Disinherited. Diana Furchtgott-Roth

      

      DISINHERITED

      How Washington

      Is Betraying America’s Young

      © 2015 by Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Jared Meyer

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Encounter Books, 900 Broadway, Suite 601, New York, New York, 10003.

      First American edition published in 2015 by Encounter Books, an activity of Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc., a nonprofit, tax exempt corporation.

      Encounter Books website address: www.encounterbooks.com

      FIRST AMERICAN EDITION

      LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

      Furchtgott-Roth, Diana.

      Disinherited : how Washington is betraying America’s young / Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Jared Meyer.

      pages cm

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN 978-1-59403-810-5 (ebook)

      1. Generation Y—United States. 2. Age discrimination—United States. 3. Intergenerational relations—United States. 4. United States—Economic conditions—21st century. I. Meyer, Jared. II. Title.

      HQ799.7.F87 2015

      305.2—dc23

      2014037248

      To my millennials—Leon, Deborah, Francesca, Jeremy,

       Chani, Godfrey, Theodore, and Richard

      —D.F.R.

      To my grandparents—Belva and Tom Kane,

       and August and Barbara Meyer

      —J.M.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction and Summary: The Overarching Problem

Part I: Stealing from the Young to Enrich the Old

CHAPTER 1 Unfunded Promises

CHAPTER 2 Paying for Parents’ Health Care

       Part II: Keeping Young People Uneducated

       CHAPTER 3 The Failure of Primary and Secondary Education

       CHAPTER 4 Drowning in College Debt

       Part III: Regulations That Cripple the Young

       CHAPTER 5 Licensing Requirements Keep Out the Young

       CHAPTER 6 Banned from the Job Market

       Part IV: Where To from Here?

       CHAPTER 7 Reclaiming the Disinherited Generation

       CHAPTER 8 Conclusion

       Acknowledgments

       Endnotes

       Index

      GLOSSARY

      AARP – American Association of Retired Persons

      ACA – Affordable Care Act

      ACT – American College Testing

      AFT – American Federation of Teachers

      BLS – Bureau of Labor Statistics

      CBO – Congressional Budget Office

      CEO – chief executive officer

      EMT – emergency medical technician

      ESA – education savings accounts

      GDP – gross domestic product

      GPA – grade point average

      HI – hospital insurance

      MOOC – massive open online course

      NCAA – National Collegiate Athletic Association

      NEA – National Education Association

      NOC – Neighborhood Outreach Connection

      OASDI – Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Program

      OECD – Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development

      PISA – Programme for International Student Assessment

      P.S. – public school

      ROC – Restaurant Opportunities Center United

      SMI – supplementary medical insurance

      STEM – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

      UFCW – United Food and Commercial Workers International Union

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY: THE OVERARCHING PROBLEM

      In a speech to high school graduates in Topeka, Kansas, in May 2014, First Lady Michelle Obama told the assembled students: “I am so proud of all that you’ve accomplished. . . . And I cannot wait to see everything you will achieve in the years ahead.”

      But these days many Americans born between the early 1980s and the beginning of the 21st century, often called “millennials” or “Generation Y,” have not seen success. For them, achieving success will be more difficult than it was for young people in the past.

      This is the first generation of young Americans that our government systematically disfavors and the first generation of Americans whose prospects are lower than those of their parents. They have been disinherited from their birthright.

      Many older Americans think that they are disadvantaged by today’s culture or by old age in general. Claire Sommers, in her eighties and living in Brooklyn, finds it hard, for instance, to use modern technology such as computers and smartphones. Her husband, Sonny, finds it increasingly difficult to complete daily tasks around the house.

      But in terms of government spending, Claire and Sonny are winners—unintended winners, because they never wanted to take advantage of their grandchildren, but winners nevertheless. Washington politicians increase the federal debt with unfunded promises to retirees, and, if Claire and Sonny’s grandchildren get jobs and pay taxes, they are the ones who will end up funding that debt.

      Over five years into the economic recovery, the unemployment rate for young people ages 20 to 24 is 11 percent overall and 20 percent for African Americans. The teenage unemployment rate is at 20 percent, and the African-American teen unemployment rate is at 33 percent.¹

      Job creation is proceeding slowly, but the largest share of gains is going to Americans ages 55 and older. Young adults have hardly benefited from declines in the unemployment rate. Many, discouraged, have given up on finding work and are leaving the labor force. The percentage of teens and young people employed or looking for work, known as the labor-force participation rate, is at the lowest level since the government began keeping records on this in 1948. In contrast, Americans 55