By TLB Contributor: Dave Hodges
In my work as a writer and a broadcaster who does not follow the script of Clear Channel Communications or MSNBC, I know all too well that the potential dangers that I face in my attempts to reveal the truth about the lawlessness and abject criminality of so many in power. Clancy, Hastings and Breitbart remind all activists that we take significant risks to do what we do. I decided several years ago that I was willing to take the risk as are so many of my media colleagues. However, I have discovered that I was unprepared to be a father to a child who is growing up in a time of unprecedented corporate and government tyranny.
At the heart of my dilemma as a parent, is how do I teach my son to develop a fundamental respect for many of our political and corporate leaders who have no moral compass?
Even If You Have Not Kept Up,Times Have Changed
There was a time that a child could produce a mediocre track record in high school, not go to college, but were able to work in a factory or a department store and climb the ranks and subsequently live a life of wonderful opportunities.
With 86% of our 1968 based manufacturing gone to overseas markets, those days of second chance opportunities are gone forever.
When the Blinders Come Off
My soon-to-14 year old son is showing signs of asking questions befitting an adult perspective of our present political and economic situation. I am not bashful about identifying the misdeeds of our government when I am writing or broadcasting. Also, I know that I have the intellectual capacity to explain to my son how bad things have become in terms he can understand. However, I have found that I am lacking the skill and knowledge to explain to my son just how bad things are without taking away his hope for the future.
I am running out of time to begin to formulate a dialogue with my son as I know that I will have to say something and say it very soon. Just the other day, my son made fun of Obama and his nation of birth, Kenya. As my readers and listeners will tell you, I don’t pursue the “birther issue” a s a point of emphasis in my advocacy. Yet, my son is keenly aware of this issue. Last night as we were driving home from play that we attended, my son offhandedly said “the rich control Obama and he controls us like a dictator”. In other words, he is getting his education about the New World Order from sources from “OTP” (i.e. other than parents). I asked him where he got that information and he said “some of the kids at school say Obama is a member of Illuminati and it is all over Youtube”. Life was so much easier when I controlled most of his access to information. I knew that this day would come, but I am finding that I am not prepared with ready made answers about how the world really works. Most adults don’t know how the world works.
Although my son has a growing awareness of how pervasive political corruption is, he does not talk about how he and his contemporaries are facing a world of declining professional opportunities.
Gaps In My Son’s Knowledge
HOW DO PEOPLE GET WEALTHY IN TODAY’S AMERICA?
A total of 90% inherited their money.
Back in the year 2000, 80% of men in their late 20’s had a full-time job. Today, only 65 percent do. Sorry, my son, no silver spoon here. He will have to earn what he gets in a land of increasingly limited opportunities.
There is one factoid that I can fully embrace:
College graduates make four times more, in the course of their lifetime, as do non-college graduates.
Yet, the price of a college education is rising 8 times faster than the cost of living. The ship of economic hope started sailing toward the horizon for many of our children nearly a generation ago when we allowed our corporate controlled Congress to pass the job and wage killing free trade agreements of NAFTA and CAFTA.
RED, WHITE AND SCREWED
Figures may lie and liars may figure, however, there are some numbers that cannot be ignored and they serve to underscore the increasing sense of hopelessness that is creeping across the country.
During 2011, 53 percent of all Americans with a bachelor’s degree under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed.
At this point about half of all recent college graduates are working jobs that do not even require a college degree.
The number of Americans in the 16 to 29 year old age bracket with a job declined by 18 percent between 2000 and 2010.
Incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation since the year 2000.
In 1984, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older was 10 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger. Today, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or older is 47 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35 or younger.
In 2011, SAT scores for young men were the worst that they had been in 40 years.
Incredibly, approximately two-thirds of all college students graduate with student loans.
According to the Federal Reserve, the total amount of student loan debt has risen by 275 percent since 2003.
In America today, 40 percent of all households that are led by someone under the age of 35 are paying off student loan debt. Back in 1989, that figure was below 20 percent.
The total amount of student loan debt in the United States now exceeds the total amount of credit card debt in the United States.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, 11 percent of all student loans are at least 90 days delinquent.
The student loan default rate in the United States has nearly doubled since 2005.
One survey found that 70% of all college graduates wish that they had spent more time preparing for the “real world” while they were still in college.
In the United States today, there are more than 100,000 janitors that have college degrees.
In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.
Today, an all-time low 44.2 percent of all Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 are married.
According to the Pew Research Center, 57 percent of all Americans in the 18 to 24 year old age bracket lived with their parents during 2012.
One poll discovered that 29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are still living with their parents.
Young men are nearly twice as likely to live with their parents as young women the same age are.
Overall, approximately 25 million American adults are living with their parents according to Time Magazine.
Over 50 percent of all stocks and bonds are owned by just 1 percent of the U.S. population.
And we haven’t even talked about the NDAA, REX 84, PDD 54, the John Warner Defense Bill, etc.
One does not have to believe in any conspiracy theories to know that we have left our children a pile of excrement to deal with.
The Broken Promise for Our Children’s Future
Children need to be worried about their piano lessons, their sports teams, their first crush, their schooling, they do not need to be burdened with dealing with geopolitical issues stemming from the bankers trying to rape, pillage and run this planet into the ground. Yet, our children’s lives are increasingly being dominated by this march towards economic and political totalitarianism.
If you are awake as to what is going on and you have children, you will one day be forced to answer the questions that your children ask about the world that they live in. And for the life of me, I do not know how to tell my child how to survive of diminishing opportunities in the New World Order. Do you? If so, I would like to hear your suggestions. Meanwhile…
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Thank you. This is an excellent article for my college bound son.