153 | Sucks to be us
help
A
Instudent loans, which for the class
ever, that this generation will not be better off
of 2009 average $24,000. Those
than its parents.
We wouldn’t living among the scattered ashes and spilled red wine and broken glass from
student loans (the responsible bor-
And so we find ourselves living among the
a party we watched in our pajamas, peering
rowing option!) have reportedly passed credit
scattered ashes and spilled red wine and bro-
down the stairs at the grown-ups. This is not a
cards as the nation’s largest source of debt.
ken glass from a party we watched in our paja-
morning after we are prepared for, to judge by
This is not just a rotten moment to be young. It’s
mas, peering down the stairs at the grown-ups.
the composite sketch sociologists have drawn
a putrid, stinking, several-months-old-stringy-
This is not a morning after we are prepared for,
of us. (Generation-naming is an inexact science,
goat-meat moment to be young.
to judge by the composite sketch sociologists
but generally we’re talking here about the first
Earlier generations have weathered reces-
have drawn of us. (Generation-naming is an in-
half of the Millennials, the terrible New Agey la-
sions, of course; this stall we’re in has the
exact science, but generally we’re talking here
bel we were saddled with in the eighties.) Clare
look of something nastier. Social Security and
about the first half of the Millennials, the terrible
has us pegged pretty well: We are self-centered
Medicare are going to be diminished, at best.
New Agey label we were saddled with in the
and convinced of our specialness and unaccus-
Hours worked are up even as hiring staggers
eighties.) Clare has us pegged pretty well: We
tomed to being denied. “I am sad, jaded, disil-
along: Blood from a stone looks to be the
are self-centered and convinced of our special-
lusioned, frustrated, and worried,” said one girl
normal order of things “going forward,” to
ness and unaccustomed to being denied. “I am
I talked to who feels “stuck” in a finance job she
borrow the business-speak. Economists are
sad, jaded, disillusioned, frustrated, and wor-
took as a stepping-stone to more-fulfilling work
warning that even when the economy recu-
ried,” said one girl I talked to who feels “stuck”
she now cannot find. Ours isn’t a generation
perates, full employment will be lower and
in a finance job she took as a stepping-stone to
that will give you just one adjective to describe
growth will be slower—a sad little rhyme that
more-fulfilling work she now cannot find. Ours
our hurt. It might be hard, in fact, to create a
adds up to something decidedly unpoetic. A
isn’t a generation that will give you just one ad-
generation more metaphysically ill-equipped to
majority of Americans say, for the first time
jective to describe our hurt. But shouldn’t be a
adjust to this new tough-shit world. Yet some of
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