Dear Friends,

This week, ‘economic stimulation’ in the form of a check from the IRS arrived in my mailbox, part of the Bush administration’s last gasp effort to revive an economy ravaged by government indifference, crumbling infrastructure, stagnated employment, inaccessible healthcare, underfunded schools and looming eco-crises.

As some of you know, acquiring resources has remained a challenging category for my entire adult life. And, like many of you, my mail is far less likely to provide a boost to those resources than to create a drain on them. An endless stream of bills, membership dues, notices of fare and rent increases, health-related invoices not covered by insurance and other ‘gifts’ are all-too-rarely offset by ‘happy surprises’ from the IRS or anyone else.

Finding ‘reasons’ for cashing my stimulus check is not so difficult. Few people who know me would find fault if I were to fill out a deposit form and quickly slide that check through the ATM slot and inside my often depleted account. And yet the thought of doing so fills me with dread. It feels like theft to me. And I think I know why.

While I never had the good sense to have my own, I am blessed with many positive, caring relationships with children as well as with their families. When we older folks talk about the world that these children are likely to inherit, the reflections are rarely hopeful. We have left too many of our messes unaddressed. We have helped to create overly-anxious, overly-stimulated, overly-suspicious, overly-competitive young people who are discouraged enough about their own prospects let alone about prospects for the world. We have pushed too many of our unresolved burdens into the future without a loving, responsible strategy for minimizing their impact.

More to the point, we have spent so much of our young peoples’ inheritance. Our collective debt is both staggering and full of insecurity. Our nation is deeply and anxiously beholden both to our competitors and to our adversaries. Moreover, we have somehow managed to create unprecedented, breathtaking financial burdens without bothering to invest in our airports, train tracks, levees, seaports, highways, schools and other infrastructure. We have created a legacy balance sheet that is simultaneously irresponsible and frightening.

Our children seem destined to inherit an energy crisis, a long and ill defined ‘war,’ unhealthy and unsafe schools, college tuition costs that will require debt service well into middle age, bridges that are crumbling into river beds, and so much more. And while they will face pressure to focus on these problems, the next generation of adults will be scrambling instead to service our debt while struggling to care for us in our frailer years.

To my mind, the ‘stimulus check’ on my table is symbolic of the recklessness of many in my generation, a slap in the face to all who will follow us. We have saddled younger folks with trillions of dollars of our debt and now we are being asked to ‘stimulate’ our economy by increasing their
indebtedness that much further.

This is the logic of addiction, not of responsible stewardship of family and community life.

Many members of my generation, who have neither property nor trust funds nor vested retirement plans, will some day throw themselves on the mercy of this next generation of debtors. We will expect them to reach beyond their own burdens and crises and have mercy on those of us who have done so little to ensure opportunities for them. They may choose to give us the care we will need, but I can’t imagine that it will be given without resentment.

We can’t necessarily undo all the damage we’ve collectively done, but we can at least make one gesture to the future with these checks that we neither need nor deserve, and which will neither simulate our economy nor contribute to our children’s quality of life. In my community, in your community, there are many organizations that are working with young people, filling gaps of policy, stability and care, building confidence and skills, and serving as reminders that we are not as inattentive to their needs as we sometimes seem. Just the other day, I met with the executive director of a Youth Development organization in the Bronx. They are helping kids identify and develop the capactiies and confidence needed to make long-term contributions to their communities.

To my mind, my stimulus check belongs to these kids.

I know that many of you have financial issues with your own children that need attention. I also recognize that many of you have been more diligent in your tax filings than I was and have already disposed with your own personal ‘stimulus’ package. But I urge you to consider a direct investment in the well-being of the young poeple in your community, if not with this check then with some other. This is not about charity. This is about returning funds to their rightful owners.

As a society, it is simply foolish for us to encourage our children to swim while continuing to drain their pool.

Respectfully,

Bob

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