General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Millennials don't want to be coddled, they want jobs! [View all]amandabeech
(9,893 posts)In fact, the boomers who had it easy were the early boomers--the ones born from '46 to '52 or '53. The number of babies increased so rapidly that there was a huge jump in births between '52 and when I was born in '55 and my cousins in '57. There were too many kids and not enough of anything. And I mean anything.
When you talk about boomers, your're really talking about the early ones. They're retiring now, and they will probably get their social security and medicare. The people just before them will be okay, too. My aunt is one of them. She was born in the late '30s, but the small number of people born just after her in the depression will do okay.
I really do feel sorry for people coming out now, though. I cannot believe that amount that you folks paid for college. Even state schools, I went to one, are unbelievably expensive. And thanks to some of our democratic bretheren, you can't discharge your indebtedness in bankruptcy even if you've been trying to pay it down for several years. I'd be happy to support a change in the bankruptcy laws for you folks.
What I think would help you folks would be to overthrow Milton Friendman, or what people think Milton Friendman said, because you are pitted unfairly against the rest of the world which doesn't have the costs you do. I support following a more mercantilist policy because that's what every one else in the world does. No one else tries to throw away its young people. What are we doing it?
My parents both grew up in the depression. At least then, people recognized that there was a problem and the president tried to do something about it. I know that the WPA and the CCC weren't exactly resume enhancers, but they gave people young and old something to do--they gave a feeling of self worth. Frankly, we had low immigration and corporations had to hire those who were here. They couldn't go all over the world looking for someone with four unrelated skills and get away with whining when they couldn't find that ideal person. They couldn't import cheap goods, either. Some people blame the tariffs and immigration restrictions for the depression, but I think that they helped unemployed people here think that if there was a job, they had chance at it. Now, I'm not sure that young people here do have a chance. The big corps want cheap workers and that's what both parties want. It hurts educated young people and those young people who work with their hands.
There is one food processor in my home area who will not hire anyone who isn't Hispanic and it is the biggest employer in the rural area, and the farmers refuse to hire healthy young white people to help with the mechanical harvesting of the crops. I knew farm labor and food processing aren't desirable, but they help pay the bills and help people get a start. There are also quite a few office jobs that are only open to Hispanics and there is no place for the locals to learn Spanish. You can at least get a recommendation for working hard and being cooperative. It is causing a real social problem in my home area that is so bad, that I don't want to have to live there when the time comes to take care of my mom. People really won't talk to each other because only a few are benefiting. Neither Republicans nor Democrats, even the teachers who are very much burdened with trying to teach children who don't speak English, will talk about it openly. I don't blame the Hispanics, who are mostly Mexican with some Hondurans, because conditions in their countries aren't good, but it is making real problems in my community. I know that it can't be the only place where there is this discrimination.
Well, I'm sorry to burden you with my issues. I guess my point is that I feel for you, and there are bills that I would support that might help you. We really have an emergency in this country, but nobody seems to care. Maybe if the young, the old and the in between can find common ground we can get these idiot politicians to think of the people who live here. I fear that there will be severe social and political ramifications if young people like you can't get a start. We're wasting an entire generation of our countryman, and it just isn't right.