Friday, March 29, AD 2024 2:06am

“Kids” Living With Their Parents Forever Thanks to Obama

Just how far in the tank is the Mainstream Media for Obama this election year?  Time gives us an example:

Just how much of a bummer is it to be well past the age of adulthood and  still living under your parent’s roof? As this living arrangement grows  increasingly common, the perception is that it’s not so bad after all. In fact,  living with mom and dad can be pretty sweet. According to a new survey, young  adults who live with their parents are nearly as likely to say they are  satisfied with their housing situation as those who live on their own.

Last fall, a study revealed that the number of young adults living with  their parents had soared. Prior to the recession, 4.7 million Americans ages 25  to 34 lived with their folks. As of last year, though, the number had increased  to 5.9 million, thanks largely to years of widespread high unemployment and  underemployment for young workers—who often simply did not have the money to  move out of their own.

Go here to read the unintentionally hilarious rest.   Massive amounts of adults having to live with their parents due to a truly lousy economy would be played to the hilt as an unmitigated disaster by the Mainstream Media if the President had an “R” after his name.  However, with Obama it is perceived as a hot new trend that is working out surprisingly well for many people.  (Pity the survey they cite didn’t also survey the parents footing the bill.)  Young people were among the top supporters for Obama in 2008 and they have received many blessings from him as a result:  exploding student loan debt,  endless rounds of funemployment and the opportunity of living like you are 14 again with Mommie and Daddie after college.  Best of all, publications like Time telling you that things are going just swell as you line up with 40 or 50 other grads for a job opening in the food service industry!  The best of all possible worlds, brought to you courtesy of the Obama Administration and the Mainstream Media!

 

 

 

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Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 7:59am

We can check available statistics from the Census Bureau and other sources, but I think the increase in frequency with which adult children live with their parents antedates this recession by two decades.

And if the families in question can make it work, why the objection to 3 generation households? There are quite a mass of mutually beneficial exchanges to be had between three generations which are forgone when you have only two.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 8:14am

In the overwhelming majority of cases adult “kids” living with their parents is due to a lousy economy

That may be true, but just where did you discover that datum?

And what of it? It is one thing done to adjust to problems in both labor and housing markets in our time. Do you have a better idea for these families?

than some desire to recreate a multigenerational commune circa Ireland 1890.

Well, how about the desire to be 1.) hands on grandparents, 2.) minimize the use of commercial day care, and 3.) provide for infirm parents something which can only be purchased at a severe premium: time and attention.

salvage
salvage
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 8:50am

AHAHAHAH! YES! It’s Obama’s fault that the thing that has been happening for the last 20 years is happening.

Liars or idiots, which are you?

Dante alighieri
Admin
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 9:51am

Salvage is a frequent commenter at the Curt Jester, where he trolls most of the comment threads with his evangelical atheism. Not sure if it’s the same person as the famed Anarchist. Either way, not worth the time responding to.

Dante alighieri
Admin
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 9:57am

As for the topic at hand, I unfortunately lived at home for 2 years post college and before graduate school. At first it was to save up to get my own apartment, and then, after realizing I was going to grad school, I just gutted it out until I moved down to DC.

The typical young adult living at home isn’t doing it for the reasons Art outlined above. Now that might be the case in special circumstances, and I know of people who have had to move back home to take care of a sick parent. But that’s the exception, and not the rule.

Mike Petrik
Mike Petrik
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 10:41am

Art raises some good reasons for families to consider multi-generational living arrangements. I do think that there are many advantages, often under-appreciated. But Paul and Don are right (no I don’t have data, but I do have eyes) that most young adults who live at home are doing so out of perceived financial necessity (i.e., not enough job creation). To what extent it is fair to lay the blame for that on Obama is another question.

Dale Price
Dale Price
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 11:05am

From the same lickspittles who brought you “Funemployment.”

I sorta understand it, though. They have little choice but to go all-in with their guy.

ioannes
ioannes
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 11:30am

Living with parents after college can help a catholic young adult live a chaste life, marry well, and have a solid start. It shouldn’t necessarily be demonized. Money wasted on ‘bachelor pad’ rent, is money that never comes back. On the other hand, money spent on household bills builds credit and helps the parents, money that would be spent in addition to rent if the young adult were living on their own.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 11:43am

It’s Obama’s fault.

He is both ignorant and incompetent.

The economy is slagging based on his incompetent and hatred of the private sector.

WK Aiken
WK Aiken
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 11:50am

Salvage lives with his parents. That’s all you need to know, Art.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 11:58am

Yes, don’t vote for idiots like Obama who are death to an economy.

That is an evasion. Domestic financial dilemmas are a constant. They are worse in economic recessions, but recall that in even the most disagreeable recession that 90% of the workforce remains employed. Obama is not ‘death’ to an economy, merely an advocate of policies which promote deadweight loss through rent-seeking and hedging. That costs you some, but not everything.

I rather suspect Art that for one of those situations we have five where the daily routine is Mom or Dad going down to the basement to yell at adult offspring to stop playing videogames, get dressed and hit the bricks to look for work.

We can look it up. I think what you suspect is a function of personal experience, and in my circle of acquaintances, concerns about elder care are king.

. (It might also help to consider whether that anthropology degree/women’s studies degree/art history degree was really necessary for asking “Would you like fries with that?”)

About 61% of those enrolled in tertiary studies in this country are pursuing vocational degrees. Some of those studying arts and sciences are following programs in economics or in chemistry. At the liberal arts college down the road from here, my inside man tells me that about 4% are studying art and art history, 6% sociology and anthropology, and <1% women's studies. About 12% get degrees in economics.

so out of perceived financial necessity

Cannot help but recall that my mother went to college, and graduated without debts. That was in 1952. My grandfather was not a wealthy man.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 1:21pm

We have 8.5 liberal arts students for every engineering major Art

Engineers are a small minority in just about any economy. Arts and sciences is a catch-all for any subject not preparatory for a specific trade or profession. The country is not lacking for bookkeepers, salesmen, mechanics, and school teachers, most of each do have tertiary degrees or certificates of one sort or another nowadays.

Half of recent college grads Art are unemployed or working in jobs, (Do you want whipped cream on your Cappuccino?), that do not require a college degree, and that is why so many of them are returning to the nest.

I think that is more an indicator of bloat in the higher education sector (a problem which well antedates recent macroeconomic problems).

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 1:31pm

I don’t think it particularly Obama’s fault, although there is some fun in saying that.
( Not just talking about college grads who live at home, but also all those who can’t find or hold a job, who can’t take care of their children, who need the government to buy them birth control etc etc.)

I think Obama is not a cause but a result, just as our hapless generation is. A result of all the things that went wrong in the century when the devil prowled throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. May God rebuke him.
And let’s think what we can do to get back on our feet.

Mary De Voe
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 1:31pm

It is the economy. It is the curse of taxation too, that children no longer take pride in home ownership and independence. There is safety in numbers. Burglaries are down when there are many people, and lacking siblings, several generations suffice. There is much to share and much to grow. I enjoy solitude and I enjoy my many children. When my children are with me they make sure I behave. They are smarter, more beautiful and more generous…to be continued

TGWWS
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 1:34pm

What ioannes says. I have plenty of friends who are moved out–and plenty who are living at home post-college, including at least one who moved back home after having sharing an apartment with friends for a year or two. Most of the young people I know who are still living with their parents (full disclosure: self included!) are (1) employed full time, (2) paying off student loans or saving up for a car and/or an apartment, (3) paying rent to their parents or paying some of the utility bills, AND (4) helping out with household chores or babysitting their younger siblings. Hardly freeloaders, thank you very much.

(I might add that, as a young single girl, I find it a very good thing that guys I’ve gone out with have had to drive me HOME to where they see and speak with my brothers and my parents, even if it’s just for a quick hi-and-goodby.)

There’s nothing (inherently) wrong with a person in their twenties living on his/her own or with friends, and nothing inherently wrong with their living at home either. It’s what you make of the situation that matters.

Mary De Voe
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 1:35pm

Anzlyne says:
“I think Obama is not a cause but a result, just as our hapless generation is. A result of all the things that went wrong in the century when the devil prowled throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. May God rebuke him.”
AMEN

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 1:45pm

Thank you Mary. I have to say that TGWWS is also right in that there is nothing inherently wrong with that– and there are silver linings. Our grown children are all graduates of college and some have needed to come home temp. Fine and dandy, probably because they are capable, they just needed interim help. If they were not capable or motivated then I would wonder!
Are the economic problems (world-wide) and the general cultural malaise at least in some part a spiritual/sin problem that can’t be hung on any one administration, but on a long term trend?

Michael Paterson-Seymour
Michael Paterson-Seymour
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 3:40pm

I am 67 and, here in the West of Scotland, I cannot remember a time when about three-quarters of the neighbouring farms did not have three generations on them

As I was sent to boarding school from the age of eight, I actually spent more time living with my parents after university than I did before.

My family have lived in the same house since at least 1617, when the Register of Sasines was established and six of our nine maillings or tenandries have been in the same families for the same length of time. The sheiling or shepherd’s house on the common grazings has a carving of the Seymour crest on the lintel, dating from the 14th century.

It just never entered my mind that I would ever leave.

Mary De Voe
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 4:06pm

Vote out Obama and as many members of his party as possible from Congress. Slash governmental spending to balance the budget. Tell people the old hard truth that there is no free lunch and that govenment is not going to take care of people any longer who are quite capable of caring for themselves.
and return the Person of God to the Public square.

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 4:12pm

“He has been the most feckless steward of the American economy in my lifetime”

all too true! He is not blameless. There is plenty more blame to go around too, I say.

I will vote against Obama and encourage everyone I know to do the same, I guess my vote won’t be as much FOR Romney, as it will be Against Obama.

Bonchamps
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 5:04pm

I’m going to turn 30 in a month. I wouldn’t be able to make it without the financial support of parents and in-laws. That’s what seven years of university and a post-graduate degree buy you.

At least I don’t have to live WITH them. But that’s only been the case for the last two years, and it could well happen again.

Mike Tefft
Mike Tefft
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 8:25pm

The author of the article would undoubtably also find cause to celebrate the record number of food stamp recipients.

Chris Pennington
Chris Pennington
Thursday, May 31, AD 2012 11:00pm

Well, I take my hat off to those of you who live with your parents and seem to enjoy it.

When I got out of the military I lived with my mother for about 6 months to get adjusted to civilian life and begin college. I love her dearly but I just couldn’t take it. Being a grown adult (all of 22 years) and living with my mother wasn’t working…..

I transfered school quickly and went off to another area, lived in a crummy 1 bedroom apartment, meet my future wife in that new location and the rest is history…..

Being much older, wiser and married with some little ones I am glad I made the decision I made. I guess it wasn’t the best move financially but as a person I developed and grew up in ways not possible if I was at home. Plus I met my future wife after moving and we have some wonderful memories of that crummy one bedroom.

Just my 2 cents.

Michael Paterson-Seymour
Michael Paterson-Seymour
Friday, June 1, AD 2012 3:01am

My father died in the room and in the very bed, in which he had been born.

trackback
Friday, June 1, AD 2012 4:01am

[…] [5] Like those things Mr. Donald R. McClarey pointed out. […]

Joe Green
Joe Green
Saturday, June 2, AD 2012 8:21am

I left home at 17 and so did my brother. We joined the Navy and Army, respectively. Back then military service was almost de riguer if you didn’t go to college. When I got out, at 21, I lived with my mother briefly and then my dad, who had divorced while I was away but only for a few months. By 22 I was back on my own. I suppose if you can’t support yourself and your parents can provide a safety net there’s nothing wrong with living with them until you can find a place of your own. In China and third-world countries, parents and children often lived together for a lifetime. It’s more cultural than political.
When I had children of my own, I was glad to see them gone in their late teens because I had a sense of pride that they were able to live free and independent lives.

Foxfier
Saturday, June 2, AD 2012 8:46am

Similar story to Joe’s, here, for all three of my siblings. We’ve spent more time since we graduated high school visiting than we have living with my folks.

With the number of empty rental places, it means something much different than it does in Scotland. I’m actually heading down in a few weeks to meet up with the other descendants of a family that left Scotland 100 years ago– we did not keep some idea that living in the same house after adulthood was OK. Those who are living with parents– or adult children– want a separate house that is very near-by for ease of help. Heck, the house I’m living in now has a different family living in the “mother in law cabin” out back. The only case I can think of where adult children and parents lived together long-term without a protection aspect is where my grandparent-in-laws remodeled their basement into an apartment (with its own entry/exit and parking area) for a mother in law.

Joe’s hit it on the head– it’s a matter of independence.

Odd that this happens shortly after a lot of parents mention how their kids don’t want driver’s licenses.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Saturday, June 2, AD 2012 10:13am

Being a grown adult (all of 22 years) and living with my mother wasn’t working…..

That is going to be a function of what your habits are and how overbearing your mother is. People born prior to about 1938 faced a cultural chasm between themselves and their children. I think that if you looked at it with care, you would find that the chasm was much smaller for subsequent cohorts.

Foxfier
Admin
Saturday, June 2, AD 2012 10:23am

My folks are quite a bit younger than that, and I’m 45 years younger than that, and it still didn’t work.

It’s not a matter of being overbearing, it’s about the changes that happen when you move out and then move back– if you never left, it’s different, but the changes that happen when you do leave don’t translate very well into moving back in.

There’s the culture problem, the power problem, the personality problem (at least in my case– both my mother and myself have very strong personalities; similar personalities often grind against each other) and…shoot, everything involved in the change between your baby being a grown-up with the added problem of them being back in the situation where they were kids, which will change how both act. I’m just visiting my folks and I still notice I act differently than at home.

Valentin
Valentin
Saturday, June 2, AD 2012 3:53pm

I am not sure where the idea comes from that it is somehow the right thing to get away from your parents no matter. It seems to me that it makes sense to take care of your parents when they get old. I do think that there are reasons for getting out of the house but leaving your parents in the dirt seems like a bad thing to do.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Saturday, June 2, AD 2012 4:54pm

If you say so, Foxfier. Your situation just sounds like…family life.

Foxfier
Admin
Saturday, June 2, AD 2012 5:03pm

Art- the difference between a 19 year old adult that never moved out and a 19 year old that moved back in is big enough that I notice it. Unless the definition of “family life” is circular, it ain’t the same.

Valentin -there’s a difference between staying with your parents until you form your own household, moving back in with your parents while both are active adults, and a family member moving in to take care of someone that’s in poor health. The rule of thumb I hear most often is “do you do your own laundry?”

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