Are Generation Y/Millenials whining slackers?

I hear this a lot.  Mostly from people who are either Gen X (like me) or Boomers.  It goes  something like this:  Kids these days, they are so spoiled.  The can't get their careers going because they won't take a menial job and work their way up (like "we" did).  They are spoiled and expect everything to be handed to them.  It's why they live in their parents' basement. Brats!

To tell you the truth, this annoys the hell out of me.  I actually think the last generation that seriously did a good job making the world a better place for their children was the WWII generation.  And frankly, their children, the Boomers, have been the worst (not that my generation is squeaky clean). A what do I mean?  It mean that the WWII generation made sacrifices so that their children would do better than they did.   Like, (Holy Christ!), paying higher taxes for better schools and universities (those WWII guys were practically commies by today's standards), passing the clean air act, etc.

I may not have my stats correct, because I am going from memory, but in the 1970's, a student at the University of Minnesota paid for about 25% the cost out of pocket.  The tax payers picked up the rest.  Today?  Students pay for 2/3 to 3/4 the cost - and it's a much larger cost.  After all, is it fair to expect Baby Boomers to chip in and help kids today the way WWIIer's helped the Boomers?   And for the huge amount of debt today's 20-somethings graduate with, what do they get?  Lousy career and job prospects.  Can you pay your students loans office sweeping floors, pouring coffee or flipping burgers (would you like fries with that)? heck no! And there are simply not enough good career jobs compared to the number of graduates. Why is that?  Probably a lot of reasons, no one thing and no simple explanation will really do.  A short list would have to include demographics, the general cheapening of labor (including white collar), greater economic imbalance, globalization, etc. But the one thing I think is absolutely untrue is this:  It's the fault of the 20 somethings.

Moving beyond education, how have we viewed our legacy to the younger generations? Given a choice between lifestyle sacrifices versus  denial on global warming, we have chosen denial. Given a choice between painful spending and tax increases versus more spending and tax cuts, we have chosen the latter.   When choosing between funding public pension plans or underfunding and spending more today, we have chosen the latter. And pretty much every time we need to choose between the welfare of future generations and our personal welfare today, we choose the latter.

So, are 20-somethings cynical and unmotivated?  Perhaps. And I would argue likely with good cause.  But the next time you (and by this I mean us - Boomers and X'ers) want to blame someone for the prospects of 20 somethings, go get a mirror.  Or perhaps I should say that when you decide to blame Gen Y/Millenials,  I think their proper reply should be should be "Shut the fuck up assholes!"