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Interview:
Anya Kamenetz, Author of Generation Debt: Why Now Is A Terrible
Time To Be Young
Last
week I reviewed
Generation Debt by Anya Kamenetz, a 25-year-old-writer
for the Village Voice. In the book, Kamenetz describes the sorry
financial shape of today's young people and questions whether
her generation will be worse off than that of its parents.
After
reading and reviewing the book, I contacted Kamenetz for an
interview via e-mail. I lightly challenged Kamenetz on some
of the book's conclusions, giving her the opportunity to respond
to obvious criticisms some readers might have. As you'll see,
Kamenetz seemed to tire of my questions:
In your mind, what is the biggest problem unique to young
people in getting their financial lives in order?
The fact that they are getting into heavy debt (from both student
loans and credit cards) before they have started to earn any
money. By the time my interview subjects started paying attention
to the basics of finance, in their early 20s, they often had
5 figures of student loans (the national average is over $20,000)
and 4 figures of credit card debt.
Looking at college costs, doesn't something have to give?
How long can tuitions increase before college is again only
for the very rich, and enrollment actually declines as a result?
Enrollment is already under heavy negative pressure, particularly
for middle and lower income students, due to rising costs. In
2003, a Senate advisory committee estimated that 2 million college-qualified
high school grads will opt out of college for financial reasons
this decade. Also, even more students are "downgrading" from
a 4-year to 2-year college. Nevertheless, I predict that tuition
will continue to increase faster than inflation--like health
care, it is resistant to cost controls. The question is whether
we will implement policies to level the playing field.
You lay blame for the current situation of young people at
the feet of various groups - parents, government, the young
people themselves. But who in your mind is most to blame for
the potential of this generation to be worse off than their
parents?
I'm not that interested in pointing fingers. This is a complicated
situation and in the end it comes down to the turning wheel
of history. Developments like outsourcing, for example, are
really no one's fault; nor is the huge demographic shift caused
by the Boomers' retirement. Still, I believe that only national
leadership can point the way toward a better future.
Your book is sub-titled "Why Now Is A Terrible Time To Be
Young" and you talk about a lot of problems from the perspective
of young people. But aren't a lot of these problems bigger than
just young people? For example, uncertain jobs with dwindling
benefits are hurting everyone in an age of downsizing and forced
early retirement. Could the subtitle actually be "Why Now Is
A Terrible Time" and leave it at that?
No. The whole point of my book is to give the perspective of
young people like myself. Our specific goals and concerns have
been ignored and treated superficially for too long. I am advocating
that we band together as a constituency and to do that I need
to show how all these developments affect young people as a
group.
There are obviously political overtones to your book, you
call yourself a liberal or progressive a number of times. Do
you believe a change in political leadership would make a difference
in young people's lives? Judging by the voting patterns of young
people, many of them don't seem to think it makes a difference.
Did you know that in the 2004 election, the youth vote spiked
11 points, more than any other age group? And that voters under
25 were the only age group to vote for Kerry, by 10 points?
And that the Millennials, born roughly in the 1980s, actually
rival the Boomers in size?
A change in political leadership could represent a recommitment
to economic opportunity through education, an increased tax
burden on the obscenely wealthy .01% who have reaped the lion's
share of the gains from our last expansion, a sunshine reform
of credit laws, and a system of portable and flexible health
care and retirement benefits for workers and retirees alike.
I am 36, a bit more than 10 years older than you. I graduated
from a state college about 6 months before Bill Clinton became
president with the all-purpose communications major, in a lousy
economy, and worked crappy jobs for a few years before landing
my first "real" job. Today I'm married with two kids and a reasonably
good living. I don't consider myself particularly remarkable
in that way, yet I fit in on the (upper) end of the generation
you are talking about.
For people your age and below, isn't there a possibility that
you're stuck at the economy's low point and just haven't hit
your big earning years yet? Didn't you meet a good number of
people who didn't have large debt and had good jobs that were
doing OK? In other words, is there a possibility that the phenomenon
you're documenting is overblown?
The economic changes I describe are real and they go beyond
your or my anecdotal accounts of our lives.
In addition to advocating living within their means, you
advocate young people banding together to have a stronger voice,
whether politically or within institutions such as colleges
or the workplace. How realistic do you think this is?
You mention the strength of the AARP and say there is nothing
comparable within the younger generation. My initial thought
was that once you're not so young anymore, you'd care less about
the plight of the younger worker and leave it to the new batch
of young people, making ongoing organizing difficult -- once
you qualify for the AARP, on the other hand, you're not going
to be moving out of that group until you're dead, so there's
more stability there.
Throughout Europe, Canada, and Latin America, the student movements
and youth movements are strong and recognized parts of the political
landscape--capable of staging national strikes and presenting
legislative plans in parliament alike.
To have written the book you did at age 24 is extremely impressive,
whether readers agree with your conclusions or not. Describe
what it was like to become a published author - how hard was
the process and how does the finished product make you feel?
It was a job like any other--except that beginning six months
after you complete the project you must spend a year talking
about it to anyone who will listen.
You mention entrepreneurship only briefly in your book. Companies
are cutting their workforces and slashing benefits - do you
think it would be wise for young people to spend more time looking
at starting their own businesses versus looking for financial
stability in companies that have become notoriously unstable?
Are people just going to have to get used to being free agents,
being "on their own"?
Your opinion is clear from the question. My opinion is clear
from the book. I want to see some labor market reforms.
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