It’s not your fault

If you’re in your 20s, you’re probably underemployed, loaded with student debt and wondering how the fuck you’re going to get ahead in the world.

The price of education, housing and health have exploded while wages have remained stagnant. Neoliberalism has skewed the economy in favor of older generations who ironically enjoyed free education, affordable housing and employee health care.

Full-time jobs with benefits are being replaced with short-term contracts and a side order of indiscriminate low-paying gigs. The promise of a college education guaranteeing a higher earning career over time has turned out to be a lie that has led to around $1 trillion in student debt in the United States. (A debt bomb that is currently being recollateralized, repackaged and resold just like subprime mortgages.)

The worst of it is that if you’re in your 20s, you think it’s your fault. It’s not your fault. Stop blaming yourself for the predicament you’re in.

You did everything you were told to do. You did all the work required. You jumped through the hoops. You kept your nose clean. You sat the tests.

For what? To be told to stop complaining, pull up your socks, work harder, blah, blah, blah. Blaming the victims absolves the culprits of moral responsibility.

You don’t deserve to be treated like an idiot. And you don’t have the time to explain to older generations why the numbers are stacked against you.

What you have to do is restack the numbers in your favor. Diminish or defray costs by opting out of the consumer cycle, find an accommodation solution that avoids having to pay rent, and pay back any loans so you’re not beholden to anyone. This will liberate your finances. More importantly it will free your mind, your soul.

Stop charging yourself out by the hour or day or week.

Start charging a percentage of the value you create.

Focus all your efforts on creating more value.

And you can make the world your own.