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Are millennials lazy whiners or victims of circumstance? | Michael Hobbes | Big Think

Big Think | August 9, 2025



Are millennials lazy whiners or victims of circumstance?
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Writer Michael Hobbes says there are too many stereotypes about millennials. What is missing is the realization that millennials are going to be in financial trouble. The conditions that allowed previous American generations economic prosperity are simply not there. Since millennials are bound to start taking power, they need to avoid the mistakes of their parents.
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MICHAEL HOBBES:

Michael Hobbes is a reporter for HuffPost and the co-host of “You’re Wrong About,” a podcast that debunks historical and political myths. His article on millennials, “Generation Screwed,” was nominated for a National Magazine Award.
Before becoming a journalist, Hobbes worked in international development in Europe and Africa. He’s also an animator, filmmaker and speechwriter. Find him on Twitter at @rottenindenmark and more of his work here https://michaelhobbes.contently.com/
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TRANSCRIPT:

Michael Hobbes: So, there are three things that every millennial should know. The first one is that there is no evidence for any of the stereotypes about us.

If you look at entitlement, if you look at selfishness, if you look at public opinion polling there’s as much evidence that we’re “worse than our parents” as there is that we are werewolves: There is none.

Whereas there’s a mountain of evidence that things are harder for our generation than they were for our parents or our grandparents, and that it’s getting worse.

So how many articles have you read about how more millennials are living with their parents now than ever? There are twice as many millennials living on their own—making less than $30,000 a year—than there are millennials living with their parents. We don’t read any articles about that.

So what we need to do is acknowledge that all of these stereotypes come from anecdotes, that they are older people who have seen a millennial on a skateboard or have had an intern who was a young person who they didn’t like very much and have decided that that is representative of an entire generation, and we need to resist that.

It wasn’t always like this. When my dad bought his first house he was 29, living in Seattle; he was a university professor and his house cost 18 months of his salary.

Now, if you’re a young person living in a big city you know that that is science fiction. In the vast majority of America, especially in cities, it will cost you six, seven, ten, 12 years of the median salary to buy the median home. So this idea that we’re different from our parents because WE have changed is completely false.

What has happened is the economy has profoundly shifted underneath us. Housing, healthcare and education are all three times more expensive now than they were in 1968. Those are the prerequisites of a middle class adulthood, of a secure adulthood, a real life, and our parents like to point out that things like refrigerators and TVs are a lot cheaper—and they are, that’s great—but the things we actually need in our lives are much more expensive, and our wages have not kept up.

So, one of the things that we forget, and especially our parents forget, is how much cheaper college used to be.

When my dad was in college he worked for ten hours a week in the cafeteria, and that was enough for his tuition and a little bit of his rent. That doesn’t sound familiar to anybody I know. And what has happened since then is the cost of education has gone up between 400 and 1200 percent, depending on the kind of school you go to. Meanwhile, minimum wages haven’t really budged, general wages haven’t really budged, and the price of everything else has gotten higher too.

So in the early ‘70s it took around 300 hours of minimum wage work to afford a four year education. By the 2000s it took 4,400 hours of minimum wage work to afford a four year education.

So tell your parents that next Thanksgiving when they complain to you about not going to college.

I think there’s a tendency when we talk about millennials, and especially when we talk about poor millennials, to talk about our choices rather than our options.

So again, the evidence—like did my grandparents know what their pension was when they were 25? I don’t think they did. I think that by the time they checked they had one, whereas this generation gets blamed for not saving more for…

Read the full transcript at https://bigthink.com/videos/michael-hobbes-3-inconvenient-truths-about-the-millennial-generation

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Written by Big Think

Comments

This post currently has 49 comments.

  2. @camdunlap8494

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    You are so right. The money is broken. The problem is that Socialism, UBI, Government forced saftey nets funded by "the rich" are NOT the answer. Socialism has never worked and never will work. What you're hinting at as the solution to the problem is just more of the same but with a dash of moral superiority. More money printing and further devaluation of the dollar, is more of the exact problem you are pointing at. Sadly as well researched and smart as you are, you are not offering any better solution at all. So what is the answer? BITCOIN. That's it. Scoff at and dismiss it and you're no better, no wiser and no more empathetic than your parents and their parents before them. Bitcoin fixes everything – and that is not hyperbole. Do your homework – again please.

  3. @cat888-v8h

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    Love this message ❤❤❤ approved by this elder millennial 😊 wouldn’t it be nice to have a floor beneath our feet!! Not to mention a roof over our heads! so practical ❤

  8. @alicialopez9469

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    That is a reality for Amercan Parents is not the reality of inmigrants parents; everything is as or more harded than it is for you Millenials, even thougt we give the opportuny for our children buying insurance for their education, buying houses with % higher than the actual rate, so do not victimize or an excuse for no fight for a better society.

  13. @ed8329

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    This summer, I paid $2200 a month to live in an unfinished basement of a child sex offender, with crickets and frogs. The town I live in is a seasonal vacation spot, so everyone rents their houses for thousands a night in the summer. Many restaurants have had to shut down because there is no one to work in them, because working people can't afford the $10k a month rent. It's incredibly frustrating that my husband and I, who are both educated and work 2 jobs each, will never be able to own a house.

  16. @brenlh6484

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    Vote blue and the chances of being as good or better off than your parents in the entire scheme will get better. Convince your friends to do the same.

  20. @Skipbo000

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    Excellent , thank you. What til the millennials realize that not only is there enough money but all the Federal Reserve does in order to pay for these wars, prisons, registries and law enforcement is create money out of thin air and changes digital numbers to give the government money.

  22. @ribbrascal

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    Just heard your beta male voice lie about Tom Cotton advocating the shooting of "peaceful protestors".

    Location on the desirability hierarchy confirmed as a woke white and elite homosexual.

    Patterns persist.

    /anti-woke homosexual ex-Democrat

  23. @girevka

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    Preach! I love your vision of Millennials aging into power and what you will do. When you run for office I will totally contribute to your campaign. <3

  25. @GK-op4oc

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    For a change, vote for an end of government funding of loans for college. The PRIMARY REASON that 10x minimum wage job hours are needed is due to tuition inflation from easy government loans. STEM jobs are in such high demand that the USA imports workers, primarily from India and China. Young adult US citizens are faced with an open job market in STEM jobs and forced to compete with the most motivated in the world. Note that I use the term 'motivated', not 'best'. End H1B (imports 85000 new foreign nations workers every year), its 2-for-1 spousal VISA work authorization and end government-induced tuition inflation.

  26. @GK-op4oc

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    We have not funded trains for 30-40 years ? Look at the cost of California trains. 15 years of building a new California rail, and nothing.
    The future is better use of existing road infrastructure with robotaxis/buses, which existing busses already rely on. The busses and trains are mostly empty aside from a few rush-hour routes.

  27. @zacharychemacki6234

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    Good video overall, but I would point out that regardless of the cost, you should get a degree that will actually enable you to make money. Do not take a cheaper, but worthless degree over a more expensive degree that you can actually make a career out of.

  29. @ianmacrae4963

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    Thanks for this, as I went with all the stereotypes, probably because it's 'easy think'. The only shudder moment I had was "tax the rich", "tax the rich". That is too broad a statement. It sounds good to people that do not consider themselves to be "rich" but in reality it is not a simple strategy. Maybe next time wordsmith that part and it won't sound so 'whiny'.

  33. @michaelhowe6676

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    I don’t know about this guy I didn’t even graduate high school and I Got in trouble went to prison turn my life around and make $25 an hour And I’m only 30 years old and in the next 10 years hope to at least be making $55 an hour but after being in the construction world $25 an hour does not seem like a lot of money

  34. @Lamenteinglesa

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    With the money-saving aspect we should not forget that there is something called inflation, so a decent amount of money today won't have the same purchasing power tomorrow…

  40. @Leo-mr1qz

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    "Deprived of meaningful work, men and women lose their reason for existence; they go stark raving mad." – Fyodor Dostoevsky
    The author of this video needed to go into the STEM field in college. B!ching and whining about his current circumstances is making him stark mad! 🤪

  41. @rwillia99

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    As a gen Y guy I started hating this guy (I’m holding on to Gen Y) …..then started totally agreeing with this guy. Sorry Millennials, my 401k is dominating. You’re fucked. This guy is right.

  42. @antonlords6

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    The cost increases are the result of our government taking us off the gold standard. Money being printed backed by nothing, and manipulated by the government. Combine that with a debt of 130% of GDP and you'll realize that this country is screwed. Don't blame the people. Put it where ir belongs, on the government.

  44. @bigbaba1111

    August 9, 2025 at 8:18 am

    College is expensive because of the bloated neo marxist administration and useless activist disciplines.

    It's actually great that young people do not reproduce. 70% of them are anti American leftists and useless.

    My son will go to trade school, stay away from liberal brainwashing and make 80k without any debt.

Comments are closed.

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