Poor Little Rich Hipsters
In the midst of a recession, the New York Times wants to make sure you remember the people most affected by these “tough economic times.”
That’s why they brought us articles like “Parental Lifelines, Frayed to Breaking.” In this down economy, the Times seems to believe that people like Eric Gross deserve to have their plight publicized and to receive your sympathy.
Eric, a 26-year-old construction worker, is reeling from the news that his parents might not be able to help him buy a one-bedroom New York City condo that’s going for $600,000. Let’s all shed a tear for Eric and the trust fund kids of Williamsburg who find themselves having to actually work to pay the exorbitant rents of their hipster neighborhood:
Luis Illades, an owner of the Urban Rustic Market and Cafe on North 12th Street, said he had seen a steady number of applicants, in their late 20s, who had never held paid jobs: They were interns at a modeling agency, for example, or worked at a college radio station. In some cases, applicants have stormed out of the market after hearing the job requirements. “They say, ‘You want me to work eight hours?’ ” Mr. Illades said. “There is a bubble bursting.”
These kids are headed back home to mommy and daddy, unable to make it in a world where they wish to live like kings — kings who have inherited their kingdoms instead of going to war for them — and not realizing they are nothing more than proletariat:
Famed for its concentration of heavily subsidized 20-something residents — also nicknamed trust-funders or trustafarians — Williamsburg is showing signs of trouble. Parents whose money helped fuel one of the city’s most radical gentrifications in recent years have stopped buying their children new luxury condos, subsidizing rents and providing cash to spend at Bedford Avenue’s boutiques and coffee houses.
I guess that’s why the L.A. Times calles it Funemployment”!
boo-hoo. /s
I guess the recession isn’t all bad, after all.
How about that! Life catches up w/the spoiled little brats.
Hilarious. But true. Maybe Oprah can do a show on them. Poor things.
When they get hungry enough to boil their own designer handbags for soup, let me know.
I can finally say that is Change we can believe in. lol.
Now, if it gets so bad that they have to actually milk a cow, should they be told the difference between a bull and a cow? Or let them learn it the hard, but downright hilarious, way?
Is it wrong that, as a person who worked from an early age – before it was technically legal for me to do so – and actually needed the money, I’m smirking a little?
Maybe the NYT wants its readers to feel better that the far richer are also losing money. I’d imagine that for the people reading the NYT that would work better. They generally didn’t start off struggling to survive, so reading about the already poor wouldn’t appeal. They can’t all be supa-doopa rich, so being middle class and reading about how those above them on the ladder are losing money might make them feel better about their own “plight”?
Don’t worry. The Obamessiah will kiss their boo boo and make it all better.
oh, the humanity!!
Our news has been shaped by this demographic for at least a generation. We have been spoon fed an educational system and moral framework targetting these people for the same length of time. Funny, I am not moved by the sounds of the thumping as they land hard on the floors above me. Of course, as always, should they ask nicely for a hand up from below, or a push up higher, I will be glad to oblige.
Michele, why did you bother reading the article? Why did you react so strongly that you wrote your own article? Do those of us who work for a living and have to pay our own way enjoy seeing these parasites get dragged down? Obviously we do and that’s one reason why NYT publishes articles like this.
Am I the only one who thought the article was meant to be deadpan comedy? Surely someone is planning to turn it into a sitcom pilot.
Wait’ll they have to fill out their first W-2 and see the gov’s cut.
Especially after we have government mandated health care, and cap and trade.
20-odd years ago George Carlin did a bit about collecting money for the rich, because they were being hurt by the economy.
His sarcasm rings true still today.
I suspect this is fiction, like everything else in the Times.
Ok. #7 gets the ROFL award.
The problem, of course, is that you can’t tell. Either explanation fits. And given the lefty orientation of these papers, they probably would sympathize with these trustafarians, not because they’re white and spoiled, but because they’re oh-so-hip, and just regular folk like them.
Think about it. How many sons and daughters of plumbers and truck drivers do you think go to J-school? First generation college grads tend to get degrees in engineering and business. It’s the kids of successful professionals who go to college to “change the world”.
What you are hearing is the sound of one hand clapping.
Byron Dickens (9):
That’s what we’re afraid of!
In a lesser way, this applies to even the middle class. How can you work at a company that offers a FSA and not take advantage of it? People are losing their wealth over health care costs, and they can’t even be bothered to take advantage of a system that allows them to pay for most of their health care costs with pre-tax money!
Let’s be realistic here. These people, as loathsome as they may be, are just the visible tip of the entitlement iceberg.
It’s haying season out here on the Olympic Peninsula, and I sure could use some bale-buckers. Any of you New Yoik trustfunder punks up to it?
23, They never heard of the Olympic Peninsula. They think Seattle is on the coast. Seriously. I have yet to meet a New Yorker who doesn’t think Seattle is on the coast.
Worse yet, most Californians are the same way. And they can’t name all 57 states, either. Or speak Austrian, like their governator.
#13 – I wondered that myself. I read the original NYT article. When I was done, I simply had to ask “What was the point of that?”
I am reminded of a question I asked a few months ago: “What is the proper plural form of ‘hipster doofus’?” The best answer was “New York City”.
Boomer @ 24,
Well I guess I’ve got plenty of trust funders to choose from already up in Port Townsend. Problem is, they’re the 50-60ish, pony-tailed, “arts” types and are too consumed with writing books nobody will read, painting pictures no one will buy and writing/playing music no one will ever listen to. Their aged SanFrancisco parents pay them to live here and do that, you know, so they won’t move back home. So they sit around and compare worthless college degrees, rave of each others’ accomplishments, bash George Bush, reload the bong and wait for their parents to die. Such a life.
The Boomer generation had a lot of spoiled middle class brats who had too much free time and too much unearned money. The difference in Williamsburg is that their expectations of spoiled life are quite a bit higher. Meeting the real world is a great experience. I wish them well.
World ends at six. Women and minorities hit hardest! Now we have to include “trustifarians” to that equation? Tragic!
26. Saltherring, Having recently arrived on Vashon, I hear you loud and clear. They’d be dangerous if they weren’t stoned all the time. What I want to know is, if the arsenic in the soil here is such an ecological disaster, why are they promoting their organic veggies? I wonder what the As content of their organic veggies is.
Schadenfreude is a wonderful thing.
David B
Much has been made of how the work world needs to change to accomodate the Millennials. What we are seeing here is the converse.
Sorry, guys and gals: I disagree with all of you. Obama & Co. are promoting a program of class envy and class hatred, and it is far too easy to fall into that mode — despise the idle rich; deplore the welfare leeches; disdain the uneducated (who voted for Obama); etc. This sort of thing is a distractor from things that are more important, such as critically examining current government policies and actions. THAT is where our intellectual energy ought to be applied, not to disliking fellow Americans (for whatever reason).
32. Richard E. Wynn wrote:
THAT is where our intellectual energy ought to be applied, not to disliking fellow Americans (for whatever reason).
Peter writes: We don’t dislike our fellow Americans. We just find it amusing now that reality is slapping them in the face.
I’m saying a prayer for these hapless kids and laugh out loud drinking my $2 beer. Paris Hilton should provide counseling with all her hard work experience she has under her belt.
Sorry, Richard @ 32, but I’ll cast my lot with Peter @ 33. We are merely chuckling, not envying and/or disliking. And most vigilant conservatives obligate considerable time “critically examining current government policies and actions”, so a bit of humor helps lighten the load I guess.
The New York Times and its comrades in the industry:
from “All the news that’s fit to print”
to
“All the news that fits what we want to print”
Hey, the rich can suffer too. A little rachmanes.
The NYT article isn’t seeking sympathy for the kids. They are just pointing to a cultural phenomenon and change that is happening in the USA right now. There have always been children of wealthy families who don’t have to work and appear to have an easy life. We are not a classless society, of course.
Where’s the draft when you need it?
#32
I think what Michele has done here is pretty important and accurate, if somewhat crude, social commentary.
Her post is an extended culture of the Obama Age. The same factors that led to his presidency also led to these people. Culture and politics are inextricable.
The Army is still looking for officers to fill out the ranks that were left understaffed for years. Starting pay is $50,000, and rises to $75,000 within about three years. It’d probably be hilarious for the drill sergeants to watch these guys try to pass OCS.
Could the recession force Pinch to get a real job? I can dream can’t I?
Richard, it was selfish of these idiots parents to have indulged them so that they have no skills to support themselves. we, who some would consider heartless, actually have more compassion for these idiots than their parents, becuase we will tell them if they want things, they’d better start working. Not only will they develop the means to support themselves, they will gain self-respect – as well as a more realist outlook. Their parents indulge them until they have nothing left to give – then the idiots have to go somewhere else for a “fix”. I’ve seen the exact same scenario many times. The fortunate “idiots”, adjust to reality. many don’t.
Pretty gutsy move by The Times. Hipsters are the most hated group of people in this city (yes, more than the homeless, maybe even more than muggers). Few will feel sorry for these kids on whom fortune’s smile was wasted.
And it’s hardly a surprise that many novelty stores are going under, but I used to like looking in the windows and wondering how something like this could exist. The soap and flowers store near me–I never bought anything from them, but the people were very nice and I was sorry to see the for rent sign on their window. But, again, you have to expect that a soap and flowers store would be one of the first to go. Then maybe hand-made baby clothes. They’re next.
I don’t think any reasonable person begrudges rich people their fortunes or their right to do as they please with their own money. If people want to spend their money on their kids, they have every right to do so, no matter how foolish that may be. What we have a problem with is the attitude that these brats have.
These articles make me feel old. I grew up on a farm in rural Idaho, did the above mentioned “bale bucking”, rock picking, worked cattle, and other related farm/ranch stuff when I lived at home. Not for a paying job, although occasionally I got some cash. Those things were just part of every day life. Thinking back, I know I had it better than my dad did, but I can catch a glimmer of where the “when I was young, it was uphill both ways, knee-deep in snow, in the blazing sun” came from. During my first go-round of college I remember hearing some sheltered girl complaining about how she just couldn’t and wouldn’t work more than four hours a day because it just wiped her out. Then she mentioned partying all night long…
At my current job, there are people who leave when their 8 (or 6) hours are up, regardless of how much work there is left to be done. I put in 14 hour days this week. I’m not alone, mind you. The others who pull long days also came from farming, logging, and other family backgrounds that entailed long days with work that makes our current tasks seem tawdry. What is it these people? I’m not working with the trustifarians, but c’mon! You really can’t work more than FOUR HOURS?!?! In perfect health? At the age of 18-25?
Like I said, such things as the article above and a general lack of commitment and work ethic in so many young people make me feel old. And I’ll only be 28 tomorrow.
Sadly, most of these people will never actually feel the pain of having to work.
An even more sad fact is that the cream of the intelligensia often come from rich backgrounds and end up in employment that, while by itself, no self respecting individual would do long term due to the need to suppport themselves in style. However, in conjunction with their inherited wealth allows them to do real harm to our society over the long term. Take a close look at many aid workers and lawyers focusing on “supporting the poor.”
My favorite, with over-financed college kids, is that Abercrombie & Fitch has always marketed clothes to them. While the ads say one thing, the undertone has always been: “Your dad would be outraged if he knew you spent $90 on a crappy t-shirt.” I’ve always thought that marketing brilliant.
PBR is now associated with self indulgent hipsters? Damn! I guess I’ll have to drink something else when I go out for a night on the town. Thank god they haven’t discovered Schlitz!
Http://www.diehipster.com
Sounds like they are just right for Obonga’s government jobs. Some of them will be community organizers for ACORN. They be slummin’ with the proletariat.
New York City and most of its inhabitants learned absolutely nothing from 9/11. Not one damned thing. It’s a liberal enclave. It deserves these kids.
“…nobody cares about the suffering of the rich…”
Except the rich.
Fred @ 51: I refuse to call these Obama-worshippers “liberals” or “progressives”. Most are abject leftists, and should be identified and referred to as such.
The only change our dictator wants is going from a republic toa communists nation as all liberal demacraps want
Oh well, as these “trustafarians” are discovering, life is a bitch…and then you die.
Maybe, if they could muster it, they could use this free time to write their first autobiography and, like their beloved messiah, one day become POTUS, too?
it is sad to hear this stuff. Poor hipsters!
beyondrace.com
What spoiled brats. When i was 19-20 i had a barely-above minimum wage job working twelve hours, night shift, three to four days a week. And they’re in their late 20′s crying about eight hours? They’re lucky, with their qualifications, that they’re even getting a job interview.
It’s good that reality is hitting them hard though. If they want to choose they’re own hours to work, via self-employment, then they better get working twice as hard. Politically, my guess is that they’re Democrats or lean Democrat.
In the rural area where I grew up, a “trustafarian” moved into a local town and set up a radio station, the only one in town. It was subsidized by his parents. He hated the locals, and it showed. He condescendingly chose to play country music because he figured that was what the stupid rural yokels must like, even though I don’t think he ever bothered to find out.
Having no love for the genre, he had no ear for picking music. Having no money (his parents must not have been completely dumb), he hired only the most unemployable locals to be his DJs, all of whom were inarticulate and probably illiterate. His playlists seemed to be supplied by whatever he could find in the bargain bin at Yellow Front (bonus points to anyone here who has ever even heard of that store).
The only audience seemed to be local businesses using the station for store or waiting room music, which is the only time anyone ever seemed to listen to it. Those same businesses rarely advertised with him. His prices were too high, and his contempt for his audience was so transparent that no one wanted to be associated with his station.
Also, they didn’t think it was good business to turn their advertising over to DJs who couldn’t read a cue card. Once, a local businessman got so indignant that he stormed into the studio and interrupted the live broadcast to demand his money back.
And what is really funny about this is, twenty-five years later, he is still there! Imagine living that way… a quarter of a century playing music you hate for people you can’t stand, while your rich parents give you just enough money to live on, and you can’t run a successful business even with a monopoly. That is a very special sort of self-inflicted hell.
I still tune in every time I go home (briefly), just to hear how bad it can be.
WHERE IS JOHN GALT? AND WHEN?
Mythbuster,
What is your source for the $50-75K pay scale for new-3 years of service officers?
I appreciate the DI comment, and hopefully will appreciate your response. Thanks in advance.
This is an indeed rotten and cruel readership – can’t you show a bit of compassion for some young, idealistic people who believe in hope & change, please?
#59 Yellow Frint- a mini Walmart, a mini KMART, a more modern version of Newberry’s or Woolworths (does anyone remember these stores?)
Those poor little trustafarians- they can get a job in a grocery store that only has 4 hour shifts- perfect for them
Sorry, Michele, your article contained an error.
“These are not children. They are adults.”
This is manifestly not true.
Didn’t Seinfeld’s Kramer label Jerry a “hipster dufus? I’d say that’s pretty much spot on here.
from the article:
looks like they don’t have that far to fall, then. I feel better, since they’re already halfway to where they’re headed anyway.
the story’s about a construction worker seeking a one bedroom condo and having to come up w/ 600,000 for it.