This could be millennials’ big chance to finally buy houses

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a cursed generation of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Millennials [might finally buy houses](. - Retail [sales are booming](. - Putin is [making mistakes](. - Bond [bulls are getting their revenge](. Millennials May Buy Houses Soon We have written often about how the millennial generation is [cursed]( to live in an era of repeated financial crises, wars, plagues and probably locusts. Or [monkey people](. Did you see this? Why are they making monkey people? Anyway, growing up in an age of one bad thing after another means millennials have accumulated even less wealth than Gen Xers, long identified as a bunch of slackers: Repeated economic blows have kept millennials from buying houses, which is the usual way Americans accumulate wealth, writes Justin Fox. [There is a sliver of hope this could finally change with the pandemic](, just in time for millennials to start turning 40. Maybe they can work remotely from relatively cheap locales. Maybe big-city real estate will get a little more affordable. At least until the monkeys take over. Read the [whole thing](. Paid Post The power of PayPal online, now in person. Give your small business an easy way to accept touch-free, in-person payments. Create a unique QR code with the PayPal app and display it on your device or as a printout in store. [Download the app.]( Customer must have PayPal account and app to pay. PayPal Consumer Spending: So Good That It’s Bad? Was the 80 gazillion dollars Americans have gotten from the government in the past year stimulus or merely relief to tide them over through the pandemic? The answer may surprise you! Actually, it’s yes on both counts. Retail spending is booming right now, which in an economy that is 70% consumer spending makes for a pretty darn stimulated economy. [Americans spent money on pretty much everything]( in March, Sarah Halzack writes, and will probably keep on doing that through the summer: Not only are we still buying stuff we bought in the pandemic — video games and basketball hoops — but we’re also now buying stuff we didn’t buy in the pandemic — special clothes for the office and drinks with friends. And soon enough a lucky few of us will be buying trips to Greece and such. (Italy is still a no-fly zone, Rachel Sanderson points out, because [that Mario Draghi still cares about coronavirus](, if you can imagine.) But there are only so many trips to Greece or drinks with friends or basketball hoops one can buy. Meanwhile, the bulk of the 80 gazillion dollars we’ve received [has been saved or used to pay down debt](, writes Lisa Abramowicz. That means it wasn’t spent on basketball hoops, which means it wasn’t stimulative. But that’s fine! Good, even! It fulfilled the government’s main mission, which was to keep people afloat during a pandemic. It also means stimulus checks aren’t going to fuel the runaway [inflation]( many people see behind every bush. [A true inflationary death spiral starts with wages](, notes Conor Sen, and it’s still not clear that’s happening. Some service industries are struggling to hire for various reasons, pushing wages higher. But those reasons, from Covid fears to unemployment checks, are temporary, meaning the wage spike might be, too. All this government largesse has [ironically been mildly perturbing for the banking industry](, writes Brian Chappatta. To be sure, banks continue to rake in plenty of profits. You can stop worrying about that. But people stashing stimulus checks in bank accounts while also not needing to take out loans hits interest income from both ends. They will probably be fine with their own gazillions of dollars. Putin on the Fritz Vladimir Putin has been running Russia for almost 22 years, and recent constitutional changes conveniently made it possible for him to stay in power for a total of 36 years, a feat not managed since [Ivan the Terrible]( back in the 1500s. But being ruler for life can make one sloppy. And [Putin lately is making mistakes that could cost him](, writes Clara Ferreira Marques. His saber-rattling over Ukraine and jailing of opponents aren’t helping his popularity at home, which was already hurting from the pandemic. They’re also not making him any more popular with the rest of the world. Further New Cold War Reading: - [Japan can take an even more active leadership role]( in Asia than it has already to counter China. — Bloomberg’s editorial board - Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan [makes life more complicated for China](. — Bobby Ghosh Telltale Charts All the good economic news lately is [bad news for bonds, which is good news for bonds](, explains Brian Chappatta. While the stock market eats the checkers, the bond market is playing 23-D Go. Playing second fiddle to other tech behemoths in key markets has [helped Microsoft avoid scrutiny](, despite its massiveness, writes Tae Kim. Second place is a pretty cozy place to be. Further Reading [Corporate America has (mostly) spoken up for voting rights](. We’ll soon see how real its commitment is. — Tim O’Brien Seventy-five years after a cop blinded a Black vet, [wearing the nation’s uniform still doesn’t protect Black men]( from police abuse. — Robert George It’s not yet clear whether [Coinbase is a legit FANG stock or just another meme](. — Lionel Laurent To avoid falling victim to the next Bernie Madoff, [don’t be afraid to ask seemingly embarrassing questions](. — John Authers ICYMI [Unused vaccines are piling up]( as some U.S. regions resist. Regulation is [coming for crypto](. How [Amsterdam recovered from bubonic plague](. Kickers School once [named for a Confederate is renamed after Hank Aaron](. (h/t Ellen Kominers) Strange [creature in tree is actually a croissant](. (h/t Mike Smedley) High-quality audio [makes people sound smarter](. I cannot stress this enough: [monkey people](. Notes: Please send croissants and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](.  Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more](. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](.  You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022