Young people here in amerika who can't find a job/internship.....

[Mind_your_head]

It's a PROBLEM.....a real PROGLEM

Graduated students who don't go on (at this point) for higher degrees, must start paying back their student loans w/in 6 mos. of graduation. As hard as they try.....there just aren't many/any jobs out there.

[nini]

1. either can middle aged folks with 20+ years experience

It's not a young people issue right now.

[Codeine]

2. Nobody can find a job right now.

I'll worry about spoiled little college kids later. They can go live with Mommy and Daddy; working families occupy FAR more of my concern right at the moment.

[Tansy_Gold]

4. "spoiled little college kids"

are the teachers and doctors and lawyers and engineers and chemists and librarians and opticians and writers and journalists and meteorologists of tomorrow.

A mind truly is a terrible thing to waste.

And if they can't find jobs and if mommy and daddy lose theirs, who's going to support whom?



Tansy Gold

[Midlodemocrat]

5. What an ignorant post.

[handmade34]

6. that's harsh

we need to be concerned about all of us right now.

[Codeine]

9. Sure,

but some have more options, brighter futures, and more readily-available safety nets upon which to fall back. Those of us who work for a living don't currently have that range of protections.

[handmade34]

27. harsh judgements don't help anybody

there are many scenerios out there; some have bright futures, some don't, some have wealthy parents, some don't, thousands of unemployed kids out of college do as much damage to pour economy as other groups out of work. My three youngest are all just recently out of college, they are not spoiled and they really don't have much of a safety net; just me and I have to work thousands of miles away from them. I would give up my job in a second if it would secure them one.

[nomorenomore08]

12. But what if neither they nor "Mommy and Daddy" can find a way to pay back said loans?

A college degree is no guarantee of a lucrative career, especially in times like these. Add in tens of thousands of dollars of potential debt, with interest, and the picture isn't exactly a rosy one.

So I don't think the chip on your shoulder is really justified...

[Codeine]

13. Then they will have bad credit,

just like many working-class folks who lost their homes or jobs have bad credit.

[nomorenomore08]

16. Yeah, which means we're (mostly) all in the same boat.

Don't think that folks with a little more education are somehow "special" or immune to economic hardship.

[960]

19. Um, no. I know so many college kids who are the first in their family to graduate

and or come from bad/poor home lifes. Many need a job to help themselves and their families.
I don't know what world you live in, but there are many people who graduate college besides "spoiled little college kids" who can "go live with Mommy and Daddy".

[nomorenomore08]

22. As I said before, dude's obviously got a chip on his shoulder...

But don't let it get you down. :hi:

[Codeine]

28. No chip.

I just recognize that working-class folks have it harder every fucking step of the way. I'll reserve my sympathy for those who need it.

[nomorenomore08]

30. In general you're probably right. But see 960's post above mine...

nt

[Obamanaut]

26. You are aware that many of those college kids have already started

families, aren't you? There are life partners, wives, husbands, sometimes children involved with these 'kids'.

And if the Mommy and Daddy you want them to go home to are having problems of their own right now - what to do, oh what will you have them do?

[MineralMan]

3. Amerika?

Sorry, but I don't recognize that word.

[Mind_your_head]

10. A LOT of people don't recognize their country anymore....hence the intentional misspelling

[MineralMan]

11. Yes, I understand the reason. I also reject it.

You may not recognize the United States of America and that's just fine with me. Yet, you live here, and take advantage of what is available to you here. I'll even wager that you vote in its elections.

A LOT of us love this country. A LOT of us served this country in the military. A LOT of us don't like pseudo-nazi spellings of its name.

Just wanted to let you know what a LOT of people think about America. It's not perfect, but it's ours to change in that direction.

[nomorenomore08]

14. Makes me think of the Kafka novel, whose title is simply the German spelling of "America."

In it a young boy is sent off to a surreal, imagined version of the United States (Kafka had never visited this country, and knew fairly little of its geography and culture). The "America" depicted in the novel comes to seem like a distorted, dreamlike mirror image of the real one. So I guess the name "Amerika" can be used as shorthand for the "down the rabbit hole" effect experienced by many Americans in contemporary times.

That said, though, I usually consider the use of "Amerika" rather stupid and pretentious, and can understand why it offends some people.

[MineralMan]

17. Yeah, I know the Kafka reference. And you're right...

it definitely offends me, particularly when written by people who are citizens of the USA. It indicates a paucity of understanding of how this country functions. It indicates a lot of things to me, none of which are particularly admirable.

[Mind_your_head]

7. JOBS, president Obama.....we need paying JOBS. n/t

[handmade34]

8. I vote for make work jobs

"I am appealing to the people of America tonight to help in carrying out a task that is important to them and to their government.

It is a part, but an essential part, of the greater task of finding jobs for willing workers who are idle through no fault of their own; of finding more work for those who are insufficiently employed and of surveying the needs of workers and industry to see if we can find the basis of a better long-range plan of re-employment than we have now.

Enforced idleness, embracing any considerable portion of our people, in a nation of such wealth and natural opportunity, is a paradox that challenges our ingenuity. Unemployment is one of the bitter and galling problems that now afflicts man-kind. It has been with us, in a measure, since the beginning of our industrial era. It has been increased by the complexity of business and industry, and it has been made more acute by the depression. It has made necessary the expenditure of billions of dollars for relief and for publicly created work; it has delayed the balancing of our national budget, and increased the tax burden of all our people. In addition to the problem faced by the national government our states and local governments have been sorely pressed to meet the increased load resulting from unemployment... ...But I appeal to all of you who are employed today to enlist as good neighbors to those who are unemployed in your communities and who may need help in filling out their cards properly and promptly. They may need the stimulus of your cooperation, to recognize the importance of this national effort to help them.

I think this neighborly cooperation will be very helpful in dispelling from the minds of the unemployed all fear that the information sought in this census is to be used for any purpose other than helpfulness. I repeat the assurance to the unemployed that the information which you give on these report cards will in no sense be used against you, but so far as lies within my power will be employed for your own good and for the welfare of the nation.

When we have ascertained the full facts of unemployment, we can extend the voluntary and neighborly character of this effort to the task of finding the solution to the perplexing problem. Its importance justifies a national approach, free from prejudice or partisanship and warrants the cooperative endeavors of business, of labor, of agriculture, and of government.

I am confident that this nation of ours has the genius to reorder its affairs, and possesses the physical resources to make it possible for everyone, young or old, to enjoy the opportunity to work and earn. There is neither logic nor necessity for one-third of our population to have less of the needs of modern life than make for decent living.

Our national purchasing power is the soil from which comes all our prosperity. The steady flow of wages to our millions of workers is essential if the products of our industry and of our farmers are to be consumed.


FDR Fireside Chat 11

[dysfunctional press]

15. it's even worse for people with a mortgage.

at least with student loans, if you can't pay- they can't foreclose on your mind.

[MineralMan]

18. I'm afraid you do not understand fully. Recent college graduates

are ENTITLED to a job. Their parents told them so. Old mortgage payers should have thought of that before they took out the loan. :sarcasm:

[dysfunctional press]

20. and since they ARE college graduates- 'entry level' is SO beneath them.

especially if it means entry-level paychecks.

[MineralMan]

23. Well, natch!

Those entry level jobs are for the "others." Not our children.

[rockymountaindem]

31. Do you actually know anybody who thinks that way?

I've never met one college person who is that condescending or arrogant. Where do you get the idea that we're all of that mindset? Is it too much to ask that the young people of today, be they students or otherwise, be able to get decent-paying jobs that allow them to live independently at the age of 22? Or 18? Is that too arrogant? I don't know... maybe it's the fact that many of us know our parents all went to school 25+ years ago and graduated without debt because state school tuition used to be funded to acceptable levels by state government so it didn't cost an arm and a leg to get your degree.

It's not just the lack of success and opportunities that's so galling; it's the plain fact that things are moving in the wrong direction from our parents' generation to our generation. It's the fact that our whole lives our parents and schools raised us with a simple narrative: graduate high school - go to college - get a job - get married - buy house... Only now, that's just not possible for lots of young people. And yeah, we're more than a little disappointed that all the images that virtually every authority figure from mom & pop on down raised us with are just figments. Still, I've never seen or heard of any college student I know of sneer at non-students/non-grads. I think you're just making that up to justify your jaded attitude.

[nomorenomore08]

25. Not me... I'm unemployed 2 years out of school, hopefully about to start

a part-time, barely-above-minimum wage job. And hoping to eventually get enough hours, or get another job, so that I can move out and get my own place. My expectations are pretty modest right now, to say the least...

[Nikia]

32. For the past 8 years, I have made $500/month on my student loan

I would think that most people in that situation would want to make at least $500 more per month than if they hadn't gone to college. I know that isn't always possible, but $500 extra per month can be scary if you don't have it. If I had been unable to pay that, they could have garnished 25% of my paycheck for up to the next 30 years.

[Chisox08]

33. I hope to get an "entry level" job.

Right now any job will do.

[Codeine]

21. And not just a job,

a GOOD job, better than the working-class slobs around them.

[MineralMan]

24. Well...of course.

OUR children are management-level people. WE didn't raise them to get their clothing dirty. WE told them they'd get great jobs on graduation...jobs that made REAL money.

[handmade34]

29. another way to look at it...

if you default on a mortgage, they take the house back. If you default on your student loan, they cnnot foreclose on your mind but they can collect money until you die.

[dysfunctional press]

36. just because they foreclose on your house- it doesn't mean that you're out from under the loan...

once the house is resold, you're generally still on the hook for the difference between what you owe, and what it sold for.

[Regret My New Name]

34. hardship deferments

[nini]

37. exactly. that's what I had to do

I didn't like it but it helped me get through the rough times so I could eventually pay off the loan for good.

[Regret My New Name]

35. dupe