Obamanomics Is Ticking Time Bomb For Millennial Generation

Obamanomics Is Ticking Time Bomb For Millennial Generation

By SALVATOR J. LAMASTRA V
Posted 03/11/2014 06:52 PM ET

My generation — 80 million strong — is experiencing economic distress as a direct result of the failed leadership and policies of the Obama administration.

The economic purgatory into which millennials have been cast by Father Government is one of constant turmoil and statistical roadblock.

The unemployment rate for all Americans ticked up to 6.7% in February. But when it comes to millennials, the jobless numbers are far different. Youth unemployment now stands at a staggering 15.8%, and this doesn't even give the whole picture.

According to the Department of Labor, some 1.7 million young adults have given up and are not actively seeking employment. Being in your mid-20s, having no job and no hope for a job is demoralizing. My generation is losing hope, and fast. In fact, the economy is so debilitating that some 22.6% of us still live with our parents.

The youth misery index, which figures in youth unemployment, average graduating student-loan debt and the national per-capita debt, is at a record 98.6, showing how desperate we are for leaders who will help revitalize the economy.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration is implementing policies such as ObamaCare that are destroying the incentive for individuals to work and companies to hire.

The Congressional Budget Office has stated that the subsidies and taxes in ObamaCare "create a disincentive for people to work."

Destroying incentives for the largest generation in U.S. history is a horrific failure on Washington's part.

Furthermore, Pew Research Center found 51% of millennials now believe that Social Security will be gone by the time they're ready to retire. This accurate forecast increases the perception of a fading American dream and a lifetime of economic struggle.

Imagine the most educated generation in U.S. history also having the distinction of being the most unemployed in four decades.

The average millennial is carrying around a record $30,000 in student-loan debt, collectors of which have been given broader authority than credit-card lenders. The regulations are so strict that the debt cannot even be shed in bankruptcy.

Those just entering college find it hard to justify spending four years earning a degree and accumulating sky-high debt for a job that isn't there anymore. In fact, the cost of education has increased three times as much as transportation, energy and housing since the 1980s.

Total outstanding student loan debt topped $1 trillion in 2010. It does not take a Harvard economics professor to see the similarities to the housing crisis. A trillion dollars in outstanding student loans to millennials who do not have jobs and cannot find jobs is a recipe for disaster.

As a product of the dot-com meltdown and 2008 financial crisis, millennials are very cautious when it comes to investing and purchasing. In fact, we're the most financially conservative generation since the one that experienced the Great Depression. Young adults refuse to take financial gambles and keep most of their portfolios — 52% — in cash.

Millennials turned out in strong support for President Obama because he promised the most transparent administration in history.

Blunders such as ObamaCare and NSA surveillance have instilled distrust for those in Washington and their ability to oversee a fair economic playing field.

This distrust has dimmed the prospect of young adults' becoming future buyers and investors. If they do not shed their zeitgeist of frugal spending and investment habits, it could spell trouble for the retail and stock markets.

ObamaCare has been the most recent and perhaps final nail in millennials' economic coffin. They now disapprove of the law by a whopping 57%, with 40% believing it will decrease the quality of their health care, according to a Harvard poll.

A report by NerdWallet says the average millennial who enters the exchanges will spend around $1,700 a year out of pocket while those who forgo insurance and take the penalty will spend an estimated $348. Such numbers simply point to the advantage of not enrolling.

If there's one thing baby boomers taught us, it's that a big generation can bring big change. And with millennials that change will be epic.

We experienced it with the election and re-election of President Obama and will experience it again come 2016. According to Pew, half of millennials are not affiliated with a political party, increasing the viability of an eventual third-party candidate to shake up America's politics and economy.

Barack Obama has let down millennials economically in every way possible: high unemployment, sickening health care reform, skyrocketing living and energy costs, staggeringly high student-loan debt and a national debt of $52,948 per capita.

Plainly, the many challenges facing my generation are culminating in an economic and generational time bomb.

• LaMastra, a dental student, is a political author and commentator specializing in millennials.