“Polls show that 49 percent of Millennials "view socialism in a favorable light," compared with 43 percent who view it unfavorably. Millennials are also the generation of Occupy Wall Street, the anti-corporate movement, and "it's not hard to figure out why our generation isn't so gung-ho about capitalism — it has disappointed and, in some cases, straight-up failed us." Nona Willis Aronowitz at Good.
“One study says that Millennials are more narcissistic than their elders, and increasingly value "money, image, and fame more than inherent principles like self-acceptance, affiliation, and community." While college students in 1971 ranked "being very well off financially" as their number-eight concern, for Millennials it's consistently at "the top of the list." Joanna Chau at The Chronicle of Higher Education.
“Millennials "are voting in increasing numbers," says Fred Bayles at Metro. Millennial support for President Obama was a key to his 2008 victory, and they overwhelmingly supported him over Mitt Romney in 2012, too.” (“We've made no progress whatsoever in terms of our political sophistication, and indeed, young people today may be worse because, thanks to their visual environment, they've stopped reading history and they've stopped reading the world's great literature." James Flynn, academic and author of Are We Getting Smarter, became famous for finding a massive increase in IQ test scores from one generation to the next. His research has come to be known as the “Flynn Effect.”)
http://consulmoore.blogspot.com/2013/03/iq-tests-improve-in-america-yet-wisdom.html
Millennials biggest stresses are "money, work, and the cost of housing." They are also "more likely to say that relationship problems were sources of stress," and less likely "to express their feelings in their relationships,” says Alice G. Walton at The Atlantic.
The world economy is set to be even worse for the Millennial Generation, for here is a quick look at some key data emerging from around the world:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-argument-entire-world-economy-145629302.html
The U.S.
- Housing, which has been a huge part of the economic recovery, is also showing signs of stalling. Building permits are down, homebuilder confidence is down, foreclosure starts are up, and capacity constraints among mortgage lenders are also impacting the recovery.
- America's manufacturing Renaissance also looks to be a way off. The Empire Fed manufacturing survey fell to 3.05 in April, missing expectations. This morning we saw the April Philly Fed fall to 1.3, with the unemployment sub-index falling to -6.8.
- Retail sales unexpectedly fell 0.4% in March. Nomura pointed out that the downward revisions to sales in the last two months showed that "consumer adjustment to lower disposable income at the start of the year has begun." Consumer confidence also missed expectations and fell to 72.3 in April, from 78.6 in March.
- And of course there is the jobs report, which showed that only 88,000 new jobs were created in March, very shy of expectations for 190,000. The unemployment rate fell to 7.6% but this was because of a decline in the labor force participation rate.
- On top of all this, there's the sequester, which has only just gotten going.
- Germany has seen some positive data, but economic sentiment tumbled to 42.
- In the United Kingdom, joblessness climbed by 70,000 to 2.56 million from December through February. The unemployment rate climbed to 7.9%. Moreover, Retail sales, including fuels, fell 0.7% on the month in March, and 0.5% on the year. And next week's GDP data will tell us if the U.K. has entered a triple-dip recession.
- Chinese GDP slowed to 7.7% in Q1, missing expectations of 8% growth. Industrial production, manufacturing (as represented through PMI) and exports also missed expectations.
- The government's crackdown on corruption by way of 'gift giving' has impacted retail sales, especially the catering industry.
- Latest data also showed that Chinese home prices were up in 68 of 70 cities surveyed. First-tier cities posted a huge rise in home prices. Policymakers are likely to continue with tightening measures to limit a rebound in property prices and shadow banking.
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