But even they're better off than their parents. Their parents toiled away their lives in abject poverty while someone else benefited from their labor. The lower end of our generation spends their lives playing Guitar Hero and various extreme sports in abject poverty while nobody really benefits from their labor.
At least from a selfish perspective, that's a vast improvement. I'd rather be poor and have fun than be poor and work all the time. In fact, I'd prefer it to being rich and working all the time.
Neither are as good as having fun and making a decent (or beyond) living, especially if you can make working fun too. So yeah, I'm lucky to be in that group.
I think you've got your generations a little mixed up.
Millenials are children of boomers. Boomers in no way have spent their lives "in abject poverty while someone else benefited from their labor".
Boomers spent most of their lives getting high and partying in the ultimate self indulgence. That's why their kids are the way they are.
Now, if you're X, you're parents were kids during either the depression or the war, and as such the values from those times run strong in you. (Added to that the fact that you're always eating the boomers scraps)
I am not sure that being poor and playing Guitar Hero wears less on the nerves than being poor and working, in the long run. I admit I've never tried either.
At least from a selfish perspective, that's a vast improvement. I'd rather be poor and have fun than be poor and work all the time. In fact, I'd prefer it to being rich and working all the time.
Neither are as good as having fun and making a decent (or beyond) living, especially if you can make working fun too. So yeah, I'm lucky to be in that group.