Young people in their 20s and 30s seem increasingly uninterested in starting the long climb up the ladder of economic respectability. So they’re foregoing employment in favor of staying at home with their parents, moving to India, or robbing convenience stores dressed as Darth Vader.

This New York Times article reminds me of a recent story that the Italian finance minister was willing to offer cold cash to 30-something men who left their mother’s house (and so presumably contributed to the Italian economy, not to mention global overconsumption).

http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=69874bd2032e732d4710b0952b1c4438

They move back in with their parents. They delay beginning careers. Why are so many young people taking so long to grow up?

For those who’ve worn out their welcome on mom’s couch, India’s looking pretty good these days.

http://chronicle.com/article/What-I-Did-When-I-Couldnt/66281/

“It was a bit of a shock, losing all expectations. For years—all my life, really—parents, teachers, and guidance counselors had told me that if I went to a good college and did well, I would be able to find a job after graduation that would, with a little ladder-climbing, keep me comfortable and financially secure. After I graduated in May 2009, in political science, I moved back home to St. Louis to start my career, but there simply were no jobs to be found.

“Over several months, I sent out more than 500 résumés for all sorts of jobs all over the country, but I got only two interviews and no offers.

“I couldn’t find a job, but neither could anyone I knew. Now, more than a year after graduation, most of my college friends still live at home, and many of those who have moved out are borrowing money from their parents to eat and pay rent. A few have internships, but most of those are unpaid, and few are likely to lead to jobs. Two friends who studied psychology for four years now work off the books at a sandwich shop. Another, who got her master’s in development studies from Cambridge, became a barista at Starbucks.

“Some are applying to grad school just to have something to do, but the prospect of racking up thousands more dollars in student debt is crushing. The rest are still looking, sending out résumés, going to career fairs, volunteering for experience, and networking. Some have given up. We are a whole generation graduating into a job market that has no room for us.

“So I moved to India.

“Two years earlier, I had spent a semester abroad in the Nepali-speaking regions of northeastern India, learning the language and culture through a fantastic study-abroad program at Pitzer College. In India, I met Pema Wangchuk, editor and publisher of Sikkim NOW, the most popular local English-language daily newspaper in the state of Sikkim. A couple months into my job hunt, I sent Pema an e-mail asking if he knew anyone who might be interested in hiring a young, enthusiastic American college graduate. “We’d be quite keen to have you here,” he wrote back.

“After lots of e-mails and late-night international phone calls, I got on a plane and went. I had been unemployed for eight months.

“My arrangement with NOW is informal. I help out doing a little photography, a little feature writing, and a lot of copy editing. Native-level English proficiency is a rare skill in much of the developing world. I take garbled press releases from local nongovernmental organizations and government departments, and equally garbled correspondent reports from remote districts of the state, and fix the punctuation, syntax, usage, and spelling to turn them into real news stories.

“I also write feature pieces for our `Sunday edition, interviewing NGO’s about their projects and local experts about social trends. I’m learning a lot about reporting, writing, and running a small newspaper, not to mention life and politics in northeast India and Asia in general. I suspect I am getting more intimate and comprehensive journalism experience here than I would in almost any internship, temp position, or entry-level job that I could have found back in the States.

“In exchange for my work, Pema found me a flat to stay in and arranged for my meals. The cost of living here is so cheap that, with my room and board taken care of, I can live comfortably on around $10 a week. If I were back in the United States, even with the most austere lifestyle, I would be costing my family far more than that by just eating their groceries, running their utilities, and burning their gas….”

And if India doesn’t pan out, there’s always a trusty light saber.

http://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/10/07/23/1310207/Darth-Vader-Robs-Long-Island-Bank?from=rss via Byline Apparently the destruction of the second Death Star has stretched the Galactic Empire’s coffers so thin that Lord Vader himself is robbing banks. From the article: “Impotent Rebel Alliance security forces tell Newsday (paywall) that Vader marched into a Chase bank in Setauket around 11:30 a.m. today. Brandishing a completely unnecessary handgun—as he had the power to choke the oxygen out every teller’s throat—the fallen Jedi demanded cash.”