It’s official; we are officially in a recession. Like Lance Bass coming out of the closet, this is not news to me.

So what does this mean exactly? Again, young people—college age especially are the ones who have enough independence to feel that times are hard, but may not have all of the responsibility of the average adult with a family so what’s terrible may not seem as bad to us.

Apparently times have been rough for a while now, but aside from the gas prices, I haven’t had that many economic struggles. Well, I haven’t had food in my refrigerator for the past two months, and I’m about to have my cable, internet, and phone cut off this month but that’s just a coincidence right?

I can’t fully blame the poor economy for my bad budgeting skills, but I know the two are connected.
—Jazmyne Young
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During my junior year of high school I wrote my first ever published news story for my high school newspaper about the budget cuts and their affect on the education of myself as well as my peers.

Nearly six years later I’m now a senior in college and this next string of potential budgets cuts to save California from slipping off the fiscal map may make my last few semesters as difficult as it was passing the California Exit Exam (that I didn’t pass … by the way).

The impact of the national recession is gradually getting worse. SFGate reported that if something is not done soon California will be out of money by February. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 bucks – California cut up your credit cards; stay home and watch free movies on COMCAST OnDemand for the next 19 months.

In his attempt to breathe some air into the deflated State’s economy, Gov. Schwarzenegger has suggested cutting $2.5 billion from the public school K-12 and a whopping $132 million from the UC’s and CSU’s. Talk about funding the youth vote…

Why is it when the tough gets tougher the first thing they do is cut the most vital programs (like education) on tap? Is it just a reflex or is there more to this than meets the eye—I dunno—but I know no one is going to like this one bit.

I feel like all that time we were talking about the possibility of being in a recession was actually when the recession began. The fact that the State of California is nearly out of money – where’s the damn money making machine that I saw on PBS when I was a kid?

I hope someone figures this mess out. I know Obama isn’t going to come riding on a gold encrusted MUNI bus and make all this go away. But I hope that after January 20 something happens. Because I don’t know how much longer anyone can live this.
—Eming Piansay