It is time for the economy to work for the people, not the elites; it is time for economic democracy.
As the school year ends, college students are coming home to a paucity of summer jobs and young adults are graduating into an economy with 27% underemployment and unemployment for them. This generation has inherited a failed economy. Not only do they graduate to lousy job prospects, but they also graduate with record high debts.
There are solutions to the economic crisis they face – and it is a crisis. In fact, a coalition of students and the Roosevelt Institute developed a “New Deal” for youth to address the student debt crisis. We support free college or trade school education for high school grads, but, as Stiglitz says, we should at least be giving students very low cost loans.
The slightly older Generation X is not doing well either. Members of GenX suffered losses amounting to 45% of median net worth between 2007 and 2010. As a result, they are facing a genuine chance of downward mobility and may never be able to retire.
The older generations may have dodged a bullet, thanks to the fraud of austerity being exposed. Once again Obama’s constant attempts at a “Grand Bargain” that would cut Social Security and Medicare seem unlikely – for now. But, people need to remain vigilant because these cuts are really about privatization of both programs and a massive wealth transfer to Wall Street – an agenda of both parties, albeit using different rhetoric….
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/29/radical-remaking-of-the-economy-is-taking-root/
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