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This forum seems to attract those who want to complain. Many of the complainers seem to have a list of excuses and people to blame. There are survivalists waiting for the sky to fall and those who have conspiracy theories about everything. In addition to hearing how everything is falling apart we hear about how great it was in the good old days.
I have a couple of points that I think are worth consideration. First the venting of frustrations may make us feel temporarily better but it would be a lot better to learn the facts and learn how to succeed. The losers will always complain. Those who become successful find ways around the obstacles and find ways to improve and reach their goals. Next, consider that the good old days were not that good. My parents eventually did well in life, but along the way they dealt with years of disruption and risk due to WWII. The eventual level of success they achieved was not that great by today's standards. In spite of a solid middle class income, we rarely ate out, often went years without any vacations away from home, and we only used the telephone for long distance on major holidays and those conversations were short. My mom worked hard to cook meals from scratch, managed the finances, cleaned the house, and sewed a lot of our clothing. Trying to keep a car running was expensive. They rusted away in a few years and wore out by about 75k miles. Our standard of living was just plain way less than today's expectations. My generation of boomers did not have it easy either. I had to deal with 2 years of military service including a year in Vietnam and the mental turmoil afterwards. Trying to find a job was horrible. Unemployment was extremely high and there were no jobs at any level. Then we went through long periods of hyperinflation and even 18% mortgage rates. I could go on and on. The good old days were just plain hard and we had a lot lower standard of living back then.
There is value in understanding what happened in the past and how we should proceed in the future. Complaining just detracts from what we need to learn and do. Let me give just one example. I hear people complaining about feelings of job insecurity. Again, the good old days were none too good, at least for me. I went through numerous job losses due to mergers and bankruptcies. I chased jobs all across the country and lived in 8 States in about 15 years. The point is to look at the current situation and find opportunities. What can you do to improve your career or to change to a better career? Do you need more education, perhaps starting with night courses? Do you need to improve your interpersonal skills? Change jobs? Move to a different part of the country? I think it would be helpful if we had a lot less complaining, fewer political theories, and more ideas of what we can do to improve our individual finances and careers.
In about 40 years someone is going to say 2015 was the good old days. It's a never ending loop. There are people today that are in a similar situation as your parents were with some slight differences due to technology advances.
Cars are still expensive to maintain. Food is still expensive and people still struggle to manage finances. And if you haven't noticed we just got out of a 13 year war
Unfortunately we are no where near the end of the wars in the Middle East. Nor have we won the war on terror. In fact considering the huge expenditures and changes in society, I think the terrorists have won. But there is a big difference. WWII and Vietnam had huge impacts on a large number of people partly because of the drafts, numbers in combat, and the losses of life and limb. My point would be that by comparison the current wars have much less impact on most people than the wars of the previous couple of generations.
The point is to look at the current situation and find opportunities. What can you do to improve your career or to change to a better career? Do you need more education, perhaps starting with night courses? Do you need to improve your interpersonal skills? Change jobs? Move to a different part of the country? I think it would be helpful if we had a lot less complaining, fewer political theories, and more ideas of what we can do to improve our individual finances and careers.
The title of your post and this statement don't match IMO. Our "economy" isn't about "looking for opportunities", but rather about how opportunities and living standards have changed, and how they can be improved in a collective way. This is influenced by policies on a national level, rather than every individual trying to figure out how to get a bigger share of a shrinking pie.
If you want to discuss politics there is a political forum. You can study the issues, vote and hope your vote makes a difference. I consider this forum to be a good place to learn what you can do to improve you financial health and career. If you want to change the world to meet your expectations, good luck.
While the good old days weren't always good, in many ways they were. True, technology was primitive. There was no cell phone or Internet. There were only a few channels on TV and often you watched in Black and white.
But you could generally find a job. Medical costs were under control: my brother was in the hospital for a week and the bill was about $250 ($1500 in today's dollars), an amount the average uninsured could pay within a year.
Incidentally, the "silent" generation born 1928-1944, was also the Luckiest. Born into deprivation, they benefitted from WW2 without fighting it, and graduated into an economy with a labor shortage. Of course the vast majority is now retired.
It would be interesting to attempt living as like the good ole' days... ditch the cell phone, ditch the cable TV bill and Netflix subscriptions to only get a few channels, lose the computer and internet bill, sell the microwave oven, bluray/DVD/mp3 player, trade your modern efficient fridge for an older one that uses twice as much energy, get a smaller house without central air, one car for the family that needs regular tune ups, gets ****ty mileage, and lacks safety features and goodies like GPS and power windows.
I wonder how much your living expenses would go down.
When the Feds announce they're moving NORAD back to Cheyenne Mountain because it is 'naturally hardened against EMP's' it does not make one feel optimistic about the future.
All the massive spending, training, arming for military action against U.S. citizens is not a sign of good things ahead either.
I wonder how much your living expenses would go down.
Not much, since the things you mention are fairly cheap. The big expenses are housing, vehicle use, food, and medical. The basics were easier to handle back then even with a wife at home and kids.
To put things back to the way they were you would have to give up most of modern healthcare...everything but simple surgery and penicillin.
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