^^ I agree that the minimum wage jobs is where a big portion of the problems lie, in terms of paying off student loans. And if you look at the statistics, it's borne out because even college grads are having to cobble together part-time, minimum wage jobs. Middle aged people were affected by the recession mostly because they'd either spent the money from their good jobs stupidly and accrued massive amounts of debt, or because their retirement portfolios went down, or both. And they expect (and get!) sympathy, from the public, the media, and politicians. However, younger people (and older workers, 50+) have been severely affected by what type of job they can get. It's not about, "Cool, what type of job did you get?", it's, "You got a job? That's awesome!" When you have adults saying, "Go to school, no matter the cost, it's the only way to get a good job," then you get out and can barely find minimum wage jobs, having people tell you you were stupid for getting student loans in the first place is not helpful. (I am saying this as someone who's slightly older than the most affected demographic, who's been lucky enough to have a steady, full-time job since graduating, and who didn't get student loans. But I've seen the shit that my friends and my spouse have had to put up with, in terms of employment. Your little rant does zero to fix any of the problems which are making the student loans such a mess in the first place.)
daverobev has an excellent point about treating anyone under 18 as irresponsible children, then suddenly at 18 expecting them to be adults, knowledgeable about the world. I don't know about anyone else, but I was clueless about the world at 18. Better and more knowledgeable than a lot of people are, but still pretty dumb. Somehow you expect kids to grow up just because their legal status changed? SwordGuy, if you want all those newly legal adults to take their own "F'N RESPONSIBILITY", I suggest that it's our job as adults, ALL adults, to teach them before they attain their legal majority, rather than castigating them for not knowing it already. You say it's not your fault? Of course it is! It's the fault of every fucking adult in this nation if the basics of financial literacy, and taking care of oneself, and everything else we expect kids to know by the time they're legally adults, doesn't get passed along. That is OUR responsibility. The "not my problem" attitude is complete bullshit. You aren't a pillar, you are an individual within a community. And problems in a community don't just affect the individuals, there are ripple effects to everyone else.