A friend of mine runs a nonprofit organization here in MetroWest Boston called kidzbusiness. I can’t claim to be an expert in her mission, but essentially it teaches business skills, particularly entrepreneurship, to teenagers.
My initial reaction to her work in this organization was nothing special. I am not a teenage kid, I don’t have any teenage kids, so what do I care? Also, having grown up on a farm on the Midwest, when I see kids who have this kind of opportunity tossed in their lap, I feel more than just a twinge of the deadly sin of envy.
But today I started reflecting on this whole thing, and I started to realize that we have put quite a task in front of these current teenage kids. Over the next 40 years, I am expecting them to pay sizable sums of money into government programs which will 1) send me a sizable monthly check and 2) cover all of my medical expenses. On top of that, I’m also hoping that they will also be making enough money to buy a house and just generally maintain a civil society, at the same time making enough money that they can also afford to have more kids to again, continue to pay into my monthly living expenses and cover all of my medical care well into the 2050's.
And I may have forgotten to mention, each one of these teenagers is currently burdened with their share of the national debt, which is what, something like $45,000 apiece? That of course says nothing of what it might cost if they decide to go to college.
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of anyone referring to the public school system as an engine for economic growth, so, given just how much economic output we are expecting from these kids, I’m starting to think that it is very much in all of our best middle-aged interests to get behind programs like this. Economically speaking, these kids are my future, and they need to make a whole lot of money if I am to get those monthly checks. I sure hope they’re up to the task.
© Justin Locke
