Really?
Just look at the moral decay in our entertainment. You don't think this rubs off on our youth? How could it not?
How about the drug culture?
Many movie/TV/music stars and pro athletes openly permit questionable aspects of their private lives to be made public (no such thing as bad publicity, right?). Such details would never have been made public 30 years ago.
Youth isn't looking?
As for "fire in the belly", I have quite a few young folks in my family, my daughters included, who are un or under-employed. None of them are asking for handouts, but I can see that they are getting pretty dejected looking for jobs that just aren't there.
They all had decent jobs, but those jobs were taken from them.
However, other members of my family and children of close friends who have government related jobs (teaching, police, Federal Air Marshall, local town DPW, etc) are all doing OK, for now.
When that changes, and it will, as the government cuts back, we are in for a one real rough ride.