“It’s not clear that the young understand the future they face as the cost of these promises far exceeds the nation’s provision to pay for them.”
One would expect business students to be well-versed in the issues surrounding taxation, debt, and entitlements, but that's not necessarily true. I do my best to think highly of my students, but one major source of frustration is their apathy towards "stuff that will affect them in the future." As a case in point, when I conduct a debate over whether they would (1) prefer to keep all of their paycheck and pay taxes quarterly or (2) continue the process of employer withholding, the question is met with a combination of blank stares and the feeling that paying taxes themselves is too hard. Many also admit to just looking at their net pay. There is always the top 10% who are engaged and lively, but that’s not enough to generalize that all students even have a position.
If you know a college student or young adult, have them watch the latest Prager University course on the welfare state. In the video, Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute explains how the explosions in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other welfare programs are changing the American character for the worse—from one that is focused on individual responsibility and giving, to one that is focused on grabbing as much of the pie as possible.
(Best-selling author, columnist, and nationally syndicated radio host Dennis Prager created Prager University to counter the indoctrination, drivel, and apathy that pervades today’s college campuses. With 5-minute, professionally produced videos from experts in economics, history, political science, and religion, PragerU offers big ideas on big topics, 5 minutes at a time.)
