Karissa Jobman/The Daily Campus
With U.S. debt spiraling out of control and a bleak economic outlook for months to come, there has never been a time when the “youth are the future” cliché has held so true.
Tuesday’s lecture with Founder and CEO of The Comeback America Initiative, David Walker, discussed the current state of the United States economy and what it means for today’s young people and college students.
According to Walker, the median annual household income in this country is $50,000.
If the United States were an average household it would be spending $82,000 per year, and would have $126,000 of current debt.
This country’s financial mess is falling directly into the laps of today’s young people who will inherit these issues.
“The real threat is what the future will be like if we don’t start putting the nation’s finances in order,” Walker said.
The world for today’s young people is becoming increasingly competitive, according to Walker, and the focus needs to be on taking steps to impact how these issues are dealt with in
the future.
Walker advised college students to be “disproportionately active in representing your views to current and prospective elected officials” to ensure that these issues are addressed and dealt with in a manner that can help secure this generation’s future.
When it comes to pointing the finger, however, Walker said no particular political party or figure is at fault.
Government spending in 2011 has amounted to $4 billion more than the country takes in for revenue each day, and this debt has amounted over several decades under the watch of several presidents.
Now, the focus needs to be placed on action. Walker said that the U.S. is roughly two years away from where Greece was during its major financial collapse.
“We have more time, but not unlimited time,” he said.
This, according to Walker, is truly where young people come in.
First year MBA student at the Cox School of Business, Lewis Wang, views the economic situation in the United States through a special lens being a young person from China.
“As a foreign student and as a business student, this [information] gives me some idea about how to contribute to the country’s economy in the future,” Wang said, “I think it is my