Bob Herbert's last piece for the NYT.

[Guest ezkerraldean]

Young people today are staring at a future in which they will be less well off than their elders, a reversal of fortune that should send a shudder through everyone.

Yep. First time this is the case (in Westernland) since the Industrial Revolution.

 

Why? Most Western countries are in need of skilled workers, yet the local youth spend their time studying total gobshite (or, in the case of people I've come across in Canada; sitting on their arses and not even studying stuff) instead of learning worthwhile skills. So bright foreigners move in to do the decent jobs and you end up with an excess population of totally functionless young-adult suburbanites. The opposite seems to be true in China, where a previously non-existent middle class is currently mushrooming. Basically, the West should act like the Chinese innit! Is any of that even related to the point? Not sure. I'm a bit drunk right now lol so yeah

[SR4]

What this article failed to mention was how much of an entitlement state we've become. Social welfare like food stamps, unemployment, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and Social Security disability, etc. make up 35% of total wages earned here. They were 21% in 2000 and 10% in 1960. People can get food stamps at up to 130% of the poverty line.

 

That's also what going to happen when you have a system with very little social mobility between classes. If you are born in the ghetto your chances of attending harvard are pretty friggin low. It likely won't even be in your sights, not just for economical reasons, but for reasons of class and cultural/social circles. By the way we have similar problems here in Canada as well, we just pretend they don't exist. We have our class/racial divide of aboriginal areas rife with social problems (which goes to show simply throwing money at a problem doesn't fix it. But that's another story.)

 

Entitlement is relative too. We all believe we are entitled to whatever circumstance we are born into. I LOL when I see a kid driving his daddy's car who equates his own personal success with his 'hard work'. Or the occasional 'product testimonial' for the american dream where the one in a million from a poorer class through a combination of work and random circumstance 'makes' it. Likewise I believe I am entitled to my way of life, never mind that many of the products I purchase, hell my entire standard of living, quality of life and wealth is highly reliant on sweat shops+expendable laborers. The system be fucked.

 

your last paragraph is something ive been dwelling on for quite some time. i think the Western world needs to get used to having a lot, lot less and having to do a lot more for less.