Grave Concerns

It's been a few weeks since I last posted, expressing concern in the lingering student loan "bubble" that will inevitably burst. Upon reading the comments that followed and watching events unfold across the world, I have a few reactions:

• Those of us that graduated with a bachelor's degree in and around 2007 have faced the most difficult and widespread economic recession this country has ever seen. The science is simple; never has there been as many educated people hitting the workforce with as few available jobs as there has been the last few years. This catastrophe was caused by the selfish business dealings of individuals more corrupt than the brokers of J.T. Marlin (see "Boiler Room" if you don't get the reference). Few have suffered the consequences resulting from these scandals, yet the banks who turned a blind eye were "bailed out". The CEOs that ran American car companies into the ground were equally rewarded. Amidst this recession, people that lost their jobs had the ability to file for unemployment. Those who borrowed money for mortgages they couldn't afford could file for bankruptcy.Those who were fortunate enough to keep their jobs were told to be patient, to wait for the recession to end. It has now been 4 years, the economy has not turned around, and the cost of living has only increased while salaries stay the same. It used to be an honor to get and hold a job. Now I see friends collecting unemployment and getting paid under the table and I wonder with the rest of the points I brought up; where is the justice? Something's got to give...
• Many people may read this and say, "Quit complaining". My response to them is that this isn't complaining. I am simply pointing out an obvious flaw that is hampering a large majority of the working class.
• Those of us under 30 have lived a very unique existence as we have literally grown up alongside computer technology. I was in elementary school when Encarta was introduced, basically making physical research obsolete and digitizing information. I was in middle school when AOL came out, bringing millions of people together worldwide together through instant messaging, chat rooms, and most importantly bringing the world wide web into the home. In high school cell phones started gaining popularity, thus putting the Internet into a handheld device. In college, Facebook was introduced and robbing us of our privacy. My generation has grown up in an amazingly advanced world; larger, faster, more populated, and more informed than any we have known before. We are intelligent, hardworking, and capable, yet are voices are being stifled by the circumstances that were thrust upon us by previous generations. Is this a result of poor timing, or fear by the leaders governing us?
• There are some major things at play here, and I feel alone in my agitation. As my peers are distracted by social networking, promises of change, and ipads, people across the world are preparing for a goddamned holy war. The Internet has made the world flat, but also more docile. Not all human beings are ready to evolve. I worry about the situation we are in, and even moreso, the generations that will follow us. The system is failing, and I hope that we are ready for when the walls start caving in.