Young People: Living on the Edge

from Qvisory:



Qvisory released a set of survey findings on July 27, 2008 illustrating the severe impact of the current economic crisis on 18 to 34 year-olds. We asked Anna Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, who specializes in research on young adults, to conduct the survey in June.

Her report, Young People: Living on the Edge, describes the intense pressures young adults face making ends meet in the current economic downturn, and how they believe national leaders in Washington, DC are failing to represent their interests.

Here are some of the findings that show the tremendous and growing financial stress young adults feel:

* Financial concerns top the list of problems facing young adults in their lives today, at 55 percent, an 11-point jump over the past year.

Young adults are struggling with debt:
* Three out of four young people report having gone deeper in debt over the past year.
* More than half of young adults say they are only paying their minimum monthly amount on their credit card.
* Nearly one in five (19%) report having had their phone, cable, or utilities cut off, and more than one in seven (15%) have faced repossession or had their credit card cancelled due to non-payment.
* One in three young people who owe money on a credit card owe more than $10,000 overall.
* 28% of all young adults are carrying medical debt.
* More than half of all young people have gone without health insurance at some point in the past five years – including 75% of those who are now carrying medical debt.

* Only 32% of young people think the leadership in Washington, DC represents their interests well, in contrast to their views about how well corporations (79%), veterans (52%), and seniors (53%) are represented.


http://qvisory.org/qvisory/survey/livingonedge

Suffering the pain of rightwing economic policies.

And at least for me, it's as bad as they report.

I refuse to get snared by credit card debt, however. If I don't eat regularly, it's better than digging myself into a deeper hole with interest payments.

The roof over my head came first since I'd experienced the alternative. I drove tuna wagons and lived out of thrift shops.

A lot of us granny people know exactly what you're going through. We've had a lifetime of getting the shaft six ways from Sunday since liberals went out of power just at the time we reached adulthood.

We just remember how it used to be better. We know what it will take to get there again.

¨* 28% of all young adults are carrying medical debt. ¨ That´s surprising.

just a bad stomach flu. Go to an ER, get smacked with a debt of several thousand dollars.