Back in the dark ages any teen with enough get up and go to land a part-time job at the corner gas station could own a car.
A car meant freedom. You could visit the girl or the liquor store or the drug dealer or the church in the next county any time you wanted. Freedom.
That was the dark ages. We've had a lot of progress since.
Among other things car ownership was a status marker. Owning a car marked you as someone who was free to visit the next county or the next state whenever you wanted, for whatever reason.
That was the dark ages.
We've made a lot of progress.
By the time the '90's rolled around, car ownership among teens had pretty much died out. A teen might be able to afford the latest Nike sneakers, might be able to afford a Bulls jacket, but probably couldn't afford to own a car.
Minimum wage doesn't go as far as it used to.
Today any teen can walk up to a cell-phone kiosk in any mall and walk away with a phone that works. That's the new coolness factor. Minimum wage will cover a minimum cell plan.
You can't visit the next county or the next state, but you can text your "friends" all over the world.
This is what Fox News is talking about when they crow about web-savvy teens not wanting to drive.
It's not that they don't want to; they can't afford to.
But the no-spin folks can spin that into a feel-good story.
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