The Great Recession's lost generation

[steve2470]

http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/17/news/economy/recession_lost_generation/

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The brutal job market brought on by the recession has been hard on everyone, but especially devastating on the youngest members of the labor force.

About 60% of recent graduates have not been able to find a full-time job in their chosen profession, according to job placement firm Adecco.

And for those just entering the workplace, a bout of long-term unemployment can affect their career plans for years to come.

Meghan O'Halloran was one of those who had her career derailed by the timing of her graduation.

*more at link above*

[mdmc]

1. but lets talk about free trade and all the dlc tripe

no wants to invest in our future

[dkf]

2. This generation has gone through so much.

They will never be able to gain the feeling of security that we had.

[Sedona]

3. at least

they won't have that feeling of security ripped out from under them

[Sherman A1]

4. Agreed

The previous generation never had any security or feeling of security from my experience, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

[MadHound]

5. What feeling of security?

There hasn't been a "feeling of security" since the late seventies. This is what happens when real world wages continue to decline for almost forty years.

[lunatica]

6. But they'll know, like we didn't that ours was a deluded feeling of security

If the security had been real we wouldn't be where we are today. This economy is a result of three decades of hard work on the part of those who are now getting all the money.

Maybe we, the boomers, are the lost generation.

[originalpckelly]

7. lol

"Maybe we, the boomers, are the lost generation."

Whining, just like you people always did.

I think they would have called you the lost generation, were that true. I have a feeling that you folks did OK. You'll probably live longer than my generation will. Your economic legacy is a dependence on foreign fossil fuels, women still being paid less than men, indebtedness to China and other foreign countries, and of course: the Great Recession. And I sincerely doubt that 60% of your generation couldn't find jobs after going to college, in the field they trained for. I sincerely doubt you folks lived at home for an extended period after attending college, as my generation has to.

You were the "me" generation. We are the "Lost Generation."

Sit down and think about the world you folks have left us, and be glad we don't have the ability to make you live in it as long as we will.

[lunatica]

10. You know, I was actually giving your generation a compliment

Because you will face reality in ways we didn't. I I gave you too much credit. You should really get over that anger and get busy getting a life. Self pity is when you insist on calling yourself the lost generation. You sit down.

[RadiationTherapy]

11. OPCK is right. The boomers ate the world.

The boomers, though ignorant of it at the time, had better jobs, more disposable income, and education costs that are magnitudes less than following generations. When boomers moved into CEO offices and Congress, corporate profits and university costs skyrocketed.

The boomers had the best of the last and have left crumbs for those who follow. No matter how poor you were or hard you worked, the following generations are relatively poorer and work harder for less. All the jokes about laziness and techno-toys are bullshit. There is little worthwhile left.

[lunatica]

13. I'm not defending the boomers. And I am one

But I didn't move into the boardroom nor did most of us. I've struggled my entire life, I've always been an activist for civil rights for all and for the environment. I march against our wars and care about the people on the planet.

Get over your self pity and you can change the world in ways that don't necessitate the ownership of things. you'd be doing the planet a favor.

[RadiationTherapy]

14. I don't have self-pity.

However hard it was for you then, your identical circumstances would be harder now. Your education debt, purchasing power, workplace leverage, tax burden, wealth distribution, health care...all of it is much harder now. Facts ain't pity and I am not interested in "changing the world" that has become so tainted after the '2-house/2-car' boomer generation ate then shat on the world. I live my life how I see fit because I have given up on the rest of you. In no way does that alleviate the wastefulness and greed that largely defines the boomers' contributions to american history. The civil rights and vietnam protests are a fraction of the effort put into consuming and wealth-glomming.

[RadiationTherapy]

12. University costs alone supports your point.

The salary difference between a boomer CEO and his workers is quite different from that of their predecessors. The social contract has been breached by those in power now; most of whom are boomers.

[raccoon]

19. But the vast majority of boomers aren't those in power; they are ordinary working stiffs.

Or ordinary unemployed stiffs, in these times.

[Javaman]

17. But then there is my nephew...

who is a right wing nut. He's 20 and has an aweful lot to learn about life.

[Exilednight]

8. No generation since the boomers have felt security. Gen Xers were the first

to be thrown under the bus, and every generation since has felt the same pain.

[spinbaby]

9. Boomers feel secure?

I certainly don't feel secure. Halfway through our working careers, our pensions were replaced by 401ks and we were told we should have started saving for retirement in our 20s and even if our 401ks lost half their value a couple of years ago, we need to invest stocks because interest on our investments is under 1%. We know that if we lose our job, there's no chance in hell we'll get another one that's even close to pay a living wage, let along health insurance, which we sure as hell can't afford to buy on the "free" market because now that we're in our late 50s, we have preexisting conditions, not that it matters, because copays are going up so fast, we certainly won't be able to afford health care in a couple of years.

Rant off.

[Exilednight]

22. That's not what I said. I used past tense, not current. Boomers went through an

era of feeling secure. Eventually, the "me generation" sold themselves out. Later generations have been paying the price, since.

[mountainlion55]

15. Lets not forget

People 55+ like myself and millions of others who have seen our lives decimated by the banksters and politicians of both parties. Basically if you are my age you are fucked when it comes to getting a job in the profession you worked at your whole life.
Of course we only have a short time left on this mortal coil so just forget about us to. I really feel bad for the kids that have to inherit this fucking mess of a world that my generation left them.:smoke:

[Odin2005]

16. On another site I frequent my generation has been compared to the Depression-Era 20-somethings.

I'm expecting us to be not unlike them, the kind of folks that never trusted the banks and hid our savings under mattresses.

[adigal]

18. Neither of which is a bad idea!!! I think about doing that now

sometimes!

[L0oniX]

20. What have the graduates learned that will get them anywhere when we run out of oil?

Anyone who has children is an idiot. There is no future or life as we know it for them.

[Odin2005]

21. Bullshit.

Peak Oil means peak production, it does not mean that oil is gonna suddenly run out. And when we transition to electric cars there will still be plenty of oil left for plastics until we develop non-oil-based ways of getting carbon for synthetics.