I'll talk about one reason specifically why the younger generation is pissed off and should be upset about the way things are going:
Entry level salaries for University grads are not rising proportionately to cost of living, while CEO's salaries are increasing exponentially.
Think about the cost of a house. In the 80's, you old farts probably bought your brand new baby for 2-3x your base salary (my father personally made 35K and paid 67K for his house).
Now, us on the other hand are looking at 4x-5x the amount on a normal entry level salary and that's for a ****ty condo. More people than ever are getting stuck in the renter's rut, unless they are married / have generous parents.
If your dad was making 35k as a newcomer to the workforce in the 80's he was making WAY more than average, I suspect. 35k was an entry level IT salary 15 years ago when houses cost 100-120k (so still at your 3x pricepoint). On top of that, he would have been paying absolutely crippling interest compared to what a first time home owner with limited equity is looking at today.
[QUOTE=CaramonLS;3319715]Bah, rants of lame old men around here.
I'll talk about one reason specifically why the younger generation is pissed off and should be upset about the way things are going:
Entry level salaries for University grads are not rising proportionately to cost of living, while CEO's salaries are increasing exponentially.
Since 2008 American net incomes have gone down 10% so the average American consumer has 90% of the purchasing power that they had in 2008. Souce : Anthony Scaramucci. In a consumption based economy this really hurts and consumers consuming makes up 75% of the US economy. Here in Canada consumer debt is at an all-time high $1.5 trillion more than Canada's annual gross domestic product. Debt to income ratio in Canada was 116% in 2005 and this year reached 150%. Source : Statistics Canada. Consumers ability to pay back debt is not rising at a sustainable rate.
If your dad was making 35k as a newcomer to the workforce in the 80's he was making WAY more than average, I suspect. 35k was an entry level IT salary 15 years ago when houses cost 100-120k (so still at your 3x pricepoint). On top of that, he would have been paying absolutely crippling interest compared to what a first time home owner with limited equity is looking at today.
Not quite sure what your point is... are you saying it's the same?
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I don't have a problem with this group, but like so many other protest movements it seems to be more about problems than solutions. From my own personal observations of watching an Occupy Seattle protest (I was in the Starbucks across the street, typing on my Mac and waiting for the Banana Republic to open), there were signs about environmental protection, pro-unions, and anti-outsourcing (and anti-war, which I'll leave out of here because they aren't really relevant to corporations). And while it's nice to imagine an America with a stronger manufacturing sector, lower unemployment, and better environmental protection, I can't begin to imagine how all of those things are implemented at the same time - environmental standards are one of the reasons that the manufacturing sector cannot compete with asian manufacturing.
The way I see it, the only way the occupy movement gets any real clout is if someone writes a political platform that they can get behind, similar to how various politicians started to tailor their platforms for the tea party movement. But I don't see any mainstream politicians doing that, because right now the movement still seems to be unpopular overall.
I stand corrected, I didn't realize the graph shot up quite like that
Am I the only one who doesn't believe the graph does shoot up like that? I know we were resilient in Canada, but housing prices didn't continue that upward trajectory through 2008 and beyond. Something seems wrong...
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Am I the only one who doesn't believe the graph does shoot up like that? I know we were resilient in Canada, but housing prices didn't continue that upward trajectory through 2008 and beyond. Something seems wrong...
The graph's author likely extrapolated bs the 96, 01 and 06 CDN census, but im not sure. You're welcome to provide some counter data if you wish though to support your argument instead of sniping from afar.
The graph's author likely extrapolated bs the 96, 01 and 06 CDN census, but im not sure. You're welcome to provide some counter data if you wish though to support your argument instead of sniping from afar.
I'm quite comfortable up here on the grassy knoll actually. What data would you want anyway? The dozens of front page news stories about the price of real estate and the fact that it didn't continually rise aren't enough?
The graph's author likely extrapolated bs the 96, 01 and 06 CDN census, but im not sure. You're welcome to provide some counter data if you wish though to support your argument instead of sniping from afar.
Even if that is true, the fact that the author essentially made up, with obviously wrong numbers, almost 25% of the graph (3 out of 13 years) from 2006 to 2009 calls the entire thing into question.
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I'm quite comfortable up here on the grassy knoll actually. What data would you want anyway? The dozens of front page news stories about the price of real estate and the fact that it didn't continually rise aren't enough?
You can start by posting average income vs housing prices over the last 20 years.
Even if that is true, the fact that the author essentially made up, with obviously wrong numbers, almost 25% of the graph (3 out of 13 years) from 2006 to 2009 calls the entire thing into question.
sure, because plotting the data points for the other 10 years and then connecting the dots would clearly debunk the trend that is shown right?
there's tons of data showing how housing prices have escalated compared to salaries. And it hasn't been since the nineties. Try mid 70's. The housing bubble simply exacerbated that difference.
This is so typically Calgarian. First we're talkin about the poor and the downtrodden, the antiwar set, protesting that the world on a whole just ain't fair. Then bamm housing prices.
Can we get back to lightin things on fire and beatin down the po po?
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Also, I think this paragraph sums up the whole thing very well:
It’s true, as critics state, that the occupiers lack focus. What those critics haven’t grasped is that the initial absence of a cleanly packaged set of demands is precisely what marks Occupy Wall Street as a truly democratic movement. It’s all about the process. There is no CEO corporate-style hierarchy here, and no one told the occupiers in advance what they should say. What we are witnessing is a leaderless, horizontally organized, participatory democratic process in action
