of an explanation (Ibid., 209).
According to Levy, we have postponed stagnation's effects but we have not avoided them. As of 1986, foreign investor's held a net of $300 Billion of U.S. assets. Servicing the debt alone, without reducing principal, requires $25 Billion per year. Levy notes that, even with a Gross National Product growth of four percent, it increases by $160 Billion, and so one of every five future dollars of growth is claimed by our acquired debt. Living standards suffer accordingly, and will continue to do so if this situation is not reversed (Ibid.).
Littwin remarks that a generation of young people are postponing the responsibilities of and autonomy of adulthood. After conducting hundreds of interviews across the country, she found that there are more college graduates than ever, but forty percent of these graduates work at jobs that do not require a higher education. She noted, "As they deal with an exploding information industry, serviced by computers and technocrats, young men and women find the old roads their parents followed to success have come to dead ends (Littwin, 13-17).
Katherine Newman states that American society has reneged on its promises to the baby-boom generation. Calling the 1990's the "End of Entitlement," Newman stresses that the economic realities of the 1980's and 1990's have crushed the expectations of youth, leaving behind doubt, fear, and anger. Recessions, widespread bankruptcies, anemic rates of growth, high unemployment, and the relentless pressure of the federal deficit have combined to place the future of the middle class in serious
In response to the question of why did this pattern of stagnation develop, Newman noted that conservatives tend to argue that declining productivity and overpriced labor were responsible for the leveling of income growth in the U.S. From this perspective, our competitive position in international trade declined significantly because ...