Over at the place where I spend my work days writing, we’ve written a lot about about Climategate and Obamacare, particularly because it effects voters under 30. Cato released a study that found under Obamacare, our premiums would double or triple in order to subsidize healthcare for those over 55. Doesn’t seem quite so fair.

I remember getting my first paycheck at 16 and asking my dad what FICA was. At that point, I realized that I was essentially buying my own birthday and Christmas presents from my grandparents thanks to taxes. Now, I’m going to be responsible for not only my grandparents health, but the health of people my parents’ ages? How is that even remotely fair to the Millenial generation?

Parcbench has a good article about it.

Young Republicans, conservatives and independents have a huge stake in the healthcare debate, but have been largely ignored by the President, Congress and the media. We’re talking about people just starting out in their adult lives. These are young people working at what may be their first entry level jobs. Many may be saddled with student loans and be on tight budgets. Shouldn’t they have the freedom to choose not to purchase health insurance, that they likely won’t make much use of, so that they can balance their household budgets? What about the young Democrats? Rumor has it that they want their “free” healthcare and they want it now. So grandma and grandpa, kiss your Medicare goodbye.

Very few people really think about the financial consequences of young Americans. We’re facing higher unemployment rates since older, more experienced workers are willing to take lower-paying jobs. We also are entering life with a lot more debt than our parents could ever imagine. According to the left-wing site, Future Majority, the average college student graduates with over $23,000 in student loans. (They whine about the cost of college, yet want young people to be saddled with paying for healthcare. Consistency issues?)

$23,000 in undergraduate student loans. That’s before rent, insurance, car loans and credit card debt. That’s before you even get a job or have time to frame that expensive piece of paper.

Millenials get a lot of criticism and much of it is deserved. However, economics are not in our favor. In order to get a stable job that pays a decent salary, you have to earn a college degree. Many times, you need a graduate degree to get ahead. Boomers never had that problem. It was possible to earn a good income and only have a high school diploma. Furthermore, college costs are out of control. While Campus Progress and Future Majority want Congress to takeover the student loan industry, which is hardly getting any news coverage at all, that’s not the answer.

Congressional intervention has largely hurt college students. More demand allows colleges to raise tuition rates. Students can’t afford this, so Congress raises the ceiling on the total you can borrow in federal loans. This causes private loans to raise their cap. Since more money is available to students, colleges continue to raise tuition. It’s a losing battle that only hurts students.

What happens when you have so much debt? Since you can’t find a job due to the recession (great job there, stimulus!), you move back home with mom and dad and become a Boomerang. (I did it. Actually, I did it twice.) Critics say that causes our generation to mature less quickly because our parents are around us so much in our twenties. Since it takes you a couple of years before you can get started in life, everything is postponed– marriage, buying a house, investments, retirement savings, starting a family… I know a lot of people who spend the first year after college interning. They’re working professional jobs for free!

At a previous job, my boss remarked that there was no way she could live at home after college like I was doing. She claimed that her generation was simply more independent. I laughed and said, “It’s not independence. It’s economics. We can’t afford to be adults. Did you graduate with $20,000 in debt with just a bachelor’s degree?

When my dad was in graduate school in the early 80s, his tuition was around $500 a semester. When I was in graduate school in 2006-2007, I paid over $1,000 per credit hour. That’s some inflation there.

Now financial responsiblity should also factor in. Credit card companies prey on college students. Too many Millenials are materialistic and expect to start out at the same quality of life as their parents enjoy. People also stupidly go to expensive schools for their undergraduate programs despite studies showing that prestigious schools aren’t that helpful over a lifetime. However, most students — and adults — don’t understand basic economics or personal budgeting. Financial literacy is not taught anymore and that is hurting every level of our society.

On top of the fact that students are graduating in the hole with bleak job prospects, Congress wants to tax us even more so that we can cure “injustice” with universal health care and save the planet from made up science!  What about the injustice of saddling an entire generation with entitlement programs that our country can’t afford? The Boomers who care so much about forcing this through are going to be the recipients of these programs and die before it gets really bad. Nice legacy to leave your kids.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 at 9:31 pm and is filed under Economics, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.