Every time I watch a confirmation hearing or hear talk of a stimulus plan or find out about yet another inauguration to-do, I can’t help but think about how much work there actually is to do.

This, I’m told, is a very Gen Y impulse, the product of being young, sleep-deprived, and raised on Mr. Rogers, who told us we really could do whatever we liked. But I think it probably has more to do with getting older, and coming to grips with what exactly our future might hold. Sure, we’ve got the Wii, and HDTV, and Google, but those only go so far when you’re unemployed, drowning in debt and lamenting the plight of the polar bear.

It’s a topsy-turvy world out there, and while every generation has experienced some of that, the real grown-ups in my life say that feeling does seem more pervasive than ever, reaching into just about every aspect of life – from foreign policy to the domestic struggles of young vets, from student loans to the greatest economic instability since the Depression, from joblessness at home to the perils (human rights, environmental and otherwise) of globalization abroad. Or maybe we just hear about it more.

Regardless, I know this worldview might appear a tad extreme, so in the spirit of sharing, I thought I’d give you a little insight into what I saw and heard this week to put me in such a lovely frame of mind - a small snapshot of one Y perspective.

5 signs of the apocalypse, and why they made me think of you…

1. Gold might as well be fur. Last night, I told my boyfriend I’m off gold. I’m not that flash to begin with – and I’ve been off diamonds for a while for obvious reasons – but after reading National Geographic’s January cover story, “Gold: The True Cost of a Global Obsession,” I couldn’t believe I hadn’t already known to eschew gold. “For all of its allure, gold’s human and environmental toll has never been so steep,” author Brook Larmer writes. At this rate, I’m going to have to take up an ascetic lifestyle. I already had to stop eating shrimp. My sister’s even done with Coca-Cola. And if anyone ever marries me, it’ll probably be without a ring (and not because I’m easygoing). It’s easy to dismiss as a whole lot of fanatacism, but with the amount and visibility of information that’s out there, we’re going to learn some things we don’t like. Ignoring them won’t make them go away. On the contrary, we should be grateful we do know, and doing our best to act on that knowledge when we can.
2. Everyone owes $50k! According to a financial aid counselor at a well-known Washington, D.C., university who my siblings chatted up last week, $50,000 to $60,000 in educational debt from undergrad is just about expected these days for her institution and schools of its caliber. There’s so much to say about that, and yet, no need to say anything at all. Because, as the College Board says, educational debt is an investment in your future, and a bachelor’s degree is all but essential these days just to be competitive (someone with a B.A. will earn $800,000 more than someone with a high school diploma over a lifetime), so young people hardly have a choice. But that doesn’t make it any less shameful.
3. Kids use Facebook for (not annoying) good. Believe it or not, and whatever you might think of the situation in the Middle East, I found the following rather encouraging: The 14-year-old daughter of close family friends recently updated her Facebook status – which people use to say everything from “Joey is ‘eating spaghetti,’” to, “Sarah is ’so, so, so excited to be engaged!’” – to read, “R. is ‘702 Palestinians murdered by Israel in Gaza (more than 230 children & 100 women) & 3100 injured. Donate your status.’” Now this is a little girl I’ve known since she was a baby, and whose young adulthood I’m so in denial about that I assiduously avoid her Facebook page, lest I find anything I don’t want to know. And Facebook is running out of ways to surprise me. But unlike the 101 groups for this or that cause, or messages from people actively proselytizing, this just had an earnest, honest, youthful sincerity to it that grabbed me. And  how nice to find that on Facebook.
   
4. The government hates animals. New York’s Governor David A. Patterson has proposed “an immediate 55 percent cut and elimination of zoo and botanical garden funds altogether in 2010,” writes Andrew C. Revkin on the New York Times’ Dot Earth blog. All right, I get it — the state’s in trouble, and the $5 million it’ll save by slashing the zoo’s funding will no doubt go a long way in stabilizing things. Doom a hedgehog, feed an investment banker, and all that. But really, how sad. It isn’t enough that we’re destroying natural habitats all over the world, now we have to target the artificial ones we’ve created to shelter the few animals who might survive us. What difference does it make if my kids never get to see a red panda or Bengal tiger? (Never mind the American pika, a cute-as-a-button rabbit relative that’s on its way to becoming the second animal to join the endangered species list because of global warming, behind the polar bear. NatGeo can be such a downer.) Sheesh. The Wildlife Conservation Society’s pithy but pointed video response to the budget cuts is perfect. I hope someone listens.
5. And I love my Mom, but what about the elderly? And in what could have been my own personal apocalypse, on New Year’s Eve, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. And last week, she had surgery to remove it. It’ll be a few months of recovery ahead, but the way she handled it – bouncing right back better and bossier than ever – reminded me of that Boomer resilience that some say (and I hope) we’ve inherited. But it also underscored how important excellent health care is: While watching doctors dote on my mom was a relief, I couldn’t help but think about all the people who don’t have that, not just all over the world, but right here at home. And while nine million uninsured children is a disgrace, our aging population will be larger than ever in the coming years – because of both the number of Boomers, and their lengthening life span – and adequate health care will be essential for them. Not meeting those needs would be a disgrace, too.

So that’s what I’ve been thinking about, guys. What does it all mean? I don’t know yet, except that there’s a long road of recovery and rebuilding ahead for us, too. Have I fallen off the maudlin cliff, or do you feel it, too?

Did you all see “Not-So-Personal Finance” in the New York Times this weekend? It’s a story about young people sharing their salary figures with each other — which has long been considered bad professional behavior — and the generational politics of openly discussing money and other traditionally private matters. The Times writer paints the issue, er, vividly: “As Ilana Arazie, 32, an online video producer for a media company in Manhattan, said, ‘If we can talk about how many orgasms we have with our mate, why can’t we discuss how much we make?’”

Now, for the record, you’re not likely to find me talking about how many orgasms I have with my mate anywhere ever (and certainly not in the Times), but I’ve often been told I’m conservative in this respect. And maybe that’s why I might find it strategically suspect — never mind just plain icky — to do compensation roundtables with friends. Or worse yet, to post salaries on Facebook, as the title of Times article’s web page — “Sharing Salary Figures on Facebook” — seems to suggest is happening. (The story itself doesn’t include an instance of this.) It’s one thing to share that number with very close friends or mentors, but with your whole happy-hour crew or Facebook universe? Not so much.

For those of you who aren’t yet furiously writing a comment, here’s why: If you’re a recent grad or working in an industry where early-career salaries are more or less set and/or public, it makes sense to try to get as much information as you can about what you’re worth, which often means giving specifics — such as what you’re being offered for a particular job.

But once you’ve been in a gig or in an industry for a while, salaries become an increasingly sensitive topic. Why? Because the friends you’re showing your paycheck to are often your colleagues. And if you’ve all been at your careers long enough, significant differences — in how you’re compensated, your job responsibilities, and even the level of respect you get from your superiors — are bound to emerge. Mishandle these, whether by inadvertently flaunting your own success or becoming jealous of someone else’s, and you’re in for some serious professional tension.

For instance, I have a journalism friend who is constantly coming up with cute ways to ask what I make, and judging from his/her eager expression, these inquiries aren’t made in the spirit of sharing. It’s competition, pure and simple, and while I adore this person, I’m pretty sure that if I shared the information s/he wants, we’d be the Lauren and Heidi of the friend group faster than you can say “TMI.”

Of course, I also have a colleague here at Fortune whose encouragement has been invaluable when it comes to asking for raises and whatnot. But we only talk numbers on a relatively vague, need-to-know basis. Keeping these chats hypothetical keeps us close and — in a positive sort of way — competitive, since we never quite know exactly where the other stands. (Don’t believe that the taboo still exists? Check out Fortune senior writer Annie Fisher’s latest column, “Tax rebates: A clue to co-workers’ salaries,” which is all about how to use rebate time to surreptitiously figure out what your coworkers make.)

But whatever my squeamishness, I did find the Times story’s generational explanations of this behavior amusing. As with so many things, it’s all about our childhoods. Salary.com chief compensation officer Bill Coleman cited Gen Yers’ affinity for teamwork as one reason why we might seek friends’ help to decipher salaries. And Barbara W. Keats, an associate professor of management at Arizona State University, says that our “relative lack of manners regarding salary can be traced to the self-esteem movement embraced by baby boomer parents.” As she puts it, “They’re special, and however they say things is very cute.”

It’s reductive, yes, but I don’t necessarily disagree. Many of us are still young enough that we haven’t yet had the chance to feel the backlash of revealing too much detail about our personal and professional lives. And it remains to be seen if there really will be one, or if corporate etiquette will adjust to us, the way that other corporate structures have. But regardless, it just seems to me that, in the average office, showing your economic hand can go either way — and the benefits don’t outweigh the consequences of oversharing, no matter how old you are.

But maybe I’m already too old to understand the rationale of these young movers and shakers. What about you?

Whether you’re applying for your first job, negotiating your first raise, or counseling newbie friends on how to handle theirs, compensation is always a hot topic with young workers. So in the interest of doing some good this holiday, we checked in with Jenny Floren, CEO of Web-based college recruiting platform Experience.com, for a little advice on navigating the crazy compensation process. A corporate survivor herself, Floren and crew first partnered with Fortune for this year’s Best Companies for Entry-level Employees package. And though she thinks some age-old problems, like the compensation gender gap, are fading into the past with Gen Y, Floren says we still have a thing or two to learn. So to that end, a few thoughts on getting a great job — and the salary to go with it.

• Get as much information as you can. Compensation for entry-level positions is usually based on  overall compensation structure, so to the extent that you can find out how a company sets its tiers, you’ll know what you’re in for in the long term. And that’s key, even when negotiating that first job. “Oftentimes, at the entry level, the flexibility might be limited, but they really leapfrog you when you take that next step up,” Floren says. “So getting an employer to explain how all of that works is ammunition for that next step up. Ask what it will take to get there, and consistently monitor where you are so that you can proactively manage it.”

• Start the conversation early. “Assume the offer you get is somewhere close to what they can offer,” says Floren. “The employer is not sandbagging you, trying to offend you, or saying you’re not worth $35 zillion by offering you $35,000. But it shows confidence and professionalism to come back.” Ask if there’s any flexibility, and when they ask what kind you’re looking for, come back with something reasonable, based upon your knowledge of your own situation and the industry in general. Floren recommends using available compensation services (salary.com, vault.com and her own experience.com), as well as widely available research and studies about industry norms to figure out where you should be and what’s reasonable to request.

• Ask, and you just might receive. Every company has a set way of handling compensation, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask what’s possible. And that goes for everything — raises, promotions, and feedback. “The harm is in being obnoxious, never asking, or not receiving the feedback that you need to learn and grow,” Floren says. And remember that compensation doesn’t just mean cash: Ask about flextime, vacation days, stock options or performance bonuses. “Do your best not to come across as demanding, but as someone who wants to be recognized for the fantastic contribution you want to make,” says Floren. And once you’ve started making that fantastic contribution, make sure someone’s paying attention by asking to be reviewed in six months or some other fixed, near-term time-frame. That feedback is the best way to keep the compensation conversation going.

• It’s all in the delivery. We hear it all the time: These kids all want to be CEO — tomorrow! And while it does sound like a somewhat unfair characterization, all those bosses couldn’t be completely wrong. “There’s a misconception among employers that Gen Yers have out-of-whack expectations,” Floren says. “But many times, what they’re asking for isn’t necessarily a huge raise or promotion, but that’s how they express it. And that’s perceived as impatience, as not valuing the learning process, and as devaluing all the people who’ve gone down this path already.” So before you get carried away telling your employer what you want, make sure that you’re giving them what they want, too. “Realize that your audience wants you to be successful, but they also want you to contribute, learn, not race through or overlook things, like the importance of those entry-level posts,” says Floren. “So go to the point of explicitly overemphasizing that you’re not trying to skip steps in the process or looking for a new job before getting the first one done. Show that you just want to do the best job possible and be leading the pack.”

• Talk, but not too much. Yers, says Floren, are known for their multitasking, but this can come across as flightiness in professional situations. Especially when we’re constantly talking about everything we’ve done, will do and want to do. Ever. “This can work against Yers because employers won’t consider them for opportunities that require focus and thoughtfulness,” Floren says. “Employers fear they won’t have the sticktoitiveness required to get the job done.” Instead, use your face-time with higher-ups to ask for guidance on how you can make more valuable contributions to the organization. Framed in those terms, your interests and the company’s seem aligned, which will encourage your superiors to look for opportunities for you, instead of opportunities to get rid of you.

• And remember, money isn’t everything. “Provided you can have a place to live and put food on the table, actual compensation would be at the bottom of my list for an entry-level position,” Floren says. “The things I’d look for at the beginning of a career are the growth opportunities, the training and skills you can acquire, the network you can build within the organization and with the customers you’re serving. The launching pad those will give you matter more than whether you’re making $30,000 or $60,000. It may seem like a 100 percent difference, but that 30k job in the long run could put you on a path that’s worth so much more than 30k a year.”

We’re going to be talking compensation for the next few days since this is the time many of us start to think about ‘08  raises — and, more importantly, how to ask for them. To begin, check out our new video, “Asking for your first raise.” (And before anyone says a word, I was channeling my inner librarian that day ;o).

Speaking of video, I  spent some time at a company event the other day where it seemed like everyone had watched our little off-the-cuff holiday party piece. And aside from the good-natured teasing, quite a few people asked if office holiday parties were really the right place to talk about work. I must confess that this made me smile; all anybody ever wants to talk about at these things is work. (Unless of course, they’re sauced, which is an entirely different problem.) So why not make it constructive, instead of the venting session that it usually turns out to be?

And let’s be clear, I’m not suggesting anyone accost the boss in the bathroom with a five-year plan and compensation demands. Only that, given that you’ll be spending a few hours at a work event with coworkers who will inevitably bring up work anyway, it might not be such a bad idea to have a few casual agenda items of your own.

As many an executive can attest, more real work — of the relationship-building, decision-making kind — gets done after-hours than in the office. And the holiday party is no different. At the very least, this way you’re far less likely to end up like some of the people in this recent MSNBC story, “Holiday parties hold peril for unwary workers.” Enough said.

On the way back from a biz trip to Miami last week, I picked up a copy of Details, enticed by the “Ultimate Guide to Office Etiquette” coverline. Leaving aside for the moment how much of a dork this makes me — after all, I do it for you guys — turns out I probably should have paid more attention to the ones that asked, “Are You Dating a ‘Tweenager’?” and “Are Your Parents Squandering Your Inheritance?”

Before you click off in disgust, a bit of explanation: I’ve been struck recently not so much by how Yers have been acting, but how parents are behaving.

Consider the aforementioned Details stories. “Tweenager” decries the 35-going-on-12 woman, the center of a “Big Girl Epidemic” that has grown women wearing babydolls, “OMG”ing all over the place, and shrieking over The Hills. And the inheritance story sports the somewhat alarming headline, “It’s Time To Cut Your Parents Off: Mom and Dad are living it up well into their sixties. Guess who’ll pay for it?” According to the story, a Fidelity Investments survey in March not only found that the average Boomer has saved “a paltry $45,000,” but also that “one in five households led by 25-to-42-year-olds has either begun providing financial support to their parents or expect to soon.”

And if you weren’t frightened enough, just flip a few more pages to “Totally Blonde,” where the Girls Next Door are joined by 40-something Real Housewives of Orange County Lauri Waring and Tamra Barney in an, um, swimsuit photo essay the cover calls, “The California Blondes Taking Over Your Sexual Fantasies.” (Notably absent were either of the housewives’ grown children. I’ll let you Google this one on your own.)

Yikes. Admittedly, on the right day, I too might be called a Big Girl. I love The Hills, have long favored the empire waist, and abbreviate with the best of them — and you know my feelings about emoticons. But that sort of thing is generally reserved for indulgent conversations with my girlfriends, not the general public, and I think many of my peers would say the same. And even then, at 27 — despite a melding of pop culture and youth culture that to some extent legitimizes this hair-twirling act — I can actually feel myself aging out of this demo.

Why, then, are people our moms’ age trying so hard to be twentysomethings again? And if they were, was it judgmental to begrudge them that? It’s not as if it hurts us. If Housewife Waring wants to look her kids’ age — as she told Details, “I will never look a day older than 32″ — and she can, well, good for her. Maybe.

Even as I was pondering these pressing questions, what should come on but Keeping Up With the Kardashians, featuring another mom gone wild, Kris Jenner, whose necklines, hemlines, naughty mouth, inability to tell the truth, and, oh, everything else often drive even her less than demure daughters to comment. As my friend Jon Caramanica wrote in the LA Times this weekend, “This is a family with severe boundary issues — it is Kris who encourages Kim to pose for Playboy and who cheerily does crisis management about Kim’s sex tape. She seems more interested in the cameras than Kim is.”

And therein lies the problem, right? It does hurt us. Sure, Kim might not have been destined for a Nobel, but with her mom’s expert parenting, she bypassed all the other options and went straight to reality TV caricature and sex object. And the saddest part is, whatever Kim’s feelings about her “career,” she’s obviously living out her mom’s dream. It takes stage-mothering to a whole different place, moving it from behind the scenes to an embarrassing front-and-center.

It isn’t so much that I want our moms to become decrepit hags, rocking away their twilight years over embroidery and weak tea. I appreciate the desire to stay youthful, and the need to build friendships with one’s children — based in part on shared interests and tastes — but surely succumbing to these pressures at the expense of good parenting isn’t the answer. Rather, it’d be awesome if our parents would both take care of themselves and act like adults, so as to, you know, set an example. (Maybe forgo that tanning session for an episode of What Not to Wear; Stacy London would set ‘em straight.) And it’s not to suggest that these parents don’t love their children; in fact, I’d bet that if they really knew how their actions would affect their children in the long-term, they’d be horrified and repentant.

But obviously, they don’t know. And the children (we) do end up paying for it. It’s something we first mentioned on The Gig in our “Gen Y on ‘60 Minutes’” post — the idea that if we’re not acting our age, it might just be because our parents aren’t either. Perhaps our helicoptering parents put too much of their own lives on hold for us, and now, finally able to do their own thing, they’re overdoing it. Clearly, I’m not sure exactly how I feel yet, but I bet some of you are. What do you think? Is this a case of out-of-control parents, or uptight kids? Or is it just a matter of our parents trying to live their best — albeit somewhat irresponsible — lives, which in the end, is exactly what we want, too?

*****

Friend of The Gig Christine Hassler is looking for a few good stories:

The co-authors of “Chicken Soup for the Twenty-Something Soul” are putting together a collection of inspiring, moving, and funny stories to warm the hearts and soothe the souls of twenty-somethings. And they want YOUR story! This is your shot to inspire others AND be published. (And, we pay!) Deadline to submit your Twenty-Something Story is January 1st. For more details, click here.

On the road again talking some Gen Y smack, but wanted to float a few things past you while I have a few minutes.

First, have been meaning to bring up the recent Ask Bing, “I’m worth more than $28K a year,” and get your thoughts. If you haven’t read it, a recent college grad in the throes of a challenging job search wrote in to lament his situation: “Everyone wants experience but no one is willing to give it to me. Not to be arrogant I just genuinely believe that I am worth more than $28,000 a year.” Of course, Bing gives him a talking to and ultimately advises finding a job “that, in a way, you might just do for free,” to make waiting for that big payoff easier.

And he’s right. No matter where you come from and what your expectations are, the realities of the job market don’t really allow for huge salaries and major titles right away. But this is a common area of contention, for both recruiters and recruits. (Bing echoes the refrain of many put-upon recruiters when he says, ” “I can’t tell you how many people I interview these days who, having just gotten out of school, want a vice president title and bag of cash just for showing up.”) While I tend to agree with Bing’s assessment, it’s clear from your own comments on posts like “Money v. meaningful work, the battle continues” that there’s a bit of disagreement on this point.

For me, though, taking the “passion” gig isn’t just about following your heart or any other such hippie-dippy swill; the fact is that if you take a job you love, you’re far more likely to rock it. And that experience will help you get that bigger, better-paying job faster than holding out for what you think you deserve (i.e., filling out endless applications only to have recruiters collapse with laughter at the sight of your salary requirements). My first job didn’t pay much more than that $28,000, but what I learned at that scrappy startup made me a lot more attractive to future employers, and before too long I was able to afford both a shoebox in New York City and dinner.

So when young people stress about their meager paychecks, I say think of that first job not as an insult, but as a chance to prove that you actually are worth more than $28,000; it’ll make your first employer value you — and encourage the second to pay you accordingly.

On another note, thanks to Gig reader Sarah W. for passing along Virginia Heffernan’s hi-larious New York Times story, “Sweeping the Clouds Away,” about the recent release of the earliest episodes of Sesame Street, volumes 1 and 2 of which apparently “may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.” If people think we Yers were coddled, heaven help us when today’s preschool child gets old enough for work.

Cookie Monster doesn’t even do his Alistair Cookie bit anymore, mostly because of the pipe. I’m not sure I want to live in a world without Alistair Cookie. But then, I have a friend who won’t even say the word “die” around his child, because he thinks that knowing things die will be too disturbing for her. (We still haven’t told him that, when her fish died, she said not to tell, because talking about dying was too sad for him.)

Anyone who’s read pre-Disney fairy tales knows that kids have been handling hardships much worse than dead fish for centuries. And that’s helped them to grow up — to take responsibility and fend for themselves. In that light, a little adversity mightn’t be such a bad thing for today’s sheltered youngsters. Which is not, obviously, to say that they — we — are all sheltered, or that they haven’t suffered in their own ways. It’s simply to point out that children born into privilege would probably turn out to be better people if they saw some of the other side growing up, be it with an afterschool job, a volunteering stint, or some of those old school episodes of Sesame Street.

And, lastly, check out our latest Gen Y web video if you haven’t already. Hope you like it, and in the meantime, pray for me; I’m in a hotel with no wireless, and it’s murder. (Cue the “spoiled brat” commentary from Yadgyu ;o).

Last week, I spent some time out in Dayton, Ohio, speaking at the Executive Directors’ Conference of the National Association of Regional Councils about some of the challenges of recruiting and retaining Gen Yers. NARC is the umbrella group for metropolitan planning organizations and councils of government across the country — i.e., the people in charge of many aspects of urban planning, from transportation to environmental quality.

As cool as it was to appear in front of such a distinguished group, I have to tell you, I wasn’t expecting much. After all, local government and the industries around it aren’t exactly known for their staggering open-mindedness and willingness to change. Not to mention that this audience was our parents’ age. I’m glad to say, though, that I was pleasantly surprised, and extremely encouraged by everything these folks are doing to accommodate Yers. For instance, one gentleman shared how, in his office, every new hire’s first major project is a fundraiser for a major charity, which lets the young people try their hand at a big assignment, builds a great image for the organization, and allows lots of room for learning.

Many asked, though, how they could keep their Yers engaged — and frankly, coming to work — in the face of huge salaries from big corporations trying to poach them. The plans they work on have a huge impact on people’s lives, another attendee said, but is that enough for Yers? I’m inclined to say that, yes, along with lots of exposure to higher-ups’ passion, Yers will choose high-impact jobs like these over high-paying, but perhaps less rewarding, ones. (Leaving aside, of course, debt. The average college grad with loans has more than $19,000 to pay back, so s/he may have to choose salary in the short term.)

But I think the key is seeing the dedication of senior staffers. As psyched as these Boomers were about their work, I couldn’t imagine any Yer I know not finding it a little infectious. This seems to be borne out in the research, which Tamara Erickson — one of our recurring Gig experts and president of the Concours Institute — says shows that Yers value expertise above all else, including authority. Meaning that, a lot of the time, we’ll take the old guy with great stories and good advice over the younger one with a big title. So for those senior folks in the public sector or nonprofit world, retaining their Yers may just be a matter of sharing a few tales about the lives they’ve changed.

Then again, that may just be my own wishful thinking. Especially because, as a writer, I’m something of a sucker for all that touchy-feely stuff. I’d be curious to hear what you all think, though. How could one of these organizations keep you?

*****

On a related note, I and lots of the older people who write in about The Gig were encouraged by the great response to the activism post last week. But in light of that, I’d be totally remiss if I didn’t point you guys to this piece, “Narcissists in Neverland,” a “web exclusive” from Newsweek last week, the point of which, evidently, is to deride Yers for wanting to “pursue their passions” more than “make lots of money.” (Could be good for the NARC people…)

I’d hoped to avoid writing about this at all, mostly because — and I’m going to go out on a limb here — I found it a little ridiculous and more than a bit irresponsible. But who am I to deny you this kind of comedy? Among my favorite moments (aside from the fact that it uses an anecdote from organizational psychologist Mitchell Marks that appeared in Fortune’s Gen Y story six months ago — how exclusive is that?) was the following: Generation Me author Jean “Twenge has found that the gap between expectation and reality is immense for Generation Y. One example: in 1975, 24 percent of American high-school students believed that they would earn a graduate degree; today 50 percent of high-school students think the same thing. In reality just 9 percent of students both then and now actually go on to accomplish this goal.”

Shame on you people for hoping you’ll get an education! It’s not as if this were America or anything. Plus, young people may be more educated than ever before, but we’re actually going to need them to get more educated to do the jobs soon to be left vacant by experienced retiring Boomers. So keep dreaming, you crazy kids!

And then, there’s the blatant omission of the debt issue. Obviously young people are going home; you’d be going home too if you’d paid what we did for our degrees. And let’s be honest: That’s what our parents wanted us to do. Sure, there are the ne’er-do-wells, but there are also the going-to-do-wells. Supporting them now — even if they want to waste time doing, say, volunteer work — is an investment in the country’s future.

Just ask my own mom, who let me move home for six months after I graduated to see if I could make this whole magazine thing work. I’d venture to say she’d do it again, and barring any unforeseen degeneracy, I don’t have plans to empty her nest egg. And even our resident Boomer expert, Anne Fisher, has advised readers to follow their dreams in lieu of the big cash payoff in her column, so it isn’t just the indulgent moms of the world leading us up this garden path.

There’s so much more I could say, but I have a nice-person rep to maintain. So for the last word on this, visit the wonderful people at Gawker, who always succeed in saying precisely the things I would, if only my mom — narcissism-enabler that she is — didn’t read The Gig. What about you? Is this story unfair, or are we trying to live the impossible dream (and taking advantage of our parents in the process)?

If you haven’t checked out Damon Darlin’s column from this weekend (or your parents haven’t sent it to you already!), it might be a good idea to give “Your Money: More Advice Graduates Don’t Want to Hear” a look. Lots of you’ve written me to say you want to hear more about how to save and spend, so there’ll be much more to come about it on The Gig. But it seems from what Darlin says that, as interested as we are in theory, many of us don’t necessarily want to make the sacrifices to put good saving advice into practice — especially the advice he gave in a much e-mailed column around graduation time last year.

All in all, the recommendations were pretty straightforward: “It was mostly the simple things my mother had drummed into me,” he writes. “It was advice like diverting 10 percent of your income to savings before anything else and ignoring raises and putting them into savings, too. Learn to cook, I said, and never borrow money to pay for a depreciating asset. I also suggested cutting out the latte habit, which was my symbol for those little things in life that when turned into a habit, add up to money that could have been spent on something worthwhile and memorable.”

Apparently, the latte is sacred to some of us. And others said that putting aside 10% — which Darlin estimates works out to $52 a week for someone making $40,000 a year — is a stretch, particularly for those living in cities like New York. (A publicist in Atlanta once told me that for what I paid to live in a sixth-floor walk-up in Manhattan’s West Village, I “could have Ludacris’s house” down there.)

But the benefits are many. “Bank $250 a month for 40 years in a I.R.A. or a 401(k) and you will receive about $500,000, assuming a 6 percent return,” Darlin writes. “Start at age 45 and you would have to put in $1,078 a month to generate the same amount by age 65.”

Seems like a no-brainer. And while the pressures of big-city rent, hanging out, and all the other things we sometimes feel we’d die without are also numerous, I’d hazard a guess that money in the bank will mean more to our 65-year-old selves than designer shoes, ginormous TVs and other indulgences mean to us now. (Really, how many times have I heard a female friend here say she forsook saving, food, or even rent for a pair of shoes she just had to have? You laugh, but it happens here more than anyone would like to admit. I’m ashamed for all of us.)

Bottom line: Let’s keep dutifully saving — with automatic deductions, of course, so we can’t cheat as easily — if at all possible. Doable, or not so much?