Speaking for myself (as a 22 year-old recent graduate) -<p>I was brought up to respect my elders and to consider society as a mostly-altruistic, benevolent mass of humanity with a conscience bent more towards justice and meritocracy than corruption and inequality. I believed that the older generation who shape and structure society through government, industry, and academia were doing their absolute best to set future generations up for success; after all, what else could be the ultimate aim and goal of life once you marry and have children of your own?<p>Now, I&#x27;m not so sure this is the case. It seems like there is a lot less to go around, even for the older generation. I used to see teenagers bagging groceries and working menial service jobs. Now all I see are 50-60 year olds, and I wonder &quot;how the hell did these people end up working minimum wage, 11pm shifts at the grocery store at age 58?&quot;. I see my landlord barely getting by on social security, rent income, and a sales job, unable to retire at age 65. Ageism is real, with layoffs at major companies (IBM, HP, etc.) affecting older workers disproportionately, many of whom are not yet able to retire and who don&#x27;t have the time to retrain for a rapidly-changing economy that demands dramatically different skills than it did 20-30 years ago.<p>So ultimately, I find that many in the older generation are simply trying to make ends meet in an environment of scarcity that is new for the US, with the youth subsequently becoming disillusioned because the system seems to be set up against them.<p>Of course, as inequality grows, the shrinking proportion of families with money are largely exempt from these worries. But you would think &quot;they&quot; (the nameless, faceless, despised rich) would find it in their interests to give back to society; to give back to a system that had rewarded them with comfort and prosperity. To make sure it didn&#x27;t rot from the greed, sloth, misplaced violence, weak guidance, and weaker morals that did away with the mighty Roman empire.<p>It&#x27;s all a matter of perspective though: at least we&#x27;re not being conscripted to go fight in Vietnam or WWIII, which is the ultimate manifestation of the old using the young for profit and self-serving agenda pushing.