Fewer Young Adults motivated to become educated, productive

Kids these days! The phrase was usable in any past time period to indicate that they don't think like we do. But I don't disparage them, I believe they act differently from their older counterparts for rational reasons.

Take living at home longer than their parents: The economy is unfriendly to new workers. The pay gap between the many and the few has grown. More young people cannot make a living on the pay that's out there. And what few dollars they get do not go as far for rental or purchased property. Real estate is in a severe downturn and there are some bargains now but this only turns back the clock a few years.

Take mapping out a career: When I grew up, jobs in science and engineering were encouraged. NASA was a source of pride, and excitement. Now they help the Climategate cap and trade government by supressing research that shows that the greehouse gas theory does not hold true on other planets.

Now the media, including Hollywood almost universally paints technology as evil. The same anti-technology message in Avatar was in Star Wars three decades earlier. Swear off these trappings, the message goes, and live a more pastoral life.

The dynamics of the world economy makes it harder to choose a career, but easier to choose a job. A couple of decades ago, I was hearing that the manufacturing economy was being replaced by a service economy that would pay less. I wondered, how would that look in a couple of decades? Look around. Kids don't mind working toward something but when they can't see a clear goal, they turn their attention elsewhere. Hobbies, games, loopholes in public aid. These are rational choices but they are damaging the economy.

The old guys rule the world. You work hard, you expect to build something, reap rewards. Eventually, you have it made so that all the money goes to you. It would be the job of government to maintain some balance, for example keeping wage disparities to a more manageable level, eliminating the wide chasm between low pay and high paying jobs. But government cannot keep their hands off the money. We ask them to represent the people and all they can to is split the difference: give people something and take something for themselves. Only over time, this formula has been applied again and again. The government is the big winner after all these years and the people and the economy are the big losers.