Hipsters and Yuppies and Frat Bros, Oh My! (Chicago, Simpson: employment, schools)

[Larry Siegel]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

The first generation of Americans to not live as materially well as the one before...

Every generation thinks it's the first to not live as materially well as the one before because when you're young, you don't have any money, while your parents and other people your parents' age do. I also started out broke, since I had a fancy education but couldn't actually do anything. Now I am not broke, and if you hone a valuable skill over the next 30 years, you too will have plenty of money, since you live in a mostly free country with mostly free markets.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by Larry Siegel

Every generation thinks it's the first to not live as materially well as the one before because when you're young, you don't have any money, while your parents and other people your parents' age do. I also started out broke, since I had a fancy education but couldn't actually do anything. Now I am not broke, and if you hone a valuable skill over the next 30 years, you too will have plenty of money, since you live in a mostly free country with mostly free markets.

You as an individual did well, swell. That doesn't mean there isn't less opportunity overall than there was in the past. And with less opportunity less people do well materially. Strategies that work well for individuals don't necessarily translate into strategies that work well for societies.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

You as an individual did well, swell. That doesn't mean there isn't less opportunity overall than there was in the past. And with less opportunity less people do well materially. Strategies that work well for individuals don't necessarily translate into strategies that work well for societies.

There was a brief period from the end of WWII to some point during the Nixon administration when "the right place" was pretty much anywhere in the US with any kind of factory / mill / mine. Lots of people with no particular skills made out like bandits as the rest of world recovered from the devastation of the most ruinous war in history.

Now if you have specialized skills you can do really well regardless of economic hard times -- there are folks that are cranking out half baked ideas to sell ads on the Internet raking in more dough than any robber baron of the Gilded Age. There are folks at the top tiers of consolidating healthcare firms that are getting payouts that would make Wall Street bankers jealous. There are guys that retired from a couple of easy government jobs in Illinips that get lifetime income of over $300k/ year, that is the kind of money that you need to have put away tens of millions to earn...

The "hipsters" are too unmotivated to see that the opportunity around them, or perhaps their contrary nature is all that compels them to eschew traditional paths of success...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by chet everett

The "hipsters" are too unmotivated to see that the opportunity around them, or perhaps their contrary nature is all that compels them to eschew traditional paths of success...

Don't be fooled. Most people who appear to be "hipsters" in neighborhoods like Wicker Park are college-educated professionals.

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Irishtom29

Hipsters are OK, they're often people who were raised to be middle class and ended up working class, in that class but not OF that class, and so in their understandable confusion started their own scene to fit into. The first generation of Americans to not live as materially well as the one before, that will have results, indeed, this hipster thing may be seen as the most benign one before it's over.

Or they are just trying to appear to not fit in to the middle class, but really still have middle class jobs.

[Irishtom29]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Or they are just trying to appear to not fit in to the middle class, but really still have middle class jobs.

No doubt but I don't often run into those ones.

[Chi-town Native]

Originally Posted by Lookout Kid

Or they are just trying to appear to not fit in to the middle class, but really still have middle class jobs.

I think a lot of them would love to have even a lower-middle class job. I can't tell you how many people I know with PhDs, Master's degrees, etc. who are working in temp capacity, or are in their field but are making less than 40K.

Irishtom is right, the jobs/industry just aren't there. You can thank whatever geniuses thought "free trade" aka globalization (sending jobs to sweatshop-friendly countries which violently suppress organized labor) was going to be good for anybody but America's 1 percenters.

[rparz]

Yet all I keep hearing about is how they can't find enough people with Math skills, Engineering or Science degrees...

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

Irishtom is right, the jobs/industry just aren't there. You can thank whatever geniuses thought "free trade" aka globalization (sending jobs to sweatshop-friendly countries which violently suppress organized labor) was going to be good for anybody but America's 1 percenters.

Pretty much all of the "hipsters" I know are gainfully employed. But I guess the "everyone I know" sample set is hardly statistically significant, so I will concede that there is another world out there that I am not necessarily a part of.

[Lookout Kid]

I saw this, and was reminded of the thread. The original Craigslist post has been taken down, but Chicagoist has preserved a portion of it for future readings.

Here's The Best 'Bike For Sale' Classified You'll Ever Read: Chicagoist

Unfortunately most of the best stuff is omitted, and they left the annoying "bro" stuff at the beginning.