Most of these kids do not have anyone to show them the financial ropes. I was lucky and both my grandpa and father were into investing and I learned a lot from both of them. Not just markets, but saving, not using credit cards, keeping a good credit score, etc.
Most of you seem financially literate. If you know a young person I would encourage you to take a few minutes and talk to them a bit about finances. Tell them how having bad credit costs you a lot of money in the long run. Don't use payday loans, don't buy cars from "We finance anyone" lots, don't finance phones or even buy a new phone ever 18 months. Get that six month emergency fund. If your employer matches 401k contributions, its free money risk free. If they don't have a 401k then tell them about IRA's.
We started to offer a 401K in the last year. I found a 401K calculator online and entered some very conservative numbers. Starting at age 30 with $0 and retiring at 65, making $45,000 a year contributing 10% with 3% match and 6% return on average you will have over $900,000 when you retire. I put it into Excel and printed off 400 copies and passed them out to each employee. They were blown away at the amount of money they would have. When I go into work now I get more questions about finances than I do actual work.
These kids are not dumb and they are definitely not lazy. Not everyone had a grandpa and/or dad to teach them these things. They want to learn and are willing to learn. Their elders (us) have just failed them miserably.