Next post
I’ve spent some time defending my generation. While many of them are your typical twenty-somethings — idealistic, empty-headed liberals who believe whatever their college professors or favorite Hollywood celebrities say — there are plenty of us out there who are different. Think of me. Think of Jason Mattera. Think of Lila Rose. Think of the men and women who witnessed 9-11 and joined the military to defend our freedoms. We may be outnumbered, but we’re out there. And unfortunately, many of the young, naive liberals who voted for Obama are doing nothing more than swallowing the crap they’ve been spoon-fed for much of their lives. If they didn’t encounter indoctrination in middle school, they surely heard it in high school or college. They watch MTV and hear the celebrities they idolize spewing left-wing drivel and they believe it, because it backs up what they’ve heard their college professors say. They join up with the left-leaning Rock the Vote for their first election and think that they’re getting the facts, and they think they’re doing a good thing. Young people are typically liberal because they simply haven’t grown up yet, haven’t had to live with the consequences of liberal politics, haven’t had anyone show them any evidence of why conservatism is better. As they get older and start taking on more responsibilities, they usually become more conservative.
For many of the people making up my generation, however, that growing-up phase may be coming sooner rather than later. The kids who so enthusiastically voted for Obama may be regretting it now that his policies are making it harder and harder for them to get a job.
The number of young Americans without a job has exploded to 53.4 percent — a post-World War II high, according to the Labor Dept. — meaning millions of Americans are staring at the likelihood that their lifetime earning potential will be diminished and, combined with the predicted slow economic recovery, their transition into productive members of society could be put on hold for an extended period of time.
The number represents the flip-side to the Labor Dept.’s report that the employment rate of 16-to-24 year olds has eroded to 46.6 percent — the lowest ratio of working young Americans in that age group, including all but those in the military, since WWII.
And worse, without a clear economic recovery plan aimed at creating entry-level jobs, the odds of many of these young adults — aged 16 to 24, excluding students — getting a job and moving out of their parents’ houses are long. Young workers have been among the hardest hit during the current recession — in which a total of 6.9 million jobs have been lost.
“It’s an extremely dire situation in the short run,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute. “This group won’t do as well as their parents unless the jobs situation changes.”
They not only won’t do as well, but they’ll have trillions of dollars of debt to contend with as well. And without getting a head start on their career path, they’ll be finding it difficult to invest and save for the future — for having children, for paying for those children’s college tuitions, for their retirements, and so on. It’s a bleak outlook right now for young people, who have a hard enough time getting ahead as it is, especially when so many young people have literally tens of thousands of debt to pay off from student loans. With this economy being so slow to recover, it’s unlikely that this situation will change much. And unless they’ve been smart with their money from the beginning, things could be extremely rough for them for the next ten to fifteen years.
Hat Tip: House of Eratosthenes
Actually Cassy,
Most of the Millenials are morons and they’re pretty much indefensible. Yes there are a few here and there like yourself who think for themselves, but from where I’m sitting at my university job, I’m just seeing a bunch of twits living in some kind of friggin’ dreamland. Cripes, one of my student workers told me the other day that he wasn’t worried about the unemployment because there would be plenty of “guvmint programs” he can work for when he graduated. Yeah kid, good luck with that one. Another one said she wouldn’t mind paying higher taxes, “if it would help me and other people out.” Yeah kid, try making that statement when you’re losing 35-40% of your check to taxes while paying for a car, house and other things. I’m not making this crap up (I sincerely wish I was).
Also bear in mind that the Millenials are the first generation to get indoctrinated by leftist ideals from the cradle (even the GenXers didn’t have that). It could easily swing to the point where the Millenials, instead of going more conservative, will just throw a temper tantrum and cry out for more “guvmint programs” to help them out. Personally, I think the latter will happen.
For the article in general, My response to the Millenials is this: Be careful what you wish for because you may just get it.
Michelle says: I’m 19 years old, and I’m pretty much the only conservative my age I know. A friend (who is the same age as me) and I went to see Dane Cook’s show, and he had an opening act who said some critical remarks about Obama, and some of the guys sitting behind us joined in. I didnt say anything, because I believe that even if you dont agree with the president’s policies, you still respect him, because he is the president. I said this to my friend as we were walking out. She said to me, “Well, yeah, except for Bush.” I told her that she should still respect Bush, because he was a former president. I asked her what she didnt agree about in the Bush policies, and she had no answer.
Its sad that my generation simply believes what what the stupid media feeds them, and hardly any of them can state what they hated about Bush, and what policies of President Obama’s they like so much.
Knott Buyinit says: Considering the perfect storm of Obama’s doomed to failure stimulus plan, the Administration’s de facto ‘Open Borders’ policy, the recent raise in the minimum wage, and the recession, it looks pretty grim for anyone looking for work – young or old. Our job as the loyal opposition is to make sure the proper people get the blame.
@Michelle Thank you! I was trying to tell the left for 8 years the exact same thing. Nothing. Today I respect the position that Urkel holds. I respect it completly. B U T I have NO respect for Urkel as a man. He has never served our contry in the military. He has done nothing for his country that hasn’t benifited himself in some way. He has never had to work to put food on the table. He has never had to scrap to get respect. He has had everything in his life handed to him. Just like his win last year.
I am on the top edge of this generation with 37. I grew up in the 80’s. I saw the rise of the PC brigade and all the crap with that. I have been fighting against it for years in music and being a role model in youth football and my work place.
I respect the men and women who are working and fghting for a better life.Be it in the military, police, EMT’s fire department what ever. I have pledged to but any man or woman in uniform a drink that I run across. I do keep a count. 645 so far. I hope I can reach 1000 this year. When I was home last Janurary I took a police officer and his wife out to dinner with my girlfriend. He had just ETS’d and served 2 tours in Iraq. I owed him and his family. Just as I owe every many and women in uniform.
I have been told many times that I am old fashioned. I have never argued that. Nor will I ever. I would have loved to have been born in the early 40’s, grown up in the 50’s and started my life in the early 60’s. the 50’s were a time that I really enjoy reading about.
hmmmmmmm I sense a blob post….So much to write and so little time. How do you do it Cassy?
Steve L. says: I am around Millenials all day, every day, and they are some of the whiniest people I have ever met. They have been indulged their entire lives by their parents and their schools. They expect everyone to treat them special since they have been repeatedly told that they are. Hard work is out of the question. They have survived this long without it; why should they start now?
btenney says: I am gainfully employed at age 72 because no one wants to accept the responsibility required to fill my shoes.
I don’t necessarily need the money right now but I probably will in the future as the prospect for higher taxes and lower S S benefits become more likely.
In my workforce I have college grads working with high school drop outs. For the first time in my memory there is no discernable difference in the ability of these two groups to learn.
Cylar says: I have been told many times that I am old fashioned. I have never argued that. Nor will I ever. I would have loved to have been born in the early 40’s, grown up in the 50’s and started my life in the early 60’s. the 50’s were a time that I really enjoy reading about.
You mean…be a Boomer? Because that’s what you’re describing. People who were born during or immediately after World War II, who grew up in the 50s and 60s. A lot of them went to Vietnam. Many of the rest became hippies and flower children. Today, they’re retiring and about to suck our Social Security dry.
I’m 35. I guess that makes me a Gen-X’er. Like you, the 80’s were more-or-less my formative years. (I’m too young to remember anything about the 70s.) About the only good thing I can say about us is that we didn’t grow up in an era of idealism and pap like the generations that came before or after us. When we were kids, Reagan – THE conservative icon of the late 20th century – was in the White House, and he showed us that communism is not only a failure in its own right, but also can be brought down by keeping the pressure on. The 80s were not a time of peaceniks and protests, nor were they a “holiday from history” like the decade that followed.
My parents are Baby-Boomers. It’s hard to say much that’s good about their generation, either. They got the ball rolling with a lot of this entitlement and social-justice crap back in their day.
I have never understood how their parents – the ones who fought the most horrible war in human history and then came home and built moon rockets – could raise a bunch like the Boomers. It’s like every lesson they learned – scrabbling out an existence in the Depression, by blood and fire on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific, or that hard work pays off – was lost on their children.
All that said, I respect your longing to have grown up in the 50s. It must have been a great time to be alive in America – the Depression and the War were both over, the economy growing like a weed, and our only real concern being the Red Menace.
“I have never understood how their parents – the ones who fought the most horrible war in human history and then came home and built moon rockets – could raise a bunch like the Boomers. It’s like every lesson they learned – scrabbling out an existence in the Depression, by blood and fire on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific, or that hard work pays off – was lost on their children.”
A lot of that had to do with the huge prosperity that swept America just after WWII. Our economy was truly booming once again (it only really recovered from the Depression in 1943) and through the GI Bill there was a much more educated citizenry than ever before.
The Boomers never saw the hard work put into the post-war period. They only saw the tail end of it. Technology had a lot to do with Boomer attitudes as well. Television was becoming a household item (even through the war, radio was still the dominant media). Now people could actually see things as well as listen.
But I also think that the Greatest Generation was totally unprepared for the giant collective temper tantrum that was the 60’s. Nothing like this had ever happened before, and I think the parents were just beside themselves on what to do. Ironically, some of these same Boomers are scratching their heads and wondering why everything is such a mess with the Millenials (gee, maybe it’s because you jackasses set the precedent?).
8 Comments