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What you're seeing isn't a generational shift, it's just where these people's station of life happens to be at the moment. I was born in 1984, but I'm not buying BMWs or McMansions.
I can't argue against what you're seeing, because it's what I'm seeing too. However, I believe, those kids born after 85 are going to be doing what the pre 85 people are doing once they hit 22 years old.
What happens when guys get out of college and find that starter job, is that car they've been dreaming of comes within reach (so long as they can live at home and make the payments). Then the starter girlfriend gets her starter job, and after a while, his starter apartment isn't enough. Then she starts whining about a ring because she wants a starter husband. Then they blow about $30K on a wedding so they have to find their starter McMansion, all made possible with abundant credit and no-doc loans. Unless you kids wise up, you're going to fall off the cliff like the guys my age did.
I could owe money on a $35,000 car right now, but I resisted the temptation and have been getting around just fine with an '02 Cavalier that I paid $3299 cash for in '06. Some of the guys my age bought STI's, SUV's, big Benzes and other ridiculously wasteful cars (both in initial cost and expense), and most have crappier jobs than I do. I own my car. Their cars own them. My more successful friends drive modest cars that are paid for, like a Taurus, or an old Saab. What we're seeing now, due to the easy availability of credit is a reverse correlation in vehicle cost and income. The smart guys are driving practical, efficient, 100% paid-for vehicles while they become established, and the morons are steeping themselves in as much debt as they can shoulder month to month. I know a kid who delivers pizza in a Benz E-class (EPA 19mpg hwy on 91 octane fuel!).
When I hear of people getting kicked out of their McMansions, having their Bimmers repoed, whining at the pump, running from creditors, I'm cheering inside. All you morons deserve what you get because you refuse to live within your means. In addition, because you're loose cannons with easy credit, people who would have legitimately have been able to afford a house, now can't. Let the blood run in the streets I say! I should have 20% down on a decent pad by then.
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