There was a card about a new book in my mailbox this morning, the typical promotional stuff most writers get here at the paper.

On first glance, "50 Ways to Leave Your Mother" is apparently just the latest in a long line of self-help, feel-good, don’t be doomed to be yourself type of books that are popular these days.

Glancing at the card’s chapter list, the book – by Chris Salditt – has offerings such as "Looking for a Place of Your Own – Real World or Animal House," "The Care and Feeding of Your Face – Or Reality Bites," and "Tricks, Manipulations and Short Cuts."

Now, this book could be a great help to many people, but it got me thinking again about the debt, unemployment and underemployment that young people face.

What was interesting in reading "Generation Debt" is that Anya Kamenetz not only breaks down the busted economics of student loans, credit card debt and the low-wage job hustle, but also the finger pointing that goes on. Particularly the idea that young people are at best underachieving whiners and at worst unmotivated couch huggers.

In particular she pointed to a couple of help-books for parents like "Mom, Can I Move Back in With You," and "When Our Grown Kids Disappoint Us: Letting Go of Their Problems, Loving Them Anyway and Getting On With Our Lives."

Checking in on the comments from yesterday’s column I found a mixed bag, with some people laying the blame on the college-age crowd for looking for a handout, while others offered their own experiences trying to get a job out of college and pay the bills. Still another good point that was made is that it's not just young people who have problems finding jobs, getting health care or finding a place to live.

But Kamenetz's bigger point, and what ties into Opportunity Maine’s push is the idea that young people represent the future, and if the future’s maxed out its credit cards and dropped out of college after working two full-time jobs to pay tuition, where does that leave all of us?

Here’s some interesting stats courtesy of the Project on Student Debt:

- Maine ranks 7th in the nation for the average debt from four-year public and private universities, at $20,239. For public universities the figure was $19,185, and for private colleges, $22,284.
- According to numbers from 2005 the highest debt for graduates comes from the University of New England, with an average of $37,507, and 88 percent of graduates leaving with debt.
- The lowest debt for graduates comes from the University of Maine at Fort Kent, where 81 percent of graduates leave with debt. The average debt was $10,483.

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