to victim-blame and heap responsibility for the entire economy on a group of young adults who just want a damn cup of coffee between jobs.
On top of a laundry list of skyrocketing living expenses without a comparable wage increase, we see predatory lending schemes that promise young first-time home buyers a zero-percent-down plan with an adjustable rate mortgage. This loan structure is a recipe for economic disaster and another housing crash that will be messier than a smashed avocado. These mortgages are a booming business due to the conventional wisdom that owning is always superior to renting; unfortunately, that’s not true at all. Owning a home comes with risks and expenses that renting doesn’t, and it’s just not wise to purchase a home based on fear and scare tactics from brokers who just want to make a buck before you figure out what they’re up to. It’s a far better plan to rent affordably while saving up for a modest home, and it has nothing to do with macchiatos.
A note about lattes: Starbucks does charge pretty exorbitant prices compared to a bottomless cup of joe at your average diner. But it’s also one of the few employers in the United States to offer comprehensive insurance coverage (medical, dental, and vision) to both full- and part-time employees, as well as a 401(k) with a company match, and a stock equity benefit, in addition to tuition assistance for continuing education and paid vacation time. Starbucks even has a dependent care reimbursement program to help employees pay for day care, life insurance, and disability insurance. But sure, let’s get grouchy about the fact that their holiday cups don’t have enough Jesus. This is obviously why houses are expensive and the minimum wage is a joke.
Defining the American Dream
The definition of this great dream depends on who you ask. Hearkening back to yesteryear, the American Dream was a promise of a better life in the United States. The tired, the poor, and the huddled masses were promised a new home where anything was possible if you were willing to work hard for it. For as long as there has been a United States of America, there has been a safe refuge for the disenfranchised—at least in theory.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the American Dream as “a happy way of living that is thought of by many Americans as something that can be achieved by anyone in the US especially by working hard and becoming successful.” If we put our minds to it, live within our means, and work hard, we can achieve anything! If this sounds familiar to Millennials, it’s because it’s the classic refrain of our Boomer parents, who really could hope to achieve their goals with a little elbow grease. Spoiler alert: hard work doesn’t really cut it anymore.
Do any other aspects of the American Dream have us ready to face our future with a positive attitude? Why, yes!
The American Dream optimistically involves the desire to improve society for the next generation. It’s like camping—leave things in better shape than you found them. For the first several generations of (white) Americans, this was a feasible dream. Many generations have been able to see their children live longer, have better careers and lives, and continue down a path of improvement that first-generation immigrants set out to achieve.
Now it’s time for the million-dollar question: are Millennials doing better than their parents? Unfortunately, no. The Millennial Generation is facing shorter lifespans than generations past, in part due to chronic health conditions, drug addiction and overdose, suicide, and alcohol poisoning. This decrease in lifespan also affects the Baby Boomers, though not as starkly. According to Bloomberg’s recap of actuarial studies in the US, “the life expectancy for sixty-five-year-olds is now six months shorter than in last year’s actuarial study.”3 It turns out that the Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millennials are all on a downward trend as far as lifespan goes.
Taking Care of Our Own
In the face of declining life expectancies and increased healthcare demand, what’s a country to do? Aren’t we one of the most developed and prosperous nations in the world? Of course we are, so why are our people dying, chronically ill, and choosing between keeping food on the table and going to the doctor?
The Guardian ran an article online in July 2017, titled, “How Does the US Healthcare System Compare with Other Countries?” which explores just that—how our spending and behavior around healthcare compares with the rest of the world.4 In one heartbreaking graph, titled “Spending compared with life expectancy,” the caption states, “The US was comparable to other developed countries until the early ‘80s, when healthcare expenditures accelerated and life expectancy rates fell behind.” So, not only do we spend more than other countries on our medical care, we’re dying sooner too. While other developed countries like Iceland, Australia, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK show a gradual increase in healthcare spending over time, the US took a sharp turn and is off in outlier la-la land with its fingers in its ears.
The overall health of Americans is on a decline, which is a pretty big deal. As programs like Medicaid and Medicare face government cutbacks, older generations have less access to reliable healthcare. And as insurance prices increase in general, the rest of us may have to choose between maintaining insurance and keeping a roof over our heads.
The decrease in income compared to inflation has drastically moved the goalposts of this great American Dream. While former generations could put in a forty-year career and retire by age sixty-five with the expectation of a comfortable retirement (and even Social Security), the younger generations don’t have that same level of expectation. If we can barely pay rent, how are we supposed to save for retirement? Or a home? How can we afford to put our kids in day care while we go to work?
Procreation also brings healthcare expenses and spending on new-baby essentials. Millennials tend to delay parenthood, with research indicating that the average age of a first-time mother in the United States has risen from between twenty-one and twenty-two in 1970 to roughly twenty-six in 2014.5 There’s an obvious correlation to modern feminism and access to contraception, as well as comprehensive sex education. However, there’s also the fact that many Millennials just don’t have the money for kids until later in their lives. Having a child means time off work, or even leaving the workforce, which can cause a huge financial hit that simply wasn’t as big a factor in prior generations. Running a household on a single income in 2019 is possible for a select and privileged few, but certainly not as feasible as it was when our parents were born.
The New American Dream
Some journalists posit that the Millennials’ take on the American Dream is a reimagining, while some declare it dead entirely and completely unachievable (whether due to avocado consumption or things like housing costs).
Jason Notte of The Street writes, “Millennials have redefined the American Dream” in a May 2017 piece, continuing, “Millennials haven’t given up on the American Dream: their expectation of it has evolved.”6 While Millennials still see the classic debt-free retirement with a paid-off house as a staple of the American Dream, they’re also adding things like travel and living abroad to their proverbial bucket lists. But, Notte points out, Millennials don’t always have the cash on hand to fund their wanderlust.
Millennials definitely enjoy travel, on the whole, and even living in another country for a while. But it appears that they don’t tend to stay away for long. Millennials still feel strongly tied to the idea of “settling down” and aren’t likely to leave town to move somewhere brand new over and over again. Notte’s article gives the following rundown on Millennial moving habits:
“Currently, Millennials only envision themselves packing up and moving to a new city, state or country fewer than two more times in their lives. Most (68 percent) even say they would prefer to build a life in one community, rather than live
