some guy in lebanon

Update: Also read “Part 2 of the American Diaspora – Economic Consequences of the Bailout” which is currently a top-ranked article on Google for the keywords “American Diaspora”! I can’t believe I wrote this in early October… guess I had a little foresight, eh?

People ask me why I’m leaving the country – why I’m going to Lebanon. My usual reply is, “Big fish, small pond/Small Fish, big pond.” The general theory being, I can stay in America and attempt to break into journalism by getting a Masters and fighting my way up the ladder at local, regional, and national newspapers, OR, I can go abroad and slug it out in smaller pond where my experience will compound every day.

Welcome to the New Frontier

In event, my experience with job interviews is that international experience allows a candidate to draw upon a story that those who lack work and time abroad don’t have. Lacking a story is poison in a job interview.

So I’m looking for a story to tell in a smaller pond where the stakes are smaller and the payout is greater – living is cheaper, I don’t have to borrow money, I can learn more about the region, actually learn Arabic, etc.

That’s what I tell people. But in truth, that answer is focused on the old way of seeing what America is to its young people – A promised land of opportunity. Sure! Go abroad, get some experience. Learn a language. You’ll be really well positioned when you come back. You’ll have a great story, a great time, go ahead!

The truth incorporates what I tell people about why I’m going abroad. But, the truth also hides a belief of mine that I am often reluctant to share: That I firmly believe young Americans are about to get a hard lesson in reality.

Why is that? Well,

In my opinion, if you’re in your early 20’s, hold a degree or certificate of some kind, have little professional experience beyond internships or hourly-wage work (waiting tables, tending bar, etc.), and you’re American, in my opinion, you’re at the bottom of a totem pole that’s about to get a whole hell of a lot taller.

Credit, professional opportunities, meaningful healthcare, and the security of any job that we young Americans currently hold, is quickly evaporating. It’s the end of a gilded era which we are all responsible for constructing. Nothing about that is going to change for a long while. We’re about to see a hyper-frontier in America, and everybody’s going to scramble to get a piece of the pie while the getting is still marginally good. So long, meritocracy! When times are tough, folks protect their own, and nobody’s less connected than an American in their early twenties. Unproven, untested, unsure, hyperactive, and virtually talentless except for a lot of repressed energy, we are a generation that is essentially incapable of survival in the coming American economic climate. We’re used to easy money – That’s gone. We’re used to endless support from parents – That’s probably gone for many too. We’re used to structures of thought and structures of economy that, frankly, are supposed to ensure success, and we’re too damn busy reading TMZ and Facebook to notice that the rug’s being pulled out from underneath us.

But the party’s over

The flag’s at halfstalf for our American generation, but hopefully we’ll figure things out before it’s too late – The only alternative option for us all is to get lost for a while. Leave the country, and head to places where our staunch American ideals and ingenuity make us valuable, and simultaneously we can learn some hard lessons about life. It’s time to cut the cord. Ever heard of South East Asia? The Middle East? Eastern Europe? South America? I can’t tell you how many of my friends are considering getting off this sinking ship for these locations, if they haven’t already.

When the economy here finally collapses, it’s going to look like nothing my generation has ever seen. During the last major recession in the late 80’s, I was five years old. And I’m twenty four. A thirty-year-old American was no older than twelve. We could therefore hypothesize that nobody younger than thirty four was in a position to be professionally affected by the Savings and Loan crisis, and that’s being really generous. Being sixteen and not being able to get a job waiting tables is tough, but it’s really not what I’m talking about.

So let’s push out further. Let’s say that you had to have been twenty two in 1988 to really appreciate the severity of the last American economic meltdown. If you were twenty two in 1988, you’re now forty two. AGAIN,

If you were twenty two in 1988, today you’re forty two, you can only barely begin to understand the effect on one’s ability to operate in this world during a recession. All Americans under the age of forty two in 2008 were fairly insulated by youth in 1987-1991, last time things went really south. How many people is that? A heck of a lot of people. Certainly no one in my generation.

So it’s time to get out of dodge. Learn a language, book a flight, or book a flight and learn a language. Take an internship that maybe guarantees some food, or take the last loan you’ll ever get from you parents while they can still spare it. If you want to behave like a few of my friends, empty out your credit card with a cash advance, and then declare bankruptcy.

Maybe you think something can be done – Well, it can’t. All the jobs that people in their early twenties would normally fill have been outsourced, or our economy has essentially dictated that such jobs can only be performed by foreign workers who will work for less than minimum wage. On top of that, our enormous trade imbalance and our even-more-staggering (and ever-growing) national debt leaves the young American taxpayer at a distinct disadvantage. Distinct disadvantage? Yeah that’s an understatement. Being an American taxpayer in your early twenties is basically a deal killer, a liability. You’re going to be paying for every penny we’re borrowing, plus interest, until you die, and the hilarious thing about that it is that,

The social services and national debt we’ll be paying for until we retire (if we retire) we will never enjoy the benefit of. Never. When we’re paying high taxes, we won’t be able to expect squat from the government. The government’s not going to have any money. We’ll be financing the enjoyment of the tyrannical governments around the world that have lent us the billions that got us into this mess originally.

So, again, it’s time to leave. Not forever – This is an amazing country, but our current state of affairs is really a problem. We’re citizens of a nation in serious debt and in serious trouble, with little productive skill and a limited understanding of the world and its dangers. We speak English and nothing else, spend $1.25 for every dollar we make, and the members of my generation are fast realizing that reality is painful but the only option is clear: The Diaspora must begin. I’m just part of the first wave.

The Dao that can be experienced is not true;
The world that can be constructed is not true.
The Dao manifests all that happens and may happen;
The world represents all that exists and may exist.
-Dao De Jing