More Teens Than Ever Say Being Financially Well-Off is Important
Amanda
February 28, 2007 at
4:01PM EST
A new survey from UCLA shows teens have become obsessed with money.
Nearly 75 percent of college freshmen now say it's important to be
"very well-off financially." That's up from around 40 percent in the
1960's.
Mike Males says:
March 3, 2007 @ 12:08AM EST
What awful attitudes this story reveals among the authors and psychologists quoted. Do they realize 10% of teens today live in utter destitution, another 10% in poverty, and 20% more in households with incomes below half the national average--40% in all that are low income? Let's compare that to the comfortable middle-aged psychologisgts and professionals sneering at the "materialism" of teens--poverty levels half that of youths, average incomes 250% higher. Middle-agers have average household incomes of $70,000--up 40% since 1970, while young people's incomes have stagnated. Do these pampered professionals ever drive their Lexuses out of their comfortable suburbs to see kids who don't have Ipods? Do they realize that the average undergrad student today carries $19,000 in debt, versus nearly nothing in 1970--and that today's young have to have money just to get out of the monstrous debts their selfish elders are shoveling on them? Do these commenters realize that--in spite of skyrocketing poverty over the last 30 years--today's teens tell Monitoring the Future (2004) by a 62% margin that it's "extremely" or "very important" to them to "make a contribution to society," versus just 53% back in those supposedly save-the-world 1970s--and today's teens back it up with the highest volunteering rates ever recorded? The condescension and ignorance in this article are appalling. Tell you what, you altruistic, un-materialistic, frugal psychologists and commentators--let's see you volunteer to live on $27,000 per year--the median annual incomes of families headed by persons ages 18-24.
