TO THE EDITOR:
On Wednesday night, Nov. 13, the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program and the UNC Kenan-Flagler School of Business hosted an event on “Generational Equity” with investor Stanley Druckenmiller and educator Geoffrey Canada at Memorial Hall. The house was nearly full, with the majority being students, the targeted audience.
Mr. Canada and Mr. Druckenmiller first presented the root causes of the debt explosion to the younger generation and then suggested what these students do about it. A wildly skewed entitlement system exists to redistribute wealth from the poor (the younger generation who generally have less accumulated wealth) to the rich (baby boomers who have amassed more wealth).
Young workers are responsible for “funding” Social Security for thousands of new retirees every day — a program of insurance for the few has become a pension for the many. Medicare for older Americans is another program funded by the less affluent young. This formula is now being replicated by Obamacare and a pledge by Democratic leadership that they will not entertain any changes to Social Security, Medicare or Obamacare.
The students’ reaction should have been horror. A stunning chart showed more than $200 trillion of unfunded entitlement liabilities off the government books. That $200 trillion is in addition to the $17 trillion that is on the books. The students appeared unmoved. When the Q&A time came, not one student came to the microphone with a single question on topic.
Mr. Druckenmiller cited the activism of the millennials. They will take to the street for marriage equality, income inequality, gay rights, civil rights, human rights — everything but their own right to not have this huge bull’s eye of debt on their backs.
Mr. Canada and Mr. Druckenmiller have been touring campuses trying to educate and encourage action. Several years ago Erskine Bowles did the same. It is incumbent on the next generation to say “enough.” The Robertson Scholars and the Kenan-Flagler School of Business clearly valued this message and invested time and resources to sponsor the event. Sadly, no one seems to care.
Janie Wagstaff
Durham
