35歲世代 美兩大黨無力搶救

【中央社╱華盛頓14日專電】 2012.06.14 11:35 pm

高達1億美國民眾收入比父母同年齡時期來得少，年過30仍在無薪實習工作裡打轉，這正是當前美國「35歲世代」寫照。對此，民主、共和兩大黨都欠缺解決之道。

華府著名電台節目主持人米勒（Matt Miller）在「華盛頓郵報」專欄指出，美國年輕人收入遠低於父母輩，畢業後繼續與家人同住一個屋簷下，這現象早在金融海嘯和中國大陸、印度經濟崛起，導致大量工作外移前，便已普遍存在。

美國35歲世代欲振乏力和收入停滯與債務累積有關。1980年代，美國公立高等院校學費占中產家庭收入的12%，當中7成可透過聯邦助學貸款支助，現在公立學院支出達到26%，政府貸款只佔學費的1/3，對中產家庭和社會新鮮人都是沉重負荷。

米勒指出，共和黨根本不理會年輕人的哀號，民主黨政府也拿不出解決之道。

美國青年就業市場，在2008年金融海嘯和房地產泡沫破滅後便成為重災區，企業吝於投資，高層搜刮盈利，濫用無薪實習制度提供的廉價勞力，20多歲的年輕人長年在實習工作間打轉，缺乏穩定收入，也無法累積實際工作資歷。

米勒分析，面臨高齡社會挑戰，美國預算多投資在年長者醫療保險和退休金，及高昂的國防支出。聯邦預算每花7美元在長者身上，用在18歲以下年輕人的只有1美元。

更可怕的財政災難還在後頭。民主、共和兩黨面臨總統大選，罔顧世代正義而債留子孫，誰都不願得罪投票率遠高於年輕人的55歲以上選民，來主張削減社福支出。在戰後嬰兒潮世代陸續退休後，沒有穩定收入來源的人債務總額將達數兆美元。

還有更糟糕的，政府退休金經理人畫餅充飢，將基金投資報酬率年增長定在7.5%到8%，但事實上，3%到6%才合理。民主、共和黨兩黨樂於接受天上掉下來的禮物，未來不會兌現的「收入」將成為年輕世代的負債。

米勒寫道，他無意挑起世代戰爭，問題在於年輕人對政治無感，未來將接收坐吃山空，沒有能力投資未來。因此，35歲以下的年輕世代唯有醒來，展現團結力量向政治發聲，才會獲得公平待遇。

Young Americans get the shaft Matt Miller

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/young-americans-get-the-shaft/2012/06/13/gJQAeHp4ZV_story_1.html 

Hear me, Americans under 35!

There’s plenty that divides the parties in this pivotal election — from taxes to drones, from public workers to private equity. But there’s one uber-policy that brings Democrats and Republicans together that doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

That policy involves you, younger Americans. You’re in big trouble. You don’t even know it. You’re busy trying to get adegree, land a job, start a family, save for a home. You don’t follow the news. But trust me — you’ve been taken for a ride by your elders.

The question isn’t whether such talk will stir up generational war. That’s already being waged — and you’re losing. The question is whether you’ll wake up and engage in a little generational self-defense. Let me see if I can motivate you.

How are you being swindled today? Let me count just some of the ways:

As many as 100 million Americans live in households today that are earning less than their parents did at a similar age. And this is happening well before we feel the full impact of global economic integration with rising economies like India and China.

Now, I can’t entirely blame the two political parties for this downward mobility — globalization and rapid technological change are the big culprits. But no one’s saying a word or doing a thing about it.

In 1980, a year at a public college cost about 12 percent of median family income; the maximum Pell grant covered 70 percent of that. Today, public colleges cost a staggering 26 percent of family income each year, and Pell grants cover at most a third. Republicans ignore this entirely. Democrats say that without their modest Pell grant boosts, things would be even worse.

They’re right. But does anyone think those teeny steps — or the sideshow over interest rates on student loans — is a remotely serious attempt to solve the problem of soaring student debt?

The job market for young people is a disaster, the toll of a burst financial and housing bubble that both parties let fester. The crisis has reached the point where years of unpaid labor (in the form of internships) have become a way of life for millions of Americans in their 20s.

Our K-12 schools have slid from the best in the world to mediocre under both Republican and Democratic presidents and governors. That’s largely because for decades we’ve embraced a bipartisan policy of recruiting middling students to become teachers.

Our roads, bridges, sewers, airports and power grids desperately need upgrades. Our investments in research and development as a share of our economy trail that of our peers. Republicans don’t seem to care. Democrats care enough to propose token sums that would fund a fraction of the need.

There’s no cash for such investments in the future because pension and health-care programs for seniors (plus a bloated Pentagon) take up so much of the budget. At the federal level, seven dollars go to programs supporting elderly consumption for every dollar invested in people under 18. Nationally (after taking account of the fact that most education is paid for at the state and local level), the ratio is still 2 1 / 2 to one.

And that’s just today’s elderly tilt. We have trillions in unfunded liabilities in these programs coming due as more and more boomers retire.

Yet amazingly, both parties would exempt every current senior from participating in the inevitable adjustments in these programs. Paul Ryan and Barack Obama lock arms in agreeing that everyone over 55 must be spared such changes, even though most of these Americans are getting back far more than they paid into the system. And millions are well-off.

The Democratic president and the Republican budget chairman do this as a matter of bipartisan principle — the principle that avoiding undue risks to reelection is more important than any reasonable notion of generational fairness.

Want more? For years, states have let publicpension managers assume their investments would grow 7.5 or 8 percent a year, when 3 to 6 percent has been more realistic. This bipartisan ploy hides trillions more in pension shortfalls, funds that will have to be forked over one day by (you guessed it) younger Americans.

Add it up, and what’s it all mean? Younger Americans don’t realize they’re coming of age in an era in which both parties have pre-committed virtually all public resources to seniors. They’ll inherit a government without the cash or flexibility to address emerging non-elderly needs — choices that should be every generation’s birthright. Want to help a poor child or fix a bridge? Sorry, kids, the till is empty.

There are answers to these challenges that are fair to young and old alike. But we won’t hear them until younger people wake up to what’s happening.

In 1995, when I was a (younger) generational equity worrywart, I asked then-Sen. Alan Simpson how to fix what was clearly coming. Simpson told me nothing would change until someone like me could walk into his office and say, “I’m from the American Association of Young People. We have 30 million members, and we’re watching you, Simpson. You [mess with] us and we’ll take you out.”Simpson was right then. He’s still right now.

Matt Miller, a co-host of public radio’s “Left, Right & Center,” writes a weekly online column for The Post. His e-mail address is mattino2@gmail.com.

瞎摸象:  冰凍三尺，非一日之寒。

美國立國兩百多年，制度的瑕疵，漸漸浮現。

小老朽 智商過人 (50% Sharper than the general public)，摸象多年，見解獨到，可惜人微言輕。 

http://blog.udn.com/mbr8879576/4318884 
http://blog.udn.com/mbr8879576/3313734 
http://blog.udn.com/mbr8879576/3303744 

  

懇請不吝賜教？

ps. 既然 智商過人 ? Why 人微 ?