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I'm going to try and get this topic back on track. It seems to have degenerated into a fight between a couple of posters.
The question asked is "are people just not motivated to work anymore?"
I think the answer to this is yes in many places. The primary signs that I have picked on are all the people out there who seem to want to retire young on pension plans that younger groups of workers are paying for.
Its simply nonsensical and non-sustainable to believe that as a country we can continue to allow people to retire after 30 years of service (and often before age 60) on full benefits and than live until age 85. Sooner or later, that kind of system has to collapse. Nor is it fair to expect the younger generation to shoulder all of this burden. I don't blame them for not wanting to do it. Its asking more than those of us in our fifties and sixties realize that it is.
I've met too many people in my life who had little more aspiration than to take some kind of government job at a military base and put in thirty years of half-hearted labor. Many of these people deliberately avoided all kinds of opportunities that came their way. Some were offered a chance to go back to college even with the government paying the bill. A huge percentage wouldn't do it even when the cost was entirely paid by others. They wanted to slide through life with the least amount of resistance, retire early, and lay around. I've also seen too many people who managed to obtain a medical retirement, too many people who abused sick leave to the point where they had no spare days left, and too many people got away doing very little at a job because their boss didn't want have to go through all the paperwork it would take to fire them. I bet there are people on the CDF reading these posts who fall into the categories I'm describing.
I don't believe in nonsense like eliminating social security because that would be the other extreme. But darnit! All the generations are going to have sit down and have a real dialogue about retirement and health insurance. Otherwise the cost of these programs is simply going to break this country.
This isn't something those in their fifties approaching retirement age want to hear, but its the truth. Better to face it now than later.
what i see is people blaming each other instead of focusing on where the problems actually lie-which is the shrinking private sector. the private sector needs to be large enough to sustain the government sector. that is why i proposed some of the items on the list that i started. there are plenty more ideas out there to deal with these issues and you are absolutely correct that there are too many disability claims, too many double dipping pensioners, and too many people with unrealistic expectations on what is going to be PROVIDED FOR THEM.
we are down to a 64 percent labor force participation rate.
you made some good points and we certainly do need to have the conversation on how things are going to be funded. i am not sure that people are ready to have that conversation, however, after seeing how the wisconsin teachers acted when asked to contribute some of their own money into their pension plans. we also saw the government in action, with the legislators FLEEING the state instead of dealing with the tough choices.
it is pretty sad, actually.
changes need to be made and all people need to be less selfish.
Last edited by floridasandy; 02-18-2011 at 05:02 AM..
For all you "Top Performers"
Just keep in mind that a good attitude at work is equally important to longevity on the job.
I have seen many self professed "Top Performers" who also have major attitudes. Like entitlement, invulnerability, intolerance, and resentment.
In short they are Drama Queens.
On many occasions I have seen these Top performers walked out the door with looks of disbelief
and anger on their faces, and a universal feeling of relief in everybody else.
hnsq;17906967]Your generation is the generation that invented the Hummer and the idea of 'keeping up with the Jonses'. The national debt and deficit has skyrocketed thanks to your generation.
You obviously don't know many people in their 20's. People my age write more than any other generation to date, we are more schooled than any other generation and we are more politically active than any other generation as well. Do you want to talk about the way things really are, or do you want to just complain about 'young people'?
You have never met a 24 year old who wants to fix anything? Maybe if you left your house and visited some non-profits, corporate process improvement seminars or political rallies you might feel differently. Guess what generation the majority of the people who attend those things are a part of?
Totally agree with this. And I am one of the "old ones", or I suppose the "inbetweens", at 45.
Young people want to and do work hard. They want to make their companies and their communities better places. I see this every day. BUT, the biiiiigggg but, they won't pledge allegiance, blindly, to a company. Why? Because corporate America loooong ago gave up their end of the bargain. No more job security. No more guaranteed pensions. No gold watch.
Instead, these days, you are lucky if you get to clean out your desk and remove your personal photos before you are escorted out the door.
Totally agree with this. And I am one of the "old ones", or I suppose the "inbetweens", at 45.
Young people want to and do work hard. They want to make their companies and their communities better places. I see this every day. BUT, the biiiiigggg but, they won't pledge allegiance, blindly, to a company. Why? Because corporate America loooong ago gave up their end of the bargain. No more job securtiy. No more guaranteed pensions. No gold watch.
Instead, these days, you are lucky if you get to clean out your desk and remove your personal photos before you are escorted out the door.
What's worse is a fearsome cop-lookalike guy escorting the person out like a criminal
I never do overtime because it never really pays as much as it should. My time is more valuable past a certain time of day. It should be quadruple time any time past my scheduled quitting time.
I would have had a 401K if my former company matched contributions but they did not. Why should I put my money in a fund that can lose value when I could just as easily save it in a interest bearing account.
I'm positive up to a point. I don't have a smile all the time but I'm friendly.
Don't forget, if your job could replace you with a robot, they would. They don't care about you, they never did. It's pretty hard to be positive for people that are this heartless.
401K in the long run (25-30 years) will outperform your interest account by far using the rule of 72 compounding method even without a match. Not to forget its taken out tax-free. They do care about you so you excel in your job. Its still a pyramid scheme though.
If you have a 401K, it also adds up to it. OT benefits Hourly more though.
I'm salaried, so I don't get paid more when I work more.
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