Sometimes, I think America’s national creed is: “gimme, gimme, gimme.”
As in: “Gimme a bailout.” With banks, insurance firms and automobile manufacturers getting a helping hand from the government, some Americans think they should get one, too. I recently heard a radio ad that made just that point, telling listeners to enlist the services of a money management firm because “Wall Street firms are getting a bailout and you should, too.”
Like much of what plagues modern society, the push for individual bailouts centers around a sense of entitlement, about what people think they deserve — not because they’ve earned it but because they want a more comfortable, hassle-free life. It’s also about the belief that government is the answer to all our problems — part nanny and part ATM.
Unfortunately, this mentality is also infecting young Americans. We already knew they had a sense of entitlement from the narcissism they exhibit, and from the shunning of hard and dirty jobs that wind up being done by illegal immigrants and other foreigners. But the reliance on government is a bit of a surprise since young people have a long- standing reputation for being politically apathetic.
Now, a coalition of young people — dubbing itself “80 Million Strong for Young American Jobs” — wants Congress to draft a massive aid package aimed specifically at helping young people brave the recession. Think of it as a Marshall Plan for the Twitter generation.
Among other things, the coalition wants: free college tuition for low-income students who are willing to do volunteer work; the right to be covered in their parents’ health insurance program until the age of 26; college loan-forgiveness programs for young people who agree to serve distressed communities after graduation; and micro loans for young entrepreneurs to start their own businesses. Congress needs to provide all this and more, the group says, because young Americans — including recent college graduates — are bearing the brunt of the current recession.
They have a point there. For 20- to 24-year-olds, the unemployment rate is 15.3 percent, compared to 9.4 percent for the overall U.S. population. College tuitions are rising, and students are graduating with both student loans and loads of credit card debt. And young Americans often lack health insurance; those in their 20s represent about 30 percent of the uninsured, sometimes by choice.
Still, the idea of young people lobbying Congress for their own specialized bailout isn’t just wrong. It’s heartbreaking.
People of all ages could make the same request of the government, complete with their own list of challenges and dire statistics. Ironically, in many companies, older workers fear being replaced by younger ones who often start with smaller salaries.
Young people usually don’t have mortgages to pay off, or spouses and children to support. That gives them an enormous amount of freedom whether they realize it or not. They also have an advantage in the job market because they can travel the country and go where the jobs are. Or they can simply follow their passions and build careers of their own designs.
Instead of seeing obstacles, they should see opportunities.
You have to wonder where young people picked up this distasteful and destructive behavior. It’s obvious. It was from watching their elders with outstretched palms, a sense of entitlement, and a tendency to see government as the solution to all sorts of problems. And to think there are people who actually believe that.
Gimme a break.
