed to his side saved his life on live television via CPR, and Hamlin eventually returned to NFL duty the next year.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

10. The Max Headroom TV hijacking

Here's a weird one. In November 1987, a masked "hijacker" took over the live feed of WGN-TV in Chicago. The person was dressed as the character Max Headroom. There was no sound or speech for 30 bizarre seconds before station engineers regained control over the television feed.

The same person, later that day, hijacked the feed of another major Chicago station: WTTW. This interruption lasted about 90 seconds and included, well, a lot of extremely strange stuff.

The FCC investigated the incident but were never able to identify the culprits.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

11. Will Smith slaps Chris Rock at The Oscars

Will this incident earn a place in the history books one day? Maybe not. But for a brief moment in 2022, we all thought this was the craziest thing that had ever occurred. Was it all a skit? Was it real? No one knew for sure at first.

I guess you just had to be there.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

12. January 6, 2021

Millions of Americans watched it unfold live in the aftermath of the 2020 Presidential election as a mob of over 2000 protestors approached and then stormed the US Capitol.

The footage captured by the media present that day is among the most shocking in American history.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com


Can you imagine if there were dozens of iPhone videos taken aboard the Titanic as it sank? If someone been trying to sneak a selfie with Abraham Lincoln in the background just as John Wilkes Booth was sneaking up to assassinate him?

It's amazing to think that there will likely never be a major historical or pop culture event that's not captured, if not on live television, at least on self-shot video. On second thought, after seeing some of these videos, maybe that's not such a good thing.

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Millennial says boomers have it backward when they talk about wasting money on 'luxuries'

Things couldn't have been more different.

via Canva

A young couple can't handle high prices and their dad says to save money.

One of the big talking points in the great American millennials versus baby boomers debate is whether the younger generation has knee-capped itself by its lavish spending habits that have prevented them from owning homes. If millennials stopped buying $14 avocado toast and $1,000 iPhones, would they be able to save enough for a down payment on a modest home?

Freddie Smith, 36, of Orlando, Florida, recently went viral on TikTok for a video in which he challenged the boomer argument with statistics from the Bureau of Labor, Federal Reserve, and the U.S. Census Bureau. Smith believes that the older generations misunderstand millennial finances because their concept of luxury is based on 1980s economics. Smith says that for baby boomers, essentials such as rent and child care were much more affordable, but items considered luxuries (TVs, CD players, computers) were much more expensive.

How is the economy different for millennials than it was for baby boomers?

"The main shift is that core essentials—housing, education, healthcare, and even food—have become more expensive," Smith said. "Housing and rent, for instance, now outpace wage growth, making homeownership feel unattainable for many. The cost of childcare has also skyrocketed, and food prices have increased.”

"As a result, I think older generations have a different perspective on luxury versus necessity,” Smith continued. “They grew up in a time when hard work typically led to financial stability, whereas today, even with hard work, many people struggle with the high costs of housing, rent and medical expenses. Basic survival used to be far more affordable, allowing people more financial room to build a stable life."

Smith’s numbers don’t lie. For a person in the '80s to own three TVs, a CD player, a cellphone, a microwave, and a computer, it would cost them 3.5 years of rent or a 20% downpayment on the average home. So, it was irresponsible for someone in that period to purchase all of what was known then as luxuries. However, these days, for a Millennial to have the average apartment and the equivalent amount of "luxuries" would only cost a little over one month's rent.

1980s, boomers, millennialsA 1980s computer and television. via Canva

"But if you skip that daily $6 Starbucks drink, you’ll have enough for the downpayment in 29.22 years," Yokahana joked in the comments. "I hate that housing and transportation have become luxuries," Molly added. "Imagine spending 3x your rent on a microwave," Donutdisaster wrote.

Why are luxury goods more affordable now than they were in the '80s?

The price of manufactured goods has steadily fallen over the last few decades due to technological improvements and trade policies that have allowed the U.S. to import goods from places where labor costs are cheaper. "International, global competition lowers prices directly from lower-cost imported goods, and indirectly by forcing U.S. manufacturers to behave more competitively, with lower prices, higher quality, better service, et cetera," Sociologist Joseph Cohen of Queens University said, according to Providence Journal.

Why are housing prices so high?

Housing prices in the US have soared due to the low inventory caused by the Great Recession, mortgage rates, and zoning laws that make building more challenging. Rents have increased considerably since the pandemic due to low inventory, inflation, barriers to home ownership, and the fact that more people want to live alone than with a roommate or romantic partner.

Smith’s breakdown of the economic changes over the past two generations makes a strong case for the idea that millennial financial troubles have more to do with systemic problems than spending habits. The boomers got a bad deal regarding luxury items, and the millennials with necessities. Wouldn’t living in a world where both were affordable in the same era be great?

This article originally appeared in February

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History

A forgotten feature of the Statue of Liberty is an apt symbol for how we treat our history

There's a broken shackle and chains at her feet for a reason.

Photo by Jeff Burak on Unsplash

Most Americans associate Lady Liberty with welcoming immigrants, but that's not what she was meant to represent.

If Americans were asked to describe the Statue of Liberty without looking at it, most of us could probably describe her long robe, the crown on her head, a lighted torch in her right hand and a tablet cradled in her left. Some might remember it's inscribed with the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.

But there's a significant detail most of us would miss. It's a feature that points to why Lady Liberty was created and gifted to us in the first place. At her feet, where her robe drapes the ground, lay a broken shackle and chains—a symbol of the abolishment of slavery.

Most people see the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of our welcoming immigrants and mistakenly assume that's what she was meant to represent. Indeed, the opening words of Emma Lazarus's poem engraved on a plaque at the Statue of Liberty—"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"—have long evoked images of immigrants arriving on our shores, seeking a better life in The American Dream.

But that plaque wasn't added to the statue until 1903, nearly two decades after the statue was unveiled. The original inspiration for the monument was emancipation, not immigration.

“The Statue of Liberty we now associate with immigration was a gift from France to commemorate the emancipation of American slaves. Before you lift your eyes to her torch of enlightenment, first pass them over the broken shackle and chains at her feet.”

According to a Washington Post interview with historian Edward Berenson, the concept of Lady Liberty originated when French anti-slavery activist—and huge fan of the United States' Constitution—Édouard de Laboulaye organized a meeting of other French abolitionists in Versailles in June 1865, just a few months after the American Civil War ended. "They talked about the idea of creating some kind of commemorative gift that would recognize the importance of the liberation of the slaves," Berenson said.

Laboulaye enlisted a sculptor, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, to come up with ideas. One of the first models, circa 1870, had Lady Liberty holding the broken shackles and chains in her left hand. In the final iteration, her left hand wrapped around a tablet instead and the anti-slavery symbolism of the shackle and chain was moved to her feet.

Writer Robin Wright pondered in The New Yorker what Laboulaye would think of our country today. The America that is embroiled in yet another civil rights movement because we still can't seem to get the whole "liberty and justice for all" thing down pat. The America that spent the century after slavery enacting laws and policies specifically designed to keep Black Americans down, followed by decades of continued social, economic and political oppression. The America that sometimes does the right thing, but only after tireless activism manages to break through a ton of resistance to changing the racism-infused status quo.

The U.S. has juggled dichotomies and hypocrisies in our national identity from the very beginning. The same founding father who declared "that all men are created equal" enslaved more than 600 human beings in his lifetime. The same people who celebrated religious freedom forced their Christian faith on Native peoples. Our most celebrated history of "liberty" and "freedom" is inseparable from our country's violent subjugation of entire races and ethnicities, and yet we compartmentalize rather than acknowledge that two things can be equally true at the same time.

Every nation on earth has problematic history, but what makes the U.S. different is that our problematic history is also our proudest history. Our nation was founded during the heyday of the transatlantic slave trade on land that was already occupied. The profound and world-changing document on which our government was built is the same document that was used to legally protect and excuse the enslavement of Black people. The house in which the President of the United States sits today was built partially by enslaved people. The deadliest war we've ever fought was over the "right" to enslave Black people.

The truth is that blatant, violent racism was institutionalized from the very beginning of this country. For most of us, that truth has always been treated as a footnote rather than a feature in our history educations. Until we really reckon with the full truth of our history—which it seems like we are finally starting to do—we won't ever get to see the full measure of what our country could be.

In some ways, the evolution of the design of the Statue of Liberty—the moving of the broken shackle and chain from her hands to being half hidden beneath her robe, as well as the movement of our perception of her symbolism from abolition to immigration—is representative of how we've chosen to portray ourselves as a nation. We want people to think: Hey, look at our Declaration of Independence! See how we welcome immigrants! We're so great! (Oh, by the way, hereditary, race-based chattel slavery was a thing for longer than emancipation has been on our soil. And then there was the 100 years of Jim Crow. Not to mention how we've broken every promise made to Native Americans. And honestly, we haven't even been that nice to immigrants either). But look, independence and a nod to immigration! We're so great!

The thing is that we can be so great. The foundation of true liberty and justice for all, even with all its cracks, is still there. The vision in our founding documents was truly revolutionary. We just have to decide to actually build the country we claim to have built—one that truly lives up to the values and ideals it professes for all people.


This article first appeared five years ago.

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