Two words - personal responsibility. If you took your education seriously you would have the skills to get, and keep, a really good job...or find one if your company got bought out. There would have been no need for the subprime mortgage mess because you (and everyone else) would be responsible enough to get a standard mortgage. You would also be able to pay higher prices for goods and the companies would not have to go overseas to get cheaper labor to make their products more affordable. If you had saved some money instead of spending every dime you earned, and then some, layoffs would not be as devastating. Two more words - Great Depression. Our parents learned how to work and how to save and we seem to have missed those lessons.