the skippy's had lunch today w/mrs. skippy's 26 year old niece, and she had some pretty interesting things to say in general about the way the country is going.
now, she comes from a family that actually voted for awol the first time, but has slowly come to realize how duped they were that year.
however, the niece (we'll call her "neice") is in show biz, and so carries some pretty liberal viewpoints with her thru her life.
totally unsolicited, neice told the skippy's that she was talking to her father (skippy's brother-in-law), and her father laughed when she told him about a new phenomenon her generation is coming upon: the quarter-century crisis.
we explain it after the jump:
skippy had to suppress a smile himself. coming up on his 54th birthday, skippy couldn't think of any crisis that someone in their 20's could possibly have, and, he felt, he would gladly kill someone if he could only go back to those care-free years of his life.
but neice went to explain why so many of her peers are experiencing a crisis. "look at me, i'm 26 years old and i've got a minimum wage job. i can't afford a house, i can barely afford to pay rent. all of my friends, like me, are college graduates with low-paying jobs, unable to save money."
the skippy's agreed. mrs. skippy opined that when she got out of college she got a job that paid $250 a week, and everyone thought she had it made (propriety prevents us from saying what year it was, but rest assured, it was the last time we had both a democratic president and an international quagmire, if that narrows it down for you).
mrs. skippy went on to reveal that she had an apartment for $275 a month, and her friends thought it was extravagant, because they were all paying around $165.
neice was put out. "i have to work two weeks to pay my rent. then another week to pay my student loan. there's no way i can save any money."
she went on to tell the skippy's that everyone in her peer group felt much the same way, paddling hard just to stay afloat, unable to get ahead.
"so many of my friends have to ask their parents for money. some of them even have to go back and live with their parents. do you know how embarrassing that is? we're supposed to be adults, standing on our own feet, and the economy makes it impossible."
skippy, himself striving to deny his own mortality in childish ways, pointed out that neice's dad probably laughed at the idea of a "quarter-life crisis," because the traditional composition of a "mid-life crisis" was emotional, not economical. but he granted the points neice was making.
"the upper 10% got all the tax cuts," skippy told the ladies. "a recent congressional budget office study found out that the middle class actually had tax rates increase."
"we're so mad at the government," neice said of her peer group. "we feel helpless, like nobody will listen."
skippy, always ready to take the opportunity to blogwhore, reminded neice of his blog, and the left-leaning blogs in general. "5 years ago those blog writers felt helpless, and unlistened-to. but after constant work and persistence, people are actually taking notice. ted kennedy, dick durbin, and john edwards wrote diaries on dkos. the media takes notice of what we say. they may not listen, but they take notice."
with any luck at all, skippy was able to get neice interested in online activism. time will tell.
we ourselves admit that it must be horrible to be a young adult today. real estate prices are out of this world, and wages are stagnant. and there seems to be no end in sight.
on the plus side, neice announced she is moving in with her boyfriend, whom she loves dearly. so maybe things aren't so bad for gen. x after all.