They’re in a real, challenging pickle… the Millennials are.
Because, only “35% of families and individuals” in the Millennials age group of young people, 20-39 years of age, own their own home, Bill Hudson noted, on Monday, in his Daily Post editorial.
And then, I read… “Millennials own nothing because the economy screwed us over for 25 years,” in a Business Insider article, written by freelance writer, Ingrid Cruz.
“A few months ago my parents chastised me for not really owning anything.” she went on to say. “I have few savings, don’t own a house, investments, or even a 401k due to financial pressures prior to the pandemic…”
Her student loan debt will wreck her “finances once repayment provisions begin again in 2022.”
Citing a CNBC report, she noted that “millennials owned only 5.19% of the United States’ total wealth in 2020 – four times less than what boomers owned at the same age,” adding that her generation “saw income inequality increase just as the Great Recession caused hiring freezes, decreased our odds of finding a good job, and student loan debt skyrocketed,” and that “The Great Recession also affected housing, creating shortages that were driving up rent even before the pandemic.”
And then, I read, in Axios, that “Zillow is receiving takeover interest in its multi-billion-dollar homes portfolio,” and that “this could swell America’s home rental stock and depress its number of homes for sale, as the reported suitors are large institutional landlords.”
And, let’s not forget that short-term rental companies may be exacerbating the workforce housing crisis, as well.
The three articles in the Daily Post, Business Insider and Axios, reflect the scope and severity of a serious, concerning crisis that needs to be urgently addressed.
As I was thinking about the word ‘urgently,’ I was also thinking about the words — ‘bandying about’ — which mean discussing something “in a casual or frivolous,” or a “loose manner.”
With urgent matters requiring the attention of folks in government, discussing such matters thoughtfully and seriously would seem preferable to discussing them casually, or frivolously, or loosely.
But, sadly, there’s a lot of bandying about going on.
One example, that sort of jumps out, is elected officials bandying about, in their rhetoric, having to do with patriots and patriotism.
If you stormed the nation’s Capitol building last January 6th, you’re being described as a “patriot,” by a number of people in politics, up to and including the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, and others in Congress.
According to an article in Business Insider, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene recently attempted to portray some of the January 6th rioters as “innocent patriots,” and went on to claim that some of the rioters, being held in jail, were drawing “pictures of the American flag,” and singing “the national anthem every night at 9pm while crying.”
Going by some of the video, that day, showing people breaking windows and breaking down doors, and riffling through documents in congressional representatives’ offices, and even threatening to hang the nation’s former vice president, Mike Pence… using the word ‘patriot’ in describing some of the folks who stormed the Capitol… would that kind of rhetoric fall in the ‘bandying about’ category?
That’s just one example. Searching online, there are more… for example, in Missouri Senator Josh Hawley’s rhetoric, and Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s rhetoric.
Considering the serious nature of things, like housing affordability, aging infrastructure, extreme weather and health care issues, to name a few… shouldn’t elected officials be getting down to brass tacks, rather than bandying about… about things?
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.