Watch Simon Johnson, professor of entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Business Management, talk about how college grads needs to expand their circle of associates to succeed:

WATCH: Economic Realities for Today’s College Graduates 

Meanwhile, Rabbi Steven Leder, the senior rabbi at the historic Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, Calif., recommends that college grads “do what you love.” Watch below: 

“Do what you love. Work hard at it,” Leder says. “Make enough money that you don’t have to fear other people’s power over you, but use your money to help the powerless.”

WATCH: Next Generation of Leaders Will Be Creative 

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WATCH: Simon Johnson – Making the Financial Sector Accountable 

“Some people have suggested that the right name for the generation being born today is Generation IOU,” Johnson said. “I think that’s a little strong … the key to getting out of this kind of debt burden is growth. Now, you have to grow in a responsible way. You have to generate tax revenue from that growth.

“You cannot – we cannot – kid ourselves and our children that you can somehow have a continuation of the American economic and political miracle without people paying taxes. And this means people across the income spectrum.”

WATCH: Maria Bartiromo – Jobs, Medicare, Debt Are ‘Going to Strangle Us’

There needs to be a more open conversation about what the federal government does to encourage growth, Johnson said. That, combined with a “reasonable” level of taxation, tax reform, and revenue generation, will help America avoid financial devastation similar to that Europe is experiencing. Then, he added, “we’ll go back to a much more suitable participatory economy like what we had after World War II.”

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AIG, the insurance giant that American taxpayers bailed out with $182 billion to prevent it from collapsing during the 2008 Wall Street meltdown, is considering whether to join a lawsuit against the federal government. If AIG decides to join the shareholder complaint, which seeks $25 billion in damages, it would pit the company against the government that saved it from collapsing under huge losses on mortgage-backed securities and other toxic assets. Starr International Co. filed the lawsuit in November 2011 on behalf of the firm and AIG shareholders, claiming that the government didn’t provide shareholders fair compensation when it took a nearly 80 percent stake in the company as part of the bailout – a violation of the Constitution, it claims.

WATCH: Maria Bartiromo – The Weekend That Changed Wall Street Interview

When it comes to the financial sector, there’s no doubt it needs to become more accountable, says economics expert Simon Johnson, professor of entrepreneurship at the MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Watch Johnson talk about young people making change in this area and the remedy for an ailing economy:

WATCH: ‘We Cannot Kid Ourselves’ About America’s Scary Debt

Johnson co-author of 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown, a bestselling assessment of the dangers now posed by the U.S. financial sector and White House Burning: The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why It Matters to You, says “we need a financial sector that works for the real economy, not a financial sector that works for itself and runs crazy gambling casino schemes.”

Johnson’s remedy to fix the financial sector?

• No bank should be too big to fail.
• Banks should be made small enough and simple enough so they can fail.
• Nobody gets a “get-out-of-jail-free card.”

Asst. Sec’y for Financial Stability Timothy G. Massad confirms receipt of proceeds from sale of Treasury’s final shares of AIG common stock; U.S. government

As for AIG, government officials are furious at the prospect of the lawsuit. The company is the “poster child” for Wall Street greed, fiscal mismanagement and executive bonus, U.S. Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Michael Capuano, D-Mass., wrote in a letter to AIG Chairman Robert Miller. “Now, AIG apparently seeks to become the poster company for corporate ingratitude and chutzpah,” the letter read. “Taxpayers are still furious that they rescued a company whose own conduct brought it down. Don’t rub salt in the wounds with yet another reckless decision that is on par with the reckless decision that led to the bailout in the first place.”

WATCH Simon Johnson talk about the “ideas economy” in this YouTube video

Newly elected Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee who had no qualms about taking to the airwaves in recent years to blast Wall Street for its irresponsible behavior at the expense of the middle class, called the suit “outrageous” and said the company should “thank American taxpayers for their help, not bite the hand that fed them for helping them out in a crisis.”

Watch genConnect on YouTube: Andrew Ross Sorkin – Wall Street Is ‘Boring’ 

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“The (small) good news is that we managed to raise revenue by increasing tax rates.  This has been a big hurdle,” Simon Johnson, former chief economist with the International Monetary Fund and current professor of entrepreneurship at MIT Sloan School of Management, told genConnect. “The less good news is that payroll taxes went up – this is a big hit to lower income Americans but doesn’t seem to have been discussed seriously.”

Key parts of the deal include:

WATCH: Starbucks Cup Campaign Sends ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Message 

-It will allow income tax rates to increase for the first time in two decades;

-Allowing rates to rise on wages and investment profits for households making more than $450,000 a year; Bush-era tax cuts would remain permanent for couples earning under $450,000 and individuals earning under $400,000;

-Delays automatic cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs for two months;

-Allows more than 2 million Americans to continue to receive federal unemployment benefits for at least another year;

-Raising $620 billion in revenue over 10 years, which means future deficit reduction could come from cutting favorite Democratic programs;

-Extends the child tax credit and the college tuition credit for five years, and individual and business tax breaks for two years;

-Permanently fixes the Alternative Minimum Tax;

The bill got support from 85 Republicans – including House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and former vice presidential contender Paul Ryan, R-Wis., along with 172 Democrats. President Obama is expected to quickly sign the bill, but many expect an even bigger fight soon to come over the nation’s debt ceiling, which Johnson told genConnect “could be quite destabilizing.”

WATCH: Simon Johnson – Making the Financial Sector Accountable 

America’s debt is crushing, but we can escape it, says Johnson. Watch Johnson talk about how his latest book, White House Burning: The Founding Fathers, Our National Debt, and Why it Matters to You, explains how responsible growth is the key to getting out of debt:

WATCH: Maria Bartiromo – Jobs, Medicare, Debt Are ‘Going to Strangle Us’

“Some people have suggested that the right name for the generation being born today is Generation IOU,” Johnson said. “I think that’s a little strong … the key to getting out of this kind of debt burden is growth. Now, you have to grow in a responsible way. You have to generate tax revenue from that growth.

“You cannot – we cannot – kid ourselves and our children that you can somehow have a continuation of the American economic and political miracle without people paying taxes. And this means people across the income spectrum.”

WATCH: American Ideas Are Being ‘Bled Out of the Country’

There needs to be a more open conversation about what the federal government does to encourage growth, Johnson said. That, combined with a “reasonable” level of taxation, tax reform, and revenue generation, will help America avoid financial devastation similar to that Europe is experiencing. Then, he added, “we’ll go back to a much more suitable participatory economy like what we had after World War II.”

• For more daily expert updates, follow genConnect on Twitter and Facebook.
• To stay on top of the latest contributions from experts: Sign Up for genConnect.

Simon Johnson (left) with genConnnect’s Baruch Shemtov (right) at 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival.

Related: Economy Turmoil – How to Deal With Money, Security Fears

“We need a financial sector that works for the real economy, not a financial sector that works for itself and runs crazy gambling casino schemes,” said Johnson, who also launched a petition – now with 38,000 signatures - to have Jamie Diamon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, step down from the New York Federal Reserve Board, citing a conflict of interest.

Johnson’s remedy to fix the financial sector?

• No bank should be too big to fail.
• Banks should be made small enough and simple enough so they can fail.
• Nobody gets a “get-out-of-jail-free card.”

Related: New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin Says‘Wall Street Is Boring’

While those points will force banks to be accountable, Johnson said, younger people should be striving for change.

“You have to keep pushing,” Johnson said. “You have to mobilize, you have to organize, you have to show people that there’s some shared interest and there’s an ability to bring pressure.”

genConnect is credentialed press at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colo., where we are interviewing the premier speakers and attendees at the conference. For more of our video interviews and articles from the Ideas Festival, click here.

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