Old Economy Steve: A meme for frustrated Millennials

[Wild self]

I work at UPS and I spoke with one of my managers a few years back. He was talking about how "you kids wanna major in communication and wonder why you don't get jobs!"

Like mahfukka, your ass didnt even go to college and worked your way up to a nearly six figure job with a seven figure retirement package.

And they got the nerve to tell us up and coming guys to get degrees

STEM Majors are getting low balled too. Especially when they don't believe in worker unions and overwork you till you drop.

 

[RTF]

CAC shyt

This ain't nothing new to black folks. fukk these whining ass CACs and their struggles. I have no sympathy for these New Millennium CACs.

Nah breh. This applies to blacks too. My parents thought degree = made it. Got the degree - games changed... non-degree holding, working classparents confused... can't/don't know how to help me. In their day, if you went to University got a decent job, you would have made it.

And to top it off.. my parents don't even own property. They can't release equity to help me buy my own. It's all up hill for black millenials. This hasn't levelled the playing field it's made it worse. If you aint got access to baby boomer money or connections, you're fukked.

 

[Wink Beaufield]

My moms and pops told me straight up don't bother with college and take advantage of Marrion Barry's DC jobs program to get into the federal government straight outta high school. Even back in their day, all you needed to do in order to get a job with the feds was to take the Civil Service Exam and they would place you somewhere based on your score like the military's ASVAB.

Now you have to go through hell and back in order to get a government job now. The "easiest" entry level job to get in the government is through TSA, but you will go through hell there.

 

[Edub]

oh its coming....it will be a sight to see....when reality hit these brain dead zombies...oh my

Yea that's happening now...the us stock market hasn't turned a profit yet this year...we're TWO WEEKS in....

When I think of the convo's I've had wit baby boomers it's no wonder this shyt is tanking. This is the baby boomer workforce set up...truly they are an arrogant bunch who want to stick it to the youth because they're actually jealous of the vitality the youth have. Worst parental generation probably ever. They all got jobs and completely abandoned making this country better for the future because they were all concerned about their PERSONAL wealth...

I honestly see a large scale revolt coming in the future

 

[The_King_of_Everything]

 

[The_King_of_Everything]

555k


fukk my life.

 

[kingdizzy01]

broke millennials that didnt do what they shouldve done in college:

Spoiler

 

[Wink Beaufield]

555k


fukk my life.

Well, DC does have the highest income inequality in the US so that's not surprising at all. 20-30 years from now Anacostia gonna be looking like Old Town Alexandria.

 

[beenz]

Have you encountered Old Economy Steve? He came of age around 1970-something, wears a blue-collared shirt, sports a feathered haircut and has an awkward smirk-like grin. Oh, and he's the main character in a meme for frustrated Millennials -- a generation facing a mountain of student loan debt and dire job prospects that TIME magazine recently called "lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow."

It seems Millennials have a few things to say to condescending Baby Boomers and elders who have some out-of-touch ideas about what it's like growing up in the 21st century's economic climate. The Old Economy Steve meme is encircled by choice little phrases, like "Drives up federal deficit for 30 years... Hands the bill to his kids" and "Has it better than his parents... and his kids."

So what are the meme's origins?

According to the website Know Your Meme, the picture of the young man was first featured in acne-related articles. On May 10, 2012, a user of Reddit, NewNormal, submitted the image (titled "Introducing Old Economy Steven… you know, your dad") to the the website, which featured the same photograph paired with the caption "Fails out of high school...Gets job, buys house, retires happy."

See more examples below. And tell us what you think -- are Millennialsbitter or do they have a point?

Old Economy Steve: A meme for frustrated Millennials | Marketplace.org

a lot of this sounds like my moms.

she only had one job her entire life which was as an elementary teacher for the chicago public schools.

back when I used to out here looking for jobs, she'd tell me shyt like "why don't you just go to the companies and meet with the hr folks with your resume"

as if you could actually walk into the HR department of any corporation in this day and age

she ain't have to pay school loans back cuz her job paid them, never had look for a job or have a resume.

and she was part of this baby boomer generation with a strong teacher's union and HUGE pension.

when my moms retired back in like 2009, she had saved so many sick days from her job, she was able to cash them in on retirement. they owed her a couple years worth of salary just in sick time alone. and that's before touching the pension, and now she's gonna be eligible for social security this year

fukking baby boomers had it easy as hell.

getting a job thru the classified ads

my moms used to try and tell me to do that shyt too

 

[The_King_of_Everything]

Well, DC does have the highest income inequality in the US so that's not surprising at all. 20-30 years from now Anacostia gonna be looking like Old Town Alexandria.

It's like they force you to work for the govt or healthcare out here

 

[Ghost Utmost]

The thing that's happening is: the standard of living is dropping in America.

Globalization, no trade barriers, and increased world population means we have to share.

That equals more people per house and less luxuries.

There's no way around it. Most of us are going to continue to have less and less. Just hope you get across the line between have and have not real soon. That line will be the Grand Canyon eventually.

 

[beenz]

Houses do cost too much
Back in the day just work a job for two year and you can buy a house
Nowadays you gotta pay it off for the next 15/30 years


- blackierobinson

the problem with housing nowadays is like back in the day, my parents could get a crib for like 30K. of course they had a combined income of over 30K annually. then when I'm grown, say I wanna 300K crib. even if you add our income together, we ain't makin that much money a year. and damn near no one is as a family.

 

[beenz]

yeah the baby boomer gen r idiots man....they'll tell u some dumb shyt like "just dress nice and walk in and strike up a conversation with a worker"

reality is u walk in there and have a security guard tell u to gtfo and apply on line

but that job game is a racket anyway....u only get 1 if u know ppl.....thats why i rather just hustle and do my own thing...fukk outta here with that bullshyt

my moms has said this shyt so many times it's ridiculous. she used to be like "you know you can't find a job just by applying online"

 

[beenz]

I feel this meme. I graduated college in 2003 and was job hunting for years doing temp jobs and whatever hustle I could find to pay rent. And my parents just thought I was an idiot "Why can't you get a job, you are doing something wrong?" They just believed the shyt they did in the 60's and 70s was good enough to work in 2005 for instance. Pops like "See if there are any railroad jobs, I was building the railroad in the 60's and worked myself thru college." I'm like "Railroads, pops. Fuggin really?"

man, nikkas WISH they could get a job working for the railroads. them shyts are hard as hell to get. I know 2 people who got those kinda jobs and had to jump thru hella hoops just to get on.

 

[beenz]

back when the factories were popping...u had HS dropouts that were able to live an upper middle class lifestyle

yup. my grandad never even finished the 8th grade. and he worked as a mechanic for a major truck engine manufacturer for his entire adult life. retired in his 50's and never looked back until he died in his 80s. his house only cost him like $6000 as well when he bought it.