Young people, defined as those born after 1978, are unique in several ways from previous generations.
They are a subset of the population completely conversant with the Internet and other forms of technology, they are voting at rates higher than any generation since the 1970s and they are also being separated, with an increasingly wider divide, into the “haves” and “have-not’s” of society.
On March 6, Dutchess Community College welcomed journalist Anya Kamenetz for a lecture in the James and Betty Hall Theater titled “Stand Up: Why the Youth Will Rock the Vote in ’08.”
Kamenetz, a member of the so-called Generation Y, is a 27-year-old Yale University graduate, whose 2006 book, “Generation Debt” (Riverhead Trade) dealt with how student loans, credit card debt and the shifting job market is conspiring to make the fiscal future uncertain for many in the current generation.
The book grew out of a Pulitzer-Prize-nominated column that Kamenetz had done for the Village Voice. She currently is a staff writer for Fast Company magazine, as well as doing freelance work for numerous newspapers, blogs and Web sites.
Employing a fast-paced PowerPoint presentation, Kamenetz endeavored to illustrate not only the problems students will soon face after graduation, but to reinforce their power to collectively create change as members of the electorate. She cited polls showing that, among other things, the youth generation vote, which had been trending downwards for nearly 30 years, had reversed itself by 2004, with young voters accounting for nearly a quarter of the electorate.
“Young people are forming the margins of victory in elections. The majority of people think this country is going in the wrong direction, which is one reason for the increase in turnout and the reason people vote are issues,” she said.
Out of those myriad issues facing voters, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the environment, Kamenetz directed the audience’s attention to economic-related ones, including jobs, health care and the cost of education.
She noted that the job market is changing with employers cutting labor costs by hiring part-time or freelance workers and cutting back on benefits, such as pension plans and health insurance. Wages have also stagnated for the college-educated and reduced for those without a degree.
“The penalty for having no degree has increased If you have a degree, wages have not decreased dramatically, the have stayed flat. If you don’t get that bachelor’s degree, you are looking at a polyester vest,” said Kamenetz, who noted that the nation’s largest employer in the 1970s was General Motors, whose average wages were more than double what is being offered by Wal-Mart, the current top employer.
Kamenetz said that 42 percent of those under 30 were concerned about having no health insurance, a condition whose costs include high medical expenses, as well as absenteeism from work. But to first be able to compete in the job market, a college degree is essential and she noted that the cost of that degree has dramatically increased to an average of $54,000 per year. The way in which students pay for education is also changing, where student loans now constitute 40 percent of student aid.
“We need to have a better social contract than we have now. In the post-war era, the G.I. Bill sent 8 million people to college. For every dollar we spent on the G.I. Bill to enable people to get better jobs and earn more money, they paid more in taxes. For every dollar paid, six dollars were returned to the treasury,” said Kamenetz.
She advocated a dramatic increase in financial aid for students, who would in turn become teachers, nurses and other jobs that benefit society as a whole, as well as creating government-funded “green jobs,” to decrease the country’s reliance on foreign oil and bring back financially competitive jobs to the non-college educated demographic.
In summation, Kamenetz urged students to research which candidates for president were addressing these needs in their platforms and vote accordingly.
“You have the power, demographically to change this country,” she said.