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There is no 'PRIVILEGE' If today's kids make it they have to claw, beg and work against 1,000 others to compete for the same job.
There was a time that a child could produce a mediocre track record in high school, not go to college, but were able to work in a factory or a department store and climb the ranks and subsequently live a life of wonderful opportunities.
With 86% of our 1968 based manufacturing gone to overseas markets, those days of second chance opportunities are gone forever.
When the Blinders Come Off
Back in the year 2000, 80% of men in their late 20’s had a full-time job. Today, only 65 percent do. Sorry, my son, no silver spoon here. He will have to earn what he gets in a land of increasingly limited opportunities.
There is one factoid that I can fully embrace:
College graduates make four times more, in the course of their lifetime, as do non-college graduates.
Yet, the price of a college education is rising 8 times faster than the cost of living. The ship of economic hope started sailing toward the horizon for many of our children nearly a generation ago when we allowed our corporate controlled Congress to pass the job and wage killing free trade agreements of NAFTA and CAFTA.
RED, WHITE AND SCREWED
Figures may lie and liars may figure, however, there are some numbers that cannot be ignored and they serve to underscore the increasing sense of hopelessness that is creeping across the country.
During 2011, 53 percent of all Americans with a bachelor’s degree under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed.
At this point about half of all recent college graduates are working jobs that do not even require a college degree.
The number of Americans in the 16 to 29 year old age bracket with a job declined by 18 percent between 2000 and 2010.
Incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation since the year 2000.
In 1984, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older was 10 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger. Today, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older is 47 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger.
In 2011, SAT scores for young men were the worst that they had been in 40 years.
Incredibly, approximately two-thirds of all college students graduate with student loans.
According to the Federal Reserve, the total amount of student loan debt has risen by 275 percent since 2003.
In America today, 40 percent of all households that are led by someone under the age of 35 are paying off student loan debt. Back in 1989, that figure was below 20 percent.
The total amount of student loan debt in the United States now exceeds the total amount of credit card debt in the United States.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, 11 percent of all student loans are at least 90 days delinquent.
The student loan default rate in the United States has nearly doubled since 2005.
One survey found that 70% of all college graduates wish that they had spent more time preparing for the “real world” while they were still in college.
In the United States today, there are more than 100,000 janitors that have college degrees.
In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.
Today, an all-time low 44.2 percent of all Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 are married.
According to the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of all Americans in the 18 to 24 year old age bracket lived with their parents during 2012.
One poll discovered that 29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are still living with their parents.
Young men are nearly twice as likely to live with their parents as young women the same age are.
Overall, approximately 25 million American adults are living with their parents according to Time Magazine.
There is no 'PRIVILEGE' If today's kids make it they have to claw, beg and work against 1,000 others to compete for the same job.
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