WE HAVE A PROBLEM: This is a well written and thought out article written by a 26 yr old college student by the name of Alyssa Ahlgren, who's in grad school for her MBA. What a GREAT perspective...
My Generation Is Blind to the Prosperity Around Us!
I'm sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis (Florida) trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of presidential candidates calling for policies to "fix" the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around.
I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook's, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we've become completely blind to it.
Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose.These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don't give them a second thought.
We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty One Times!!!
Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful. ??
Our ungratefulness is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, "An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity."
Never saw American prosperity! Let that sink in.
When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I've ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided.
My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let's just say I didn't have the popular opinion, but I digress.
Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country.
People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they've never seen prosperity, and as a result, we elect some politicians who are dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism.
Why? The answer is this,?? my generation has only seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn't live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War or we didn't see the rise and fall of socialism and communism.
We don't know what it's like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it's spreading like a plague."
Thanks FBers
She gets it because she thinks for herself.
ReplyDeleteYup, and as she pointed out, she is a distinct minority. And she will never fit in with her generation.
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ReplyDeleteEverything is framed as a moral failing of her generation — ungrateful, entitled, indoctrinated. Not a single line about wages, housing costs, or debt. When someone's entire analysis of a material problem is "people should feel differently," you're not reading economics. You're reading a sermon with a Starbucks receipt stapled to it.
Wages, housings costs, debt? How about spending on luxuries and considering them necessities? My folks did not have home internet, gym membership, streaming services, cellphones, Prime, Starbucks, or DoorDash. They ate out at most once a month and the family only had one car.
DeleteHousing prices went up .... well no kidding. 30 million illegal aliens have to live somewhere. They aren't buying high end homes, but the starter homes young people need. But go ahead, blame capitalism for the housing market being sabotaged by the anti-capitalists
Another good one. Thank you!
DeleteOnce again,perhaps there is hope for the future.
ReplyDeleteSpot on, Odie. Spot on. ♥
ReplyDeleteAt least one modern child "gets it". Sadly this person is DISTINCT minority.
ReplyDeleteNow enter in debt... does that change the perspective? How many are truly debt free or close to? Follow that money and you might be closer to those who are truly content. Many of us reject this world and all of it's so called comforts that are actually little traps and snares. Jesus forgives if we are willing to confess our sins. That is truly Good News.
ReplyDeleteVery well said Brandon!
ReplyDeleteThis was first published in 2019 and I found it on the Atlas Society website. Still good thinking for a 26 year old
ReplyDeletePublished in 2019 on the Atlas Society Website.
ReplyDeleteT Jefferson
I've been a single dad for 14 years. Even after my wife passed my children grew up solidly middle class. They never missed a meal- always wore nice clothes and went to good schools. They got cars when they got their licenses and all of them went to college. My 23 years old daughter tells me last week that it was rough growing up poor-I seriously thought she was cracked. I asked her why she thought she was poor and she pointed to all of her relatives bigger houses and flashy vehicle. I pointed out to her that they were mortgaged to the hilt and maxed out credit cards. Didn't phaze her one bit. Sad.
ReplyDeleteSandy Ocasio grew up right here in the comfortable suburbs of NYC. She was a good student at a very highly rated public high school.... and then she went to college and interned in Ted Kennedy's office. It's a shame.
ReplyDeleteRetRsvMike
This is a refreshing perspective. We have many problems, but we have many advantages over the rest of the world. The constant gloom and doom narrative that everything is horrible, all is lost, and socialism is our only hope is a very well engineered propaganda campaign. It defies logic that we can claim impoverishment while posting to social media, ordering a meal on door dash, and shopping on Amazon on our $1000 cell phone.
ReplyDeleteTrue poverty exists in far too many situations, but perspective matters. The benchmarks being used as a basis for claiming how bad things are would have been seen as disingenuous and downright greedy by previous generations, and exceptionally disrespectful by the rest of the world
Jim
MBA but can't figure out apostrophes. Meanwhile, lemme tell you about the Great Depression...
ReplyDeleteAlyssa is right because of media propaganda, college indoctrination, and being given everything and not working hard for it.
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