The way that our economy is structured today is ridiculously unfair to younger Americans. First, we push our young people to go to expensive colleges and universities where they pile up enormous debt. Then they go out into the real world where they find that only a handful of really good jobs are available for the vast army of college graduates entering the workforce.

Meanwhile, our politicians are busy mortgaging their future. Our young people are expected to support a Social Security system that will not be there for them, and more than 2 billion dollars is added every single day to a debt that will hang around the necks of younger Americans and their children for the rest of their lives. This generation will be the first in U.S. history to be significantly worse off than their parents.

Did you know that …

– U.S. households led by someone 65 years of age or older are 47 times wealthier than U.S. households led by someone 35 years of age or younger.

– Today, only about 55 percent of all Americans between the ages of 16 and 29 have a job.

– Back in the year 2000, more than 50 percent of all American teens had a job. This past summer, only 29.6% of all American teens had a job.

– Since the year 2000, incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation.

– It is absolutely ridiculous how much it costs to get a college education in America today. After adjusting for inflation, U.S. college students are now borrowing about twice as much money as they did as decade ago.

– Average yearly tuition at private colleges and universities in the United States is now up to $ 27,293. That figure has increased by 29% in just the past five years.

– Back in 1952, a full year of tuition at Harvard was only $ 600. Today, it is $ 35,568.

– The cost of college textbooks has tripled over the past decade.

– In 2010, the average college graduate had accumulated approximately $ 25,000 in student loan debt by graduation day.

– At some point this year, total student debt in the United States will surpass the 1 trillion dollar mark for the first time ever.

– The total amount of student loan debt in the United States now exceeds the total amount of credit card debt in the United States.

– Our economy is not producing nearly enough jobs for our college graduates. The percentage of mail carriers with a college degree is now 4 times higher than it was back in 1970.

– One-third of all college graduates end up taking jobs that don’t even require a college degree.

– In the United States today, there are more than 100,000 janitors that have college degrees.

– In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.

– Right now, there are 5.9 million Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 that are living with their parents. According to recent Census data, men are almost twice as likely to be living with their parents as women are.

– At this point, there are more than 3.5 million Americans that are behind on their mortgage payments. Young people that were offered “teaser rates” on their first homes before the housing collapse represent a large proportion of these mortgages.

– The total value of household real estate in the U.S. has declined from $ 22.7 trillion in 2006 to $ 16.2 trillion today. As noted above, large numbers of young Americans bought homes in the years leading up to the housing crash, and they lost a ton of wealth when home values plummeted.

– We are facing a retirement crisis that is absolutely unprecedented in U.S. history. Right now, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers are turning 65 every single day. Young Americans are expected to pay for their Social Security benefits, but Social Security will not be there when Americans under the age of 30 get older.

– Young Americans get arrested at a far higher rate than older Americans do. Amazingly, 30% of all Americans get arrested by the time they reach the age of 23. Once you spend time in prison, getting a good job becomes much tougher.

– Approximately one out of every five Americans under the age of 30 is currently living in poverty.

– In 2010, 42 percent of all single mothers in the United States were on food stamps. A very large percentage of those single mothers are under the age of 30.

– According to one recent survey, only 14 percent of all Americans that are 28 or 29 years old are optimistic about their financial futures.

– The U.S. government is stealing about 150 million dollars per hour from our children and grandchildren. Younger Americans will be required to bear the burden of this debt.