When will things get better?

[annabel85]

This isn't specifically Covid related but it links. It's hard to be positive right now things will get better generally. Brexit around the corner and probably the worst possible time . Climate change accelerating fast. The economic fall out of Covid around the corner as well.

I was just starting out really during the 2008 crash and lost my job in the banking industry at the time. Then a decade of austerity that followed. The election last year had to acknowledge an end to austerity and an increase in spending and investments, but now the 2020s are going to be dealing with the Covid fall out and the realities of Brexit rather than the soundbites and the lies.

There's the housing crisis. Increasing overpopulation. Tuition fees. It's all monumentally shit for young people. You've got the state of America as well which also seems a nation in decline right now, added to the geo political realities of the likes of China and Russia.

Does anyone believe things will get better (even if they get worse first and it takes a while?). I'd like to believe for the younger generation there's better times ahead. How and when will things change for the better?

God knows.

I'm sticking my head in the sand and living in a bubble.

With respect and not being confrontational, but what does "better" look like?

Why do we feel we have a right to the kind of built-on-sand, housing-ponzi-fuelled years of 2000 - 2007? You were bounced out of the banking industry in 2008, but have you moved beyond those years in terms of economic views?

I think there are always difficulties and problems to deal with. Look back in History, there are very few "Golden years" when everything went smoothly. You have world wars, illness, depressions, the Cold War and fear of nuclear attacks, miners strikes..... to name but a few.

All we can do, I think, is have a positive attitude. Make the best of every situation, enjoy the good parts and teach our children to do the same. If you spend your life waiting for a "perfect" time you could be waiting a long time.

Agree with PP that there are always bad things going on in the world. Stop focussing on them and start focussing on making your life the best you can. What inspires you, makes you happy - do more of that.

People who focus on the news, bad world events, politics etc are wasting their precious life if they over fixate on it all. To be honest we could all live fine without watching the news, as barely any of it (maybe not covid, brexit so much) affects us on a day to day basis.

Don't let it take over your mind! Enjoy your life and see what makes you happy. Don't watch the news often.

I want to believe things will get better but I'm not sure. A lot of people I know are facing rough times financially and there are a lot of unknowns.

Not in the foreseeable future I imagine.

We will have to get used to it.

With respect and not being confrontational, but what does "better" look like?

For starters? Some sense of optimism, rather than the feeling everything is trending downwards.

You were bounced out of the banking industry in 2008, but have you moved beyond those years in terms of economic views?

It took me a while to get back on my feet with a decent job but personally i'm doing okay now.

I think better would be a healthy job and housing market and more opportunities to do the things that keep you healthy mentally and physically.

I feel uneasy about the future and sad for the young too. I know people say it'll be fine but the changes we have had already are now here to stay and the job situation for many is so dire and won't improve a huge amount with A I being rolled out in the next few years and the high street slowly dying off too.
People I know who have grand kids I often wonder what they will do when they leave school : will we go back to a more manufacturing base rather than the service industry which does rely on people going out to spend? If we end up with 4 or 5 mill unemployed , then nobody will be spending on anything much anyway. Benefits are not a huge amount of money to live on (despite what people might think. )
COVID has speeded things up , but I do feel that a few of these plans were already in place to deal with a big downturn in everything. Already many of these ' open 24 hour a day in the week' big stores have cut hours and closing at midnight so that will have an impact of people's wages and hours they work ( for one example)
I try not to get too pessimistic and I know a lot is out of my control etc, but I fear the future won't be too rosy for a long time and it's jobs that kept the economy moving.

People I know who have grand kids I often wonder what they will do when they leave school

The job market in the future is pretty scary. Automation is another thing to factor in. Nihilism in the young is already taking hold.

Kids these days live their youth buried on social media but not everyone can be an Instagram model.

What a depressing way to look at the world.

Of course it won't get better if negative mindsets like yours stay.

@2155User

What a depressing way to look at the world.

Of course it won't get better if negative mindsets like yours stay.

What positive things should op focus on coming in the near future?

@araiwa

That we might actually do better out of brexit than feared.
That house prices are currently up.
That lots of small/independent businesses have done well throughout lockdown.

You choose to see positivity or you don't; you can find it anywhere.

I’m younger than you, presumably part of the young generation you refer to. I’m not bothered in this order:
Housing crisis - it’s not great but I can afford to rent and I have no interest in getting a property to live in on a mortgage because I can see it’s a stupid thing to do
Climate change - this is worrying, if it happens, so far most climate modelling has been very wrong. I recognise of course that I am very fortunate living in a developed nation and will most likely no suffer famine even if it does go ahead.
Overpopulation- this is relative to technological development, I don’t see this as anything we can’t work our way around (for the time being at least).
Tuition fees - I don’t expect a free ride, I think anyone who dies is terribly entitled. I’ve payed them anyway so to late to worry about money already spent.
America - not my problem
China/Russia - not necessarily any worse than fourth years ago, just different shit of the same flavour.
Brexit - bad timing but in itself not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
Covid - pretty shit but these things happen, again as someone with a skills and qualified married to someone else with skills and qualifications living in a developed nation my suffering is going to be limited.

Maybe try to be more resilient? Yes things are hard now but they’re better than they have ever been (if you exclude maybe the last ten to twenty years to account to the chaos of Covid). I’m not facing starvation or death from other preventable causes, nor is anyone else I know. That’s already more than most people alive can say. It would be pretty ungrateful to consider myself anything less than extremely lucky.

I don't think things will get much better for some time. I have four kids all early twenties and teens and I am most worried for them, job prospects etc. I am resigned that they will be living at home for some time and am glad we have a big enough house to allow this if need be. At the moment me and dh are just trying to hold onto the jobs we have and keep trying to encourage the eldest two to hang onto the part time jobs they have even though they are not ideal and encourage the younger two to do as well as they can at school.

House prices being up and silly prices in my area means that my two can't move out! I know they could rent but that has its faults and it could result in them moving back ( I know they could get a mortgage and default too , but at least you have a bit more control with a mortgage and it's payments , than at the mercy of a horrible LL , for example)
This is not the thread for all this but even with some significant savings , unless my eldest wins the lottery or something ( unlikely) his here for a while longer yet and if prices go up and up he might be here forever. At his age I had a mortgage and a one year old and a secure job. It's not a big problem for us then living here, but many are in the same boat with children in their 20s and 30s still at home and working and saving! Neither have partners just now, so on your own it's not easy either.

It all feels so unfair for the young with house prices and jobs being so uncertain (not to mention COVID related problems)

I agree though that independent places in town might fair better and there are more 'cottage industries' starting up too so it might not be as bad I think it will be.. have to see what happens. I try to find the positives , but it's not that easy and we have a government who only seem to care about brexit too , which might bring even more problems in the future? Who knows!

When will it get better? Hold on, I’ll just get me crystal ball out. Ah that’s it, yep, got it now. I can see exactly when it’s going to get better. Not telling though

I'm young and have a much more positive view on the future than you, so maybe stop worrying about us?

Some sense of optimism, rather than the feeling everything is trending downwards.

That's internal, it comes from you and where you place your focus and how you frame your experiences.

Bojo has talked about his admiration for FDR and it's one of the few things I agree with him about.

We need hope and a shift in approach. I've been thinking about this speech a lot recently:

"There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny. In this world of ours in other lands, there are some people, who, in times past, have lived and fought for freedom, and seem to have grown too weary to carry on the fight. They have sold their heritage of freedom for the illusion of a living. They have yielded their democracy. I believe in my heart that only our success can stir their ancient hope. They begin to know that here in America we are waging a war against want and destitution and economic demoralization. It is more than that; it is a war for the survival of democracy. We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

@Babyroobs

I don't think things will get much better for some time. I have four kids all early twenties and teens and I am most worried for them, job prospects etc. I am resigned that they will be living at home for some time and am glad we have a big enough house to allow this if need be. At the moment me and dh are just trying to hold onto the jobs we have and keep trying to encourage the eldest two to hang onto the part time jobs they have even though they are not ideal and encourage the younger two to do as well as they can at school.

Same here.

Honestly I don't think it's about things in the world being objectively 'better' - there's always a shitstorm of some kind.

It's about mindset.

As far as I'm concerned I've had a fabulous few months so far this year despite lockdown even though both DH and I became unemployed due to COVID and we've teetered on the edge of bankruptcy since.

(There's one caveat which is that it isn't all mindset if you're genuinely in dire straits, I mean for the average person with average problems like bankruptcy, unemployment, lockdown, etc).

@user9274672893

Some sense of optimism, rather than the feeling everything is trending downwards.

That's internal, it comes from you and where you place your focus and how you frame your experiences.

Exactly this.

@annabel85

With respect and not being confrontational, but what does "better" look like?

For starters? Some sense of optimism, rather than the feeling everything is trending downwards.

You were bounced out of the banking industry in 2008, but have you moved beyond those years in terms of economic views?

It took me a while to get back on my feet with a decent job but personally i'm doing okay now.

I don't think that's what the poster meant, about you doing OK personally. I think they meant have you realised that the financial industry is inherently flawed and inequitable, and contributing to our society's woes?