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TheEuropeanDream 3 - 22 Jan 2013 - Main.IanSullivan
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| | | This weekend I found two articles that are relevant to our on and off-line discussions about employment security and fear, and perhaps tangentially related to our discussions about creative and unconventional careers. The first article is here and discusses the plight of the working poor in Europe, focusing specifically on the plight of workers, both young and old, who are living in campgrounds in and around Paris. The thesis of the article is that because of the current economic crisis, more and more people are falling through the safety net in Europe, even in wealthy European countries like France and Germany (not to mention the even-worse situation in Greece and and Spain). Economists predict that the situation is going to get worse as more countries implement "austerity budgets." For me, the most poignant part of the article was the final quotation, from a construction worker, who is one of a group of people living in the forest of a chateau outside Paris. The construction worker says that people abroad have a high opinion of France, but "it’s not like Anglo-Saxon countries....There, you arrive, you know how to do something — you can climb. That’s the American dream. Never anywhere in the world do you hear anyone talking about the French dream....There is no such dream in France.”
That quotation is even sadder, for me, when it is juxtaposed with http://www.esquire.com/print-this/young-people-in-the-recession-0412?page=all (somewhat long) article from this month's Esquire. The thesis of this article is that the American economy is currently set up to protect the security of the old and the cost of opportunities for the young. The article trots out some disheartening statistics: In 1984, the average net worth of people 65 and over was just over $120K, while the average net worth of people age 35 and younger was under $12K. In 2009, the average the average net worth of people 65 and over was just over $170K, while the average net worth of people age 35 and younger was under $4K. Even more jarringly, " The federal government spends $480 billion on Medicare and $68 billion on education. Prescription drugs: $62 billion. Head Start: $8 billion." The article also discusses attempt by Republicans to enact voter ID laws (an excellent example of Donald Black's theory that with increasing stratification comes an increasing amount of laws), which would disproportionately disenfranchise younger voters, and the high costs and uncertain benefits of attending college and graduate school. The article paints a very bleak picture of what is to come for our generation. |
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