America's youth stands at a crossroads. They have been dubbed "The Lost Generation." They carry the burden of overwhelming student loan debt, which has increased from $200 billion to $833 billion over the last decade. The average bachelor's degree recipient carries $27,000 in debt, more than three times the amount they did 10 years ago. 18 to 24 year-old Americans face a poverty rate of over twenty percent, and an unemployment rate nearly double that of the national average. The job market show no signs of picking up and anti-poverty programs are being cut.
The generation has, however, begun to respond. Occupy Wall Street has spread to over 200 locations. The movement is a response to our dead end economy. Protesters from the Occupation, most of them young, have no other option but to take to the street. We are at a unique moment in our history: the moment when the era of unfettered capitalism and multinational corporations has run its course, and can no longer mask the harm that it has caused. It is in some sense a moment of liberation. The path is blocked. The only way to get out is to forge a new path.
In a time of few opportunities comes a rare opportunity. Young people have begun to occupy spaces that they have normally been excluded from. There's a real power in such an act of defiance. But it doesn't need to end there. The Occupation can serve as an example, even a blueprint, for a movement that can and should spread to other areas of life. If this generation is indeed lost, then it's up to them to create their own path forward.
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