The next time the youth of America say they have it harder... they're right.

[geckosfeet]

3. Oh come on.

I was out of the house at 17 hitch-hiking around town looking for work and going to school. Where is the sense of adventure?

But really folks - banks and financial institutions have plugged into a source of revenue that was essentially untapped during my school daze - student loans. Expect it to get worse as more and more young people fail to qualify or elect not to go into debt for 20 years.

Housing prices seem to have stabilized for the time being. But I do expect them to start creeping upward in the next five or so years. Cars - still some cheaper models out there but they are in general poorly assembled money pits.

The real issue is that the cost of living has spiraled out of control, prices being raised to increase ceo salaries and bonuses, corpo tax breaks, mega rich tax breaks, while the salaries of the producers and workers have not nearly kept pace with the cost of living. Less spending power makes for a sluggish or failing economy. A handful of mega rich are not going to fuel the economy. They must be eaten.