I'm familiar with that headline and I agree it represents both realism and (sadly) hopelessness. I don't take the headline claim fully at face value, though. It became popular in both social media and traditional media 8-10 years ago to bash Millennials for not having the fiscal values of older generations. Partly that's the "Kids these days" complaints that every generation seems to have about the one(s) following it. And partly also it got co-opted by political movements. The MAGA right caters to its mostly-older base by portraying younger people, especially cosmopolitan younger people with some discretionary income— people who tend to be politically liberal— as alien and foolish.