USA Today files yet another report about the economic toll that the events of the last few years have taken, this one focusing on an entire generation that, by and large, still probably doesn’t know what hit them. I mean, would you be smiling if you were twenty-something years old and you owed almost a hundred thousand dollars?

They’re called “Generation Y” — teens and twentysomethings known stereotypically for their coddled upbringing, confidence, opinionated dialogue, free-spending habits and openness to change.

Ultimately, however, the more than 50 million members may be best remembered for whether they can overcome the dire financial straits that plague many of them.

Even before the recession, those in Generation Y — the latest products of a get-it-now, pay-for-it-later mind-set that has permeated the nation’s economy — faced a range of financial pitfalls as they embraced expensive high-tech gadgets and added credit card debt onto student loans.

Now, stagnant wages, job insecurity, the decline in employer-sponsored health insurance and retirement benefits, the rapid increase in basic expenses, soaring debt and minimal savings have jeopardized the economic security of the entire generation, according to a recent report by Demos, a public policy research and advocacy think tank.

Their generation is the first in a century that is unlikely to end up better off financially than their parents, the Demos report said.

My guess is that, in another 10 or 20 years, they’re going to be pretty mad when they fully understand what the baby boomers left them. Birth is like a lot of other things in life in that, often times,  timing is everything (though location is usually pretty important too…)