A Nation of Dropouts Shakes Europe (WSJ)
I happen to think the amoral, ultra-bohemian set (like the Bloomsbury group) that Schumpeter thought was the inevitable product of capitalist wealth is really a product of unearned wealth, or wealth gained by use of force, over and above the proper market value (empire, in the case of the Bloomsburians) - for example, if a state bureaucrat earns $75K whereas his real market value is $50K then human nature will view the additional $25K as a 'free money' cushion, resulting in a consumption behavior that reflects the self-indulgence of the old aristocrats - once this sense of an economic cushion is internalized the human desire for upward mobility adjusts itself to its' maintenance, the aspirations for one's children naturally incorporate the same privileges of reduced labor for increased wealth, and also obviously foster a willingness to fight to defend the conditions which make the cushioning possible (the same can be said of corporate workers who work in cartelized industries, the same phenomenon is seen, the same subversion of capitalist values)
these are the people whose children develop unrealistic worldviews, adopt consumption behaviors beyond their earning powers and harbor a bizarre combination of guilt and contempt for the unprivileged in society - this departure from bourgeois values simply does not occur spontaneously, but it certainly has the potential to devalue liberty and demoralize democracy very badly, precipitating a quite ruinous crisis in the society - I don't think the US is too far behind Europe in this regard, there is no cushion of time available for inaction and indecision
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