Free Republic

As the Wall Street protests grow and expand beyond New York, growing scrutiny of the nascent movement is warranted. What do these folks want? Alongside their ranting about the inequality of incomes, the alleged inordinate power of Wall Street and large corporations, the high level of unemployment, and the like, one policy goal ranks high with most protesters: the forgiveness of student-loan debt. In an informal survey of over 50 protesters in New York last Tuesday, blogger and equity research analyst David Maris found 93 percent of them advocated student-loan forgiveness. An online petition drive advocating student-loan forgiveness has gathered...

... Meet the members of what might be called Generation Limbo: highly educated 20-somethings, whose careers are stuck in neutral, coping with dead-end jobs and listless prospects. And so they wait: for the economy to turn, for good jobs to materialize, for their lucky break. Some do so bitterly, frustrated that their well-mapped careers have gone astray. Others do so anxiously, wondering how they are going to pay their rent, their school loans, their living expenses — sometimes resorting to once-unthinkable government handouts. “We did everything we were supposed to,” said Stephanie Morales, 23, who graduated from Dartmouth College in...

President Obama coasted into the White House thanks in part to the youth vote, individuals aged 18-29 who bought into his vague promise to bring change. During Mr. Obama’s term in office, however, many of this group - known as Millennials - have been forced to learn how to subsist on pocket change. This isn’t quite what they were expecting when they turned out in historic droves in 2008. According to a recent poll commissioned by Generation Opportunity, 57 percent of Millennials participating said they will learn more about the policy positions of presidential candidates in the 2012 election than...

(CNSNews.com) – Although more young people found jobs between April and July, the percentage of young people employed in July 2011 was the lowest July rate on record since the government started tracking the numbers in 1948. Data released on Wednesday by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that only 48.8 percent of young people ages 16-24 were employed in July, a slightly lower percentage than last year. Youth employment typically peaks in July, as high school and college students work summer jobs and graduates take permanent jobs. In July 2011, 18.6 million 16- to 24-year-olds were...

"Our generation is going to take the brunt of the force of the debt crisis," said Glass, a government major at St. Lawrence University in New York. "It's going to mean fewer jobs, higher interest rates, more debt.

For well over a decade urban boosters have heralded the shift among young Americans from suburban living and toward dense cities. As one Wall Street Journal report suggests, young people will abandon their parents’ McMansions for urban settings, bringing about the high-density city revival so fervently prayed for by urban developers, architects and planners. Some demographers claim that “white flight” from the city is declining, replaced by a “bright flight” to the urban core from the suburbs. “Suburbs lose young whites to cities,” crowed one Associated Press headline last year. Yet evidence from the last Census show the opposite: a...

So I recently graduated from law school and passed the bar exam in 2 New England states. I went to a public high school because it was all that my family could afford. Luckily my school was one of those rare public schools that offered exemplary education, often even better than the private schools in the area. During high school non-stop up until now I have worked at jobs, usually full time, in addition to school. Still broke, I went to my state's best public university. It was all that I could afford. I graduated summa and near the top...

Generation Y is often thought of as a slacker group of young adults who have failed to launch, delaying real careers and families until later in life. But new research suggests their heavy dependence on Mom and Dad might ultimately prepare them to be successful adults. Specifically, the study found this generation of "emerging adults" turns to parental support in times of difficultly and as a way to advance their careers in a job market geared toward the highly educated, though most are weaned from such support by their early 30s. "On a general level, people have concerns about young...

Tom Perriello is a first term Democrat representing the 5th district of Virginia, in the central to central-western portion of Virginia. He is an Obama supporting liberal Democrat..... The YouTube footage shows Americans For Prosperity backers trying to hand out "Socialism Isn't Cool" bumper stickers to Perriello supporters waiting in line at a Perriello rally in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia..... Of note here in the YouTube video are the remarks made by the middle class, educated, politically astute and fashionably left wing rally-goers in central Virginia. (The University of Virginia is located in Charlottesville. The outdoor downtown mall area where this...

My friends all wait. They wait to make use of their degrees. They wait for a job to open. They wait to finish graduate school. Again. They all wait. The economy stinks. It stunk before we started earning salaries. The job market is nonexistent. Even small colleges are filled up. The technology we mastered as curious children is sitting there, but we can't do anything with it. No, it's too busy. It's being used by you people. And the jobs? You people. The schools? Again, you people. You baby boomers. You're why we're waiting. Like every generation before us, my...

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The college vote is up for grabs this year — to an extent that would have seemed unlikely two years ago, when a generation of young people seemed to swoon over Barack Obama. Though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008. “Is the recession, which is hitting young people very hard, doing lasting or permanent damage to what looked like a good Democratic advantage with this age group?”...

Here's some disturbing news about religious trends among teenagers -- what you might call Teenage Mutant Ninja Christianity. From CNN: If you're the parent of a Christian teenager, Kenda Creasy Dean has this warning: Your child is following a "mutant" form of Christianity, and you may be responsible. Dean says more American teenagers are embracing what she calls "moralistic therapeutic deism." Translation: It's a watered-down faith that portrays God as a "divine therapist" whose chief goal is to boost people's self-esteem. Dean is a minister, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of "Almost Christian," a new book...

Catholics aren't the only ones seeing the youth desert them. But Catholics are the only ones who can reverse the process.

MILWAUKEE (AP) -- For students entering college this fall, e-mail is too slow, phones have never had cords and the computers they played with as kids are now in museums. The Class of 2014 thinks of Clint Eastwood more as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry urging punks to "go ahead, make my day." Few incoming freshmen know how to write in cursive or have ever worn a wristwatch....

The road to success is filled with a lot more potholes than any college freshman might have imagined four years ago. Welcome, graduate, to the world of very hard knocks. An average of 9.1 percent of college graduates were unemployed in 2009, up from 5.5 percent in 2005 and 4.4 percent in 2000, according to the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. For those with some college experience but without a degree, that figure averaged 14.1 percent last year, compared to 21.5 percent of high school graduates with no time on a higher education campus. (For comparison, the current...

"For years, Pat Bearce had a message for his daughter Andrea: After her college graduation, she would be on her own financially. It has been three years, and she isn't quite there yet. After studying broadcast journalism at Texas Christian University, Andrea decided to pursue a career as a chef, choosing a pricey culinary school in New York City. The restaurant jobs she landed didn't come with health coverage, so, in addition to guaranteeing her apartment lease in Manhattan, her parents covered her health-care costs for a couple of years. They paid her monthly cellphone bill, too. And she still...

ATLANTA (AP) - A growing number of teen girls say they use the rhythm method for birth control, and more teens also think it's OK for an unmarried female to have a baby, according to a government survey released Wednesday. The report may help explain why the teen pregnancy rate is no longer dropping. Overall, teenage use of birth control and teen attitudes toward pregnancy have remained about the same since a similar survey was done in 2002. But there were some notable exceptions in the new survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. First, about 17 percent...

A University of Michigan Study of nearly 14,000 college students has found that they have less empathy than college students did during the 1980s or 1990s. In fact, today’s college students scored about 40 percent lower in empathy than their counterparts did 20 or 30 years ago. Empathy is one of the most valuable psychological resources we have. It allows us to resonate with and respond to the suffering of others. It also allows us to care deeply about the fates of those we love, including our spouses and children. When empathy is destroyed, people are free (in a terrible...

Rising rates of obesity among young Americans could undermine the future of the US military, two retired generals have warned. More than a quarter of young Americans are now too fat to fight, they said. Writing in the Washington Post, the ex-commanders said the fat crisis ruled out more potential military service recruits than any other medical factor. They want Congress to introduce laws to give US children better nutrition in schools, with less sugar, salt and fat. John Shalikashvili and Hugh Shelton, both former chairmen of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote: "Obesity rates threaten the overall health...

Though a majority of teens and young adults identify as Christian, a new study suggests that only 15 percent of them have personal relationships with Christ and are deeply committed.... Most American "Millenials" – those born between 1980 and 1991 – don't pray regularly. Few read their Bibles or other religious texts, and many don't attend church on a weekly basis, according to a LifeWay Research study. "[W]e cannot forget the vast majority of lost young people in this generation. Our hearts should be broken with this reality," said Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources. "We should be convicted...

Today Vasti Cedeno will leave for Fort Jackson, S.C., to start nine weeks of Army boot camp. When two of her mentors were killed while serving in Afghanistan, she decided her "life’s mission" was to join the Army. But even with her mind made up, her body kept her down. Cedeno weighed nearly 275 pounds. "I was too ashamed to go into the recruiter’s office," she said. Cedeno turned it around. Through diet and exercise, the Emerson resident dropped 112 pounds in a year, and she figures to lose more if Fort Jackson combat training stays true to reputation. Military...

A bright 21-year-old killed herself after more than 200 unsuccessful job applications. Vicky Harrison had dreamed of a career as a teacher or a television producer, but gave up hope for the future, her family said yesterday. A day after her latest rejection, and on the eve of her fortnightly trip to sign on, she wrote heartbreaking notes to her parents and boyfriend saying 'I don't want to be me any more' and took a huge drug overdose. Her death last month tragically highlights the human cost of the highest level of joblessness since the mid-1990s. Rising youth unemployment has...

Young adults in the United States are being squeezed out of the labor force as older workers either delay retirement or seek jobs to rebuild nest eggs destroyed by the recession, a study showed on Wednesday. The size of the labor force fell 6.3 percent for young workers, but increased 8.5 percent for workers 55 years and older between December 2007 and January 2010, according to the study by the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Hey you kids! Get the hell off my lawn! With your gameboys and iPods and knife crime. You don’t know you’re born. Back in my day we’d walk seven miles to pick up a CD from our local record store. Uphill. Both ways. The guy there would look down at us from behind the counter and we’d feel small. And we LIKED IT… etc… But seriously, over the last few years, the way we consume music has changed beyond recognition. The so called ‘iPod generation’ (a horrible, if functional turn of phrase) get their musical kicks in ways – 10...

Gallup Polls: Younger Americans More Strongly Pro-Life on Abortion Washington, DC -- The Gallup polling agency released an analysis today of its polling data going back to 1975 and it found that younger Americans are currently more strongly pro-life than middle-aged Americans. The polling results give the pro-life movement hope that public opinion will continue moving in the pro-life direction. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat6111.html

Some leading Republican groups are trying to guide a revival of conservative student activism in the "era of Obama" -- the latest push comes this Thursday at California's Reagan Ranch Center, where dozens of high school students who caught the conservative bug will converge to get inspired, get organized and get active. Republican students may finally be building a clique to be reckoned with, as the Young America's Foundation hosts a national conference this week for conservative youth at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, Calif. The group will use the forum to unfurl its latest list of the...

If Millennials realize they're going to have to pay the fiscal price for baby boomers' sins, they might choose to leave the US for more financially friendly locations. BY TIM KANE What if they had a fiscal crisis, and nobody came? What if the chump generation figures out the Ponzi scheme? Bob Samuelson thinks the fallout will be political: ... As baby boomers retire, higher federal spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid may boost Millennials' taxes and squeeze other government programs. It will be harder to start and raise families. Millennials [ages 30 and younger] could become the chump...

The "generation gap" endures as a staple of American political and social analysis. The notion that the special circumstances and experiences of each succeeding cohort imbue it with different perceptions, beliefs and values seems intuitively reasonable and appealing. It's also flattering. In a mass-market culture, belonging to a distinct subgroup, even if it numbers many millions, contributes to a sense of identity. In a 1969 Gallup poll, 74 percent of Americans believed in the generation gap. A poll last year found that 79 percent now do. Between then and now, of course, generations have shifted. Then, it was baby boomers...

Scott Letzter thought when he moved away to college that he had left his childhood home for good. His plan was to graduate, launch his career and live on his own. But at 24, Letzter is living at his parents’ house in Johnsburg, still sleeping in the bedroom he had as a child. “I thought I would have more of a steady job, something that gets me on the right path to what I would call a career,” Letzter said. “I don’t really feel like there’s any job security.” Letzter is part of a growing demographic called Boomerang Kids, adults...

At 18, Ben Taber soaked up the stadium-size vibe of Barack Obama's nomination with a sense of wonder as he joined an unprecedented wave of young voters that would help carry their candidate to the White House. By the time he turned 20 this week, that emotional and philosophical bond with the president had been tempered by a steep learning curve about governance, and a stern reality check about the scope and pace of hope and change. "For the most part, the general tenor of this administration is something I like," says Taber, who worked as a U.S. Senate intern...

Poll: Youngest Americans More Pro-Life on Abortion Than Baby Boomers Washington, DC -- As hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans young and old participate in the March for Life in Washington today, a new poll finds most marchers will likely be from the millennial generation or Generation X. The most recent Marist survey finds them the most pro-life on abortion. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5914.html

www.catholicnewsagency.com New survey shows youth becoming more pro-life Young pro-lifers march in the 2009 March for Life New Haven, Conn., Jan 21, 2010 / 07:44 pm (CNA).- Just one day before the March for Life in Washington D.C. and the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a new survey shows that the number of Americans who say they are pro-life is continuing to grow. Members of the Millennial generation say abortion is “morally wrong” at a rate of 58 percent.The survey, which was conducted between December 2009 and January 2010, was co-sponsored by the Knights of Columbus and the Marists....

For some examples, tune in to Hannity's show in the afternoon and hear young (I assume) females who speak in some sort of Valley Girl / Munchkin combination of vocabulary and inflection. In the interest of equal treatment, many young males also exhibit poor communication skills; but poor in a different way. Many sound like remarkable apes who have learned rudimentary human speech. What is the cause of this loss of standard speech? This has been troubling me for quite some time. The last day of the year is a good time to get it out of my head and...

“Save your receipts” may be the rule in the workplace for getting reimbursed for expenses, but those slips of paper are just so much trash to a college student. That’s what Drexel University student Bradley Ericson pondered as he observed transactions at the checkout counter at campus dining halls. Students have a meal plan and tap it electronically by using their student identification card. But the cashier still hands over a printed piece of thermal paper. Soon after, that receipt winds up on the floor or counter. A freshman at Drexel’s LeBow College of Business in the fall of 2008,...

Job Market Worsens For Recent College Graduates Unemployment among young adults is worse than the U.S. average. Don Lee December 14, 2009 Reporting from Washington - The unemployment rate dropped last month for men and women, blacks and whites, lifting hopes that the long dry spell in the jobs market may be coming to an end. But for recent college graduates and other young adults, the labor situation didn't just remain dire -- it got worse. For 20- to 24-year-olds, the jobless rate rose four-tenths of a percent to 16% in November, even as unemployment nationally slipped to 10% from...

It truly amazes me that so many are slack jawed when considering the dismal state of “youth” (under twenty four!!) unemployment. First of all, many readers of this had actually done things, created an income stream, and no longer considered themselves to be “youths” after the age of eighteen. At nineteen, by example, I was responsible for all radar and radio equipment on a destroyer and had 5 other Electronic Techs under me. I had caddied, delivered newspapers, bussed tables, etc. before joining the Navy. When I was discharged, I had to find a way to finance college and did,...

WASHINGTON – Faced with limited job options, many young adults are turning to an old standby to weather the recession: moving back in with mom and dad. Nearly 1 in 7 parents with grown children say they had a "boomerang kid" move back home in the past year, according to a study being released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center. In a turnabout in the rite of passage in which a college graduate finds a job and an apartment, many are returning to their parents' empty nests because of tight finances or as they pursue an advanced degree. "The journey...

National polling done by John Zogby for the League of American Voters following a TV and Internet ad campaign in Arkansas, North Dakota and Maine found that 65 percent of the youngest voters are opposed to Obama’s healthcare initiative, compared to 55 percent opposition among senior citizens.

A who's who of Christian right leaders, including Chuck Colson and Tony Perkins, have partnered with a handful of more moderate religious voices, including National Association of Evangelicals President Leith Anderson and New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, to release a document that reasserts the primacy of three culture war issues for Christians in the public square: abortion, marriage, and religious liberties. A handful of those who signed the document, called "The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience," gathered today at the National Press Club for the launch event. The declaration reads like a throwback to the culture wars of...

Carrie Prejean is, in many ways, representative of today's young women. Her generation is "star struck", into all-things Hollywood, and programmed to use their bodies and sexual power to get ahead. In other ways, Carrie is remarkably different from her peers: She is "coming of age" in front of the entire world, with an army of enemies determined to seize upon her every error in order to destroy her. Young, beautiful "stars" are not allowed to challenge the status-quo and speak their own minds. If you want the fame and fortune that Tinseltown offers, you must play their game. Or...

CHICAGO – They’re antsy and edgy, tired of waiting for promotion opportunities at work as their elders put off retirement. A good number of them are just waiting for the economy to pick up so they can hop to the next job, find something more fulfilling and get what they think they deserve. Oh, and they want work-life balance too. Sounds like Gen Y, the so-called “entitlement generation,” right? Not necessarily, say people who track the generations. In these hard times, they’re also hearing strong rumblings of discontent from Generation X. They’re the 32- to 44-year-olds who are wedged between...

CHICAGO -- They're antsy and edgy, tired of waiting for promotion opportunities at work as their elders put off retirement. A good number of them are just waiting for the economy to pick up so they can hop to the next job, find something more fulfilling and get what they think they deserve. Oh, and they want work-life balance, too. Sounds like Gen Y, the so-called "entitlement generation," right? Not necessarily, say people who track the generations. In these hard times, they're also hearing strong rumblings of discontent from Generation X. They're the 32- to 44-year-olds who are wedged between...

Our kids are the ultimate credit market, and the rest of us are all pre-approved! By Mark Steyn Just between you, me, and the old, the late middle-aged, and the early middle-aged: Isn’t it terrific to be able to stick it to the young? I mean, imagine how bad all this economic-type stuff would be if our kids and grandkids hadn’t offered to pick up the tab. Well, okay, they didn’t exactly “offer” but they did stand around behind Barack Obama at all those campaign rallies helping him look dynamic and telegenic and earnestly chanting hopey-hopey-changey-changey. And “Yes, we can!”...

Mitt Romney is heading to Reagan country. The former Massachusetts governor is scheduled to speak this Friday to the Young America's Foundation at the Ronald Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, California. Romney is expected to be the dinner banquet speaker for the foundation's West Coast Leadership Conference, which consists of young conservatives from 44 colleges and universities across 12 states. "Young people provide much of the energy in the conservative movement, and if we are going to be successful as a party we need to harness that energy and put it work on behalf of the principles we all...

One of the most interesting questions about the health care overhaul now moving through Congress is how it would affect young adults. That legislation would force most or all Americans to purchase health insurance (an "individual mandate") and would impose price controls on health insurance ("community rating") that would limit insurers' ability to offer lower premiums to low-risk enrollees. Those provisions would drive premiums down for 55-year-olds but would drive them up for 25-year-olds—who are then implicitly subsidizing older adults. According to the Urban Institute, many young people could see their premiums double, whereas premiums for older adults could be...

It’s that time of year. College seniors from around the world are graduating, and they are hitting the career world looking for a job. And the interesting thing is that most are not doing it alone. Many parents are by their Gen Y’s side and not just for support and to be a sounding board. If you are a helicopter parent who is hovering over your adult child’s job hunt and interview process, you may be hurting your child’s professional development and their chances to land the job. Helicopter parents have not only been bombarding college campuses, they are now...

The love affair between Barack Obama and young Americans may be on the rocks. Recently released figures from the Department of Labor reveal staggeringly high joblessness numbers among America’s youth. Indeed, 53.4 percent of young Americans are without a job – a post-World War II high. With over half of 16-24 year olds jobless, even after stimulus package after stimulus package supposedly meant to create jobs, one has to wonder how Barack Obama’s approval ratings are doing among his strongest supporters. Unsurprisingly, the answer is “worse.” According to Gallup, approval of President Obama among young adults aged 18 to 29...

Bill extends 'kid' coverage to age 27 Wednesday, October 14, 2009 3:07 AM WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House health-care-overhaul bill now being finalized would allow young adults to stay on their parents' health insurance policies until they're 27. Most insurance plans let kids remain on their parents' policies while they're in college. Pelosi said the provision in the House bill would help those who are out of school, looking for work or are part-time employees. The provision is based on Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper's legislation. Dahlkemper said 31 percent of people ages 19 to 29 don't...

When Justin Tevis recently met with the Santa Barbara Police Officers Association to seek the union’s endorsement, he thought the meeting would be about ways to solve the city’s crime and gang violence problems. Instead, he was immediately handed a document with a pay scale showing how much Santa Barbara police officers made in comparison to similar-sized cities. He was stunned. In fact, reforming public employee salaries and pensions is among the top things on Tevis’ list of reforms if elected to the Santa Barbara City Council. “These are huge lobbying groups,” Tevis said. “These are huge power groups.” Tevis...

Recession Creating A Lost Generation High unemployment is damaging the future for America’s youth Dan Schmitz, 25, a University of Wisconsin grad, hasn't had a job in months. [Pic in URL] By Peter Coy Oct . 11, 2009 Bright, eager — and unwanted. While unemployment is ravaging just about every part of the global workforce, the most enduring harm is being done to young people who can't grab onto the first rung of the career ladder. Affected are a range of young people, from high school dropouts to college grads to newly minted lawyers and MBAs across the developed world...