It occurred to me on Friday night, after writing about Fareed Zakaria’s revelation of plagiarism, “Wait a minute…it probably wasn’t even his mistake.” Intellectual figures of Zakaria’s stature are likely surrounded by a great number of bright young things looking to work for somebody important. No problem with that. Some people likely know that major media figures have research staff. …
Bill Keller of the New York Times takes on Boomers and entitlements
I am not normally a great fan of the New York Times’ Bill Keller, but this Op-Ed on confronting Baby Boomers on the subject of their US government entitlements is really incisive – and a critique of the man’s own generation. The column proposed that baby boomers like me, who are flooding into the Social Security and Medicare rolls, should …
Are Millennials Getting Screwed by Boomers?
Well, of course. But Joel Kotkin, himself a Boomer, lays out an airtight case. Today’s youth, both here and abroad, have been screwed by their parents’ fiscal profligacy and economic mismanagement. Neil Howe, a leading generational theorist, cites the “greed, shortsightedness, and blind partisanship” of the boomers, of whom he is one, for having “brought the global economy to its …
Twenty percent of student loans are held by students over fifty
The Education Bubble caused by credentialism, generational conflict and a receding 20th century economy does not just affect the young. Sure, when we think of “student loans” we immediately think of the standard student coming straight from high school and going directly into the maw of the American university debt monster. But a new report from Barclays shows us that …
Let’s draft kids to work for the government – they work for cheap!
I am interested in readers’ take on this expansive Op-Ed in the New York Times about how we should reinstate a draft of young people, not only to fight American wars but also to clean schools, take care of national parks and do physical labor rebuilding infrastructure. Why? Because we don’t need to pay them benefits: The pool of cheap …