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IMO we need to spend LESS on public education and also stop educating the children of illegals for free. America has a problem with thinking that every single child needs a STEM education and that all young adults need to have a college degree. Americans shouldn't be looking down at those in the skilled trades.
But if parents weren't so crazy about trying to get their children into colleges like Harvard, the country as a whole would have more money to save for retirement. I just don't understand the math of spending over $150K to educate a child through high school, then spend another $160K for a college degree. Why is America investing $300K to educate each child in this country? And as it is, the school teachers feel UNDERPAID. Our educational system is broken. How we are raising our children is very broken.
I don’t think you could be further off base. The amount we spend on public education isn’t enough and is far, Far, FAR from our largest problem
You'd be surprised at how many old folks can live on social security checks and very little savings. They might not be cruising to the Bahamas or enjoying the glorious gilded walking paths of Del Boca Vista but they aren't dying hungry in the streets either. This country has far more resources and excesses than you give it credit for, old folks dying in waves due to starvation isn't going to happen for economic reasons any time in any of our lifetimes.
Are retirees who were non-savers current'y starving to death? I doubt if I go look up some statistics on mortality for senior citizens in the United States will I find "starvation" represented well among the usual suspects cancer, hearth failure, etc. I'm not sure why you think we're about to have some pivot where people who haven't saved for retirement will no longer be able to eat.
You might entertain the possibility that they're ignored because their logic is faulty.
Some of us have already discovered what scaling a wall feels like, but that was only part of the things we had to choose and hope were ther right ones. I'm just 66 now. I've had medical problems since my 20's and they aren't worse or better now. Maybe they seem 'better' because I'm *used* to being tired.... but I long ago learned that after being sick from one of those auto immune diseases for over ten years, just tired is not really bad at all. I long ago accepted that long term conditions can not all be made to vanish in a woosh, but part of the sense of 'better' is that you are used to it now. You know when to stop, where tired transforms to exhausted. But most of all, it is *comfortably* better. You know the alternative. You choose not to since its not going to really 'fix' anything.
I usually don't say much about how I 'got there' in terms of illness, but if one of them is something like the digestive ones, your care begins as soon as the diagnosis is made. and over time it either worsens or doesn't, but there are still choices, depending on your own personal body points. One person may be fine and feel pretty good, except for now and then when its awful, and some may feel just not so good but not really bad for a long time, just have the really good breaks now and again. If you choose then you may pick a different option than you would where your still mostly ahead.
The point here is that what *works* for one is not by eny means have to be the same as the choice made by others. And it should be recognized that we all make choices which are different than the norm, but we all must learn to live by what steps into the new day we have made.
of course the flip side is , when it comes to investing , always thinking " this time is different " and planning around "different " has been the most expensive , costliest words in our dictionary .
we can win the lottery too ,,, it is always possible , but planning around it and dwelling on it would likely be a waste of time and effort
I agree with that.
The conundrum is unless you live in a self sufficient way, you're dependent on money; so you're forced to play the game. But a certain amount of detachment is needed. At least an outline of a Plan B (maybe at least some food storage, if nothing else) needs to be there in case there is a major financial collapse. You sort of have to be of two minds. One mind plays the money game, but the other mind knows it could go away tomorrow.
You might entertain the possibility that they're ignored because their logic is faulty.
Like I said, I'll be happy if the Cassandras are wrong. But I've got a Plan B in the back of my mind.
I remember when we used to laugh at 3rd World countries in Latin America because they printed money. Now the U.S., Europe, & Japan have done it by the trillions. I've seen too many things that people thought would never happen, happen; so I prefer to keep my eyes and ears open.
Yes, but property rights are actually getting stronger. For reference, in recent decades many states have moved to require a criminal conviction before taking property in civil asset forfeiture, even when not forced to do so by any federal courts. There is a nationwide movement to that effect as well. I see no sign that private property rights are being weakened in any grand sense, even though some state and local laws will try to chip away at the edges.
Listen to what these women have to say and maybe you'll change your mind. State and even national agendas are more and more easily sidestepped.
The pertinent point in the first video is from 1:05 to 7:00
The government does not need to march in and clean out your 401K to take the money. They can simply impose a tax on withdrawals. Withdrawals are already mandatory. Done. Nothing unconstitutional and the money still changes hands.
Agreed. They can always find a sneaky way to do something if they want to do it. They always find a way.
There's a straightforward solution to all of this: import able-bodied young people who are willing to work, and who will have more children. But the political climate is moving precisely in the opposite direction.
We want able bodied people. Just not low skilled people from the 3rd world who displace our own poor and working class and who are also dependent on largesse from the taxpayers.
I love it. We're two years from a Democratic administration and the OMFG THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE IT AWAY, HA HA, THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE IT AWAY chorus is already in fine voice again.
Nice to see reality has seeped in enough that you're conceding the election, though.
Both the right and the left have been taking things away from us for decades. Yet because we're so busy arguing with each other, we don't even notice. Exactly how the elites want it.
Seriously you could've learned about that in a lot less time than it took you to write this and would save all your worrying.
/thread
We're already running a big deficit in supposedly good times. Just like Greece, we're going to hit a wall with that at some point. No one knows where the tipping point is, but we seem h*ll bent on racing toward it--and right past it.
If you aren't skilled in an area that allows you to save enough for retirement, and cannot afford to return to school, seek to switch to an employer (city, state) that participates in some sort of pension retirement system. Even in an entry-level clerk or public works employee, you will have a much more secure retirement than trying to save what's not coming in.
That sounds good, in theory. But the word is already out on such jobs. The competition to get them is fierce. Not every qualified person who wants such a job can get one.
Not to mention the fact that many state & local governments have over-promised on their pensions.
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