Washington has failed Millennials, but this is not the time for “generational warfare.” This is the time all ages to wake up an recognize the growing problems.
This was the message of a panel at the Manhattan Institute Thursday evening featuring Diana Furchtgott-Roth and Jared Meyer, the co-authors of Disinherited: How Washington is Betraying America’s Young, hosted by Casey J. Given, the director of communications at Students for Liberty.
Meyer explained that despite the problems that the older generation’s policies have caused for Millennials, it’s not warfare because they care about their own kids.
“What do old people not shut up about? Their grandkids!” he joked.
Furchtgott-Roth expanded on this point, saying the parents are upset because their children can’t get jobs and move out of their basements. And it’s Washington politicians who could make gradual changes in retirement age or age indexing that could help put the social security system in balance.
“We need to elect a president that will have the guts to stand up and do that,” she said.
Meyer and Furchtgott-Roth also explained how the government had ruined higher education.
The best way to understand current system is government is writing a “blank check” for colleges, Meyer said.
“We’re incentivizing everyone to go to college with the current student loan system and we need to reevaluate this,” he continued, explaining that if you keep throwing money at colleges, they’re going to keep increasing their costs.
“The government has no business being involved in student loans,” Furchtgott-Roth added.
She also stressed the need to stop stigmatizing higher education and making everyone feel like they must have a four-year degree.
“The problem is guidance counselors are not recommending those” other options, Furchtgott-Roth said.
Everyone agreed that higher education is going to massively change soon, but the two authors warned that it might be an uphill battle to see it done the conservative way.
“If anything that goes wrong, you know that they’re going to find any reason to regulate because it’s different and they want to conserve the current way,” Meyer said, pointing to Uber as an example.
“We need an American Association of Young People to offset the American Association of Retired People,” Furchtgott-Roth said, only half-kidding.
