-By Frank Hyland
After I graduated from High School, and even before college, I was more than ready to get out on my own. I very much looked forward to having my own place, setting my own hours, and setting my own rules. I have no doubt that the great majority of young folks today feel the same. The difference is that I could do it and did it. Today, more than eight in ten college graduates are forced to move back in with their parents, saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in debt in the form of student loans and/or credit cards. I can’t imagine what I would have felt like if I had moved back into the home that I wanted very much to have “in the rearview mirror.” Today’s graduates needn’t imagine it because they’re living it daily. The great majority of my high school classmates had moved out on their own, had gotten jobs, and had even started families. It wasn’t at all uncommon. Today it is very uncommon. If I had, for some reason, had to move back into my parents’ house, I would have taken every step to conceal that fact from my classmates who lived in their own apartments and houses. These days, with so many young folks back home, it may be a bit easier to admit the fact to one’s peers because at no time in the past, it is reported, have so many college graduates ever had to move back into their parents’ houses.
Leaving the issue of the cost of higher education aside for another column, the point to focus on here is the jobs market, especially for recent college graduates. In a word, it is “lousy.” Salaries and wages are low and are shrinking in terms of buying power, along with the number of jobs. The added burden, though, of having to repay student loans and credit card debt while coming up with the cost of filling a car’s gas tank, buying groceries, and clothing makes the prospects even dimmer. Many, I’m sure, question why they ever even went to college in the first place.
Before members the Class of 2011 and Class of 2012 feel too much worse, though, it is not your fault personally. You are part of a far larger group that is going through the worst economic times in more than a generation, widely said to be the worst since the end of World War II. Non-college graduates, college graduates, men, women, Caucasian or African-American (except the unemployment rate for African-Americans is at least 13%). Your problem is not that your parents and grandparents are smarter than you. You are, in fact, smarter than a number of politicians think you are, judging by the messages they propagate. You, are, though, going through a period of time in which two “camps” are arguing over which path you should have to take. One side in this tug of war urges what it calls even more government help and “investment” than has been given out in the past three years plus. This sounds at first like an attractive idea. The other side is urging less spending. If you think for just a moment, it will be obvious to you, with your present level of debt, that no one, not even the government, can continue to spend at its present rate. What we call “government” is simply the total number of we citizens. The consequences are summed up in one word – broke.
There is good news, though, believe it or not. In 2008 you were said to have played a pivotal role in deciding the presidential election results. In terms of numbers, you are said to be playing an important role this time, too. The day after the November 6th election, if you have voted to replace the present White House occupant, you will see a number of changes begin. First, the stock markets in the U.S. and around the world will skyrocket. The number of employment Want Ads for good-paying jobs will also increase every day. You will be able to at least plan to move out of your parents’ house and into a place of your own. You can look at furniture commercials on TV….you can look at commercials for TVs on TV — No more Lawrence Welk reruns! You can plan for date nights out more than once a year. You can shop for a new car. In other words, you will have a future. On the other hand if you vote for a second term for the present administration, you can reasonably expect that you will get more of the same or worse. Then you can just lean back, close your eyes, and wipe the slate clean of your dreams. It’s your vote, your future.
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Frank Hyland is a long-time Writer/Editor who has written for The New Media Alliance, and also for The Reality Check and has appeared weekly on Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Conservatism on Sunday evenings on Blog Talk Radio, along with Babe Huggett and Warner Todd Huston.