Three Ways the Rich and Powerful Have Cheated Young Americans
Today's young people are being drafted into an economic war that theydon't understand.It's a slowly waged, diabolical war that substitutes debt and underemployment for missing limbs and psychological disorders. The soldiers are college-age men and womenwho can't find jobs or pay tuition,andwhoare seducedintosubmission by the promise ofeventualrewards. The Vietnamese jungle has turned into Wall Street.
Forthoseofus whoweren't particularly good activists in the 60s, age has widened our perspective, and the lackof opportunities for our children has given us a second chance to protest, to help make it clear how the leaders of my generation have abandoned the people theyno longer need.
YoungAmerica,here's whyyou should be angry:
1. The Great WEALTH Transfer
-- 18- to 35-year-olds: Your median net worthhas dropped 68% since 1984.It's now less than $4,000.
-- The Richest 1%: They tripled their share of income between 1980 and 2006, then took93%of all the new income in the first year after the 2008 recession. Their median net worth is now over $5,000,000.
2. The Lack of JOBS: No one's hiring, so you have to "create your own job."
This from Michael Barone of the Washington Examiner:"The goodnews is that information technology provides the iPod/Facebook generation withthe means tofindworkand create careers that build on their own personal talents and interests...creatingyourown career will produce a stronger sense of satisfaction and fulfillment."
Sounds easy,doesn't it? Just grab youriPhone, open up Facebook, and create your own job. Become an entrepreneur,justlike the richest Americans.Exceptthat the richestAmericans aren't entrepreneurs. Based on U.S. tax return data, only 3% of the wealthiest130,000Americans are entrepreneurs. Mostare inmanagement or finance.
As your parents and mentors,we toldyou tostay in schoolandworkhardandeverything would be fine. But you don't have jobs. Over half of college graduates were joblessorunderemployedin 2011. More than 350,000 Americans with advanced degrees were receiving food stamps or some otherform ofpublic assistance.
If you do have a job, it's probably not paying much. Salaries for new graduates dropped 10% just in the last year. Worse yet, mostof you are dealing with college loan debt, which averages $24,000, and with the reality of zero net worthfor over a third of you.
As wages are hittingan all-time low, corporate profits are hittingan all-time high. But the corporations that have built their profits on Americaninnovation andlabor are telling you theydon't need you anymore. Apple -- much admired for its slick products -- shows little respect for anyone below upper management. With 47,000 employees, about 1/10 the number employed by IBM,Applemakes a profit of $420,000 per employee. Yet mostApplestore workers make about $12 per hour.
And your representatives in Washington are no help. In October, 2011 Senate Republicans killed a proposed $447 billion jobs bill that would have added about two million jobs to the economy. Nearly two-thirds of the Americanpublic had supported the bill.
3. The Portrayal of EDUCATION as a "lifetime investment"
Yes, it's a lifetime investment,forthe holderof your student loans.
As corporate profits and CEO salaries and incomes of the 1%have surged over the pasttenyears, education financingdeclinedby24percent,and tuitionat state schools increased72percent. Since 1985, while consumer prices have approximately doubled, tuition has risen almost 600%.
Total state education cuts forfiscal 2012 were $12.7 billion. A study by Citizens for Tax Justice notedthat 265ofour nation's largestcompanies avoided about the sameamount instate taxes each year from 2008 to 2010.
So your massive tuitionbills are paid for with mountingstudentdebt,whichhas more than tripled in the pasttenyears. Here again my own generation has deceivedyou.Ouronce-idealistic anti-war activists now excel at flashy marketing and sloganeering,withadmissions pitches of "affordability" and "lifetime investment," and carefully avoided references to costs and debts and contracts.
To make up for lost revenue, cutbacks continue and educational opportunitiesdisappear.State colleges are eliminating expensive-to-run engineering andcomputer science departments. Arizona doubled college tuition in four years. California K-12 schools have one counselorfor every 800 students. Ohio's Governor Kasich suggested rationing college majors among state schools.Illinois cut 2012 educational funding bya greaterpercentage than any otherstate;not tobe outdone,Pennsylvania's Governor Corbett tried to cut higher education funding byhalf, andNew Hampshire DID cut university funding by half. Florida's college tuition is up 15% in a year, Nevada's is up 13%, Tennessee's about 10%, Washington's 24% over two years.
Hell No, We Won't Go IntoServitude
College graduates,you shouldn'tbe workingfor $12 an hour.The computer andnetworking technologies that gave life to companies like Apple and Google grew out of 50 years of public research. It was an accomplishment of society, not of a few well-positionedindividuals. You, the descendants of industry pioneers, and the potentialcreators ofeven greatertechnologies, deserve at the veryleast a decent-paying job.
Your anti-war protest, if a time-weathered opinion matters,would includea floodofjob demands at the offices of U.S. and state senators and representatives. In person and online. You are part of the fastest and mostsophisticated means of communicationeverdevised. Youhave the power to make demands.
http://buzzflash.com/node/13593
But first you have to get mad.
Student loan debt exploded something like 600% since the year I graduated high school in 1999.
We (me and dh) are slaves to the bank, paying $1500 a month in loans. It is oppressive. We make $110k a year, and after paying bills, daycare, etc, we are literally living pay check to pay check. We can't even have another kid because we can't afford it, no vacations, no shopping just because I want to . Budget budget budget., that is all we do. And ever time w think we are about to get ahead something happens to pull us back, like us BOTH getting laid off last year. It's depressing. We just tread water.
These rich fucks have more money than they could spend in 10 life times and they want MORE and have the nerve to complain about the lowest taxes in history while people like us fight over scraps. And the worst part is that we make more than something like 80% of the population, so they are even worse off. It's revolting.
Looks more like you need some money management skills rather than blame people who do have them.
Quoting LBAY:
oooh, I am mad. Believe that.
Student loan debt exploded something like 600% since the year I graduated high school in 1999.
We (me and dh) are slaves to the bank, paying $1500 a month in loans. It is oppressive. We make $110k a year, and after paying bills, daycare, etc, we are literally living pay check to pay check. We can't even have another kid because we can't afford it, no vacations, no shopping just because I want to . Budget budget budget., that is all we do. And ever time w think we are about to get ahead something happens to pull us back, like us BOTH getting laid off last year. It's depressing. We just tread water.
These rich fucks have more money than they could spend in 10 life times and they want MORE and have the nerve to complain about the lowest taxes in history while people like us fight over scraps. And the worst part is that we make more than something like 80% of the population, so they are even worse off. It's revolting.
Hard work can make most rich so get out there and work your ass off.
Hating some because they work 24/7 is stupid. This is American where people came to become rich 'it was business friendly' this is the our problem!
We can fix this we just have to wake up and vote for a man that business frienly not crony capitalism.
Young people are being cheated but it's not just coming from the rich and powerful. Most of the ones being cheated are coming from middle class families. These are the ones that have families struggling to put them through college and they are the ones that are saddled with enormous student loan debt. The lower class are getting free medical, college paid for by grants, a free ride and the rich have enough money to just pay for it all. So again the middle class suffers while the others skim on by.
Quoting 4kidz916:Young people are being cheated but it's not just coming from the rich and powerful. Most of the ones being cheated are coming from middle class families. These are the ones that have families struggling to put them through college and they are the ones that are saddled with enormous student loan debt. The lower class are getting free medical, college paid for by grants, a free ride and the rich have enough money to just pay for it all. So again the middle class suffers while the others skim on by.
You are right the middle class is the one that is hurting.
But people use to do is save money for college, work while in college. What has changed it the leadership. The president tells the people it is your human right to get med.care and education and we can give it to you if you vote for me.
WRONG we should work for our needs not be allowed to be in salved by government.
Government has 17 well defined rolls in the constitution and paying for college and health care is not one of them.
Ron Paul 2012
Wages have not been increasing to keep up with cost.
Both health care cost and college tuition have been rising at a rate much faster than inflation.
I just graduated from college this year, and all of my peers worked. They still struggled to pay tuition.
It isn't so cut and dry anymore.
Quoting gammie:Quoting 4kidz916:Young people are being cheated but it's not just coming from the rich and powerful. Most of the ones being cheated are coming from middle class families. These are the ones that have families struggling to put them through college and they are the ones that are saddled with enormous student loan debt. The lower class are getting free medical, college paid for by grants, a free ride and the rich have enough money to just pay for it all. So again the middle class suffers while the others skim on by.
You are right the middle class is the one that is hurting.
But people use to do is save money for college, work while in college. What has changed it the leadership. The president tells the people it is your human right to get med.care and education and we can give it to you if you vote for me.
WRONG we should work for our needs not be allowed to be in salved by government.
Government has 17 well defined rolls in the constitution and paying for college and health care is not one of them.
Quoting Carpy:
Yeah even after the loan debt they have7500 left.
As a side note- At my DD's graduation from college, the President of the college actually complained about low teacher salaries in his speech. Fast forward 2 years to another graduation-same school, same President. This year his speech was about how much the economy has changed into a "service" economy, and the graduates will have to be creative in finding employment. Guess the horrible low wages for teachers look pretty good now! lol
And yes, I feel the middle-class crush. I worry about how my kids will ever attain our level of income, let alone surpass it. It is depressing to even think about how many ways politicians have screwed us over. And it will not change until "We The People" force a change.
Quoting timeforprogress:
This has proven over and over again. When government gets involved we get screwed.
Government is our problem!!
It will take years to pay back loans it tooks us around 6 years. But it worth it. We also did not take out more than we needed, Very important !!
Young people also own some of the problems they face, as well. Too many feel entitled to be earning somewhere greater than entry-level, without working their way up. Simply not realistic.
I am reminded of a Pew Research study that cited Gen Y as the only generation (X, Y, babyboomers, etc) NOT to include "work ethic" as a defining characteristic. I will have to find the study. Actually, many studies have been done on Gen Y. They point to laziness, lack of innovation and dedications to a career, as well as a sense of entitlement in this age group.
Lois Lerner, IRS Official, On Leave Of Absence: Reports
- _Kissy_
on Jul. 10, 2012 at 12:57 AM