The week's buzz: Down, out and under 35

By Allison Linn

Many Americans have long lived with the notion that the next generation should be better off than the one before it. The Great Recession now has some questioning whether that can continue.

A post this week looking at how much financial ground households under 35 have lost in recent decades prompted hundreds of you to comment?on what the future may hold for young people weighed down by the recession, housing crisis and increasing cost of going to college.

Some said there should be no guarantee that young people will live better than their parents. But others felt differently.

?As a 60 (year-old) I can say that our generation has had it all. Tuition was affordable and jobs were plentiful. The younger generations are paying into Social Security and will never see a benefit. The least we could do is to forgive student loans and make education affordable for them - as it was for us. Stop funneling all the money to the DoD,? the reader wrote, referring to the U.S. Department of Defense.

There are some ways that younger Americans have seen improvements over their parents? generation. Another post this week looking at the slow gains in the number of new moms getting paid maternity leave also got plenty of people talking about whether employers should provide those benefits.

The vast majority of the more than 12,000 people who took our poll said yes, parents should get paid time off with their babies.

But many commenters disagreed.

?I don't think companies should have to pay you to take time off to start a family. You need to choose: family or work. There is no 'and' in this scenario ? ?This isn't Sweden. Here, maternity leave should be seen as a privilege, not a right. Just like starting a family is a choice. And choices have consequences. YOUR consequences, not your employers,? one reader wrote.

Some commenters felt it was unfair to offer employees paid time off when so many people are looking for work. For some jobseekers, a major barrier to employment is a low credit score.

Is that a fair measure? Another Life Inc. post this week looked at recent research showing that people with low credit scores aren?t more likely to call in sick or steal, but they are more likely to be agreeable.

Most readers felt that a low credit score shouldn?t keep you from getting? a job.

?During these tough economic times absolutely not. Credit scores and reports tell a story and every story has two sides to it. Negative credit could be due to a recent loss of a job, serious illness, change in family, etc. and may not reflect the individual's capacity or character to perform a job,? one reader wrote on our Facebook page.

Source: http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/11/8754585-the-weeks-buzz-down-out-and-under-35

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