Commentary
As a university professor, one of the greatest rewards is mentoring students to realize the American Dream by pursuing a life aimed at unlocking their full human potential. Doing so requires reflection upon what it means to be human and, from there, grasping why the key to happiness is so counterintuitive: we fill ourselves up by giving ourselves away. Readers will not be surprised to hear that helping young men and women make this connection has become increasingly difficult with each new generation.
We recently observed that although many young people are well aware of the burdens of student loan and mortgage debt, they have almost no awareness of the perils of automobile debt. Newly minted graduates beginning full-time careers are tempted to splurge their signing bonuses and graduation gifts on down payments for automobile loans that are far beyond their means to repay. To see the scope of the problem, consider the following facts….