All across the country, millennials are struggling to get by due to their crushing student loan debt, which sits at a record average of $35,000 for the class of 2015.
Couple this with a stagnant economy and the inability to get jobs after graduation, and you have a body of young Americans suffering miserably under their former hero, President Obama.
The Youth Misery Index, an annual report released by Young America’s Foundation, paints a very bleak picture for the future of America’s youths. The YMI is calculated by combining the average student loan debt, national debt per capita and the youth unemployment rate.
With a federal budget debt of nearly $19 trillion, the national debt per capita sits at $59,000. That equates to 59 on YAF’s Youth Misery Index scale, which knocks off the zeroes.
That’s bad, but students alone are facing something just as horrendous, given their limited ability to pay off their obligations. In 2014, the average student loan debt was $30,000 — 30 on the YMI scale. In just one year, that number has increased to $35,000, showing that the rising cost of tuition is a growing crisis.
There is no doubt that presidential candidates have made college affordability a topic of the 2016 campaign cycle; socialist Bernie Sanders is touting the idea of a free college education for everyone. But his proposals wouldn’t decrease Americans’ overall debt, since taxpayers would be the ones footing the hefty tab.
According to U.S. census data, 40 percent of the nation’s unemployed are millennials — which equates to almost 5 million young potential workers out of a job. What’s more, the number of millennials earning less than $25,000 per year has soared under the Obama administration.
Youth unemployment hovers at a little over 16 percent — 16 on the YMI scale — showing a slight decrease from last year’s 18.1 percent, but still not making much of a dent.
Add it all up, and the YMI totals an astonishing 109.9. That’s up from 106.5 in 2014 and a dramatic increase from 83.5 in 2009 when Obama assumed the presidency.
Since 2009, the YMI has gone up 32 percent, making Obama the worst president for youth economic opportunity. So much for all the cheering he’s basked in during his constant appearances on college campuses since taking office.
Many millennials have been hit hard by the Obama economy, which has left them to face a miserable reality — one that poses little opportunity for them to succeed. The man who promised to be their champion has let them down. Not quite the hope and change they expected.
“President Obama’s tenure has been disastrous for young Americans. They’re ready for change, and conservative ideas offer substantive solutions to the serious challenges they face,” said Ron Robinson, president of Young America’s Foundation.
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