WHERE ARE ALL THE YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE DISCUSSION OF "THE ECONOMIC REALITY IN THE UNITED STATES?"

WHERE ARE ALL YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE DISCUSSION OF “THE ECONOMIC REALITY IN THE UNITED STATES?”

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.

© April 14, 2011

I have heard from many on this subject, but only from those who have the safety net in place and are involved, but only academically in the present economic crisis.  It is not all about them, and they know it.

Responses have been thoughtful and sometimes radical but I’ve not heard from young people 25 to 45 who will be most affected by this economic debate in Congress.

The President of the United States, Barak Obama, who wants to be reelected, knows that young people put him in office and young people are more interested in choices and values, something that is not nailed down to sacrifices, specifics, or radical lifestyle changes.

On the other hand, Congressman Paul Ryan, only 41, eight years younger than my youngest birth child, is talking in specifics and with a detailed and, yes, wrenching plan. 

The president and the congressman are speaking in different languages and therefore are talking past each other, while only senior citizens or people beyond that 25 to 45 window seem to be interested in the debate.  The 25 to 45 crowd seems to be hoping for the best, finding safety in campaign slogans and generalizations having a natural abhorrence for specifics. 

One writer reports, correctly, that social support programs since 2009 have been quite substantial, while another writer suggests that the top 25 percent pay all the taxes.  While I’ve always been proud to pay my share of taxes, and having been in that so-called bracket more than one time, I wonder if that is the answer. 

If there is no incentive to pay your fair share, what incentive is there to succeed?

Another indication that the world has changed is that most of the 25 to 45 crowd are renters not owners.  Check it out.  I owned my first home when I was 24, and have been a homeowner ever since.  As I’ve suggested in my writing, owners and renters have different mentalities.  Nor am I sympathetic to the argument that it is harder to own a home today than it was fifty years ago.  I was a saver then and am a saver now.  A different mentality is reflected in young people today.  I’ve never had a desire nor a need to keep up with the Jones even though at times I could have bought and sold them.  Obviously, that is no longer the case. 

The economy is in the shape it is in primarily for those born after World War Two who thought they could have their cake and eat it, too.  You can’t.  You never could.  Now, those born in 1950 are 61-years-old with children who are renters not owners, children who have nice cars, nice jobs, nice lifestyles, children who have all the latest electronic contraptions, and children too busy to realize the country is going in the tank and cannot survive on choices and values, but must engage in belt tightening specifics, thank you very much.

Be always well,

Jim

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