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30 Mindblowing Statistics About Americans Under The Age Of 30
Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,
Why are young people in America so frustrated these days? You are about to find out. Most young adults started out having faith in the system. They worked hard, they got good grades, they stayed out of trouble and many of them went on to college. But when their educations where over, they discovered that the good jobs that they had been promised were not waiting for them at the end of the rainbow. Even in the midst of this so-called "economic recovery", the full-time employment rate for Americans under the age of 30 continues to fall. And incomes for that age group continue to fall as well. At the same time, young adults are dealing with record levels of student loan debt. As a result, more young Americans than ever are putting off getting married and having families, and more of them than ever are moving back in with their parents.
It can be absolutely soul crushing when you discover that the "bright future" that the system had been promising you for so many years turns out to be a lie. A lot of young people ultimately give up on the system and many of them end up just kind of drifting aimlessly through life. The following is an example from a recent Wall Street Journal article...
James Roy, 26, has spent the past six years paying off $14,000 in student loans for two years of college by skating from job to job. Now working as a supervisor for a coffee shop in the Chicago suburb of St. Charles, Ill., Mr. Roy describes his outlook as "kind of grim."
"It seems to me that if you went to college and took on student debt, there used to be greater assurance that you could pay it off with a good job," said the Colorado native, who majored in English before dropping out. "But now, for people living in this economy and in our age group, it's a rough deal."
Young adults as a group have been experiencing a tremendous amount of economic pain in recent years. The following are 30 statistics about Americans under the age of 30 that will blow your mind...
#1 The labor force participation rate for men in the 18 to 24 year old age bracket is at an all-time low.
#2 The ratio of what men in the 18 to 29 year old age bracket are earning compared to the general population is at an all-time low.
#3 Only about a third of all adults in their early 20s are working a full-time job.
#4 For the entire 18 to 29 year old age bracket, the full-time employment rate continues to fall. In June 2012, 47 percent of that entire age group had a full-time job. One year later, in June 2013, only 43.6 percent of that entire age group had a full-time job.
#5 Back in the year 2000, 80 percent of men in their late 20s had a full-time job. Today, only 65 percent do.
#6 In 2007, the unemployment rate for the 20 to 29 year old age bracket was about 6.5 percent. Today, the unemployment rate for that same age group is about 13 percent.
#7 American families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.
#8 During 2012, young adults under the age of 30 accounted for 23 percent of the workforce, but they accounted for a whopping 36 percent of the unemployed.
#9 During 2011, 53 percent of all Americans with a bachelor’s degree under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed.
#10 At this point about half of all recent college graduates are working jobs that do not even require a college degree.
#11 The number of Americans in the 16 to 29 year old age bracket with a job declined by 18 percent between 2000 and 2010.
#12 According to one survey, 82 percent of all Americans believe that it is harder for young adults to find jobs today than it was for their parents to find jobs.
#13 Incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation since the year 2000.
#14 In 1984, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older was 10 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger. Today, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older is 47 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger.
#15 In 2011, SAT scores for young men were the worst that they had been in 40 years.
#16 Incredibly, approximately two-thirds of all college students graduate with student loans.
#17 According to the Federal Reserve, the total amount of student loan debt has risen by 275 percent since 2003.
#18 In America today, 40 percent of all households that are led by someone under the age of 35 are paying off student loan debt. Back in 1989, that figure was below 20 percent.
#19 The total amount of student loan debt in the United States now exceeds the total amount of credit card debt in the United States.
#20 According to the U.S. Department of Education, 11 percent of all student loans are at least 90 days delinquent.
#21 The student loan default rate in the United States has nearly doubled since 2005.
#22 One survey found that 70% of all college graduates wish that they had spent more time preparing for the "real world" while they were still in college.
#23 In the United States today, there are more than 100,000 janitors that have college degrees.
#24 In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.
#25 Today, an all-time low 44.2 percent of all Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 are married.
#26 According to the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of all Americans in the 18 to 24 year old age bracket lived with their parents during 2012.
#27 One poll discovered that 29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are still living with their parents.
#28 Young men are nearly twice as likely to live with their parents as young women the same age are.
#29 Overall, approximately 25 million American adults are living with their parents according to Time Magazine.
#30 Young Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated that previous generations have saddled them with a nearly 17 trillion dollar national debt that they are expected to make payments on for the rest of their lives.
And this trend is not just limited to the United States. As I have written about frequently, unemployment rates for young adults throughout Europe have been soaring to unprecedented heights. For example, the unemployment rate for those under the age of 25 in Italy has now reached 40.1 percent.
Simon Black of the Sovereign Man blog discussed this global trend in a recent article on his website...
Youth unemployment rates in these countries are upwards of 40% to nearly 70%. The most recent figures published by the Italian government show yet another record high in youth unemployment.
An entire generation is now coming of age without being able to leave the nest or have any prospect of earning a decent wage in their home country.
This underscores an important point that I’ve been writing about for a long time: young people in particular get the sharp end of the stick.
They’re the last to be hired, the first to be fired, the first to be sent off to fight and die in foreign lands, and the first to have their benefits cut.
And if they’re ever lucky enough to find meaningful employment, they can count on working their entire lives to pay down the debts of previous generations through higher and higher taxes.
But when it comes time to collect… finally… those benefits won’t be there for them.
Meanwhile, the overall economy continues to get even weaker.
In the United States, Gallup's daily economic confidence index is now the lowest that it has been in more than a year.
For young people that are in high school or college right now, the future does not look bright. In fact, this is probably as good as the U.S. economy is going to get. It is probably only going to be downhill from here.
The system is failing, and young people are going to become even angrier and even more frustrated.
So what will that mean for our future?
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Beckham has tattoos, be like Beckham.
The problem is that the cost structure of many things we need to produce has fallen. Cars, computers, furniture, appliances. All robotized. But instead of passing along the savings to consumers so workes could survive on lower wages, the corporations complain thattheir margins are squeezed while paying their C-class $100 million a year.
$100 million is 2,000 middle class consumers, with all the spinoff-effects when that money goes through the economy.
Face it, if there is enough moneyy to wage war on Syria, there is enough money to solve some poverty. There is alos money to fix superfund sites, and do many wonderful things. A lot of what needs to be changed is roadblocked by our calculation of GDP instead of wealth. Thats why we demolish a good building and put up another instead of renovating and using the same funds to make a better quality of life.
The basic tenets of the system need major adjustment.
When that incident in DC happened and they said that Carey woman was a dental hygenist, one of my first thoughts was was she acting on "student loan debt rage."
Or no more government cheese rage?
A negress, btw.
Anyone else notice the complete lack of media interest in covering the black woman who went crazy and attacked Congress (proxy for republicans)?
If a white guy rammed his car into the White House, we would all be under martial law.
Does anyone that comments on this site ever get laid?
Angriest bunch of cynical sarcastic caustic commentors I have ever seen on any site on the interwebs. Love the actual articles on ZH, but I think I will skip the minutia of the comments heretoafter.
Doom and gloom everywhere, huh?
A large majority of you all post as though you are constantly and utterly miserable.
I don't think life is all rainbows and butterflies, but it isn't all grim reapers and Nazis, either. There have been far worse times and places to be alive, haven't there?
I have 2 beautiful children sleeping soundly upstairs, a beautiful wife that just rocked my world yet again, a solid job in education, 3 college degrees including a PhD that was financed through a (not so evil) student loan, a supportive network of friends and family, killer technology literally at my fingertips, etc.
Yeah, life really sucks- not.
***please insert angry comments about me being a debt slave, or part of the sheeple, or how the country is all going to hell because we elected Obama, etc. below****
If you are perceptive, you will realize the error of your generalization. Or go back to sleep.
It isn't a generalization, it is specific to the large majority of posters that appear so angry that they literally attack people they don't know with such viciousness as to call into question their general happiness in life.
There are some intelligent comments that aren't filled with hate and anger, which is why I sift through the comments.
Which kind of poster are you? One who adds to the intellectual discussion, or one who spews hate and intolerance under the guise of intelligence?
Sometimes student, sometimes hopefully, teacher.
You are so wise
I am humbled good sir
What kinda clown are you, anyway?
I'm a crying on the inside kinda clown I guess.
I rarely see posters here attacking each other (unless they really deserve it). Are they anger? Yes! We should be angry! Everyone should be much more angry about what's going on in this world. I find ZHers to be nicer to each other than other sites and much more intellegent and informed. Their anger is primarily directed at TPTB.
You clicked the wrong link to get here.
I think this is where you meant to go
http://www.gamesgames.com/game/My-Baby-Unicorn.html
Thanks for the heads up, you have such a kind soul. May happiness fill your journey.
Thanks for the heads up, you have such a kind soul. May happiness fill your journey. /sarc
There, fixed it for ya.
I see Dr. Brown. A "solid job" in education. Goodness, that means you've got a ticket on the gravy train. How wonderful for you that your life is to be spent living off the labor of the productive.
"Good Lord" the furloughed .gov workers are joining the Z/H forums. Welcome back to the "private sector" my little .gov implants.
If you get caught stealing paper clips & or paste-ups, YOU're DEAD! We have budgets, and bottom lines!
Why would anyone major in English and then expect to have many wonderful job opportunities? Sounds to me like he's in exactly the right line now.
I think we can all agree the youth are fucked because of our crippling economic ponzi system, but let's start getting real here and start blaming the real culprits, the victims.
Stupid youths deserve everything that is coming to them, they wanted socialism, so this is what they got.
DURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
most young people can't be bothered to vote. I blame our current socialistic malaise on the anti-republican anti republican, everybody deserves everything voters... predominantly the inner city crowd, and the mentally handicapped.
What a bunch of whining ass pussies! Woe is me, bad economy...whine...sniffle...
When in the history of humankind has there ever been greater opportunity? This thing, the internet, could be prety handy, if only I could find a way to apply unprecedented access to technology to potential needs of 6 billon potential customers? Hmmm.
I could be viewed as even more successful if I could find a way to utilize unprecedented access to human capital...Hmmm.
Think, think, think.
Going to get much worse before it gets any better.
'majored in English'........well, there's your problem unless you planned to become a perfesser or somethin
Is it possible for Mr Snyder to express any thought without a numbered list?
Nobody "promised" them a high paying job. They just saw someone in the corner office and assumed that they could have it if they went into debt and graduated from college. "Student loans" have grossly inflated the cost of education because people don't have to save for it or work side jobs. They can just buy today and pay tomorrow. But when tomorrow isn't as rosy as they thought it would be, reality sets in and they realise they were way too optimistic of their prospects
Nobody "promised" them a high paying job. They just saw someone in the corner office and assumed that they could have it if they went into debt and graduated from college. "Student loans" have grossly inflated the cost of education because people don't have to save for it or work side jobs. They can just buy today and pay tomorrow. But when tomorrow isn't as rosy as they thought it would be, reality sets in and they realise they were way too optimistic of their prospects
but..but...I thought socialism was what we all wanted? Here it is, deal with it. Youths didn't ask for it, their parents and grandparents did and have voted progressively for more progressivism and less liberty and freedom with almost every election thinking that what has failed globally and historically would somehow work here and utopia would be ushered in. Kinda like the sins of the parents being visited upon their children. There's your global trend - the 'forward' in to socialistic, nanny state, snooping, spying, controlling, soft edged, faux compassionate, big brother socialism/communism. Isn't it wonderful? Previous generations always had hope of prosperity mainly because of free enterprise, opportunity, and principled leadership. Where is the opportunity today? Where is the principled leadership? Where is the free enterprise? There is some out there...........but less all the time.
RESET of some sort needed and needed soon.
I have two grandsons, both age 22.
One was a math prodigy having earned a PhD in mathematics, at age 18 and a PhD in nano-engineering at age 20. He lives with parents and supports himself by planting trees in the forests.
The other was never much of a student but always intetrested in making things. He completed an apprenticeship in NC machining, has never had a day of unemployment, earns the equivalent of $10,000 per month, own his apartment.
Anecdotal, for sure, but draw your own conclusions.
Get your grandson with a PhD in maths to learn computer programming. There is a lot of money to be made combining maths with programming, as most programmers are deficient in the maths required for many applications.
Doubtful. Most companies that hire programmers have thousands of resumes sitting around. The market for domestic US citizen programmers pretty much died a decade ago.
Do they have emergency preparations and are they familiar with weapons use and are willing to use isaid weapons to defend themselves?
Otherwise, these bright minds might become a waste, anecdotal or not, it goes for everyone.
Conclusion:
PhD stands for: "Practicality Has Departed"
Doesn't surprise me. Yet the government allows US corporations to import foreign STEM workers under the guise of a shortage. When the same employers don't even bother to pick up the phone and call your grandson up for an interview.
college degree and still dumber than dirt.
cannon fodder for the banks.
rebuilding the cesspool called the u.s.a. doesn't need college degrees it needs balls.
something that is currently in short supply.
Todays generations at times do not realize the problems their parents before them went thru, while the current generation is busy watching facebook and the likes and indulding in comparision metrics over their peers, the end result is their own dis-satisfaction about lfe, challenges are everywhere and the founding years of 25-45 will always be one of challenges, here is a story from, economic woes and a sui cide.
BANGALORE: A 32-year-old salesman Santosh Gowda with a shoe company committed suicide, citing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh'salleged "bad administration" and failure to repel attacks by Pakistan as the cause.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Salesman-ends-life-names-PM-in-suicide-note/articleshow/23548098.cms
Blame game is on, everywhere.
I earned a college degree. I didn't receive an education until I had to pay back the money I borrowed to pay for the college degree.
I don't really give two hoots if you have a college degree and have no job that pays like it should. It's an old story.
Cry me a river.
What really torques my gears is when I am selling produce at my farmer's market and people drive in with brand new cars with four dollar gasoline in the tanks and complain about an item that is two for a dollar and walk away.
I farm and it pays and it is work.
If someone isn't willing to pay a dollar for two fresh Japanese eggplants and walk back to their Mercedes after complaining about spending a dollar for something to eat, they can burn in hell. Sooner will be better and now would be the best. Dumbasses like that are what's wrong with this world, not a 24 year old kid on funemployment.
I respect the work you do more than any profession. I love shopping at our local farmer's market. I ride my bike there and bring cloth bags.
Keep the eggplant. Fry it up in a stirfry with mushrooms, ginger, and red pepper flakes. Serve on brown rice cooked in vegetable broth. Delicious! Let the Mercedes drive away.
Then they have the last laugh in a while when they end up buying your farm after a very bad season.
That depends on how well one manages one's affairs. For that matter, they may build the vegetable business up so well that they end up buying the repo'd Mercedes at auction!
My wife and I ran a produce stand as a second job for fifteen or more summers. Most days I would personally load and unload over two tons of melons, taters, maters, peas, beans, etc before most people got out of bed. Then work selling all day until the setting sun. Little sleep, long hot hours. But very satisfying. When we started did not move much, but you must be persistent to earn trust. Nothing good comes easy.
I tell people every day that today is the best the economy will be for the next 20 years - most look at me with the deer in the headlight stare.
Yes. My reply to people who make worrying statements about the present and near future: Don't worry, it'll get worse.
There is a simple fact involved here that is very important and yet completely missed, or ignored, by the main-stream media: THE STUDENT LOAN SYSTEM HAS BECOME A WELFARE PROGRAM. "STUDENTS" IN POST-CRISIS AMERICA, IN INCREASING NUMBERS, ARE ENROLLING IN COLLEGE TO OBTAIN FOOD AND SHELTER. THE MISAPPREHENSION OF A GOOD JOB AWAITING DIMINISHES BY THE DAY, YET COLLEGE ENROLLMENT SWELLS BECAUSE FOR SO MANY IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO GET ENOUGH MONEY TO EAT AND PAY RENT. TIME TO WAKE UP, IT IS NOT AT ALL ABOUT EDUCATION ANYMORE. SOME COLLEGE TOWNS OWE THEIR COLLECTIVE LIVELIHOODS ENTIRELY TO THE STUDENT LOAN PROGRAMS.
A lot of good points there. I see these "not so young anymore" people hiding in college until the economy gets better. But guess what? Our wealth was spent decades ago, and fake wealth built from leveraged accounting tricks and postponed interest charges (and my favorite, rehypothecation) cannot "get better".
We're a lot poorer than we thought we were, perhaps too poor to have every young person march off at 21 and have a full, First World, independent household of their own to start life with. Many countries don't have that, and now it looks like we won't either.
Oh well, thrift and planning, plus humility and a mature ability to savor true quality, was always better than the fake debt, oneupsmanship anyway.
College stopped being about education the day that dumb-as-dirt football players could get degrees.
Duplicate post.
Student Loans have become another welfare program. "Students" are enrolling to get money for food and rent. The number of students who actually expect to get a job when they graduate is diminishing all the time. Enrollment continues to increase only because there is no other way for these young people to get money to live, eat, pay rent, buy a car, etc. WAKE UP, THE SITUATION IS WORSE THAN STATED BY OTHERS HERE.
we are all conned by the gov and still we go on everyday as nothing is going on, me included, the college students are conned into taking on debt and getting a worthless degree.
No Mr. Roy you didn't get a "rough deal" you got a raw deal.
So you can party for four and pay for it for forty, or you can work for four and live a decent life for forty. Nobody held a gun to your head and said, "Hey, rack up $90k in student loans so you can get that worthless 14th century French art degree." You did that.
Briefly watched Hannity last night as he engaged students from the big name universities. Some nimrod from * Harvard * said, "We need to invest more in education".
No we don't.
One, your generation has rung up a 1 Trillion dollar student loan bubble and defaults at a 20% rate. Two, universities jack up their admissions costs in relation to the amount of gubment aid out there. Three, why rack up $60k in loans (DEBT)? So you can get a "nice starting job" paying $75k, only to turn around and buy a $240k house? There you are 300k in debt before the age of 30.
To quote the author of this blog, "Slaves with white collars"
So, you actually believe that a twenty-something can work for four years at a minimum wage job and pay for a $90thusand collage degree?
Who tied your shoes for you this morning? Or are yu just sticking with flip-flops?
So, you actually believe that a twenty-something can work for four years at a minimum wage job and pay for a $90thousand college degree?
Who tied your shoes for you this morning? Or are you just sticking with the flip-flops?
Either I am missing something or you missed the point of the comment.
There is one thing I know very well about this economy: We have ENOUGH young people running around with useless degrees. I have three myself and decided long ago they were equally useless (my degrees not my kids).
I own my own businesses and I seriously have a hard time finding anyone useful to work between 24 - 35 (+/-).
We need welders, mechanics, and a lot of COMMON SENSE young people who like the idea of hard work that pays off. Most young people today never get to that "pays off" phase because they QUIT along the say wondering why they cannot afford a McMansion and Lexus at 24 years-old.
The only way this is going to happen is if the "money for nothing" financial industry is whacked. Kids are tired of seeing people who do minimal work, ie: bankers, make million dollar pay packets (the average Goldman Sachs employee is paid over $400k!). It demoralizes everyone to see crap like that. Especially when welders/mechanics and people with COMMON SENSE actually make stuff.
It doesn't help that you already think that your business ownership elevates you above everyone else.
Wait till they get their Obamacare bills and fines.
Right! These gullble young people swallowed the "hopey-changey" bs and helped elect this neo-marxist and his marxist/socialist policies, regulation, and this f-ing 0bozocare is wrecking the nation.
But he hob nobs and gets campaign $$$ from banksters, techies (think google and facebook, etc) and the Hollywood crowd.
He and his fat assed wife are living large at the peoples expense, you're suffering, and he and his regime don't give a shit.
So remind me what the alternative was... oh yeah that's right..... the GOP had their heads up their asses and ran McCain/Palin.....
edit I was so disgusted with the elections/political arena, lack of financial reform, wars, sound leadership etc, etc... I elected to leave the county and put a "Simon Black' tactic in play...
http://www.deepcapturethemovie.com/
"Only about a third of all adults in their early 20s are working a full-time job."
I read that 88% of jobs created this year are part time. I don't think it matters what age anyone is.
That can be fixed by reclassifying everything under full-time work, making it a choice on whether one works for an employer as a temp or as a permanent employee(same skillset), and by making the unemployed a protected hiring class.
Take away all the HR/classification toys and the employers might actually have to do something they've not done for decades - not mistreat their hired help.
"According to one survey, 82 percent of all Americans believe that it is harder for young adults to find jobs today than it was for their parents to find jobs."
It is harder for anyone today, than it was 40 years ago.
Why does the government continue to screw up the economy and why are people so accepting of the government screwing up the economy?
A totalitarian mindset to control the people, and a dumbed-down populace entertained with bread and circuses.
Why does the private sector show a continued contempt for employing US citizens in good faith? Such actions only motivate the government to act.
Well thank god we sent all our jobs away and gave away technology to help other countries out! Fk the shutdown let's write a check out for $100billion to pakistan right now!
Reap what ya sow......
I often ask myself, if I were born into their generation and had my same mind set as I did when I was their age, how would I have turned out?
Honestly, far better. I would have done the same things that I did except a few decades later. The opportunities and technology would have made my life far easier.
These kids in general do not believe in the power of manual labor, or any work that does not require sacrifice for low pay or working up the ladder. That's why the few that do understand this are not having the same problems as their peers.
They want credit cards & student loans to pay for everything, and they want new cars, iphones, tattoos, etc. at their young ages
You cannot blame them entirely as their parents were (and still are) all jacked up. They couldn't keep their own lives and marriages together. What the fuck do you think they can do for their offspring? It's not like they learn from their mistakes.
Look who they voted for en mass.
To the personal responsibility crowd:
When one person fails, it's his fault.
When an entire generation fails, it's the system's fault.
Yes, but the persuasian of those who believe in personal non-responsibilty brought you this broken system.
The personal responsibility crowd warned you this would happen. For decades. And was (and still is) being ridiculed by all and sundry.
Welcome to reality. You created it. Enjoy!
And these umemployed young adults are going to pay for Obamacare, right?
And Social Security, and Medicare, and Medicaid, and foodstamps, and Welfare, and WIC, and the debt, and.......................
I have to say that, from the perspective of the Powers That Be, tossing out unlimited student loans to all the young people was a masterful strategy to cement stability for the established people for several more years.
Why? Well young people are the most unstable and agitating age group. By giving them loans, they lock that group into 4 or 5 years of cheap booze and cheaper sex, plus some college classes to go along with it.
The brilliant part is, that the young people do not all graduate at once, and hence do not all discover that there are poor, or no, jobs. Instead, the young group is divided into at least 5 segements, which graduate only incrementally over several years. This process buys at least 8 years of passivity from the youngest people, whereas not giving them easy loans would have cemented the young as a unified, and angry group, out to get involved.
The punchline of it all, is that the young people are the ones who pay to neutralize themselves! Ha ha ha.
A very effective strategy for eliminating young people's involvement in the economic crises for an extended number of years indeed!
The real #1 is this: Young people will NOT ENJOY inflation like EVERY generation of the past. It would not be a big deal to have 100K in debt if 15 years from now they were all earning $200K/yr.
I know one kid who needed money to pay for school so he threw a lawnmower in his single mom's car trunk and went around mowing lawns on weekends. One of his older new customers had a pickup that needed work so he traded lawn service for it and fixed it up. Undercut landscaping outfits by literally running behind the mower.
He found a deck mower that needed work and bought it cheap and borrowed a trailer from a friends father who seldom used it and bid on an estate job. Hired a few friends to push mow and weed whack.
Never made it to college but by 22 he owned a million bucks worth of equipment, had 20 employees and a pretty good sized construction company doing landscape and irrigation for corporate clients and paving driveways and parking lots.
His company still did my mom's lawn because he said he'd never forget the people who helped him starting out and gave him the chance to try to earn a buck.
Some wait for opportunity.
Some make opportunity.
A work ethic is something they don't teach kids at school... he must have had decent parents or mentors/role models to instill this in him.
"#30 Young Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated that previous generations have saddled them with a nearly 17 trillion dollar national debtthat they are expected to make payments on for the rest of their lives"
Well they gotta get a job before they can pay any taxes... but yeah eventually let's hope they can contribute to all the goodie bags they used up on government credit in first 20 years of life. Until then system says we gotta carry them and enormous debt ponzi.
So how much of the "government goodie bags" did you use up in the first 20 years of your life??????
And who exactly give the kids this credit goodie bags??????
All those who bad mouth philosophy would have really benefited from a philosophy course in college.
I majored in philosophy as an undergrad. I worked on 2 other advanced degrees at prestigious programs in "practical" fields. I consider those degrees a waste of time, but the philosophy will carry me for life.
It's true that the starting prospects for philosophy majors aren't great. But if you look at what billionaires studied, philosophy is at the top of the list. Jim Rogers and George Soros come to mind.
Philosophy is basically math for life—applying reason to human affairs. Best education I can think of for business. Would never waste money on an MBA.
Sure some philosophy programs are jokes. But we don't judge engineering as a discipline by its worst programs.
When you have to figure out Plato, Aristotle or Aquinas from the primary texts, your mind expands. You become a better thinker, able to figure out very alien things. This enables you to be versatile in your career by teaching yourself whatever you need.
The reason we have structural unemployment is the college system general doesn't produce what employers want. College is supposed to be an educational experience, not a training experience. It's designed to produce well-rounded people who are versatile. It works well when employers consider employees a long-term asset. It is maladaptive when employers are short-cited and myopic. Employers today just want someone who can do a specific task now, with little or no training, and be discarded when that task no longer is required.
The labor market should switch to apprenticeships for pretty much everything. Doctors, lawyers, engineers can all be trained more effectively on the job, and at far less cost. This would bring the cost of training in line with the lower salaries employers want to pay.
Then people wouldn't waste so much money on college, and the cost can be normalized for those who still want to invest modestly in real education, rather than mere training.
Grunt work makes the world go 'round. Lincoln learned by lantern light. I have a keen appreciation for philosophy. Mine is.....Sweat, sacrifice and diligence makes one wiser. Also....If grasshopper pays for his own damn education, he will discover that it is much more meaningful, and he may become a zen master.
Grunt work?
My black card and I are doing fine thanks. Not sure I'll be able to say the same for STEMs when this latest bubble bursts.
Won't need as many engineers when there aren't anymore Chinese ghost cities to build.
In order to achieve a totally predictable economy, the low-class elements of society must be brought under total control, i.e., must be housebroken, trained, and assigned a yoke and long-term social duties from a very early age, before they have an opportunity to question the propriety of the matter. In order to achieve such conformity, the lower-class family unit must be disintegrated by a process of increasing preoccupation of the parents and the establishment of government-operated day-care centers for the occupationally orphaned children.
The quality of education given to the lower class must be of the poorest sort, so that the moat of ignorance isolating the inferior class from the superior class is and remains incomprehensible to the inferior class. With such an initial handicap, even bright lower class individuals have little if any hope of extricating themselves from their assigned lot in life. This form of slavery is essential to maintain some measure of social order, peace, and tranquility for the ruling upper class.
Descriptive Introduction of the Silent WeaponEverything that is expected from an ordinary weapon is expected from a silent weapon by its creators, but only in its own manner of functioning.
It shoots situations, instead of bullets; propelled by data processing, instead of chemical reaction (explosion); originating from bits of data, instead of grains of gunpowder; from a computer, instead of a gun; operated by a computer programmer, instead of a marksman; under the orders of a banking magnate, instead of a military general.
It makes no obvious explosive noises, causes no obvious physical or mental injuries, and does not obviously interfere with anyone’s daily social life.
Yet it makes an unmistakable "noise," causes unmistakable physical and mental damage, and unmistakably interferes with the daily social life, i.e., unmistakable to a trained observer, one who knows what to look for.
The public cannot comprehend this weapon, and therefore cannot believe that they are being attacked and subdued by a weapon.
The public might instinctively feel that something is wrong, but that is because of the technical nature of the silent weapon, they cannot express their feeling in a rational way, or handle the problem with intelligence. Therefore, they do not know how to cry for help, and do not know how to associate with others to defend themselves against it.
When a silent weapon is applied gradually, the public adjusts/adapts to its presence and learns to tolerate its encroachment on their lives until the pressure (psychological via economic) becomes too great and they crack up.
Therefore, the silent weapon is a type of biological warfare. It attacks the vitality, options, and mobility of the individuals of a society by knowing, understanding, manipulating, and attacking their sources of natural and social energy, and their physical, mental, and emotional strengths and weaknesses.
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_cooper2a.htm#The Household Industry
I have three kids, all between 22 and 27. All three have jobs. One's a doc, one a nurse and one a sales guy. They all bitch and moan about work but realize they worked hard to get where they are. No gifts. No debt. Solidly middle class. I paid for it all - and I had maybe $1500 to my name when I graduated from college. No gifts, no debt.
I was the lowest of the low when I graduated. Engineering degree and thus, not many parties at college. Was a slave for five years, making nothing. Then paid my way thru B school. When I was married, I may have had $5k to our names. I worked, she worked. Solidly middle to lower class. We bitched and moaned but we worked. We never thought we would see Soc Sec. Just like today. But we worked.
My brothers. Same thing. Had nothing. Crummy night time jobs and one or two bankruptcies. Bitched and moaned. Now one is a controller for a high tech plant and solidly middle class. The other has an international bus after several bankruptcies. We are all going to retire but remember that we had nothing to start out. And the jobs were crap. Nothing has changed.
I don't know what kids these days expect. None want to do the work that we did. My kids don't. The sales son tells me "I get sick at work due to the stress" and then works from home for a day. I wish I could have done that.
Most kids are waiting for a better job that fits their inflated sense of self that the colleges heap on them, along with the debt. Work at Wal Mart? hell no. Drive a cab? Hell no. Spin tapes on the night shift at a bank? Hell no. (My brother did that.) My friends did all of these things and they did ok in the end.
I believe if the manufacturing jobs were still here, our kids wouldn't want to do those either. Bitch and moan.
I employ a few dozen young college grads today at my firm. All they do all day is talk about how the world is better under Obama. And how Repubs are the ones who screwed them. Yet they all have debt. They all resent success of older folks (like me) and they all want a free lunch. I would be light years ahead of where I am if I had a salary like they do when I was their age. Ah... but I bitch and moan.
Get to work. Assets will come. The big mistake in life is mismanagement of liabilities. And the bitching and moaning...
While I sympathize with the younger generation a great deal, especially my fellow real Americans, I am disappointed that most are not willing to accept this new reality and are not willing to work to make their situation better. I have talked to several small business owners over the years and they all say the same thing, something like, "I can't get these white boys to work. Most of them are lazy, undependable whiners. They won't do real hard work, won't follow directions, and getting them to show up regularly is very difficult. Yet they expect big pay with lots of power but little responsibility."
Compelling leadership changes that. Rather than the lackluster workers, let's look at the boss. Is he living in a mansion on a 20 acre estate?
Does he give bonuses to the pee-ons" he complains about every goddam chance he gets when Christmas arrives? When you do not reward good behavior, expect it to turn into bad behavior.
It is just human to be upset when you are given something and told more is to come only to find the opposite occurs. For the last decade, the bonuses have gone right to the top. Maybe it is time for the boss to move into a gated community to free up the loot, share the pie.
I do realize that in the high-end parts of town, economy appears to be fine. Along coast of California, Carmel, SLO, Monterey, they are doing well enough. If I were young, I'd move to the areas in the USA where the tourists go or the rich live, at least for now. At least there is a cash flow.
Usually gated communities do the opposite and are a sign of fear and/or contempt of the existing communities around them.
Gated communities do keep the stampede from arriving ununvited. Doctors and lawyers live behind gates for obvious reasons. And the wealthy class do have a lot of nice things. Home association is also there to maintain the property. There are very nice ones in California. Lakes and fountains, themes and very large and beautiful homes, with a person at the gate to check to see if person is expected.
Look carefully at "The Wealthy Class". There is a tremendous amount of movement of wage earners in the upper quintile. You may get there someday but the chances of staying there are not so good. I started with very little. But got into one of those gated communities when I was 45. I sometimes didn't feel I belonged since I thought like you do - I am not one of those guys. But I simply reached the point I could afford it, and voila, now I get to live there.
Obama has done a good job convincing us that the upper class is intransigent, monothilic, and corrupt. There are many next-door millionaires who started with nothing, played by the rules, paid their taxes, saved and are not corrupt. If you are not one of them, don't blame the ones who got there.
BTW, I believe that there are not enough white collar prison cells for the corrupt. I believe the bankers are in cahoots with the govt, particularly this round, and that many of the wealthy in NYC and other financial centers commit white collar crimes all the time. But we can't let the hard working American success story get mixed up with them. Obama has done a great job convincing us that it's all rigged. It's not. At least not all.
If anyone becomes financially independent the right way, obeying the laws of the land and paying the taxes they owe, we should be proud of them. They won't complain as they get older and will take care of themselves. What Obama is doing is making it far harder for these success stories to come about at all. Socialists don't want independent people who make it. They want the minions to get in line and stay miserably equal.
As long as there are ambitious, decent people in the US, there will be frustration with a socialist way of governing. It's not in their nature to sit and whine. And it pisses them off to be told their success is inappropriate,unAmerican, and selfish. While the less ambitious moan about their jobs and opportunities, the ambitious will put their heads down and work. They may fail along the way, but they create value - something the government will never do.
gwingo, seems your heavy use of "and paying their taxes" might imply, you like paying off the mafia insurance.
I regret every cent I ever paid in taxes, so agree with making in usa, but this ain't the country you still live in eyes wide shut.
Look carefully at "The Wealthy Class". There is a tremendous amount of movement of wage earners in the upper quintile. You may get there someday but the chances of staying there are not so good. I started with very little. But got into one of those gated communities when I was 45. I sometimes didn't feel I belonged since I thought like you do - I am not one of those guys. But I simply reached the point I could afford it, and voila, now I get to live there.
Obama has done a good job convincing us that the upper class is intransigent, monothilic, and corrupt. There are many next-door millionaires who started with nothing, played by the rules, paid their taxes, saved and are not corrupt. If you are not one of them, don't blame the ones who got there.
BTW, I believe that there are not enough white collar prison cells for the corrupt. I believe the bankers are in cahoots with the govt, particularly this round, and that many of the wealthy in NYC and other financial centers commit white collar crimes all the time. But we can't let the hard working American success story get mixed up with them. Obama has done a great job convincing us that it's all rigged. It's not. At least not all.
If anyone becomes financially independent the right way, obeying the laws of the land and paying the taxes they owe, we should be proud of them. They won't complain as they get older and will take care of themselves. What Obama is doing is making it far harder for these success stories to come about at all. Socialists don't want independent people who make it. They want the minions to get in line and stay miserably equal.
As long as there are ambitious, decent people in the US, there will be frustration with a socialist way of governing. It's not in their nature to sit and whine. And it pisses them off to be told their success is inappropriate,unAmerican, and selfish. While the less ambitious moan about their jobs and opportunities, the ambitious will put their heads down and work. They may fail along the way, but they create value - something the government will never do.
What you're not hearing in their complaints is how those business owners treat their hired help. These days, businesses think that it's fine to treat their workers as perpetual second class citizens (even if they're not permatemping them!) and expect that nothing bad will come out of it. In fact, those small business owners might be making things worse for themselves - whether it be through worse performance and/or a push from the workers to regulate the bad practice out of existence.
If anything, you further prove why it might not be a good idea to work for a small business given their inability to not get out of their own entitlement mentality (that all shall bow before them).