Peter: "you LOATH your own generation?"

Dude, you need to unpack this with your therapist, then write about it here. ;-)

Seriously, I think i disagree regarding the reason for the rising median age. There is a new though that millennials have brought to the table:

``Fuck this, I am not doing THAT''

I (genX) grew up with this implicit idea that you MUST work. kind of like you MUST breath.... or die. It was just unthinkable that you did not have a job, no matter how sucky it was. So of course you tried to make it not suck, but never was there an idea of minimal standards.

But in the internet era, everything became possible, so in your formative years you could dream big. REALLY BIG. but as you correctly pointed out, then life ripped those unrealistic expectations to complete shreds.

Reality was so far from reasonable, that working hard only to make reality slightly less unreasonable is just not worth it. Fuck it! I resign.

Gen X was luckier in two ways. We grew up with more reasonable expectations on what life could offer, then we entered the work force during a nice sweet upswing. our reality still does not match expectations, but it is not so far away... that one just says "fuck it"

And we also did not grow up in a culture where that was an acceptable thing for reasonable people to do. only bums did that.

Still I agree this will course correct. As blue collar jobs make more money than white collar jobs, people will switch mid career, and youth will make a killing right out of high school.