Youth Radio - Topic: Economic Crisis

WATCH: University Students Snap Up Community College Seats

brett — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:11:39 -0500

By Anna Bloom and Maggie Fazeli Fard

The following was broadcast on KQED-FM.

The California budget crisis is affecting all levels of public education, and community colleges are getting pinched in a surprising way. Increasingly, students from elite four year universities like UC Berkeley are enrolling in classes at community colleges and bumping two year students out of their seats.

Check out the video to see how these new dynamics are playing out for one community college student, Jessica Martin. Plus, you'll get to watch Jessica discover whether she gets into her dream school, UC Berkeley!

Previously:

EconomyBeat Shines Light On The "Best of Craigslist"

noah — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:24:41 -0500

EconomyBeat, a user-generated site focusing on- strangely enough- economy stories has begun delving into the wild and woolly reaches of Craigslist, panning for comedy gold and a ground -up view of a cratering economy:

Dear Future late 20/early 30 Hipster Neighbor from the Mid-west/South/Idaho:

I know you are the coolest kid in Iowa/Ohio/Idaho/Texas/Florida/etc but…

While scanning CL for a cool vintage apartment near Hawthorne or Alberta, a sweet barista job and a new fixie to ride around on once you arrive, please reconsider your decision, and please do not move here.

There aren’t any jobs for the people who already live here….

Regards,

Your previous future neighbor

The first collection culled from the "Best of Craigslist" section proved so popular they're working on a second. Maybe we'll get a regular feature... assuming people can still afford internet access as the year goes on. (from EconomyBeat)

Music To Lose Your Life Savings By...

noah — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:10:39 -0500

Our friends at American Public Media's Marketplace recently camped out in front of Amoeba records in Hollywood and asked shoppers what music gets them through these harsh economic times.

Check out the original post for the Marketplace Playlist, and a whole lot of listener playlists in the comments!

Previously:

Recession Affecting My Education

brett — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:59:10 -0500

Young people discuss how the recession is affecting their education. They describe overcrowded classrooms, long lines at financial aid offices, and stress.

Previously:

Sleep Deprived Seniors

skhan — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:43:21 -0500

Lately, I find myself waking up at 5 in the morning and hitting the sack at around midnight. With the constant stress of tests like the SAT, early morning AP classes, and the ultimate fear, college applications, my senior year is not turning out they way I would expected it would.

There's been plenty of talk about college and financial aid. But what people haven't been mentioning are the reverberating effects of the economic climate. I go to a charter school in Los Angeles and was hoping that my in-state applications would be my "safety schools." But that's turning out to be a pipe dream. With the budget cuts, the University of California and California State University systems have less money to go around and are raising their minimum GPA requirements and lowering their acceptance rates. Since they can service only a smaller number of California residents, the competition among high school seniors will get more intense.

And I thought this year was going to be fun.

More after the jump...

I remember in middle school hearing my cousins tell stories about their last year in high school, which was dotted with spectacular-sounding events like prom and senior dinners. But what you never hear about is the stress and the pressure at the beginning of senior year. Now that I am actually in my senior year, I want to press the fast forward button. It seems that the school day lasts forever. I remember when I was younger, I used to daydream about kicking it at the movies or playing soccer with friends, but now I've succumbed to daydreaming about sleeping.

My teachers would always remind me how every year of high school would prepare me for my senior year. At first I didn't get it, but now I understand. In fact, my entire senior class has bonded over the stress of graduating and applying to college. Only we, and not the students in the lower grades, can understand what we're going through.

Even though this is probably one of the worst high school experiences I’ll ever have to go through I’m not entirely disappointed with the situation. The rest of my senior class has made it one of the most enjoyable, “sucky” times of my life. And even though I’m stressing about college applications, tests, and meetings, I know that my twenty-five best friends next to me are stressing just as much as I am, which, of course, isn’t exactly good.

But it is good to know that when you need a shoulder to sleep on at lunch, you have twenty-five comfortable pillows that are there for you.

Previously:

In and Out the Maze

ahowell — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:03:54 -0500

As LAPD Chief Bratton announces his resignation to pursue opportunities into the private sector, I can't help but wonder if the move is in response to the economic uncertainty of the workforce spreading to the public sector. Two weeks ago my father unexpectedly told me that after 30 years of working for the telephone company, he retired so he could pursue his own artistic passions. As more baby-boomers are entering the age of retirement, I wonder how people of their generation, who have been defined by their value of hard work, will define themselves now that their work is done. While Gen-Xers are defined by their entrepreneurial savvy and the current generation is being defined by the economic crisis that has gripped the nation, it looks like baby-boomers might be the last to successfully navigate the job maze.

According to a May study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, only 19.7% of all 2009 college graduates who applied for jobs, actually got hired. In 2008, the rate was 26%, down from 51% in 2007. Currently, it seems that the gates to themaze are closing. In addition to college grads not being able to find jobs, the Department of Labor reports that despite rising unemployment rates since the recession, people over 55 are staying in the workforce in larger numbers.

While at age 56 my father narrowly escaped the category of people over 55 and still working, my brother, a 2008 graduate of UCSC, has yet to find gainful employment. In some strange way, I have a bird’s eye view over the job maze, checking it out on both ends. What I’m seeing now is a paradigm shift. Because the economy is in such a weak position, employees like my father, and possibly Chief Bratton, are seeking to define themselves by the work they do for themselves, as opposed to the work they do for other organizations. After all, the titles of "Telephone Frames Technician" and "Chief of Police" can definitely undermine an individual's identity. By working for themselves, they can create their own capacity, which is probably more important to this generation, especially as the institutions who created these titles are in trouble.

And it is this same economy’s position that is causing students, who have been told all their lives that a good education and a college degree can keep them from working at fast food restaurants, to seek more humbling job titles, such as "crewmember," "courtesy clerk," or "sales rep." Some, like my brother, still view certain job titles as “beneath them.”

One graduate of Monroe College, in NY is suing her alma mater for $70,000 because of their inability to find her gainful employment. As many students and colleges are watching this case closely, I can’t help but smirk at the real problem with the current generation; it’s sense of entitlement. While the point is hammered over the heads of young people that a good education equals success, there are a host of things that schools and parents are not emphasizing that could possibly be the cause of the current predicament. Things such as dedication, humility, and resilience -- things the baby-boomer generation know all too well.

These current times are testing not only the risk taking ability of the baby boom generation, but the humility of the Entitlement generation. In a job maze whose entry is slim, and whose exit doesn’t hold much cheese, I think for now it’s best we all get in where we fit in. It's just as important, also, to know when it’s time to make a graceful exit.

Previously:

Learning to Live With Others

skhan — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:59:58 -0500

After I graduate from high school this December I have a choice: either move out of my parents home and live with friends or just stay put in my childhood bedroom. Being an independent person I'd like to move out, but because of money and some experiences I've had living with strangers it seems like it's going to take a lot longer than I'd hoped. This is a real setback and slightly frustrating.

Similar situations have been cropping up recently with greater frequency throughout the country. There are many difficulties associated with living with others. Many people have problems either with groceries, private spaces that no one touches, or chores. It almost sounds like you're married to the people you're living with for as long as you're living with them. It's hard when you're either a clean person living with a disorderly person or the other way around. For example my brother was planning on moving in with a college friend of his, until he realized how meticulous the guy was after talking to his other roommates. This made him think twice and he decided not to move in. Since then he is still living with us for economic reasons. Depending on who the alpha of the house is, it's sometimes a what-they-say-goes kind of situation.

Due to the recent financial crisis, the number of people moving in together or back home has increased significantly. A recent survey reported that more than 76% of homeowners and renters who had to move because of foreclosures are staying with family and friends. Jim Toedtman, editor of the AARP Bulletin, has said that "the recession is having an impact on people of all ages, and the effects are starting to be felt at home." Even President Barack Obama has had to address some of these issues. Even though his reasons for moving his mother-in-law into the White House weren't economic, they still probably had some adjustment issues. According to the New York Times, when families move in together, it is "rarely without tensions. There are old expectations and patterns of behavior, new partners and economic realities, and, typically, an endless series of conflicting individual needs." The upside to moving in and out is that you learn to live with people, to be aware of everyone's privacy, and to cope with things that are out of your control.

I thought at first that I'd live in a dorm when I went to college. I thought it would be fun to live with other people I don't know. But that was before I had a taste of living with strangers. When I moved to Texas, I had to live with one of my mom's friends -- a stranger to me. My family was in the middle of a move to Texas, so my parents sent me ahead so that I wouldn't have to change schools mid-semester. It was really hard to live in this situation. The woman I lived with was very particular about the noise we made, to the point that I couldn't move around too much upstairs because she could hear it. We had to do chores, which was fine since I was happy to help out, but I had to do them in a very particular way. She had a bunch of other relatives living with her who didn't follow the rules as much as I did, and whenever they did something wrong they would blame it on me. Once, the lady thought I stole some lotions from the bathroom, so she took it upon herself to go into my room while I was downstairs. My parents had given me an allowance of 40 dollars a week, so there was no reason for me to steal anything. Of course the other people knew I had money, primarily to buy food, so they would always hit me up for extra food. I would oblige them, but would then end up walking around hungry half the time.On the other hand, there were some benefits. For instance, I ate out less and ate less in general because it wasn't my mom's kitchen. But it was still kind of annoying because I didn't have the freedom to open the fridge and grab something to eat.

This experience taught me to cope with other people and difficult situations. I learned that you have to be strategic about when you put yourself first and when you cooperate with others. Usually it's better in these situations to compromise, but sometimes it can get out of hand. Now, I know better than to jump into things. For instance, I'm not tempted to leave my parents' house after high school to live with friends, like a lot of people I know. I know that I won't be able to make it by myself at this stage, especially in this economic climate. And even if you're living with friends, you won't know how they are on a day-to-day basis until you live with them. Another option is that as soon as my brother and I get on our feet, we could possibly rent an apartment together since we already know each other's habits. That would eliminate some of the leg work.

Sometimes living with strangers can work better than living with friends. Kendall, a New York native, moved into a one bedroom apartment in Los Angeles with five other girls from all over the globe: two were from South Korea, two from Mongolia, and one from Paris. In the beginning, it was a bit hard for her since her roommates were complete strangers to her. She didn't have much money, so she didn't have much of a choice. Even then, she was paying about $200 a month for a small corner of a room. Because she's living in such close quarters, she's had to learn to keep organized and be conscious that there are others in the house.

But, things have turned out OK. All the roommates distribute chores and food fairly: twice a month she cleans the kitchen and the bathroom, and others pitch in on their own. It's kind of like a reality show, except it's not fake--it's actually real! But it's not like a reality show because Kendall is living without the drama. None of her roommates are melodramatic people who just want to cause problems. They've all come together to live inexpensively while going to college in Los Angeles. And they're caring to boot. Every morning, before she heads to her internship, Kendall's roommates wave furiously saying, "Have a good day! Have a great day!" Perhaps her earlier experiences living with others helped her get along with her current roommates. One summer, she worked on a horse ranch in Colorado. She shared a shack with three other people, but said that "after doing manual labor, working with horses all day, it didn’t matter what the room looked like as long as you had a bed to sleep on." It seems that as long as your roommates are focused on larger goals, then the minutiae of daily living are less important and less of a cause of tension.

The list of issues that arise is just as long as the variety of shared living situations that exist. Many problems arise from living with either a roommate, friends, relatives, etc. In all situations, we have to learn to coexist with people and respect boundaries and others' privacy.

Previously:

Stock Market Obsessed

rebecca — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 16:54:03 -0600

by Lauren Silverman

I've been ducking and dodging the unfamiliar economic terms since the first financial bailout was announced, hoping phrases like "credit default swaps" and "short selling" might disappear. Well, they haven't; in fact, those pesky financial terms are showing up everywhere from Vanity Fair to Star Magazine (although Star chose to talk not about lost assets, but lost "cashola").

I can't escape the terms, so I decided to stand up and make an interception. I started my financial self-education this way: typing questions into Google. Surprisingly, this proved fairly successful--I learned that a hedge fund is basically an exclusive mutual fund, and that short-selling is essentially borrowing stocks and selling them in the hopes that you will be able to rebuy them when their price goes down. And to commit these terms to memory, I made flash cards on things like price to earnings ratios.

Then I took the next step in my game plan and registered for a free online trading account at www.up-down.com. The site gives players a million dollars to virtually invest and practice trading techniques.

Despite the fact that it’s not real money, I find myself being extremely cautious buying just 20 shares at a time. So far, I’ve only invested 15 thousand dollars - mostly in things like alternative energy hoping to cash in on the promises of President Barack Obama. But the last time I checked my daily digest, I saw a lot of red and I know that’s a bad sign. The only stock that was up was a solar company. I keep trying to think of innovative investment ideas – things other people may overlook – like manufacturers of insulation and double paned windows. But many of those companies are either private, or behemoths that cut across sectors. So I’m sticking with predictable companies, and getting trounced like everyone else.

I also signed up for a free 30-day practice account with Advanced Currency Markets, a foreign exchange dealer, and got a call from one of their representatives ten hours later to "follow up with my interest." I'm guessing they don't have too many people signing up for their services right now. Which scared me enough to tell them to take me off their list.

Months ago, I hardly knew what NASDAQ was; today, I'm a bit stock-market obsessed.

The financial crisis has been disastrous for the majority of Americans, and there's no doubt that it has slimmed down my wallet. My regular babysitting gigs have dried up now that parents are choosing Netflix over the theater.

On the plus side, the meltdown has fattened up my stock-market knowledge. Hopefully, the time I have invested in educating myself and playing online stock trading games will pay off--even if only with virtual money. You don't actually think I'm crazy enough to put one penny into the REAL stock market??

Previously:

Teen Spending Way Down

brett — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:54:52 -0500

I’ve never had $5,000 a year to spend at the mall, but that’s the average amount teens spend per year on retail, or at least it was. A new study from Piper Jaffray says teen spending is down 14 percent this year. My friend Rose Powell and I know all to well about cutting back, “Now we definitely go, oh we should go do this. And then the first question is always like, how much does that cost?”

Rose and I use to go to movies all the time, but she can’t remember the last time we did that, “Yeah and like now, like we go hey like who’s house are we going to, to sit around at and just talk to each other.”

We’re definitely not shopping for new outfits these days, and we’re not alone. Clothing is one of the hardest hit categories – taking a 22 percent plunge. And that’s visible at my school. I don’t hear anyone bragging about their brand name jeans anymore, and Rose says there’s a reason why. “There’s totally like kinda a stigma now for being like oh I have hella money I just buy whatever I want. Cause your like oh look at that rich kid over there who is not economizing Ooo.”

Other students don’t have the option of economizing, like 17-year-old Derek Williams. After his mom went on disability and his older brother got laid off, Derek says hanging out with friends became extremely difficult, “My friends know my situation so they know sometimes that I don’t have money, and they want me to go out with them.”

So they lend him the money, which makes Derek feel like he’s got to treat his friends like Wells Fargo, “The way I think about it is if, like, they the bank, I took out this amount of money from them so I’m in debt and I pay it back.”

For most teenagers, having a social life is an essential part of our identity, and sometimes it requires money. But teens like me are finding ways around this. Now I shop at thrift store instead of department stores, and I even split $5 footlongs with my friends. But I think this recession has prepared me for the future. I’m learning to budget and save money, skills some people have trouble understanding well into adulthood.

A Student On the Run from the Economic Crisis

skhan — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:14:01 -0500

By Ata-ul-Malik Khan

I went to graduate school in urban planning at the University of California-Irvine to escape the economic crisis, but it seems like anywhere I go, it’ll come and find me. So, a few months ago, I started feeling the pressure to get a part-time job or an internship that hopefully would turn into a job.
Why was I looking for a job in the first place? Well, urban planning is a field where work experience has always mattered a lot, so that was of course the initial reason. But once the economy tanked, I felt even more compelled to get that internship. I figured that come graduation, it would be a hyper competitive job market.
For the past few of months, Google became my magic 8-ball for finding the perfect part-time employment. Each query I typed into the search engine grew progressively more desperate than the last. I started off with “urban planning jobs Orange County” or “planning internships,” but it soon became “urban planning job market in 2010” and “best careers during a recession.”
And my mind started to wander too. Before I’d ignore anything online that wasn’t tagged as “development,” “planning,” or “public policy.” But given the times, I began to flirt with the idea of being a Sales Representative at Wet Seal. I thought I’d be great at it. And I even convinced myself that the world always could use another stock boy in the back warehouse of a Motherhood Maternity.
Making myself a desirable candidate for a job in my field became so important that I even stopped caring about the amount of money I would be earning. I’d work for free if I needed to. In this climate, networking and exposure are way more important than the immediate reward of money.
Some of my friends scoffed at my willingness to work for free, while colleagues remained optimistic about academia. They figured they could weather the economic storm in the safe harbor of a doctoral program. But after attending some lackluster job talks by these recently minted PhDs and hearing about the research woes of our professors, even my more bookish colleagues thought a career in Pizza Hut-delivery didn’t even sound half bad.
After a quarter without finding work, I had the fortune of landing two internships in my field. But my luck turned only after writing hundreds of cover letters and spending many hours peering into my computer monitor, desperate for an answer.
But one thing that meandering through the job market taught me is that necessity really is the mother of invention. I started to think in terms of how I could survive by literally capitalizing on stuff I’m doing anyway. I mean, yeah, staying up ‘til 3am watching Entourage on SideReel probably won’t help me any, but, for example, if I’m going to spend ten bucks on a movie, I’ll only do it to review it for the school paper. Or if I’m going pay rent every month no matter what, might as well get involved with the housing association. You never know where you’ll find a random connection that will lead you somewhere better.