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I agree that it's probably a smaller impact, but on the other hand the result is a bunch of teenagers and young adults with way too much time on their hands and

I agree that it's probably a smaller impact, but on the other hand the result is a bunch of teenagers and young adults with way too much time on their hands and no clear prospects for the future. It seems like it could turn into motivation for either a very good or very bad outcome.

IG_Semmelweiss 6y ago
This is the best comment on this thread I think too many forget the risk of having ~1/4th of your youth population sitting around with no money, no goals and no life. Its a powder keg and you dont know the likelyhood of ignition or in which direction sharpnel will go.
- vkou 6y ago
  There's no shortage of socially useful work to do, that does not take a bachelor's degree. There just seems to be an unwillingness for government to pay anyone to do it.
  - pdonis 6y ago
    If you think it's socially useful work, why don't you pay some kids to do it?
- pasquinelli 6y ago
  They sit around all summer and i can't say i've ever seen any shrapnel coming off them.
  - ipython 6y ago
    That’s a specious argument. Most parents (mine included) put massive pressure on working age kids to get summer jobs to fill those hours. The incentive for the kid is of course spending money too. I would imagine with massive closures and unemployment that supply of summer jobs is close to zero now. I suppose in our kids generation there is a mitigating circumstance- the wide availability of legal teenage heroin aka video games. Today’s “bread and circus” of inexpensive, endless content and games will keep us placated indefinitely as far as I can tell.
    - pasquinelli 6y ago
      I know a couple people with teenage kids and they don't put pressure on their kids to get a summer job. My daugter's twelve, and i don't expect to pressure her to get a job in a couple years. I don't see much point-- the jobs she would be after are needed by people with rent to pay. Even when i was in highschool it seemed about 50:50 of kids working over the summer. That was before the current wave of unemployment, before 2008 too.

IG_Semmelweiss 6y ago

This is the best comment on this thread I think too many forget the risk of having ~1/4th of your youth population sitting around with no money, no goals and no life. Its a powder keg and you dont know the likelyhood of ignition or in which direction sharpnel will go.

vkou 6y ago
There's no shortage of socially useful work to do, that does not take a bachelor's degree. There just seems to be an unwillingness for government to pay anyone to do it.
- pdonis 6y ago
  If you think it's socially useful work, why don't you pay some kids to do it?
pasquinelli 6y ago
They sit around all summer and i can't say i've ever seen any shrapnel coming off them.
- ipython 6y ago
  That’s a specious argument. Most parents (mine included) put massive pressure on working age kids to get summer jobs to fill those hours. The incentive for the kid is of course spending money too. I would imagine with massive closures and unemployment that supply of summer jobs is close to zero now. I suppose in our kids generation there is a mitigating circumstance- the wide availability of legal teenage heroin aka video games. Today’s “bread and circus” of inexpensive, endless content and games will keep us placated indefinitely as far as I can tell.
  - pasquinelli 6y ago
    I know a couple people with teenage kids and they don't put pressure on their kids to get a summer job. My daugter's twelve, and i don't expect to pressure her to get a job in a couple years. I don't see much point-- the jobs she would be after are needed by people with rent to pay. Even when i was in highschool it seemed about 50:50 of kids working over the summer. That was before the current wave of unemployment, before 2008 too.