Half Changed World

Today’s book is Strapped: Why America’s 20- and 30-Somethings Can’t Get Ahead, by Tamara Draut.  In many ways, this book could be called The Two-Income Trap, Jr.  Like Warren and Tyagi, Draut analyzes the ways that families today get into economic trouble through little fault of their own, with wages failing to keep up with the spiraling costs of housing, health insurance, and child care.  The hook is that Draut focuses on the experiences of young adults, 20-34, and compares their (our) experiences to those of the Boomers in the 60s and 70s.

The most convincing part of Draut’s case is her discussion of the rising costs of college, the diminishing availability of grants to cover those costs, and the ways that student loans hang over young people’s lives.  She also writes persuasively of the ways that lower-income students’ educational options are limited because of their reluctance or inability to take on that debt burden.

Nicholas Von Hoffman had an article in the Nation a bit back where he argued that the increased cost of education is a form of social control, forcing young people to focus their energies on earning money rather than fomenting social change or following their dreams.  I’m not sure I think it’s a deliberate plot, but I do think there’s a lot of truth to the story.  At my reunion, the Dean gave a speech in which he said that they did a study of the career paths of graduates.  Of those who left without student loans, he said, 95 percent took first jobs in the public or nonprofit sectors.  Of those who had more than $80,000 in loans, only 45 percent took first jobs in those sectors.

Draut’s argument becomes less convincing in other chapters where she lumps together the struggles of a teacher hoping to have an apartment to himself one day and an affluent couple buying a home in suburban Connecticut.  They both may be living paycheck to paycheck, but that’s the extent of their similarities.  And while this generation may be struggling compared to the Boomers, it is NOT the first generation in history not to be as well off as their parents.   Living with your parents was the norm for unmarried young adults for most of history; the recent increase isn’t really a sign of the collapse of the American economy.

Draut is the director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos.  The book ends with a chapter of proposals for how to solve these problems (expanded student aid, support for unions, paid parental leave), many of which I agree with, but none of which will convince anyone who doesn’t already support them.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 23rd, 2006 at 9:41 pm and is filed under Books, Economics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.