The Coming Reckoning for Youth
How we can avert a crisis by investing in public works, modern skills, and entrepreneurship—turning a reckoning into a renewal.
The reckoning I warned of in September is not an abstract threat; it is unfolding now. In my “Gold, Youth & the Coming Reckoning” series, I argued that amid partisan gridlock, we are failing to deliver the bold policies needed—specifically, investments in youth employment, housing renewal, and real wealth-building projects.
A reader, Jeff, pressed me for specifics on those “wealth-building projects.” He was right to ask. Vague promises won’t avert a crisis. So, let’s move from diagnosis to prescription.
The core of our failure is not a lack of good ideas, but a profound flaw in how we evaluate them. In government, a bill is too often seen as a cost—a line item to be debated and cut. We stop at the price tag, instead of analyzing the return on investment as any business would. For any policy to succeed, it needs a champion who can clearly articulate that return and sell its tangible benefits to the public.
Through that lens—viewing spending as investment—the path forward becomes clear and justifiable. We must stop making excuses and start approving proven, wealth-building programs like:
1. Public Works & Environmental Renewal: We should partner with private companies to fund neighborhood improvement, urban renewal, and conservation. Imagine companies supplying trees, lending tools, and providing free transit for youth interns. This isn’t just busywork; it’s an investment in our physical environment and our young people’s future.
2. Skills for the Modern Economy: We must provide free vocational and technical training to build a workforce ready for high-demand careers. This goes beyond traditional trades. For instance, every young person should achieve AI proficiency and know how to fly a drone. These are the literacy skills of the 21st-century economy.
3. Youth Entrepreneurship: We need to create direct incentives—from grants to tax breaks—that help young people not just find jobs, but create them. Fostering a generation of entrepreneurs is a direct investment in innovation and community resilience.
4. Financial Literacy: We must offer free, accessible courses to ensure the next generation can build personal wealth, navigate debt, and make sound financial decisions. You cannot build wealth if you don’t understand how to manage it.
Critically, these investments can directly tackle the issues voters care about most. In our urban centers, the biggest gripe is traffic. Major capital programs to build smarter roads and bridges—which reduce carbon emissions and enhance productivity—should be required to hire youth interns. The same applies to social housing developments. And in those completed buildings, the very youths who helped build them should have access to low-cost rent. This creates a virtuous cycle: they build the community, then get to be a part of it.
The truth is, the blueprint for renewal is right in front of us. There is no shortage of viable, wealth-building projects. The only real shortage is the political courage to see them not as expenses, but as the down payment on a future we can all share.
The reckoning is coming. But it doesn’t have to be our downfall. It can be our catalyst.
As a personal footnote, consider my case. In my fifth year in the securities industry, I already had three employers – all good firms, but lacking in offering what I needed. I wanted to build things, but lacked the capital. One day, the chairman of Canaccord Capital – now a global financial services company, but at that time a small regional firm in Western Canada—phoned me in Toronto with a request for a private meeting in Vancouver. In under ten minutes in his office, he offered me $3 million and a 35% profit interest to build his company from scratch in Eastern Canada. Of course I accepted. Starting with no staff or clients – just imagination--I soon leased half the penthouse floor of the Toronto Stock Excjhange tower, designed the space, hired the team for a dual head-office, and got fully licensed. A year later, the Chairman wanted me to more actively manage the staff instead of building the business with new clients, so I quit and formed William Cara Investment Bancorp, an Exempt Market Dealer, which quickly financed several companies. I was then approached by the Board of Directors of Canada’s largest, most prestigious life insurance company with a proposal to become the firm’s bagman in Hong Kong for their real estate developments. Unfortuanately the CEO did not approve the deal, but I was called to the office of the Chief Financial Officer who smoothed over the bad news by reading me a letter. He said that his firm had conducted an extensive private investigator check to assess me before making the offer, and that PI had written the CFO a report. The opening line was, “Bill Cara has the enviable reputation among his peers as the person who gets things done.”
I’m saying this to youth: If you have imagination, and refuse to go along with people just to get along, but strive to build things, to create wealth, the opportunities will soon come your way. Seize the opportunities, and don’t look back.
To start the process, go to your elected representatives at every level, and present the product of your imagination, one that will create value in your community if the decision-makers you must rely on can match your courage.
Go for it. Be that champion.