points by goosejuice 5 hours ago | 0 comments
There are more social services for people that need this than there were in the 70s and volunteering appears roughly flat since then.
Meanwhile, people have been getting old, having kids, two jobs, medical conditions and so on for a little while now. A tremendous amount of America isn't even in a food delivery area unless you count McDonald's.
Eating out is a luxury. Getting that food delivered even more so. This isn't about basic needs.
[–] johnnyanmac 5 hours ago
[–] goosejuice 4 hours ago
Indeed, in the good ol days people were worse off. But I suppose you forgot to quote that part.
[–] komali2 2 hours ago
Having nicer products or the overall state of technology being greater now than before doesn't mean people are automatically overall better off. Yes we can cure more cancers now. Yes we have less lynchings now, by the public or police. But people are, objectively, less financially secure. Cost of home ownership being 5x median income now vs 3.2x in the 90s, trending higher decade on decade, is a decent enough single number to point to. The long and short of it is that these benefits are being concentrated, as anything regarding wealth inevitably is, in the hands of a few.
https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/fil...
[–] johnnyanmac 4 hours ago
You forgot to mention it so I could quote it.
Nonetheless, I don't see the productivity in arguing over generational lifestyle here. I just wanted to highlight that making people work more than ever means less people volunteer. Whether that is a good thing or not is up to the reader.
[–] goosejuice 1 hour ago
> There are more social services for people that need this than there were in the 70s
Less people aren't volunteering. Flat means stationary. On working hours, it's not significantly different either.
[–] johnnyanmac 59 minutes ago
If volunteering remains flat but the population (and thus, demand)bgrows for 50 years, then the conclusion is that less people are proportionally volunteering.
>people have been getting old, having kids, two jobs, medical conditions and so on for a little while now.
well you explained the phenomenon pretty concisely.