Biggest threat to America's youth

[63dot]

What do you consider the worst threats to the youth in the USA?

[jecapaga]

obesity

[4God]

This (http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/osbournes/series.jhtml) says it all.

[NT1440]

republicans.

I kid I kid.


Probably lazyness, obesity, the falling standards of education in the US, the cost of College is outrageous, the fact that we are getting footed the bill for a massive war.....

[4God]

obesity

...Probably lazyness, obesity, the falling standards of education in the US, the cost of College is outrageous.....

Yes, this too.

[NT1440]

Well now that theres a poll your going to get a very limited thread.

To 4god, whyd you cut out the war?

[Iscariot]

Lack of proper diet and exercise.

[4God]

......To 4god, whyd you cut out the war?

Because IMHO, the "big bailout" will affect the next generation more.

[iJohnHenry]

I said Absentee parents, only because the real cause of all these problems are social engineers, that, through legislation/laws, rob the parents of reasonable control over their children.

All the other problems listed, spring from this basic problem.

[63dot]

As a volunteer social worker for AIDS patients, I have seen the devastation of heroin and crack cocaine abuse, and I never thought I have seen anything worse.

Then in my late-20s, I got into fitness, and many a fitness buff at that time, many years ago, were into steroids. Few knew how bad they could be.

Besides being able to kill outright like heroin or crack, even if you quit, you were almost doomed with stage 4 lymphoma by the time it was able to be detected. I spent a lot of time at Stanford's Cancer Center, and lymphoma was among the top killers.

Some of the steroids witch hunt is just that, but I can't think of a more destructive drug in the history of the world. Many shrug off the side effects saying, "I wasn't doing it to get high, but to get fit and healthy". And what can be wrong with trying to get fit? In the early-90s, there was a huge fitness trend and I caught that wave.

When athletes kill themselves and their whole family, including their own children, and this recurs over and over again, it's the worst of all drugs. Many drugs kill the users, some dealers, and a few innocent bystanders. Steroids, on the other hand, usually have innocent victims as the body count.

That being said, I still love baseball, the Giants, and Barry Bonds. But after some of the horror stories I have heard and unfortunately seen, even in my small town of fewer than 2,000 people, nothing scares me more.

[MacNut]

I was going to say all of the above but it really comes down to the parents. Lack of parenting allows everything else to happen.

[NT1440]

Because IMHO, the "big bailout" will affect the next generation more.

So your saying the war wont have an effect at all? How much has it already cost us? The ticker so far says 595 billion.....

[MacNut]

So your saying the war wont have an effect at all? How much has it already cost us? The ticker so far says 595 billion.....Unless the draft comes back no. The bailout is going to be passed on to the next generation to pay for.

[NT1440]

Unless the draft comes back no. The bailout is going to be passed on to the next generation to pay for.

I AM the next generation!

I'm 17.

[iObama]

I was going to say all of the above but it really comes down to the parents. Lack of parenting allows everything else to happen.

Amen!

[iJohnHenry]

I AM the next generation!

I'm 17.

Then I would suggest you get into ROTC a.s.a.p., so you can choose what service you will be in.

Don't want to be a grunt. Better the Navy. ;)

[PlaceofDis]

entitlement.
parents.


thats all. in that order. and note that it is not necessarily "absentee" parents either.

[NT1440]

Then I would suggest you get into ROTC a.s.a.p., so you can choose what service you will be in.

Don't want to be a grunt. Better the Navy. ;)

There will be no way I will go to war. Yes I know that sounds like a typical bratty teen, but I cannot support it in any way. I will sit in jail before I am shipped off to fight. Luckily I can get into Canada:)

[SteveMobs]

maybe, the fact that Marijuana is still illegal and that because of the stupid prohibition of it, many youth will end up in prison.

Other things that are dangerous to American youth are obesity, laziness, a rapidly declining standard in education set forth by the Bush administration (No Child Left Behind).

American kids need to go play outside again, the U.S. needs to become a producing nation once again, the U.S. needs to build stuff, none of these "pushing money around" jobs.

[MacHipster]

Tito Jackson.

[CalBoy]

Biggest threat to America's Youth: Its predecessors' incessant need to spend money they didn't have.

2nd in line: An inability to grasp and utilize basic science and math skills.

[Rt&Dzine]

The bailout is going to be passed on to the next generation to pay for.

These bailouts are BS . . . the S&L bailout (Bush's brother was one of the crooks), the banking bailout, the auto maker's bailout (2nd bailout for Chrysler). These corporations are run by crooks. And we want more deregulation for big business :confused:

[SLC Flyfishing]

So your saying the war wont have an effect at all? How much has it already cost us? The ticker so far says 595 billion.....

And Obama is trying to spent $900 billion in one shot (pun not intended) right now.


It's not like it isn't necessary, I'm not trying to argue that point. But it will be getting paid off for years to come.

SLC

[NT1440]

And Obama is trying to spent $900 billion in one shot (pun not intended) right now.


It's not like it isn't necessary, I'm not trying to argue that point. But it will be getting paid off for years to come.

SLC
And so will the war, which is still ongoing, which could potentiall be just as expensive. One is at least with good intention.

[SLC Flyfishing]

And so will the war, which is still ongoing, which could potentiall be just as expensive. One is at least with good intention.

Well I thought Obama promised to end the war, didn't he? He surely won't let it escalate to the point that it's bill ends up at 900 billion, and he won't let it continue in it's current state long enough to get to that point either will he?

I understood that he'd be looking into pulling troops as soon as was realistically possible.

SLC

[AlexH]

Absent parents is the #1 issue. If the parents (both mother and father) are present, active, and acting responsibly, the likelihood of everything mentioned drops dramatically. Kids still get into trouble and sometimes mess up, but good parenting goes a long, long way.

[NT1440]

Well I thought Obama promised to end the war, didn't he? He surely won't let it escalate to the point that it's bill ends up at 900 billion, and he won't let it continue in it's current state long enough to get to that point either will he?

I understood that he'd be looking into pulling troops as soon as was realistically possible.

SLC

The money flow doesnt stop when the troops are gone, you have humanitarian and rebuilding efforts. Also, Iraq will end, Afghanistan is ongoing.

[Prof.]

It's not one of the poll options but I'm gonna have to say obesity and laziness.

[XnavxeMiyyep]

The general erosion of freedoms, because that effects ALL of the youth. Although hopefully that'll turn around soon.

[cherry su]

bad education standards, laziness, obesity

[MacNut]

The general erosion of freedoms, because that effects ALL of the youth. Although hopefully that'll turn around soon.How much freedom does somebody who is the responsibility of an adult get?

[XnavxeMiyyep]

How much freedom does somebody who is the responsibility of an adult get?

Well, generally not much. But it will effect them when they turn 18, just like laziness has more of a lasting consequence than an initial consequence.

[Spizzo]

The American education system!

[MacNut]

Well, generally not much. But it will effect them when they turn 18, just like laziness has more of a lasting consequence than an initial consequence.When you turn 18 you get freedom. It is just the way it is. Until then you are someone else's responsibility.

[XnavxeMiyyep]

When you turn 18 you get freedom. It is just the way it is. Until then you are someone else's responsibility.

Right, I'm not disagreeing with you there (although I suppose that is a problem as well, but that's an issue for another thread). I'm just saying that it is a threat beacuse the youth will eventually turn 18. While you are lazy as a kid, it doesn't really harm you until the long term consequences (such as bad grades leading to a bad school leading to a bad job) catch up with you. In the same vein, it would be a threat because by the time they turn 18, it may be too late for them to reverse things.

Also, arbitrary laws that punish teens more harshly than adults could fall under this.

And if you're still considering 18 year olds youth, they can still get in trouble for consuming alcohol, despite being "legal" adults.

[MacNut]

Kids should not be lazy and any age, but that again falls with the parents.

[63dot]

I forgot to put unhealthy diet, or obesity. It is certainly one of the long term dangers as these children become adults and perhaps post the highest diabetes numbers in our history, not to mention heart disease. Obesity could be the silent scourge of this generation's youth. It's certainly not on the news like the youth gangs shooting it up over drug turf. When I was a kid, as when many here were, obese youth were probably a rare sight. I don't know if it's more attributed to their diets, or to lack of exercise, of which the computer is of no help.

Lack of education, or proper education in K-12 is another option I should have put in the poll.

[bruinsrme]

With freedom comes responsibility.

My son is in college and opted to live in an apartment vice the dorms. His monthly damage to us is roughly $4500 per month.

I asked him what worries him about the future. His comment was an upcoming test.

Hs bfggest threat is what is happening today and how he will be paying for it.

[mactastic]

Well I thought Obama promised to end the war, didn't he? He surely won't let it escalate to the point that it's bill ends up at 900 billion, and he won't let it continue in it's current state long enough to get to that point either will he?

I understood that he'd be looking into pulling troops as soon as was realistically possible.

SLC
The Iraq war will cost over $1 trillion before it's all said and done, and Obama will have very little to do with that. Bush has already committed the US to spending that will occur for the life of some of these veterans. Obama could pull all the troops now, and the Iraq war cost would still soar over the Big T mark.

[Abstract]

Complacency, entitlement, and an ever increasing level of fear-mongering.


This poll is seriously lacking.

[gibbz]

The older generations in power.

Without flaming, consider the current state of affairs, namely the economy and the burden that is going to be passed off to future generations. The big "hole" of responsibility being left to the youth is being dug deeper and deeper as we speak.

[SLC Flyfishing]

Apathy

SLC

[és:]

Well I thought Obama promised to end the war, didn't he? He surely won't let it escalate to the point that it's bill ends up at 900 billion

You do realise that the war has cost vastly more than that.

[SLC Flyfishing]

You do realise that the war has cost vastly more than that.

NT1440 cites the war as having cost 559 billion so far.

But I was assuming that NT1440 was meaning to stop counting when the troops were pulled. Rebuilding and the like will likely cost well past the Trillion Dollar Mark.

But I still don't know that it will cost as much as these stimulus packages and bailouts will end up costing in the end.

Either way, I've allowed aided in what is dangerously close to taking this thread off topic. Let's get back to discussing the original question raised in this thread.

SLC

[és:]

Yeah, but I was assuming that NT440 was meaning to stop counting when the troops were pulled. Rebuilding and the like will likely cost well past the Trillion Dollar Mark.

But I still don't know that it will cost as much as these stimulus packages and bailouts will end up costing in the end.

SLC

Try three trillion.

Direct costs: $750bn
Future direct costs: c$500bn
Cost of US casualties: $600bn
Losses to economy: $400bn
Added interest: $600bn
Macro-economic impact:
$1-$2 trillion
sources: CBO, OMB, Stiglitz and Blimes

[Ugg]

Try three trillion.

Direct costs: $750bn
Future direct costs: c$500bn
Cost of US casualties: $600bn
Losses to economy: $400bn
Added interest: $600bn
Macro-economic impact:
$1-$2 trillion
sources: CBO, OMB, Stiglitz and Blimes

That makes the combined bailouts seem pretty insignificant in comparison. Now if that 3 trillion had been spent on America's infrastructure and reducing our addiction to oil, the outcome would have been totally different.

[blackfox]

I've noticed a few people have mentioned entitlement.

Is that really true? I come from the previous generation (I'm in my mid 30s), and when I was a kid things were pretty good. Yeah, we didn't have some of the fancy tech toys of today, but we had plenty of our own - and so many things were easier and full of possibility back then. Perhaps I'm just wearing rose colored glasses...

As for my answer (relatedly) - I guess I'd have to say the older generations. They/we are setting all the rules and having a real effect on their potential future. This ranges from concrete issues like the immense burden of the baby boomers vis-a-vis social security and related corallaries, to the abstract, as in the general framework of society - infrastructure and values we leave out for them to shape into their own.

The stakes just seem so much higher, and the problems and pitfalls so much more complex and dire.

[Rt&Dzine]

That makes the combined bailouts seem pretty insignificant in comparison. Now if that 3 trillion had been spent on America's infrastructure and reducing our addiction to oil, the outcome would have been totally different.

And the loss of all the human lives . . . for an invasion done under false pretenses.

[atszyman]

Apathy

SLC

Every generation seems to say this about their youth, yet we haven't fallen into an abyss of apathy yet.

I'd actually say Obesity is going to be the biggest challenge, it could lead to a rapid decline in our health and productivity that we need to keep up in order to be able to handle any of the other numerous challenges ahead.

[iGary]

Debt.

[benthewraith]

So your saying the war wont have an effect at all? How much has it already cost us? The ticker so far says 595 billion.....

Which pales in comparison to the massive "stimulus" that's on the docket right now. Isn't it supposed to get up to 1.1-1.2 trillion after all is said and done in the senate? And then there's the surge in Afghanistan which would cost significant amounts of money...

[mactastic]

Which pales in comparison to the massive "stimulus" that's on the docket right now. Isn't it supposed to get up to 1.1-1.2 trillion after all is said and done in the senate? And then there's the surge in Afghanistan which would cost significant amounts of money...
It doesn't "pale in comparison". The Iraq war will end up costing us $2 trillion.

If only Obama had the stones to spend that amount stimulating the economy...

[Ugg]

Every generation seems to say this about their youth, yet we haven't fallen into an abyss of apathy yet.

I'd actually say Obesity is going to be the biggest challenge, it could lead to a rapid decline in our health and productivity that we need to keep up in order to be able to handle any of the other numerous challenges ahead.

I agree that the perennial generational hand wringing about the apathy of the younger generation is mostly unfounded. Every generation believes the next generation is more or less worthless. I wonder if there isn't some kind of biological root for this.

Obesity is a huge problem and I think one of the causes that has been overlooked is the chemical stew that is fermenting in our water, food and air. Personally I think the biggest problem the next generation faces will be the destruction previous generations have wreaked on the environment.

[benthewraith]

It doesn't "pale in comparison". The Iraq war will end up costing us $2 trillion.

If only Obama had the stones to spend that amount stimulating the economy...

Just curious, but how exactly does $4 billion dollars to ACORN help stimulate the economy?

[Abstract]

How about debt combined with a decreasing birth rate. I guess a deficit incurred today would be manageable if the ratio between working and retired citizens was increasing, but it's actually decreasing.

[imac/cheese]

Just curious, but how exactly does $4 billion dollars to ACORN help stimulate the economy?

From what I see, every dollar spent stimulates the economy.

[mactastic]

Just curious, but how exactly does $4 billion dollars to ACORN help stimulate the economy?
Nice attempt at moving the goalposts.

I disagree with much of what is in the stimulus bill also, but that wasn't anything remotely related to the point I made in response to your assertion that the cost of the Iraq war "pales in comparison" to the cost of the proposed stimulus package.

You should just admit you were wrong about that and move on. If you wisg to discuss whether every single dollar in the package will provide stimulus to the economy -- well, that's an entirely different conversation. Which we can have, if you want. Probably not in this thread though.

And speaking of which, what's with all the goalpost-shifting that's been presented as argument around here lately?
"X is true"
"Prove it"
"Well, I never said 'X is true', but Y is true"
"Y has nothing to do with X"
"Stop oppressing me"
:cool:

[EricNau]

A severe failure to think critically.

[Don't panic]

lack of proper education.
most everything else is a consequence.

[atszyman]

Obesity is a huge problem and I think one of the causes that has been overlooked is the chemical stew that is fermenting in our water, food and air. Personally I think the biggest problem the next generation faces will be the destruction previous generations have wreaked on the environment.

Yes but if the next generations turn into a bunch of slow moving large people with many health problems, we're not going to see the productivity gains required to even start addressing other issues, not to mention the increased healthcare costs and burden on the system.

The way I see it we have a chance to fix most other problems if we can become productive and innovative, if that can't happen, we'll keep digging deeper and deeper...

[yojitani]

None of those. Poor education is a threat this nation's youth. It's a threat in other places as well, but I have been horrified by what I've seen since moving here. I think that a version of the IB (http://www.ibo.org/diploma/), if not the IB itself, needs to be the high school standard here as it is becoming in the UK (since A-levels are now such a joke).

[63dot]

Debt.

I should have also put up a category for "debt/bling spending". Just a couple of years ago, it was so out of control.

One good thing with this recession will be the pulling back of extreme spending on clothes and bling for teens. Sure, Paris Hilton will still be wearing the stuff, but the average teenager won't try and spend likewise. Humble wear will come into vogue. Real blue jeans, and not the ones with those fancy rhinestones indicating a $300 dollar pair of couture jeans.

And if someone wants to wear sunglasses, they will block out the sun and be adequate and not have to cost hundreds. Want a hoodie, then fine, get one or two, not twelve. Shoes will be functional and the ultra fashiony shoes with no arch support, which is bad for the feet anyway, will not sell like they have been. Malls will exist with real deals and the stores that sell the ultra high end chic will go the way of the dinosaur, until the next boom, and that may not be for another five or ten years.

[Schtumple]

I should have also put up a category for "debt/bling spending". Just a couple of years ago, it was so out of control.

One good thing with this recession will be the pulling back of extreme spending on clothes and bling for teens. Sure, Paris Hilton will still be wearing the stuff, but the average teenager won't try and spend likewise. Humble wear will come into vogue. Real blue jeans, and not the ones with those fancy rhinestones indicating a $300 dollar pair of couture jeans.

And if someone wants to wear sunglasses, they will block out the sun and be adequate and not have to cost hundreds. Want a hoodie, then fine, get one or two, not twelve. Shoes will be functional and the ultra fashiony shoes with no arch support, which is bad for the feet anyway, will not sell like they have been. Malls will exist with real deals and the stores that sell the ultra high end chic will go the way of the dinosaur, until the next boom, and that may not be for another five or ten years.

I think you'll find, teens will be teens, regardless of the economic climate, teens are nothign more than selfish overgrown children whos only priority in life is themselves, because they're the ones going through the changes, that we never went through... I think you'll see teens wearing expensive clothes, they'll just have less choice over what to buy, rather than buying cheaper clothes...

[Counterfit]

And if someone wants to wear sunglasses, they will block out the sun and be adequate and not have to cost hundreds.

Unless, of course, you need prescription sunglasses. Can't get those for $10. :(

[techfreak85]

Funny....
all those things could probably be cut at least in half, if not more, if there were no absentee parents. ;)

[Digital Skunk]

The older generations in power.

Without flaming, consider the current state of affairs, namely the economy and the burden that is going to be passed off to future generations. The big "hole" of responsibility being left to the youth is being dug deeper and deeper as we speak.

I wouldn't say that. Every younger generations says that, and every generation to rise up creates their own problems.

And if someone wants to wear sunglasses, they will block out the sun and be adequate and not have to cost hundreds. Want a hoodie, then fine, get one or two, not twelve. Shoes will be functional and the ultra fashiony shoes with no arch support, which is bad for the feet anyway, will not sell like they have been. Malls will exist with real deals and the stores that sell the ultra high end chic will go the way of the dinosaur, until the next boom, and that may not be for another five or ten years.

:eek: So the world will become the inner city ghettos! Wow, talk about turn around.

p.s. the biggest threat.... abortion!

I kid!

[it5five]

War (any war), poor education, inability to think critically, and apathy.

[CalBoy]

War (any war),

Not all wars are necessarily the greatest threat to a young population.

For example, it's arguable that the generation that fought in World War II benefited from their experiences to a certain degree because they were brought out of depressing circumstances at home and had the chance to change their lives for the better on their return.

Mind you many still died, but it's difficult to say if that's the greatest threat to a generation at any given time.

[adroit]

My first response was to be a snarky "Religion" but I've since thought further and am voting "misinformation" in general. As long as kids are being fed dogma and propaganda that forces them to think themselves wicked or unpatriotic or whatever, they are screwed. Who cares what they're smoking?

[iJohnHenry]

My first response was to be a snarky "Religion" but I've since thought further and am voting "misinformation" in general.

A good choice. :D

But a word I hold dear is machination (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/machination).

It has an evil connotation that I find "attractive". :p

[DiamondMac]

Pain pills and other drugs of that sort

That has spread so fast it amazes me

[AP_piano295]

we're spoiled rotten