Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/12/19/american-nightmare.html
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If anyone is still confused about why young Dem voters prefer a crabby 79-year-old socialist candidate over a chipper McKinsey alum closer to their age, the fact that the former commissioned this report and the latter didn’t even think to do it should offer a clue.
with both lower earnings and lower savings than boomers or gen Xers had at the same age. They are less likely to own homes than earlier generations did at the same age.
Glad that’s in there. Inevitably, at least one Old Economy Steven shows up in these topics to talk about how it was just as tough for him as it was for these “coddled” Millenials at the same age.
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How would a mayor commission a GAO report?
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He very much could have commissioned a report on issues such as this in his own municipality. There are many of ways to go about getting this kind of information on a variety of scales without actually getting a GAO report.
The point is that he hasn’t done any sort of work trying to figure out what’s actually going on with millennials (and Gen Zers) with regards to issues that has a direct material impact on their lives.
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I have debt, therefore I am.
I have to say, the best thing I may have done for my kids was to show by example the problems having huge debt can cause in your life. Not that they are doing great, but they are doing better than most of their peer group.
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Whereas Gen Xers like me HAD NO DREAMS EVER. . . .
Jokes aside, keep on going, Bernie!
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He IS a millennial. And he DID literally commission a report on issues such as this in his own municipality: https://southbendin.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/City-of-South-Bend-Study-Report-2019-Final.pdf
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We have to VOTE our way out of this TGOP mess, get registered and get your friends registered to VOTE.
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One thing people don’t touch on very much is how student debt is a retirement/social security issue. Due to the way compounding interest works money invested early in life has much more impact than money invested later in life. But thanks to the enormous student debt burdens, high cost of housing, and high cost of healthcare triple whammy that we’re hitting new grads with they don’t have money to save for retirement until much later in life. This can work out to hundreds of thousands of dollars of difference at age 65. Gen Xers are already pessimistic about Social Security, but Millennials will have it so much worse if we keep the system as is.
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You have been awarded 10 Buttigieg Points. Thank you for playing!
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Buttigieg points are the reason I get out of bed in the morning so this means a lot especially coming from you.
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You must have a ton!
Democrat here, but I’m not wild about “free college” for everybody without a lot of strings attached. I’d want a GPA requirement as well as a reimbursement ceiling. Something like, if you graduate with a B average you get a tax credit of 1/4 of your college debt per year for 4 years. C averages only get 1/2 their college tuition as credits. D’s and drop-outs get nothing.
I want as many people as possible to have a stable good paying job. In this day in age that means getting an education. It’s a huge benefit even if people are getting associates degrees or trade school or an apprenticeship.
Every one making average or better income is one more person contributing to taxes, lightening everyone’s burden. And one less person who will need long term financial support from the government.
It is our duty to bring the next generation up to be strong, independent, and prosperous. Paying some taxes now to solve the problems of student debt is a simple choice to me, but why is it not so obvious to everyone else?
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That’s entirely irrelevant, when he’s not presenting solutions to the problems that his own generation faces… doubly so if he’s not in the same situation as so many of the people in his generation.
Well, this study seems to be on disparity, not on debt with regards to a specific impact of student debt on the current and next generation. Certainly debt plays a role in disparity, but it’s a much broader study about the current situation in South Bend. Good for him for commissioning it, though. It just doesn’t seem to be of the same nature as what Sanders asked the GAO to do.
Incidentally, his constituents of color have not been entirely pleased with how he’s handled police brutality in South Bend. They feel he’s not been responsive to their concerns with policing issues.
Look, if you’re a fan of Buttigieg that’s great. But the entire point of a primary is for candidates to make their cases to the base. At this point, much of the millennial cohort of the base does not seem on board with what he’s offering. Neither am I for that matter. If he wants my votes and the votes of progressive millennials, he needs to make that case - which is precisely what Sanders has been doing. He’s putting in the time and effort to craft policies that are going to appeal to a wide variety of voters by addressing their specific issues.
Why? A well educated population is a net benefit for all of us. And the increasing need for a BA means that more people are going to have to go to college to be prepared for the modern work force. Should we penalize kids who don’t do well in public school? Or not let bad drivers on the road (we already kind of do that with people who break the law… but).
That’s a clear way to put the whole thing, if you ask me!
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Yeah, you wouldn’t want free access to higher education given how the GI bill after the war turned out…
/s
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A large reason the USA got to where it is on the economic world stage is by having an educated populous. The whole K-12 schooling being required and free wasn’t always there, either - people used to have to pay out-of-pocket for any education, of any level. Then, we as a society saw that an educated population was required for the then-modern world, and led to a better economic and social situation in this country, so we made it ubiquitous and free.
We have now hit a point where college education is becoming as required as a high school education in a very large number of US industries. We’re also seeing other countries with more universal higher education start to close the gap on our leads, or even leave us behind. This is the same situation all over again - do we only allow the rich a full education, or do we decide that universal higher education is a necessity for the world we’re moving in to? Is K-12 enough, or do we need to become a K-16 society?
tl;dr: This is just a modern extension of the need for an educated populous. High school no longer is enough, so we need to extend our free education system to cover college as well, or the world will leave us behind.
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… and the report concludes that debt is “crushing their dreams”
Isn’t this the system working as intended?
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‘Populace’ not ‘populous.’
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