Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader was not afraid to describe a future of disappointment for about 150 people who attended his speech at the Reitz Union on Tuesday.
Arriving an hour late, Nader began his hour-long speech by describing the economic situation that awaits students on the cusp of graduation.
"In addition to a deepening recession, you're facing difficulty in getting health insurance, unless you're pretty well off," he said.
Affordable housing will also be difficult to find, he said, and skilled jobs will be "increasingly susceptible to being outsourced to fascist and communist dictators abroad."
Nader criticized Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, his main opponents for the presidency, for wanting to increase the military's budget.
"We have enough TNT equivalent, industrial engineers have told us, to blow the world up 300 times and make the rubble bounce," he said. "And then you wonder why there isn't enough money to modernize our schools, to repair and expand our clinics, to keep our libraries open."
Nader also spoke against building nuclear power plants in Florida.
"You are in the Sunshine State, and you're building four more of these boondoggle, dangerous nuclear power plants that can't even get private financing to build them," he said.
Nader urged the audience to become involved citizens. He asked them what they would tell their grandchildren when asked what they did when the world was falling apart.
"What are you gonna tell 'em, that you were too busy beefing up your profile on Facebook?" he said.
He told the students that they should use their privileged positions to their advantage.
"You are going forward with assets that most people your age don't have around the world," he said. "Most people your age are lucky if they can get their next meal."
Before he took questions, one of Nader's organizers came to the lectern and asked attendees if they could donate $50, $100, $250 or $500 to the campaign.
