The Lost Kids – It’s Costing Us More Than Big Bucks

UPDATE: Study: 15 percent of US youth out of school, work

Associated Press Posted: 10/21/2013 09:06:38 AM PDT

WASHINGTON — Almost 6 million young people are neither in school nor working, according to a study released today. That’s almost 15 percent of those aged 16 to 24 who have neither desk nor job, according to The Opportunity Nation coalition, which wrote the report.

Other studies have shown that idle young adults are missing out on a window to build skills they will need later in life or use the knowledge they acquired in college. Without those experiences, they are less likely to command higher salaries and more likely to be an economic drain on their communities.

by Jack and Tina

When you look at the homeless, aka travelers, loitering on the streets of Chico, take note how many of them are very young adults. The transient/bum part is bad the fact that so many young is terrible. The under 25 traveler is one of the fastest growing elements of the new homeless.

These people are in some ways reminiscent of Haight Ashbury days, the hair, the clothes, the sandals, they’re just absent any identifiable cause. They’re mostly of sound mind and in good health, but they are generally totally unemployable. Like their hippy predecessors they have dropped out of society and work is a four letter word. They harbor a mix of motives for their situation ranging from juvenile fantasies about life on the road with no responsibilities to serious mental issues. If they’ve been on the road for awhile there’s a fair amount of depression, frustration and the kind despair that can only come from having absolutely nothing and/or stemming from a dysfunctional home life.

The Great Recession was the wrecking point for millions of American families. The pressures of financial distress, often accompanied by abusive parenting, drinking and drugs sent a lot of young people in pursuit of something better.   They left without having any life skills and they naturally took the path of least resistance.  They are now found in every city across America, young people with no direction, no goals and no hope as life moves by.   Too often this is coupled to the flawed ideals of liberalism.

In our little town of Chico, the downtown is and has been overrun for several years with these young transients. They’re just hanging out, looking for their next free meal and not a whole else going for them. They lay up in shelters by night, get kicked out in the morning and then they gather in the downtown during the day. You can find them sacked out on the post office steps, on park grass or taking up a table at Jack in the Box across the street from Plaza Park. I saw one bathing in the city fountain. We see them asking for spare change in front of Peets Coffee Shop or sitting in the door way of a closed business, often with a dog on a rope and guitar. They have the freedom they wanted and they can go wherever they want, but they’re going nowhere, because they’re stuck in hopelessness. Stuck because their liberal codependents offer them nothing but handouts.

It’s beyond sad, and the reality is, they work darn hard at being poor and homeless.  It’s probably harder than if they devoted themselves to a job, any job.   Life is not easy on the street.   But, most don’t see it this way and if they could find somebody that would hire them, they would likely reject it because they always have bigger plans.   This poverty is just a temporary situation that will magically get better soon because…because why? They couldn’t tell you.   And then some day they will wake up and they will be 50 years old and life’s best opportunities will have slipped right by them and all they will have will be their bad habits and addictions.

Everything they are doing on the streets is the opposite of what it takes to be self-sufficient and contribute to society. However, nobody wants to come out and tell them this, and if you do you will be put down as uncaring.   Their codependents would rather we build more shelters, give them more free food and enable them to carry on with their destructive habits and bad life choices.   The utopian liberal and the naivety of youth…now there’s a dangerous combination!

Liberals tell them government is the answer, everyone deserves a minimum standard of living, and it’s time for the rich to “share the wealth.”    This is the new mantra.   Take it from somebody else who actually worked for it.  Government has been great at doing that part.   They’re told that free shelter, free healthcare, free food and all kinds of free stuff will always be there for them, it’s their right!  And that’s about as far as their planning for the future goes.

 The Bible had it right, “If they shall not work – they shall not eat.” and “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you’ve fed him for a lifetime.” And this gem found in Proverbs 12:11 “Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.  These truths have stood the test of time for over 2000 years, yet your average liberal rejects them?

A recent study proves that millions of our homeless young among us now and this will become a bigger problem as time goes by. The study on homelessness by the National Conference of State Legislatures found among other things, that….

*One in seven young people between the ages of 10 and 18 will run away

*Youth age 12 to 17 are more at risk of homelessness than adults

*Estimates of the number of pregnant homeless girls are between 6 and 22 percent

* 75 percent of homeless or runaway youth have dropped out or will drop out of school

*There are about 633,000 homeless in America and over 22% are under the age of 17.

Another significant part why so many youth are on the street can be traced back to the many regulatory roadblocks liberals placed on teens finding a part-time job. When a family’s economic crisis demanded this sacrifice it sometimes meant the family stayed together and survived.   In later years, when it was not available because liberals passed laws and blocked those entry-level jobs that once taught good work habits and ethics, they denied them a very important part of growing up.  Those jobs taught dignity and self reliance.   If work and paying your way is character building, doesn’t it make sense that not working would have the opposite effect?

Today, government welfare tries to take the place those very important part-time jobs for teens.   They also try be the provider and supervisor for the family, much like the traditional male role model once was and look at the results!  More broken homes, more single parent families, less decent male role models, and this all contributes to a child growing up without the education and character they will need to make it.   Is it any wonder that so many kids are turning to gangs and/or getting in trouble with the law because of their dysfunctional family?   So, running away means they’re going to live on the street and take what comes…what a terrible situation.

Instead of a job or guidance liberals offered them an excuse. “You’re a victim and as such you deserve to share in the wealth by the evil rich.”   But this also made them feel separate from our working society and cynical about capitalism. Liberals in our schools and government have done a number on our youth.

WHY WORK, when we can panhandle, get welfare and food stamps and that almost always equals a better income than an entry level job?   And in many cases they’re right, but they also are missing the point why we work.  Well, they’re missing a lot more than that aren’t they?   And so it goes, the homeless are convinced they’re victims and that they are entitled to support.   They’re indoctrinated into thinking they need government to keep their free things coming. 

The tipping point is here folks and we’re all headed for a new reality, not just the homeless.   But, that’s exactly what Obama promised. He said America was the greatest country on earth and he was here to fundamentally change it.