Youth + Economics = Don’t Know a Thing

A few weeks ago Wilkes hosted a viewing of an economic documentary called “IOU USA.” The film showed the economic struggle that our country is in. It turned out that it was a bit out dated when we saw it but the message was still clear. Another message that I got was that I don’t know all that much about the state of the economy.

I went to see this with three of my friends. Two of us were sitting there and contemplating what country we wanted to move to in order to get way from such bad situation that this country is in. That of course was just our fear talking because we have no idea what we are going to be in store for when we graduate. Right now I have about 15 months before I have to be in the real world and it is a lot more terrifying now because of the state of the economy and the unemployment rate that I will have to come and face. The odds that it is going to get better are slim. The other two people that I was with fell asleep during the movie. Maybe they had nightmares about what they saw. However I know these people and I know that isn’t the case. They found it to have no real interest to them. I found it very interesting and very scary.

The documentary isn’t the real focus of this the point is the fact that it made me open up my eyes and realize all the things that I don’t know. I can’t tell you anything about taxes and revenue. Everything that I saw that day made me wonder at what age do people start to not only understand but care about the economy. I hope the age isn’t 20 because that means that I am way behind my generation. But I don’t know if that’s realistic because I know people that range from 19-23 that don’t have the slightest clue about what’s going on. If you ask them about the state of the economy they won’t have an answer. To be fair they all do know that we are in bad shape and would go as far as to say that we are screwed if we continue down the path that we are heading. If you try to ask them how we got to this point they will blame Bush and that is as much as you will get from them. They have no other real knowledge of the situation that we are in or how we got there.

Maybe the key to knowing about the economy and other what I like to call “adult stuff,” is to officially be an adult. Just because my age says that I am, its hard to think of myself as one when I go home to my parents. Maybe its not at an age that you start to understand and care about the state of the country, it’s a stage in your life that makes you take notice. It could be after these next 15 months that I could potentially be on my own in this world that I will start to take notice to the things that are going on in it. Perhaps when the day comes that I move out of my parent’s house permanently it will be the day that I care about the situation that the economy is in because I will no longer have someone to depend on like I do with my parents.

Now I’m not trying to undersell my generation because there are people out there that do know about the economy and understand what is going on. Not because they feel the need to keep out on current issues but because they enjoy the fact that they have knowledge on things that there “superiors” know about. One day I hope to be one of those people it just doesn’t seem like I’m at the stage in my life that I want to have that type of fear keeping me up at night. The fear of where this economy is going to be in when I need it the most is something that can wait for a little bit longer even if that isn’t the logical thing to think.

Mary Turtschanow

22 March 2009

Wilkes University 10'