Generation Debt

by Anna Kamenetz

Info on the book:

The nature of youth is to question. So when 24-year-old Anya Kamenetz started out as a freelance journalist, she began asking hard questions about her generation for which no one seemed to have good answers. Why were college students nationwide graduating with an average of nearly $20,000 in student loans? Why were her friends thousands of dollars in credit-card debt? Why did so many jobs for people under thirty-five involve a plastic name badge, last only short-term, and not include benefits? With record deficits and threats to Social Security, what kind of future was shaping up for our nation's kids?

One of the youngest-ever columnists for the Village Voice, Kamenetz rejects the blame and negative stigma which has branded her generation of twentysomethings. Contrary to popular stereotypes, the reason kids are moving back in with their parents, can't land career-path jobs, and take longer to graduate from college and settle down isn't just a widespread generational laziness or some other pervasive psychological flaw. The reason, Kamenetz argues, is overwhelmingly economic.

In Generation Debt, she talks to experts in economics, labor markets, the health-care industry, and education, and amasses a startling array of evidence that building a secure life, let alone surviving, is harder for young people today than it was 30 years ago. She meets young people from all over the country and all walks of life who are struggling to achieve their dreams despite layoffs, unsupportive parents, grinding low-wage jobs, and 25.99% APRs.

Generation Debt is a compelling day-to-day look at the life experiences behind a massive economic shift. It is also a deeply researched, rousing manifesto that will get you thinking in new ways about American values—and about America's future.

She has some things about the sort of jobs available to college graduates. Great! University professors should read the book and do some hard thinking about their complicity.

Economic reasons for the phenomena of kangeroo kids--yes, they do play a role, but I still think adultlescence is also a cause of debt--after all, it underlies the consumerism and exoribtant spending that leads to credit card debt, does it not? But does Miss Kamenetz address this?

Her official website; her blog.

Gothamist interview

Generation Debt: The New Economics of Being Young
Rich Little 'Poor' Kids
Trust funders find out there's more to life than everything
by Anya Kamenetz
July 22nd, 2005 5:51 PM

Wanted: Really Smart Suckers
Grad school provides exciting new road to poverty
by Anya Kamenetz
April 27th, 2004 10:10 AM
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Looks like your kind of gal, Sarge: