The It-Sucks-To-Be-Me Generation
Twentysomethings who can't stop whining about how the economy is screwing them.
By Daniel Gross
Posted Monday, Jan. 9, 2006, at 5:12 PM ET


Oh, it's so hard to be young these days! Just crack open Generation Debt: Why Now Is a Terrible Time To Be Young, by Anya Kamenetz, or Strapped: Why America's 20-and-30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead, by Tamara Draut, and you're plunged into a world of darkness and sorrow.

This is, with apologies to the Broadway musical Avenue Q, the "It Sucks To Be Me" Generation. To hear these authors tell it, college graduates (and twentysomethings who haven't gone to college) are in a world of hurt. The deck is stacked against them: student loans and credit-card debt, budget deficits and McJobs, high housing prices and generational warfare waged by more-numerous baby-boomers.

The economic jeremiad written by a twentysomething is a cyclical phenomenon. People who graduate into a recessionary/post-bubble economy inevitably find the going tough, which compounds the usual postgraduate angst. And with their limited life experience and high expectations, they tend to extrapolate a lifetime from a couple of years. I know. Back in the early 1990s, when my cohort and I were making our way into the workforce in a recessionary, post-bubble environment, I wrote an article on precisely the same topic for Swing, the lamentable, deservedly short-lived David Lauren twentysomething magazine. If memory serves, the headline was something like "Generation Debt."

Of course, as I penned those words on my tiny, crappy Mac and rode my bike through Midtown to deliver the piece (that's how things were done before the Internet), the economy was beginning to heat up. What followed were seven fat years in which exciting new industries were created, the stock market rose, and interest rates fell. As the 1990s wore on, most of my pals who had lamented their student loans, crappy jobs, and gross apartments found great jobs, loving spouses, and better housing.

And so, here we are again. Now, today's twentysomething authors are clearly onto something. College is more expensive today in real terms. There's been a shift in student aid—more loans and fewer grants. The Baby Boomers, closer to retirement, are sucking up more dollars in benefits. There's more income volatility and job insecurity than there used to be. So, why are these books—Generation Debt in particular—annoying?

It's not that the authors misdiagnose ills that affect our society. It's just that they lack the perspective to add any great insight. Writing in the New York Times this weekend, economics reporter David Leonhardt called Strapped, "a grim tale of one-sided generational warfare." Draut argues that "with the possible exception of having a larger array of entertainment and other goods to purchase, members of Generation X appear to be worse off by every measure" than prior generations. Huh? How about the Internet and Starbucks coffee and Lipitor and not having to worry so much about AIDS or crime or Mutual Assured Destruction or getting drafted into the Army and getting sent to Vietnam?

Also, many of the economic issues the authors identify—job insecurity, low savings rate, income volatility, the massive ongoing benefits cram-down—affect everybody, not just twentysomethings. And the people hurt most by these escalating trends aren't young people starting out. They're folks in their 50s and 60s, middle-managers at Delphi whose careers have ended, coal miners in West Virginia who face death on the job, the people at IBM who just saw their pensions frozen.

Today's twentysomethings, by contrast, have their whole lives in front of them. Want a cheaper house? Quit Manhattan and move to Hartford, Conn. Want to make more money? Pick a different field.

In Kamenetz's book, there are plenty of poor, self-pitying upper-middle-class types, disappointed that they can't have exactly what they want when they want it. Sure, it's tough to live well as a violinist or a grad student in New York today; but the same thing held 20 years ago, and 40 years ago. To improve their lot, twentysomethings have to do the same things their parents should be doing: saving more, spending less, building skills that are marketable, and aligning aspirations with abilities. It's tough to have a bourgeois life at 26.

Kamenetz also makes cavalier statements about economics and career development. "The job market sucks," she proclaims. It may not be as good as it was in the 1990s, but suck is a pretty strong term. She complains that a $700 personal computer, a necessity for any young person, is expensive. Huh? Computing is incredibly cheap. The first PC I bought, that crappy, tiny Mac, cost $2,000 in 1990 dollars.

Kamenetz complains that: "No employer has yet offered me a full-time job with a 401(k), a paid vacation, or any other benefits beyond the next assignment. I have a savings account but no retirement fund. I can't afford preschool fees or a mortgage anywhere near the city where I live and work." Of course, Kamenetz doesn't have kids to send to preschool. And chances are, by the time she does, she'll be able to afford preschool fees. Most people in their 20s don't realize that their incomes will rise over time (none of the people I know who have six-figure incomes today had them when they were 25), that they will marry or form a partnership with somebody else, thus increasing their income, and that they may get over having to live in the hippest possible neighborhood.

Look. It's tough coming out of Ivy League schools to New York and making your way in the world. The notion that you can be—and have to be—the author of your own destiny is both terrifying and exhilarating. And for those without marketable skills, who lack social and intellectual capital, the odds are indeed stacked against them. But someone like Kamenetz, who graduated from Yale in 2002, doesn't have much to kvetch about. In the press materials accompanying the book, she notes that just after she finished the first draft, her boyfriend "proposed to me on a tiny, idyllic island off the coast of Sweden." She continues: "As I write this, boxes of china and flatware, engagement gifts, sit in our living room waiting to go into storage because they just won't fit in our insanely narrow galley kitchen. We spent a whole afternoon exchanging the inevitable silver candlesticks and crystal vases, heavy artifacts of an iconic married life that still seems to have nothing to do with ours." The inevitable silver candlesticks? Too much flatware to fit in the kitchen? We should all have such problems.

And does her fiance have one of those crap temporary jobs all the drones in her generation are destined to hold forever? Not really. He's a software engineer at Google.

-----------------------------------

Huh. Wonder if this is a result of the leftist leanings of modern college educations. Entitlement mentality.

Impending collapse of social security system, as the boomers head into retirement, maybe?

I don't know any people like this, really. Well, one, but she's just been spoiled by her parents for her whole life. Actually, I know another great example of that kind of 'tude, but it's from a 40 year old who owns his own business.

Then again....studies would indicate that the lifespan of people in their twenties or early thirties consists of a pretty steady disparagement between who has the money and who doesn't, so a lot of them might come from memories of comfort and live in the tiny little boxes that most people dwell in while getting their start.

But, like I said, I don't see a lot of griping. More cluelessness and a lack of awareness. Most people my age are too busy watching TV to notice anything.

I blame the emos!

KATE MONSTER
Morning, Brian!

BRIAN
Hi, Kate Monster.

KATE MONSTER
How's life?

BRIAN
Disappointing!

KATE MONSTER
What's the matter?

BRIAN
The caterine company
laid me off.

KATE MONSTER
Oh, I'm sorry!

BRIAN
Me too! I mean, look at me!
I'm ten years out of college, and I
always thought -

KATE MONSTER
What?

BRIAN
No, it sounds stupid.

KATE MONSTER
Aww, come on!

BRIAN
When I was little
I thought I would be...

KATE MONSTER
What?

BRIAN
A big comedian
on late night TV
But now I'm thirty-two
And as you can see
I'm not

KATE MONSTER
Nope!

BRIAN
Oh Well,
It sucks to be me.

KATE MONSTER
Nooo.

BRIAN
It sucks to be me.

KATE MONSTER
No!

BRIAN
It sucks to be broke
and unemployed
and turning thirty-three.
It sucks to be me.

KATE MONSTER
Oh, you think your life sucks?

BRIAN
I think so.

KATE MONSTER
Your problems aren't so bad!
I'm kinda pretty
And pretty damn smart.

BRIAN
You are.

KATE MONSTER
Thanks!
I like romantic things
Like music and art.
And as you know
I have a gigantic heart
So why don't I have
A boyfriend?
Fuck!
It sucks to be me!

BRIAN
Me too.

KATE MONSTER
It sucks to be me.

BRIAN
It sucks to be me.
It sucks to be Brian...

KATE MONSTER
And Kate...

BRIAN
To not have a job!

KATE MONSTER
To not have a date!

BOTH
It sucks to be me.

BRIAN
Hey, ROd, Nicky, can you
settle something for us?
Do you have a second?

ROD
Ah, certainly.

KATE MONSTER
Whose life sucks more?
Brian's or mine?

NICKY AND ROD
Ours!

ROD
We live together.

NICKY
We're as close
As people can get.

ROD
We've been the best
of buddies...

NICKY
Ever since the
Day we met.

ROD
So he knows lots
Of ways to make me
Really upset.
Oh, every day is
An aggravation.

NICKY
Come on, that's
an exaggeration!

ROD
You leave your
clothes out.
You put your feet
On my chair.

NICKY
Oh yeah?
You do such anal
Things like ironing
Your underwear.

ROD
You make that very
Small apartment
We share a hell.

NICKY
So do you,
That's why I'm in hell too!

ROD
It sucks to be me!

NICKY
No, it sucks to be me!

KATE MONSTER
It sucks to be me!

BRIAN
It sucks to be me!

ALL
Is there anybody here
It doesn't suck to be?
It sucks to be me!

CHRISTMAS EVE
Why you all so happy?

NICKY
Becuase our lives suck!

CHRISTMAS EVE
Your lives suck?
I hearing you correctly? Ha!
I coming to this country
For opportunities.
Tried to work in
Korean deli
But I am Japanese.
But with hard work
I earn two Master's Degrees
In social work!
And now I a therapist!
But I have no clients
And I have an
Unemployed fiance'!
And we have lots
Of bills to pay!
It suck to be me!
It suck to be me!
I say it
Sucka-Sucka-Sucka-Sucka-
Sucka-Sucka-Sucka-Sucka-
Sucka-Sucka-Sucka-Sucka-
Suck!
It suck to be me!

PRINCETON
Excuse me?

BRIAN
Hey there.

PRINCETON
Sorry to bother you, but I'm
looking for a place to live.

CHRISTMAS EVE
Why you looking all
the way out here?

PRINCETON
Well, I started at Avenue A,
but so far everything is out
of my price range. But this
neighborhood looks a lot cheaper!
Oh, and look - a "For Rent" sign!

BRIAN
You need to talk to
the superintendent.
Let me get him.

PRINCETON
Great, thanks!

BRIAN
Yo, Gary!

GARY COLEMAN
I'm comin'! I'm comin'!

PRINCETON
Oh my God!
It's Gary Coleman!

GARY COLEMAN
Yes I am!
I'm Gary Coleman
From TV's
Diff'rent Strokes
I made a lotta money
That got stolen
By my folks!
Now I'm broke and
I'm the butt
Of everyone's jokes,
But I'm here -
The Superintendent!
On Avenue Q -

ALL
It sucks to be you.

KATE MONSTER
You win!

ALL
It sucks to be you.

BRIAN
I feel better now!

GARY COLEMAN
Try having people
stopping you to ask you
"What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?"
It gets old.

ALL
It sucks to be you
On Avenue Q
(Sucks to be me)
On Avenue Q
(Sucks to be you)
On Avenue Q
(Sucks to be us)
But not when
We're together.
We're together
Here on Avenue Q!
We live on Avenue Q!
Our friends do too!
'Til our dreams
Come true,
We live on Avenue Q!

PRINCETON
This is real life!

ALL
We live on Avenue Q!

NICKY
You're gonna love it!

ALL
We live on Avenue Q!

GARY COLEMAN
Here's your keys!

ALL
Welcome to Avenue Q!

I've never gotten an "entitlement mentality" from any of my professors. Unless I'm hopelessly brainwashed and can't detect it.

every generation gets this treatment from the older gen's. there is always something "wrong" with the up and coming generation, and the people who do the most finger pointing are usually the cause of the generation-wide "problem".

when i was a 20-something, i was a "slacker" and "apathetic" and "lazy" and "poorly educated"... but i wish someone had told me i was suppposed to be slacking, because those 3 jobs were fucking killing me.

i always igore articles like this as circular history. the older gen always dislikes and abuses the younger gen...usually the gen they raised...usually the gen they fucked up by their inept raising.

but i could babble on forever about generational crap...

Well, a lot of kids (and I do some college interviews for my employer) seem to think that it's still 1997 and we need them more than they need us. Almost like the we (a company everyone knows and almost everyone here hates) are somehow lucky to be in their prescence. Maybe it's just the comp-sci/engineering kids.

I do think most kids coming out school believe that a college degree >= middle class job. They think their employer should provide healthcare and 401k matching.

Kids of the current generation may have it worse. Their parents are either rich from the internet bubble or the housing bubble, and we all know how the boomers love their Visas and Mastercards. Now the boomers will shift the burden of their retirement onto their children because they failed to prepare.

And WTF was I suppose to be responding to here?

I'd say the entire article and probably most of the generation can be summed up here:

Being completely ignorant about whats going on/ what has happened in the world is all the rage these days. One of my friends wasn't aware that Ariel Sharon was in a coma. I thought that one just couldn't avoid major headlines like this in todays media saturated world, but I guess a lot of young people are doing their darndest.

It's pretty damn sad

you know, I guess in retrospect, when I was in my twenties, and definitely in my early twenties, I didn't give a shit about anything outside of my immediate sphere of influence either. So I guess that's not SO horrible. I think the whole 'lack of perspective' thing is what a lot of 20-somethings out there don't seem to be willing to admit about themselves.
It's OK to not have much perspective on life at 23 (for example), my God, it's expected, really. What isn't expected is that the rest of the country sits up and take notice of that lack of perspective, and the accompanying arrogance that almost always goes with it, and then feel sorry for them about it.
No one gave a shit if I was whining about my bad life at 23 or whatever, no one should really give a shit about anyone doing the same thing now.

That's all I got. Later!

I didn't read that big ass article, but I had a thought recently that relates to this comment. I was trying to read "Bait and Switch" by Barbara Ehrenreich. I really enjoyed "Nicked and Dimed," but I couldn't get through the fourth chapter of this book.

It's about how hard it is for these middle class, college educated people who did "all they were supposed to do" (waiting to have kids, worked hard, went to college, studied, etc), but they can't find work in corporate America.

The whole time I'm reading it I'm thinking. Who the fuck cares? Who cares if you went to college? That doesn't mean you're employable. Maybe you're annoying, dumb, or just an ass? Going to college doesn't guarantee you won't be flipping burgers for a living. Grow a personality, b/c I can already tell that you're whiny, and no one likes whiny.

True, unfortunately. College is the new high school.

I was one of maybe 20 kids in my 200+ student history class who said they felt comfortable outlining the basic views of the two major political parties. That, to me, is very sad.

With all the baby boomers about to retire....it's about to be a hayday for twenty somethings. There will be some extremely young people filling some very old shoes; the youngest CEO's in American history are about to come forth. If you've ever wanted to be an over achiever, I'd say now would be the time to do it.

Woe is me my fucking ass.

I keep thinking this too, but so many of teh boomers were too busy buying $500 faucets to to impress their neighbors that forgot to save any money. I don't think there is gonna as big a wave of retirements as people think.