Here are some facts that I dug up tonight. Let's start with the recent college graduates.
Their current unemployment rate is 10.4% Unemployment Demographics This isn't a complete picture because this doesn't break out the job into part time jobs, temporary jobs, or jobs in or leading to their chosen career field. We may think a job is a job, but people on average will earn more when they are in the career field they are educated in, and that is important to pay off our debts.
We also know that for those who are not in their career field, it will take longer than normal to get in there, and we have a severe unemployment problem in older workers as well, which is only beginning to show signs of recovery, but not yet even to keep up with population growth. Percent Job Losses in Post WWII Recessions We also know that there is a big spike in young people returning home to their parent's house, which certainly doesn't look like a sign of financial well being. Under 35: Living with Parents vs. Home ownership rate Also, college graduates have a total student loan debt of 850 billion dollars, which is higher than the total credit card debt in the US or our first bailout/stimulus package under Bush. Student loan debt exceeds credit card debt in USA
And now for soon to be retirees. States have unfunded pension guarantees of about a trillion dollars which will have to be made up for by the taxpayer. Unfunded Pension Liability: Trillion Dollar Gap
There is a funding gap in Medicare and Social Security:
The NPV of Social Security's unfunded liability over the next 75 years is $ 5. 3 trillion, or approximately $ 45,000 per household
Due to the automatic funding of the other Medicare programs, the HI program is the only one with an unfunded liability. The NPV of the unfunded liability of HI over the next 75 years is $ 13. 4 trillion, or approximately $ 114,000 per household
UNFUNDED LIABILITIES OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE
The average balance of a 401k, $80,000 will not sustain a retiree for the rest of their lives. Average Retirement Savings
Many boomers considered their homes to be part of their nest egg for retirement. However, 22% of all mortgages are underwater Decline in underwater mortgages credited to surge in foreclosures and the Case-Schiller index shows housing prices nationally has dipped 29.72% since the peak Case-Shiller: Slump in home prices is beginning
And I haven't yet brought up the $14 Trillion debt we currently have and are adding to daily, but someday we'll pay for that too.
So we have a young generation that is going to lose out on several years of income growth due to the economic climate, and boomers who have already had their savings hurt by the downturn, with a bunch of unfunded obligations thrown in. I know these links and numbers are apples and oranges, but I don't see any way millennials and young Gen Xers can pay for all of this. That leaves either not paying for it, or paying for it through money printing and debasing the currency.
Bring me into this and tell me where my years of running Gunnery Ranges plays.