President Barack Obama
\n1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
\nWashington, DC 20500<\/p>\n
September 6, 2011<\/p>\n
President Obama,<\/p>\n
At the time of this writing it\u2019s the day after Labor Day. \u00a0You\u2019ve just given a speech in Detroit in which you proposed giving a million construction workers jobs to build bridges, repair highways and perform other much-needed maintenance and upgrades to the nation\u2019s transportation infrastructure. \u00a0This Thursday you\u2019re scheduled to give a speech to a joint session of Congress, or at least the members with respect for your office, where you\u2019re likely to also propose building and repairing schools and all manner of other extremely beneficial public works projects to put people to work.<\/p>\n
This is all great. \u00a0I support this. \u00a0Construction was flooded with people during the housing boom and now they\u2019re all out of work, which is a major chunk of unemployment and a huge hindrance to economic recovery. \u00a0If we can get some better schools out of the deal all the better. \u00a0You\u2019ve gotta spend money to make money, as they say, and just like a mom and pop store taking out a small business loan to expand we need to put money into the economy to grow it.<\/p>\n
That said, there\u2019s a huge segment of the population you\u2019re ignoring: Twenty-somethings who, due to economic factors, are unable to get a toe hold in a career-track job, unable to adequately support themselves and, ultimately, unable to truly graduate to adulthood. \u00a0This economy is in the process of creating a lost generation and, rather than stopping it, this nation has decided to collectively blame that very generation and make the problem worse.<\/p>\n
In addition to any other jobs plans, this must be addressed.<\/p>\n
The situation was created by a confluence of societal and economic factors. \u00a0We were brought up by the school system from the start to believe that anyone who doesn\u2019t go to college is a failure. \u00a0Math and English classes weren\u2019t designed to teach us math or English, but rather to prepare us for college. \u00a0So after high school a great many of my peers took out substantial student loans, something I know you\u2019re personally acquainted with, even if their goals and dreams didn\u2019t require college at all.<\/p>\n
Four years and tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars later those people were dumped head-first into a recession. \u00a0Finding no work on the outside they often went back for a graduate degree, either to delay the avalanche of student loan payments or because they hadn\u2019t been taught to do anything but prepare for more school.<\/p>\n
Grad school or no, eventually it comes to pay the proverbial piper and enter the real world. \u00a0Unfortunately there are few to no career-track jobs to move into. \u00a0401(k) plans have been so decimated that few people in the private sector can afford to retire unless they\u2019re old enough to have caught the tail end of pensions, which means they aren\u2019t vacating jobs for people to move up into, which means there are few ground-floor jobs available. \u00a0And when an entry level position does open up the unemployment rate means there\u2019s a more experienced person waiting to fill it for the same wage.<\/p>\n
With student loan payments to make, along with substantial credit card payments more often than not, these people are taking part-time work that used to be considered summer jobs for students. \u00a0And since all that money goes to repaying debt there\u2019s no money left for rent, which is inflated by the housing collapse to begin with, resulting in the trend of \u2018boomerang kids\u2019 moving back in for extended periods after college.<\/p>\n
These people, constrained by circumstance and doomed by timing, are considered slackers. \u00a0They\u2019re blamed for their fate as if there was another option if only they pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and worked harder. \u00a0Those same people who won\u2019t retire, who hire a 35-year-old layoff victim over a 24-year-old Starbucks barista trying to use her degree, think that their experiences 20, 30, 40 years ago still hold true.<\/p>\n
The situation takes enough of an emotional toll. \u00a0We don\u2019t need reminders and blame too.<\/p>\n
We know that when our parents were our age they owned a house and were starting their families. \u00a0We know that our grandparents were working for the company from which they would eventually retire. \u00a0We know that we\u2019re stuck in a collective extended adolescence. \u00a0We want to feel financially secure enough to start families. \u00a0We want to have enough extra money to save up for a down payment on a home.<\/p>\n
We want to grow up. \u00a0But we can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
And for the leading edge, a group of people pushing 30, it may be too late. \u00a0When the economy turns around and entry-level jobs open up they may get muscled out by cheaper, younger applicants, fresh out of college with internship experience fresh in their minds.<\/p>\n
You can stop this. \u00a0You can incentivize retirement for those financially able to do so, clearing out a wide variety of skilled positions. \u00a0You can forgive student loan payments for the unemployed rather than defer them. \u00a0You can subsidize down payments on homes for young people to help us build equity. \u00a0There\u2019s any number of things that could give us a leg up into the economy.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m one of the lucky ones. \u00a0My parents put enough aside enough to cover a degree in economics and were kind enough to let me live with them for quite a few years after that when I couldn\u2019t afford rent. \u00a0The part-time job I took after a year of unemployment turned into my dream job as a journalist. \u00a0I\u2019m incredibly, unbelievably fortunate.<\/p>\n
That said, I\u2019ve essentially given up hope of ever owning a home and even if I was in a relationship I couldn\u2019t even begin to think of starting a family. \u00a0But I have no room to complain. \u00a0I see people struggling, desperate for any work they can get. \u00a0I see former college classmates who haven\u2019t had a full-time job in the six years since graduation despite a desperate search. \u00a0I see people, my peers, my friends, who have simply given up on ever having any sort of life, of ever breaking free of this.<\/p>\n
Construction workers are important. \u00a0Employment figures and job creation numbers are important. \u00a0But these people, this generation desperately close to being lost, are also important. \u00a0This is the future. \u00a0This is your enduring legacy. \u00a0This where you decide whether my generation will be tomorrow\u2019s leaders or tomorrow\u2019s burden.<\/p>\n
Please, don\u2019t let us down.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Daniel J. Willis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Barack Obama 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, DC 20500 September 6, 2011 President Obama, At the time of this writing it\u2019s the day after Labor Day. \u00a0You\u2019ve just given a speech in Detroit in which you proposed giving a million … Continue reading