According to Neil Howe, the Fourth Turning is a crisis and it’s happening right now.

The United States is in an era of great destruction, as the old institutional way of life created by past generations is being systematically destroyed by the incoming generation i.e. the millennials. This transitional period is cyclical and has happened before – most recently during the Great Crash of 1929. Creative destruction is essential for the nation’s survival, as the millennials are rewriting America’s next journey – much different than before.

Already, the preferences of millennials’ are killing dozens of industries such as department stores, diamonds, food chains, and real estate. Life decisions such as marriage and a starter home are being delayed or totally abandoned. Millennials are swamped with student- and other forms of toxic-debt in a period of wage stagnation that makes their financial mobility limited.

Given the backdrop of America’s transition induced by millennials in a fiat system that is considered late-stage. Cracked provides a 3-minute breakdown of why millennials are killing industries.

The video focuses on the diamond industry and provides various motives of why millennials aren’t buying the precious stone.

In particular, the video makes the point millennials are heavily in-debt and cannot afford marriage, thus breaking the long lasting cycle of tying the knot, which usually involves buying a diamond ring. Not anymore, millennials are broke.. And there goes the diamond scarcity that was produced by prior generations who could afford to get married.