Commencement Address: Nothing But The Truth

Graduates, parents, faculty and overpaid administrators.  Let me begin by saying this commencement address will be like none other you have ever heard or read about.  That means doing something no other speaker would dare to do.  I will tell you the truth.

I won't be trying to impress you with soaring rhetoric.  I refuse to paint a sumptuous picture of the future that awaits you.  I don't plan to insult your intelligence by challenging you to change the world.  My goal is to explain what awaits you beyond the ivy-covered walls of this institution.

First, your chances of landing a job in your chosen profession are slim. You are facing the most challenging job market in many decades, according to research by the New York Federal Reserve.  Most likely you will be forced to take a lower paying job or wind up unemployed.

Don't take my word for it.  The New York Fed's research found that 44 percent of recent graduates have been pressured to accept jobs they thought were beneath their education level.  A big percentage of grads end up in careers that don't require a degree, such as bartenders and retail clerks.

I know that isn't good news because most of you have accumulated too much debt paying for a high-priced education.  About 70 percent of students who graduated in 2012 had borrowed an average of $29,400, a record.  It's hard to pay off your loans when you a toiling for minimum wage.

By the way, that's not hyperbole.  There are twice as many college graduates working in minimum wage jobs today as there were just five years ago says the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  That is 71 percent higher than a decade ago.  

The reason the future is so bleak is that the United States has experienced a jobless recovery from the economic meltdown in 2008. I know government statistics claim unemployment has declined.  But the number of people in the workforce has fallen and we have the largest number of long-term unemployed in the country since the Great Depression.

Why has this happened in the greatest country on God's green earth?

That answer is that your nation has been led by a president who has done nothing to create jobs.  Unless you are so misinformed that you believe raising taxes creates more employment.  I point this out because apparently many of you are convinced President Obama has been good for the economy.

I base that on the knowledge that the people in this audience voted overwhelming to grant Mr. Obama a second term.  I have the statistics right here.  The president won the youth vote (18-to-29-year-olds) by 67% to 30% in the most recent election.

What where you thinking?  Apparently, many of you don't pay attention  to what's happening beyond this campus.  Most of you have never held a real job.  By the way, I don't consider being president of your fraternity a highly sought skill.

Some of you didn't belong in college in the first place.  You were bullied and shoved into college by your high school counselors and parents.  Did you know that many of today's leaders of high tech companies never finished college?

Now that you are saddled with debt and worried about a job, perhaps you will take stock of your future.  Don't believe what your college professors preached to you.  A degree doesn't guarantee you anything. You certainly are not insured a job.

But let me provide one glimmer of hope.  You happen to live in a country that offers you freedom to dream.  A nation that provides opportunities for a minimum wage earner to become a CEO.  You cannot find that in any other country but the United States.

Cherish the values that made this country great.  Hard work.  Fierce determination.  Sacrifice.  Perseverance. Then hitch up your pants and be willing to do whatever it takes to succeed, even if it means starting at the bottom.

This world owes you nothing.  It is you who is in debt to the nation for creating opportunities.  If you don't take advantage of them, blame no one but yourself.