What Will the Recession Mean for My Kids?
February 21, 2009
My poor kids, they will be paying off our debts for their whole lives. Penelope Trunk recently had some interesting commentary on how different generations view the sad state of the economy:
The baby boomers got us into this mess. They borrowed against future generations. They mishandled SEC regulations. They ignored the environment. They set up a social security system that is going to break as soon as they’re done taking from it. And they took the best education this country had to offer, and then depleted the education system for the next generation.
Obama is the first Gen-X president. And, to the surprise of all the baby boomers who have been trash-talking Gen-X forever, it’s Gen-X that will bail this country out of the mess the baby boomers got us into.
In the meantime, Generation X is the first generation in the US ever that will earn less than their parents. And Generation Y has an incredible amount of debt due to baby boomers pushing up college costs and housing costs while real wages went down.
As the US government spends billions to try and revitalize our economy the debt that my kids will carry around just continues to grow. What will this financial meltdown mean to them? How will it effect their lives?
I was listening to some Johnny Cash last night as I worked on my taxes and his song “I’ve Been Everywhere Man” started me thinking about the impact the weak US dollar could have on my kids ability to see the world.
I’ve been fortunate, I’ve been able to travel quite a bit in my life. I can’t say I’ve “been everywhere” but I’ve met a lot of interesting people and learned a lot about other parts of the world and the people that live there. Here’s a list of countries that I’ve spent some time in:
- Mexico
- Canada
- England
- Ireland
- Scotland
- France
- Monaco
- Germany
- Spain
- Netherlands
- Belgium
- Russia
- Italy
- Austria
- Greece
- Switzerland
- Czech Republic
- Turkey
- Isreal
The way I view the world and my outlook on life has been greatly impacted by the experiences I had getting to know the cultures and people of those countries. How far will the weak US dollar and struggling economy reach into my kids lives? Will they be able to experience the world as I have? What other opportunities might they be denied due to our national debt?
All posts by Ben Edwards
As many nationally influential voices have repeatedly noted, Obama–born 1961–is part of Generation Jones, born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and Generation X. Google Generation Jones, and you’ll see it’s gotten a ton of media attention, and many top commentators from many top publications and networks (Washington Post, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) specifically use this term to describe Obama.
Excellent op-ed on Obama as the first Generation Jones President in USA TODAY a few weeks ago:
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20090127/column27_st.art.htm
The budget deficit is small compared to what we make.Your kids won’t have to pay it if off unless they elect people who decide to pay it off. It’ll be their choice after we’re gone. People foget the reason the last gen did better money wise was becasue they inherited sooner from their parents. Things look bleak. Worst case scenario. The us files for bankruptcy and china/middle east extremists take over and we all become slaves..OK feel better now. Relax its just a time to “start hauling nets and gutting fish” As a whole this is a very hardworking country we don’t quit. 2 years from now we’ll all be wonderng what the fuss was all about.