A couple nights ago the benevolent tubes that snake through the Internet informed me that free food an amount of which can best be described as American was available just a few blocks from my apartment. I rounded up my roommates and a friend of ours and we made our way down the road to take advantage of this unexpected nutritional windfall. What I found there was an unexpectedly stirring commentary on the state of young adults in America.

The specific promotions my friends and I attempted to exploit were an offer by the fast food purveyors at Jack in the Box for a free grilled sandwich with the purchase of a large fountain drink, and the celebration of National Pancake Day at the high culinary church of The International House of Pancakes, a location of each were less than a mile from my and my roommates' residence. As proof, here are the two offers as they were presented online.

For whatever reason, our Jack in the Box wasn't participating in this promotion, so there were no grilled sandwiches in our future. No big deal, it's not like the inconsequential promises of a chain restaurant with over 2000 locations in the western United States alone are anything to get bent out of shape about. Anyway, at least we had the chance to grab a free short stack just a few blocks down the road.

And that we did, and apparently so did a significant portion of the under 30 population of our city. For the first time in my life, I actually had to wait for a table at an IHOP. Having spent more than a few late night bar rushes in that very restaurant, it was more than a little surreal to find the place bursting at the seams with pancake-hungry kids at 9:00 on a Tuesday evening.

That's the thing about it, too. It was all kids, or more specifically people between the ages of 19 and 30. It's not as if the 20-somethings have a corner on the desire for free food and I don't really live in a part of town that is dominated by the demographic. No, something else was afoot at the IHOP that night, and I think I've got an idea what.

Of the four people at our table on Tuesday, only one was fit to file a W-2 this tax season. The rest were either under-paid contractors or just plain unemployed, all college educated with previous experience and in relatively good health. That table and just about every other table in the restaurant was a microcosm of the state of American socio-economics. The numbers don't lie. According the United States Bureau of Labor, the slim majority of unemployed people in America who are actively searching for work are between the ages of 20 and 25, and 25 and 30. We all showed up on National Pancake Day because we were being financially responsible, not because people under 30 like pancakes more than everyone else.

It's becoming increasingly apparent that our government is incapable of legislating change when it comes to the job market. Congress has been throwing money at the largest corporations and brokerage firms in the nation, which is more less a means of protecting the jobs of very wealthy, very secure individuals. It's time for young tax payers to stop waiting for our own bailout.

Considering how many 20-something freelancers, contractors and talented-but-unemployed people I know, it seems that the only solution for the young workforce of America is to make our own way. It used to be true that hard work, persistence and a college education would result in steady employment, but that has changed and I don't imagine it's ever going to be true again. If the ascending generation of Americans wants a future, we're going to have to start our own businesses, work together instead of vying for the insufficient number of opportunities that currently exist and essentially stop expecting any help whatsoever from the people currently in power.