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Special Report
When Hope Fails Dopes
Is there any hope for Generation Y, the first likely to be worse off financially than its parents?
Frank Sinatra once crooned about having the world on a string. Generation Y has grown up believing that parents, teachers, and bosses would tie that string around our collective fingers. Now that adult realities are hitting home, the frenzy isn’t pretty.
My generation — those in their late teens, twenties, and early thirties — is the most over-promised youthful cohort in American history. Our Boomer parents told us we could do and be anything, if we believed in ourselves. The government and higher-education establishment bolstered that misconception through excessive student loans, promising jobs, jobs, jobs if only we’d make passing grades and get that four-year degree.
As the narrative goes, Generation Y would graduate and immediately land a high-paying post that gives us plenty of time off to pursue a Bohemian lifestyle into our 30s. Forget marriage and childbearing — at least for now. Those traditions cramp our style. Better to cohabit, and if birth control fails, there’s always “dilation and evacuation.”
We’re optimistic, so we think that work and family life will go well. After all, we believe in ourselves. Isn’t that enough?
In a word, no. Hard economic realities, instigated by toxic federal policies and a fascistic alliance between big government and big business, have ensured that no matter how hard Generation Y wants “the good life,” defined as few responsibilities and lots of stuff, most of us won’t have it.
For the first time in American history, young people are likely to be worse off financially than their parents. That reality has Generation Y hacked off.
We’re witnessing the first glimmers in Occupy Wall Street. Imagine spending a week promising your pre-school child a ream of goodies from the local candy store, only to give steamed broccoli to him instead. A tantrum would ensue. The same result is occurring in Manhattan’s financial district. (A key difference is that OWS goons defecate on cop cars. I doubt even lenient parents would tolerate such behavior from a 4-year old.)
Europe, further into the socialist swamp than is the United States, is witnessing legions of young people taking to the streets in protest over government goodies denied. It’s turned violent and destructive. It’s the future here.
The entitlement attitude is pervasive among the young because we’ve only known the politics of class warfare. Our sterling public-school educations have made sure we never forget what society owes us. Every demographic except the white, Christian, heterosexual male is oppressed. We don’t take too kindly to having our self-esteemed taken down a peg.
“One young employee told a startled manager that he expected to be vice president at the company within three years,” writes Jean M. Twenge in Generation Me. “When the manager told him this was not realistic (most vice presidents were in their sixties), the young man got angry with him and said, ‘You should encourage me and help me fulfill my expectations.’”
What can invigorate the economy and lay the groundwork for my generation’s success? First, young people must give up on President Obama’s hope and trust Hope. The decline of Christianity — and its emphasis on hard work, thriftiness, and loving thy neighbor — and the rise of moral relativism have led to social ills that demonstrably harm the economy.
Poverty in two-parent households is 8 percent in the United States; in single-parent households, it’s 35 percent. Increasingly, men are no longer men in America. We’ve abdicated our role as leader and protector in favor of video games and perpetual adolescents. Fueled by a me-centered attitude, the rate of no-fault divorces has spiked following California’s legalization in 1969 (one of Ronald Reagan’s biggest mistakes, and regrets):
From 1960 to 1980, the [U.S.] divorce rate more than doubled — from 9.2 divorces per 1,000 married women to 22.6 divorces per 1,000 married women. This meant that while less than 20% of couples who married in 1950 ended up divorced, about 50% of couples who married in 1970 did.
Ready access to abortion and birth control has removed responsibility from the sex act. Laws play a role in reversing these trends, but there is no substitute for a cultural and religious revival. It’s necessary.
Secondly, on economics, we must return to true free-market principles. And true is essential. The current conglomeration of the federal government, state governments, and corporations is not a free market. It’s crony capitalism. In a free market, companies win or lose based on the value they provide customers. There are no bailouts. There is responsibility.
These two viewpoints — the social and fiscal — are antithetical to the agenda shared by President Obama, congressional Democrats, and establishment Republicans. Rather than deal with core problems, they prefer pledges of more goodies — the most recent example being the president’s student-loan plan. More promises, backed up by the huge promise: You can have whatever you want, whenever you want it, however you want it.
It rings hollow. It’s only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea, and our hearts are crying out perfidia.
About the Author
David N. Bass is a journalist who writes from the Old North State. Follow him on Twitter.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (84) | Leave a comment
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Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.1.11 @ 6:15AM
You forgot to mention the public school system.
They've become a moron factory where science and math is ignored so that students can excel in art and music.
I went to a public school the other day. About 70% of the teachers were dressed in jeans and/or shorts. About 90% of the female employees were walking around in flip flops. With few exceptions they looked like they were headed for a family picnic. That was in Montgomery County, Md. allegedly one of the best in the nation.
Kenny| 11.1.11 @ 7:18AM
You're absolutely correct on the shabby dress of public school teachers. Too put it mildly, they look (and often act) like complete slob. This is all part and parcel of the decline in American public education.
I’ve always felt teachers, as a group, are immature due to being immersed in a kiddies environment. With their dress, the teachers appear to be trying to mirror the kids rather than be a role model for them.
daddio| 11.1.11 @ 9:44AM
add to this that over 70% of teachers are female, (due to the toxic anti-male environment in most schools) and many are not far removed from being students themselves, they bring an immense entitlement attitude with them. I hear so many complain that students don't want to learn. I often wonder how many of the teachers really want to teach? Or do they just want cushy government jobs with summers off? Based on my own experiences in school, many teachers really dislike students (which makes one wonder why they chose that profession!). I can only remember a few hard ass teachers. But I do remember them because they are the ones who made me learn, had high expectations of me, and didn't give me a break!
Teaghan| 11.1.11 @ 11:30AM
I hardly think Daddio that because most teachers are female has anything to do with our children getting a poor education. It's from the top down, low expectations, political correctness and the wish of our government to have a dumb and uneducated populace.
jan| 11.1.11 @ 2:37PM
According to my wife who just retired after 43 years of teaching (no flip flops or jeans EVER), education starts at home, to many parents, according to her,) see school as nothing but a baby sitter. And God forbid if they got to much home work, that would interfere with all the sports they have their kiddies signed up for!!
Check out Finland and see what they do for about $ 7500 per student p.j they're # 1, we # 32!!
JimP| 11.1.11 @ 5:07PM
Ditto what Jan said. Parents are equally responsible for the outcome in public schools. Even if school were year round there isn't enough time to teach the kids to be SAT stars. Private school test scores benefit from parental seriousness about the kids learing which means they oversee the kids doing their homework etc. Unfortunately the typical or "average" parent is just as big a schlub as they accuse teachers of being, who slacks off raising and teaching their kids and thinks the school should do it all and in only 6 hours a day for 185 days per year, so the parents don't have to do squat to educate their children. And don't expect them to not take little Johnny and Janey out of school for one or two weeks every year to go to Disney World or wherever. But they are the first to gripe about their kids not scoring 1600 on the SATs.
CalMark| 11.2.11 @ 12:34AM
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!
Disclaimer: I had some very good female teachers. However, most of them were at my all-boys high school.
But the preponderance of women teachers has a LOT to do with the problems in education.
Most of them are feminists or sympathetic to feminism. That's what's pushed in "education" academia, and teachers (excuuuuuse me, "educators") push this twaddle onto kids.
That, and the often open hostility toward boys. In my experience:
- most female teachers never call on boys, even the bright ones.
- praise the girls to the heavens, and ignore boys' achievements.
- push "girl power" (feminism, again) and tell boys they're rotten.
And that was 30 years ago. I shudder to think how bad it's gotten now.
MT| 11.2.11 @ 12:10PM
"Most teachers" in your experience - clearly a vast sample size of female teachers in the United States. 30 years ago.
I love how "feminist" is a bad word. Look out, the ladies are stepping out of line...
Skippy| 11.2.11 @ 12:56PM
"Feminist" is a term.
"Ice-pick feminist" is a breed whose numbers are legion.
Feminists interested in revenge rather than equality of opportunity are the subject, and the problem as well.
USSAlabama| 11.1.11 @ 9:59AM
They are the 1% . . .
Compared to global incomes, they are in the 1% that they are 'protesting'.
http://www.fool.com/investing/.....he-1-.aspx
So, I echo Motley Fool -- ATTENTION PROTESTORS : You ARE the 1%.
Alan Brooks| 11.1.11 @ 11:18AM
The Federal Reserve is a secret society influenced by the Illuminati, who would pollute our clean Bermuda Triangle water (purity of essence, POE) by baking Girl Scout cookies to be fluoridated by the secret Jesuit underground adulteraters located under a parking garage in DC. It all started when the Feds suppressed the Whiskey Rebellion-
and the last straw was when FDR took office in '33:
1933! now how's that for a pre-war totalitarian conspiracy?
Now, when MKultra implanted the microchip in Lee Harvey Oswald's brain...
Clint| 11.1.11 @ 3:22PM
The FED is A Failed Quasi-Public Institution
It has two mandates,maximum employment and stable prices.
Audit The FED.
Marc| 11.1.11 @ 8:13PM
Nice try Alan, on imitating Post American, but it's not working.
POST American| 11.1.11 @ 6:38AM
-----WHY Generation Y ---'worse off'?
----------The Globalist RED China sellout,
TREASON and EUGENICS OP
----------------------That's WHY------------------------
Alan Brooks| 11.1.11 @ 11:19AM
Will you marry me, PostBrain? let's have children!
Alan Brooks| 11.1.11 @ 11:21AM
The secret wire-puller of the Globalist RED China sellout, TREASON and EUGENICS OP is Aunt Bea working out of her Batcave office 15 ft. under Opie's room.
Teaghan| 11.1.11 @ 11:32AM
Alan, you're funny this morning.
JimP| 11.1.11 @ 7:02AM
David, you are too pessimistic IMO. The same things could have been, and essentially were, said about we Boomers. Yet, we were as responsible for electing Reagan as any demographic. Your generation is learning faster than ours 'thanks' to Obama and the Dems being even bigger economic disasters than were Nixon, Ford & Carter when we were still young. Even now, given a real choice Boomers would vote for a Reagan type Repub. I could list more examples, but will save space. The majority of you will wake up to reality. Unfortunately every generation has idiots whether it's the OWS crowd or the Clintons and their sychophants than never learn or change and they get all the attention from the media and statisticians. Keep pushing for real choices politically between true conservatives [low tax, free market, small government] instead of statists and your generation will make that choice. I'm sure of it.
Appleby| 11.1.11 @ 7:33AM
*...no matter how hard Generation Y WANTS "the good life," defined as few responsibilities and lots of stuff, most of us won't have it.*
I think that extract sums up the whole gigantic error that Generation Whine is making: that all they have to do is WANT something, and the good fairies will drop it in their laps.
This week a bunch of people including a large group of Unionistas paraded down Bay Street in Toronto DEMANDING good jobs. And here I thought all these years that I had to present a marketable skill and spend my lifetime climbing UP to a *Good Job*! Who knew all I had to do was parade down the street and DEMAND?
markenoff| 11.1.11 @ 11:54PM
I blame Jiminy Cricket:
When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you
If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do
Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true
Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true
sam vaughn| 11.1.11 @ 8:00AM
History is replete with examples of "leadership" or "elites" promising "somthing for nothing" which is inevitably a lie. No such thing as "free meal" was as true in my grandfather's day as today. It's just that every generation has a group that believes they can skate through life and let somebody else take responsibility.
donserge| 11.1.11 @ 8:20AM
Most of my grandchildren are being raised as the article says, and will be good products of the Marxist government schools because their conservative parents would rather have swimming pools, 8' TVs, new cars, boats and the like rather than send them to a quality private school. Thankfully there will be the home-schooled and privately educated children who will, I pray, stem some of the tide of the decline of our country.
SGT Baker (Native Coloradean)| 11.2.11 @ 4:59AM
:( I would love to send my children to a private school, can't afford it serving my Country. I don't have a swimming pool, 8' tv, boat, etc... I do have a new used car I got so my wife would be able to get groceries etc while I am deployed at this time. However that $400 a month doesn't even make a dent in the 6-8K needed to send even one of my kids to a private school.....
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 11.1.11 @ 8:25AM
Things come in trends, if you never noticed that before, global cooling, then it's global warming, stock market's up, then the stock market's down, the economy's good, then the economy's bad. So just look at it this way, it's generation warming, and then it's generation cooling, and right now, we're in the middle of a cooling trend. Sorry it had to land on your doorstep, but I guess it was just bad timing!!
But we've seen this all before, in the 1980's the Japanese were going to take over everything in America, we were doomed!! Doomed I tell you!! Today it's the Chinese, they're taking over everything, and we're doomed once again!! Doomed!! Wait a second, what happened to the Japanese then? Oh yeah, they over extended themselves, and now their stuck in a slump for the past decade that they can't get out of either. They're Doomed!! You don't think this will happen to the Chinese? Ummm, it will!!
So pull up your boots, get to work, stop complaining, because nothing's promised to you in life anyway, and you have to make do with what you have, and make the best of what you get, when you get it!! It's really simple, but we make it all complicated!!
And if you want to really make things better, "Stop" voting for Democrats, who piss money away, and ruin the economy every chance they get!! They're the real trend setters!!
POST American| 11.1.11 @ 8:33AM
Putting aside the Generation Y
sideshow.
Remember kiddies, NONE of us can
any longer can pretend not to know
about the agendas for destruction of
sovereignty ---world govern-ants
---and genocidal MASS EUGENICS.
NOT to awaken and move to turn this
around isn't even apathy any longer
---BUT A SIN AGAINST KNOWLEDGE
ITSELF.
Surely, this eclipses, by far,
anything that went on during the
Soviet genocides of the 1920's ----or the lead up
to WWII in the 1930s.
--------------------------------------BY FAR
Peppermint Tea| 11.1.11 @ 8:52AM
David,
The problem is demographic as well. With less children born to the Boomer, Gen Y will be told to work more to support the retired generation. What used to be 5 workers per retiree is now less than 4 and headed to 2.5 in the next decade, then 1.5 a decade after that. When the best and brightest 10% leave for Shanghai by 2024, the working man and woman should revolt, or pray the dollar is collapsed so that the retirees can be paid off in cheap dollars and life can go on.
Appleby| 11.1.11 @ 4:34PM
FEWER children. Things you can cound are fewer. Thus, there is less noise in the house because there are fewer children.
Children cannot be educated by ignorant parents.
WayneFarmer| 11.1.11 @ 5:05PM
Thank you! I am so tired of ignorant, unlearned readers' comments.
JER| 11.1.11 @ 9:01AM
Bravo, David. You've seen the link between the economic and the cultural. Our problems are deeper than mere politics and politics alone cannot save our Republic. The fiscal/social conservative dichotomy is a false one. One cannot survive without the other.
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.1.11 @ 9:19AM
Mr. Bass,
you might want to write a column on "a willigness to take risks" for the young people out there.
.....There are MILLIONS of great jobs out there...earnings based on commisions.
I personally began my career with the New York Life insurance company. They taught me and trained me and rooted for me daily.
See, by going to work on commission... a youngster is sharing the risks with his employer.
Appleby| 11.1.11 @ 4:35PM
My first job was transcribing court reporter tapes for 50 cents a page. Nothing increases one's typing speed like a salary directly connected to how much tangible work one produces.
Petronius| 11.1.11 @ 9:57AM
I'm glad to see the college degree bubble pop at long last. Back in the 70's I carried mail while all my friends with their Masters did worse. Between then and now the biggest changes in landing that dream job has shifted from knowing the right people at the top of the corporate food chain to kissing the backsides of human resources directors. And God help anybody out of work today who is white, male, and over 49. A doctorate won't get these guys an interview. Today, nobody is going anywhere with only a BA. And even with their degrees, they along with 90+% of the population do Not Understand the Nature of Business. Life Is Competition. Yesterday, Rush said the government is run by losers. And he's right. If the losers who would rather leech off the producers than learn to win themselves really are the majority, then this country is finished.
PolishKnight| 11.1.11 @ 10:41AM
I know a white guy who did manage to get a very nice job with his master's degree (and even a corner office). It's tough though and especially if you're coming in without crony contacts.
Regarding the Nature of Business: Sadly, most businesses work on the crony model and are horribly inefficient but since most businesses are similarly handicapped, they get by. Directors get promoted based upon their friends and ability to promise results and then pass on the project to the next guy (the longer the project takes, the better). Then by the time the project fails, the guy administering it doesn't get the blame and the process repeats itself.
There aren't a lot of THOSE kinds of business gigs out there by definition so I commonly see VP's sitting idle at their $1 million dollar 4 bedroom homes walking their dogs. Once they lose their friends, they're through.
CalMark| 11.2.11 @ 12:37AM
Over 49? Try over 35.
Try being a veteran, too. "What's wrong with you? Why didn'cha stay in for 20? You'd'a gotten a pension! [There must be something wrong with you.]"
SGT Baker (Native Coloradean)| 11.2.11 @ 5:01AM
And they are trying to take that away from us now as well.....
PolishKnight| 11.1.11 @ 9:58AM
The author makes an interesting point that while many of the OWC are young, unemployed white males who worship leftism, they are unemployed due to leftist racist and sexist policies. This is NOT a new trend. I've known several white male leftists living in their mothers' basements who put 2 and 2 together into 5 and blame the right for their predicament. Feminists then tried to tell me that, hey, it's evil corporations with their outsourcing that's causing the white male unemployment (of course, if those jobs weren't outsourced, the feminists would demand preferential treatment for women there as well.)
Then the author observes that the men are playing video games and not growing up and becoming good conservative breadwinners. As I've observed on this forum, when even conservative families encourage their daughters to get high paying jobs what's the point of these young men killing themselves to compete in an anti-male workplace to fulfill women's traditional expectations? I'm reminded of the Popeye cartoons where Olive Oil falls in love with Bluto and even helps him beat up Popeye and then when Bluto starts molesting her she cries "Popeye, save me!"
Next, the author is mistaken about this being the first generation of men who would not earn as much as their parents. The 1970's were famously awful for young people looking for work and, back then as well, the youth continued to embrace socialism while it was the middle and working class two parent families that remained (at the time) that voted Reagan into office. The left learned from that mistake and did their best to undermine heterosexual two parent families both financially and culturally.
Finally, regarding work on commission. Back in the old days, commissions were pretty high but due to competition and a bad job market, they've slashed them in most industries. My wife who worked as a saleswoman 10 years ago laughed when she researched it here. One company tried to reward employees who met their sales goals with twix bars.
sestamibi| 11.1.11 @ 4:13PM
Thanks PK, for making this point. I was going to say the author had me up until the male-shaming nonsense. I'm sick and tired of socons who don't understand that societal survival depends on forcing women out of the labor market and getting them back to making babies.
Appleby| 11.1.11 @ 4:37PM
Yep, the Nazis had it right all along.
Give my regards to Unter den Linden.
Otso Odge| 11.1.11 @ 6:03PM
The Nazis had all the best drinking songs.
A.Men| 11.1.11 @ 10:24AM
Cain 2012.
Melvin| 11.1.11 @ 10:26AM
Most colleges are not places to learn anything useful. They're indoctrination centers for future hippies, and OWS protesters.
Tom Osterman| 11.1.11 @ 11:08AM
The choice of a major subject is also important. All other things being equal, a degree in engineering, computer science or business administration is more marketable than a liberal arts degree. Add to this the fact that a bachelor's degree is now considered the bare minimum of a decently educated person. A high school diploma doesn't cut it anymore.
College wasn't designed to be a place where a young person of average intelligence could acquire the skills for a high-paying job, and most of the courses offered, even the real subjects, reflect this.
Jack Eagle| 11.1.11 @ 11:01AM
Would that be the same generation dying on battle fields in Iraq and Afghanistan and who knows where else? Didn't 13 Gen Y soldiers die last week in one attack?
The last famous person to describe Americans as lazy, materialistic and weak, is now feeding the fishes!
CalMark| 11.2.11 @ 12:41AM
All generalizations are false.
However, I will say this. I was a Navy officer supervising a lot of 18- and 19-year-old Gen Y'ers, many of whom could read and write, but not much more. There were some very good ones. However, this article accurately reflects those in "smart" specialties: "You officers better respect us 'cause we're AWESOME! But we won't respect you, not even your rank, until you EARN it." And the senior officers (i.e., the damn Boomers) let them get away with it.
No one doubts their sacrifice. But they are a pain in the a** to deal with.
Al Adab| 11.1.11 @ 11:21AM
Opportunity abounds. It may be difficult to take the risks necessary, but stilkl is possible. Even with the economy repleat with government regulations and imposed costs, many still find a path to either business or employment. Those however who feel that they must start at the top or who believe government provides are the ones who will be dissappointed and ultimately left behind. Heck, I know MAs who started out at 25K but cream rises. Not everyone with the degree gets the income they might feel "entitled" to but those with ability and a willingness to put in the effort are usually rewarded. While there are many variables, overall things work out pretty well long term.
Andrew Carter| 11.1.11 @ 11:27AM
I'm 44. My parents -- immigrants from the Caribbean -- taught me to work hard, to always do my best, to be respectful to those in authority (pastor, principal, teacher, police, government officials, etc.), to be a good neighbor, and to be a good citizen. I'm trying to instill these values in my son. He's 7. I pray that these lessons will stick with him so that when he's a 20-something, he won't be camped out in some park with a bunch of do-nothings whining about how "bad" they have it in America.
Peter| 11.1.11 @ 11:55AM
What is always lacking form these stories about today's youth not having a better life style than their parents is this.
Many Americans today live in a degree of luxury that would have been inconceivable to our grandparents. Multiple cars, motorcycles, ATVs and boats are common in many homes today, so, how high is up?
Then continuation of this trend would soon have everyone owning their own private jet, and their children demanding an even better lifestyle.
Perhaps we need to settle for a home we can afford instead of a McMansion but is that so terrible?
Al Adab| 11.1.11 @ 12:15PM
Good question Peter, how high is up? As USS Alabama notes the American poor are in the top 1% of the world. Most have cars, appliances, running water (Grandma didn't) and so on. We really need to look around and see that even worldwide extreme poverty has declined over the last 20 years by half. The result of global capitalism? Most likely. Certainly the central planning governments of the world did little to create the change. Reality may not reflect our preconcieved notions of Utopia, but we had better base our national policy on it.
W| 11.1.11 @ 3:41PM
Al Adab,
An Indian friend told me a famous joke in India was a man saying to another: " It is my wish to visit America because there they have many poor people who are very fat, and I do not believe this, I must see it with my own eyes."
Al Adab| 11.1.11 @ 4:17PM
LOL, and poverty in India has fallen dramaticlly.
Clark AFB in the Phillipines is now a major call center for credit cards and hotel bookings.
Why do our own people fail to understand that the economic development of other nations around the globe bodes well for us all?
W| 11.1.11 @ 4:32PM
I agree.They view economic prosperity as a zero game so that if you do better then I must be doing worse because you are taking advantage of me. Your success causes my failure.
It is the class warfare mindset applied internationally. Many are conditioned this way by the politicians, especially the Democrats and even the Republican isolationists, who troll for votes by blaiming our economic problems on overseas jobs.
It is easy to blame a company for "sending jobs overseas," and say you will stop it.
W| 11.1.11 @ 4:34PM
P.S whenever I call these service centers I always ask where they are located, Many are in the Phillipines. They are always friendly, polite, and most speak very good english, better than many of our home grown residents.
Al Adab| 11.1.11 @ 5:31PM
W:
I truely enjoyed my time in the Phillipines and my associations, and friendships, with the Filipinos. Many of them, whether out of courtesy or attachment, referred to themselves as "asian-americans" and I certainly retain my attachment to and fondness for them and their country.
SGT Baker (Native Coloradean)| 11.2.11 @ 5:06AM
I must agree ;) although I am baised since my wife is a Filipina...
Skippy| 11.2.11 @ 1:33PM
The Phillipinos are the only American colonials that don't hate US.
They died in waves fighting the Japs in WW2.
They have resisted communism, Islamism and huge shoe closets admirably.
Dave| 11.1.11 @ 12:29PM
Gen Y's problem is - they don't know anything about anything! Nuff said.
Otso Odge| 11.1.11 @ 6:05PM
Students enter college knowing little, leave knowing less, and knowledge accumulates.
Lagarto Rey| 11.1.11 @ 12:52PM
Great read. I would include the blatant misandry of our family law courts coupled with no-fault, on-demand divorce as obliterating the incentive for decent men to marry and raise kids, thanks to post-modern feminists and their male enablers. Also the obscene hoax being perpetrated on the Y's by the Boomers as they enter their golden years expecting the wholly unsustainable Medicare/Social Security scam to pay out big dividends. All of us oldsters better wise up, we'll be fortunate if enforced euthanasia(no advanced care)isn't the Y's revenge.
Skippy| 11.2.11 @ 1:36PM
Doubtful on the euthanasia. We're fairly well armed.
We will however have to learn to do without the Soc Sec checks, as they will not be arriving.
And soon.
There's no way a system with one retiree being funded by 3 workers will last more than an hour or so.
Slacker| 11.1.11 @ 1:00PM
Lamenting the social and fiscal changes which have occurred is an utter waste of time because there is no turning back. There is not going to be a cultural or religious revival. The toothpaste can’t go back in the tube. Deal with it.
Negative cultural influences don’t need to drag down individuals. Worrying over what you cannot control is a waste of time. An individual can outperform the overall economy.
Generation Y would be well served to stop listening to both the left and the right and go with the flow.
CalMark| 11.2.11 @ 12:43AM
Your name accurately reflects both your attitude toward life and your intellectual energy.
I'm hoping yours is a satirical post.
Thunderbottom| 11.3.11 @ 12:20PM
Dead fish go with the flow. And when a government like ours degenerates into a kakistocracy, the country becomes a cesspole where the scum rise to to the top.
fwb| 11.1.11 @ 1:37PM
Damn, I failed as a parent. I made my kids work at jobs. There was no allowance only payment for work around the house. No video games except during vacation times and then only out of date systems.
Made them pay for their own clothes. Made them pay for gas. I did pay college costs and insurance.
I did tell them they could be whatever they wanted to be IF they could cut the mustard and pass the classes. I also told them to choose a field of study that they liked and forget about money. I told them if all your needs are met, your wants don't have to be satisfied. My wife's father taught, "You can have anything you want. You just can't have everything."
To my children, I am sorry I didn't make better promises.
PS: when they threatened to call about my discipline, I told them, "Go ahead. I can always make another kid."
Everyone is where they are at because of their OWN choices. If you don't like your place, change it.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 11.1.11 @ 5:35PM
If your kids haven't thanked you yet, they will!!
Dale Stewart| 11.1.11 @ 1:59PM
There is hope for the young people of this nation.
There is real change on the way. It's either going to get a whole lot worse or a great deal better. It's all about the choices we make in the very near future. I believe they will be the right choices, but only if they are informed choices.
This letter was written on behalf of veterans by a leading candidate for the Republican nomination.
9/20/11
Dear President Obama,
"As a Doctor, an Air Force Veteran, and Congressman, who serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee and has always fought for the best interest of our troops, I was deeply concerned to learn that our military retirees are now facing benefit cuts under your proposed $1.5 trillion dollar tax hike.
"Our military men and women have fought bravely. In exchange, our country made a promise to them, and we must honor it.
"There are trillions of dollars in unwise and unconstitutional spending we must cut. There are few other leaders in Washington willing to cut spending as deeply as I am and truly balance our budget. But, we must make sure we take care of our Veterans who fought to take care of us.
"We have put our troops in harm's way, and we must honor our promises. And, our troops have paid a heavy price these past ten years. Over 5,000 have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, 40,000 have seen crushing injuries, and hundreds of thousands more suffer from brain injury and post traumatic stress disorder.
"Failing to meet the promises we have made to our troops would be unjust and immoral. The cuts you announced yesterday, combined with the rumored cuts in benefits reported in publications like Army Times, have our soldiers and Veterans deeply concerned.
"Mr. President, instead of cutting our Veterans benefits, I call on you to support our troops. Support them by bringing them home to our shores, to protect our borders and defend our country. Ensure that they are rested and equipped to repel any real credible attack. Re-unite them with their families. And, make sure they no longer play policeman in dangerous foreign civil wars.
"Cutting the benefits of our Veterans benefits while we subsidize the security of other wealthy nations like Germany and Japan and play World Policeman makes no sense. The money we would save extracting our fighting men and women and our equipment from overseas conflicts and regions will more than offset the savings you seek by upending the manner in which veterans receive care.
"Bringing our troops home would ensure that we keep the promise to our Veterans, strengthen our national defense and secure our borders.
"Do not mistake me for a pacifist or a person solely focused on the economics of the unsustainable global security and state-building that has helped our country arrive at the shores of financial ruin. On the contrary, I consider my military service as an Air Force flight surgeon during the Cold War to be among my highest personal and professional achievements.
"Authentic, Constitutionally-sound national security -- a strong national defense -- begins with guarding our borders and not the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
"Mr. President, I call upon your to support our troops, honor our Veterans, and ensure our wounded get the care they deserve. To do so, we must end these protracted, trillion-dollar wars and bring them home."
In Liberty,
Ron Paul
Lyneuss Fields | 11.1.11 @ 2:08PM
“Where’s the beef from these politicians that should be protecting us”? You Tea Partiers and Liberals remind me of the whiners in soup lines during The Great Depression—what boneheads you all are!
Buck Ofama| 11.1.11 @ 3:09PM
This poorly written article is disjoined, disorganized and amateurish.
Buck Ofama| 11.1.11 @ 3:09PM
DISJOINTED.
martin j smith| 11.1.11 @ 3:36PM
There are at least three factors which I believe are to blame for this: One the parents of these generation Y for not setting reasonable limits and teaching their kids the ability to be more grown u. Two the educational system which taught both the parents and generation Y about being entitled to things without effort. Three the Media which is totally useless and dangerous. Part of me thinks the first step and the easiest to achieve is to throw out the TV and monitor computer use carefully. Problem is what you do with your kids may not be what your neighbor does with theirs.
Eric Sap| 11.1.11 @ 4:28PM
The fools voted for Obama en-masse and now they are surprised that he decimated the job market? He is a Socialist - its what they do!
Keith| 11.1.11 @ 4:29PM
Quote: "First, young people must give up on President Obama's hope and trust Hope. The decline of Christianity -- and its emphasis on hard work, thriftiness, and loving thy neighbor -- and the rise of moral relativism have led to social ills that demonstrably harm the economy."
That says it all.
It's encouraging though that a Gen Yer wrote this insightful commentary. May his message resonate throughout the land. Passing this one along.
Scott| 11.1.11 @ 4:58PM
Good grief. If this writer is a real representation of Gen Y, then yeah, I'd agree...they are screwed.
When all else fails, blame all problems on sex and lack of religion. Makes everything real simple even though the real world is very complex.
If what this writer was saying is true, the last 30 years in this country would have been terrible too, since I'm pretty sure that the partying and free sex lifestyle started well before anyone in Gen Y was even born.
CalMark| 11.2.11 @ 12:45AM
Yeah, you know, all that promiscuity and anti-religious fervor in the '60s sure didn't contribute to national moral rot.
Jeez, these Christians. Looking to impose, like, moral values and stuff on everybody!
amitabha| 11.1.11 @ 7:30PM
I work for a surgeonwho has been in practice 30 yrs. He hired a new young surgeon and after three years of paying him a huge salary while he also paid to build his practice from zero he offered to allow him to buy a ten percent share each year of the practice. The young doctor was insulted and thought he deserved fifty percent. 30 yrs compared to 3. What a distorted sense of entitlement to say the least
Hank Rearden| 11.2.11 @ 1:26AM
I am not quite sure whether the author agrees with or disagrees with the situation he attributes to Gen Y.
But, either way, I think three words are in order here:
Suck It Up
That's what people have always done. Don't ruin your attitude by whining. You are already in the top 1% by being American. And if you don't know it, I've got news for you - politicians are never going to love you. All they care about you is how you can get them reelected. Go out and find your destiny.
Guest1776| 11.2.11 @ 2:57AM
9-9-9
It's a multifaceted solution addressing many issues at once in its simplicity. I can remember another man with a bold plan that was simple "We win they lose!" and went about putting the policies in place to do just that. Herman Cain has that same sort of bold plan to solve big problems and end class warfare envy politicking as we know it.
9-9-9 encourages working poor to save which is typically the reason working poor are still WP after a decade of working. See immigrants who come with nothing and barely speak the language and live the American Dream through hard work, savings and make it.
The 9-9-9 plan encourages job growth, lowers cost for the employer which has direct correlation to pricing -good for the consumer. Also, gives people more money on their paychecks to spend/save.
If One gets $200.00 EXTRA a on their paycheck each week and the same bag of groceries One paid $200.00 for under 70,000 pages of tax code - One pays an extra $18.00 but still has $182.00 to put into savings that week or offset other taxable goods they might purchase that week. Many will see much more on their chacks that $200.00 and even the working poor will have more funds available each week.
When people are putting their money into savings accounts then banks don't need TARP bailouts the Federal Reserve printing money to supply them therefore devaluing savings accounts of the elderly and hurting the poor with inflation.
When perpetual working poor are saving they won't be perpetual working poor and they won't need government forcing banks to change time tested loan standards or F&F distorting the housing market creating bubbles.
9-9-9 takes away the catalyst for most if not all the divisive bickering ie envy politicking and class ware rhetoric as it treats everybody fairly, the same. The rich spend more because they can so they will pay their fair share.
9-9-9 allows Michael Moore or the frugal Warren Buffet to stimulate the economy and pay more taxes until their hearts content. True patriots! Moore can film a documentary of him and Buffet going around the country spending their money until they're blue in the face paying taxes. Moore can call his documentary "Warren and Me."
When we pass 9-9-9 pols will not be able to raise taxes because it will be easier for the opposition to explain how that “directly affects your life” to the consumer/voter. You’ll have a lot more people voting when you try raising their taxes. Good luck with that tax loving Democrats or even the "read my lips crowd" within the GOP establishment.
Herman Cain one simple plan addressing many problems directly at the roots and SOLVING THEM. Romney 59 of them just tweaking around the edges.
Millionaires like Romney and billionaires will be getting a tax break too and instead of hiding their money in the loopholes of 70,000+ pages of tax code, they will spend it and pay plenty of taxes. Why? How? - Because the so called “rich” spend more money by default.
Cain's plan sends the taxes to the government through the economy which means free markets will decide the winners and losers - not the government!
Guest1776| 11.2.11 @ 2:57AM
Isn't this laissez-faire approach exactly what we tried from 1979 to
2007, when inequality shot through the roof, according to the CBO?
NO! What we had is government interference into free markets and when government interferes it distorts the market and bubbles are created and popped. Take Fannie and Freddie with all their just sign here and own a home loans for instance. It created a boom as homes were in demand and put a lot of people to work building them but it was a bubble bound to pop because it was created by government forcing banks out of time tested loan standards the community organizers like Obama called racist. You know its racist for a bank to require good credit, 10-15% down and ability to pay loan with one week's pay etc...
Many people want to blame Wall St and the removal of Glass-Steagall but the fact is if that never happened there is still a banking crisis because of sub primes loans banks were forced to come up with by government that were based on the economy.
And another thing to consider is that if all those loans that were packed and sold were time tested loan standards before the government interfered then the Glass-Steagall thing wouldn't have mattered much because they would have been responsible loans where mortgages were paid regardless of slowing economy.
Pols like to have it both ways. For example Democrats are demonizing banks for not making small business loans yet require banks to have more cash on hand before making them. Dodd/Frank did that and did not address the F&F problem. Another example of government interfering into free markets is the Durbin Tax banks are now charging for debit card use. Example: Walmart and banks willfully agreed that Walmart will pay pennies per purchases using debit cards so banks didn't charge you the customer to cover their processing cost. The Durbin Tax removed that and now banks have to charge you $5.00 a month for your debit card whether you use it or not to cover the cost while Dick Durbin demonizes banks for charging that fee he forced them into charging.
Pols love to have both ways and its the same thing with the 70,000+ pages of tax code where pols are demonizing companies they tax for raising the cost of their product or service after pols raise their cost through higher taxes. Pols know those cost are always passed onto the consumer but its a win/win for them because they can then demonize the companies.
Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan gets rid of all those hidden taxes and loopholes within the 70,000+ pages of tax code lobbyist lobby them to change etc... and when implemented 9-9-9 will result in an economic boom with cheaper products because companies will evaluate their bottom line with the money they save and lower cost trying to steal consumers from their competition. Competition is always good for the consumer and this is exactly why big corps lobby for taxes and loopholes that'll hurt their small business counterparts and exactly the reason we need a Main St President not a Wall St POTUS like Obama has been or Romney will be.
Basically at the root of the problem with the mortgage crisis is this noble but misguided idea that everyone deserves to own a home. Its not true! You deserve to ow a home when you can meet the free market standards for getting a loan. To pretend as pols do that banks want to loose money on their loans and need a bailout is nonsensical.
POST American| 11.2.11 @ 3:43AM
-----Maybe we need MORE techno-crats?
----------MORE -----'S & M---art' ------
MBA's running things? ---MORE
actuarial psychopaths 'charting'
the 'few--T--your'.
--------MAYBE! ---or then again, MAYBE NOT!
Meanwhile,
--Keep a goin' kiddies ---keep a goin'
--------FACEBOOK ---is DARPA
-----------and our money is FAKE
------------------just keep on goin'!
Kate| 11.2.11 @ 12:17PM
Boy, I just love it when conservative men sneer at birth control. Why is it your business what I do with my body? Why do you care if/when I have children? Just wish we could get back to those good old days where women stay home with the kids they have no choice but to give their husbands? Yes...so easy to sneer at what you don't understand.
Skippy| 11.2.11 @ 1:47PM
Take all the BC pills you want.
Use the cycles of the Moon.
Insert an IUD.
Wear six condoms.
Nobody gives a sh!t.
But when the passion or the moment or the liquor push responsibility to the back of your independent, self-reliant, fearless, feminist brain, remember that's a real dead person you left in the trashcan at Planned Parenthood.
Kate| 11.2.11 @ 6:34PM
You say "independent, self-reliant, fearless, feminist brain" like it's a bad thing.
Kate| 11.2.11 @ 6:38PM
And why do you assume that because I use a 99% effective method of birth control, which I am *extremely* responsible about, that I would have an abortion should it someday fail me? You know nothing, nothing about me. Feminists do not all look alike. Feminism is merely the radical belief that women independent, equal people. Get over it.
Bill| 11.2.11 @ 3:00PM
Men don't have a monopoly at sneering at what they don't understand. Try taking a good look at women and manliness (as opposed to macho-ness). Women definitely don't understand what the difference is.
USAF Brat| 11.3.11 @ 5:41AM
Things turn out the best
For those who make the best
Of the way things turn out
Nothing turns out
For those who make
Nothing