Rising journalist and fellow millennial Andrew Stiles is all too familiar with the financial realities of his generation—inescapable student debt, insufficient jobs, and the sort of apathetic response to the inevitable Social Security drainage that will leave them empty-handed in old age. But rather than resigning or whining, Stiles employs both humor and research to illustrate what is turning out to be a “bleakenomic” future for millennials.
Some of his key findings include:

• U.S. debt is approaching 100 percent of GDP, the highest level since World War II.
• By 2050, debt is on track to reach an unprecedented 145 percent of GDP. Under one pessimistic (but probably more realistic) scenario, CBO estimates that debt could rise to 244 percent of GDP, which means lights out.
• By 2050, federal spending is projected to exceed 29 percent of GDP, levels not seen since the height of World War II. We’re on track to spending more money on baby boomers in retirement than we did to defeat the Nazis.
• Since 1984, the median net worth for households headed by some­one under the age of 35 has declined 68 percent. For retirement age households, net worth has increased 42 percent over that same period. The result is the largest generational wealth gap in history. Boomers did better than their kids in early adulthood, and will do better than their kids in retirement.
• As millennials remain childless and single for longer, they face one of the highest tax rates (16.9 percent) for their demographic in the developed world.

The millennial reality is harsh, but Stiles does not wallow in it. Rather, he uses the data as a slap in the face to shame boomers and wake up millennials to save, vote, and work for change in a system that can’t continue.

An all-star team of eighteen conservative writers offers a hilarious, insightful, sanctimony-free remix of William Bennett’s The Book of Virtues—without parental controls. The Seven Deadly Virtues sits down next to readers at the bar, buys them a drink, and an hour or three later, ushers them into the revival tent without them even realizing it.
 
The book’s contributors include Sonny Bunch, Christopher Buckley, David “Iowahawk” Burge, Christopher Caldwell, Andrew Ferguson, Jonah Goldberg, Michael Graham, Mollie Hemingway, Rita Koganzon, Matt Labash, James Lileks, Rob Long, Larry Miller, P. J. O’Rourke, Joe Queenan, Christine Rosen, and Andrew Stiles. Jonathan V. Last, senior writer at the Weekly Standard, editor of the collection, is also a contributor. All eighteen essays in this book are appearing for the first time anywhere.
 
In the book’s opening essay, P. J. O’Rourke observes: “Virtue has by no means disappeared. It’s as much in public view as ever. But it’s been strung up by the heels. Virtue is upside down. Virtue is uncomfortable. Virtue looks ridiculous. All the change and the house keys are falling out of Virtue’s pants pockets.”
 
Here are the virtues everyone (including the book’s contributors) was taught in Sunday school but have totally forgotten about until this very moment.  In this sanctimony-free zone:
 
• Joe Queenan observes: “In essence, thrift is a virtue that resembles being very good at Mahjong. You’ve heard about people who can do it, but you’ve never actually met any of them.”
• P. J. O’Rourke notes: “Fortitude is quaint. We praise the greatest generation for having it, but they had aluminum siding, church on Sunday, and jobs that required them to wear neckties or nylons (but never at the same time). We don’t want those either.”
• Christine Rosen writes: “A fellowship grounded in sociality means enjoying the company of those with whom you actually share physical space rather than those with whom you regularly and enthusiastically exchange cat videos.”
• Rob Long offers his version of modern day justice: if you sleep late on the weekend, you are forced to wait thirty minutes in line at Costco.
• Jonah Goldberg offers: “There was a time when this desire-to-do-good-in-all-things was considered the only kind of integrity: ‘Angels are better than mortals. They’re always certain about what is right because, by definition, they’re doing God’s will.’ Gabriel knew when it was okay to remove a mattress tag and Sandalphon always tipped the correct amount.”
• Sonny Bunch dissects forbearance, observing that the fictional Two Minutes Hate of George Orwell’s 1984 is now actually a reality directed at living, breathing people. Thanks, in part, to the Internet, “Its targets are designated by a spontaneously created mob—one that, due to its hive-mind nature—is virtually impossible to call off.”
 
By the time readers have completed The Seven Deadly Virtues, they won’t even realize that they’ve just been catechized into an entirely different—and better—moral universe.