My AP Lit teacher was "speeching" at our class the other day - he's culturally informed about the recent economic crisis - and shed light upon a topic that seems all to abstract for our teenage minds to comprehend.
"Some of you may not go to college."
And I ask, "Why not?"
NO MONEY.
Yes for those of you who are planning to graduate in 2009 and go off to college, let me just say that all of us will have a difficult time paying for college. How can lower to middle class Americans pay for the 40 - 50,000 dollars for the excellent college education we need to succeed later in life? The recent plummet in the housing markets - the announced bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, Wachovia, Washington Mutual, etc - illustrate the instability of American finance and loaning. We depend on those loans to help us pay for college right? But how can we take out money if there is no money left?
The problem is derived in the trust of American people. Be warned however about a recent affliction that is spreading across America.
Aflluenza.
Never heard of it? Its defined as "keeping up with the Jones' "
You know? The Jones' that live on Mainstreet? That represent the American dream that we all aspire to achieve?
This is ironically the fallacy of the American market. Why else would banks be closing and scrambling to merge? This paradox astounds me tremendously because isn't our country built on the ideal that anyone can make it? From this recent line of events it is dangerous.
I'm just worried about our future again, and how can I pay for college? Our economy is in such a horrible downturn, I'm really scared for my future and the future of America. We can't go back and erase mistakes - or hire better accountants to check the books of those banks to see the lists and lists of "IOUs." But what we can do is hope. Hope for a better future. And hope that the 700 billion bailout bill will work. Or else - we're all screwed.
