by: the Common Constitutionalist
We hear it all the time from young people and it’s been repeated with each generation: It’s much harder today than it was for their parents. Of course invariably this turns out to be crap. Every generation has its challenges, but this time it may actually be worse.
Many are suffering in the stagnant Obama economy and it seems to be getting worse – not better. Those who have come of age during Obama’s reign of economic terror seem to suffering mightily.
It’s been well documented that millennials exiting college have little prospects and mountains of debt. Not a happy combination. And those who have either chosen not to attend college or simply can’t are suffering further.
For many the deck is becoming increasingly stacked against them. Beyond just the country’s overall economic anemia, there is the now gaining in popularity, “Fight for 15” – the arbitrarily chosen new “civil right” – the demand for everyone to make a minimum of $15/hr.
The “Fight for 15,” seems to picking up steam in state after state, particularly the more liberal ones who tend to have many of the largest concentrations of young minorities. These young minorities are beginning to find out what $15/hr. really means – even less opportunity for employment. No employer in the right mind will hire a young person with little to no experience nor demonstrative worth if they have a chance to instead hire an out of work 30 something.
More than one in seven recent high school graduates, who are defined as those ages 17 to 20, are neither working nor enrolled in college. Their unemployment rate is nearly 18 percent. Personally I think it’s much higher.
San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles have all drastically increased their city minimum wage. “Within the past year, about 2,500 restaurant jobs were lost in the San Francisco metro area, along with 2,200 hotel jobs in the LA area. Between January and June, Seattle lost about 1,300 restaurant jobs.” And as the “Fight for 15” doesn’t appear to going away anytime soon, the situation will worsen.
Then there is the problem with occupational licensing – “rules, usually at the state or local level, that require workers to get a 
government-issued license to hold certain jobs.” These are again more prevalent in more liberal “nanny” states. As an example the New York Department of Labor lists 130 jobs that require one to pay to obtain and keep paying to maintain a license. “In many cases the rules seem designed less to protect consumers than to protect politically connected workers and businesses who want to deter potential competition.” Crony corporatism is alive and well in New York, effectively shutting out many who could otherwise do the job. Among the list is the lady who does your nails at the salon. She must be State certified. You need a license to be a horse groomer or racetrack exercise rider. Interior designers, landscapers, outdoor guides and security guards must all pay to acquire and continue paying to maintain a useless license. Nationwide, almost a quarter of all workers must maintain some sort of government-issued license or certificate.
Finally, there is the war against religion – the LGBT agenda running head on into millennials of faith.
It used to be that the saying went: It’s not what you know but who you know that will land you a job. To some extent that holds true today and human nature dictates it always will. One was able to start on the ground floor and work his or her way up. Then came the requirement of some sort of University degree. The perception was that a degree showed the employer what you know – or at least a perceived knowledge. And the more prestigious the University, the smarter and more qualified the candidate was/is thought to be.
But now it’s not just who and what a person knows but also their ideology. Depending on the field of endeavor, like the social sciences, embracing pop culture leftist ideology will certainly get one through the door – and rejecting it may have the opposite effect as one student found out.
Missouri State University dismissed a student from Masters of Science in Counseling program. By all accounts the young man was an excellent student, “however, when his uneasiness over counseling homosexual couples arose near the completion of his degree, the university exhibited zero tolerance for students honoring their religious convictions regarding such matters,” and tossed him out.
He is suing to be reinstated but for now he is basically left out in the cold. His dream of being a counselor is unrealized because he won’t compromise his firmly held beliefs and tow the schools leftist ideological line. As things become more insane, this too will become more prevalent.
Over the generations, many have had it tough, but short of the Great Depression, I must conclude that this current “younger” generation may top the list.