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I hear you OP. The boomers ate the steak, drank the wine, and popped the seed corn.
The best thing you can do is VOTE. Your generation finally has the numbers to change our government, and get us actually investing in the country again, rather than starving it, launching unfunded wars, and helping the rich fleece the rest of us.
VOTE, and you will change the country. For all their whining and ranting the angry white old folks who have screwed over the country are waning in power. Help move that along and the future is yours.
That would be because often I hear someone talk about reforming it. The first words out of their mouth are "oh but this won't impact 50+". I would never vote for such a politician. I understand it needs to be reformed, but I want a balanced approach not a lets just dump it on Gen X and Y.
I think even you should realize you start taking from NON-WAGE EARNERS and retirees and you've created a whole nuther level of welfare requirement.
I think your previous reference to volunteer assistance to seniors would come back to haunt you big time. YOU gonna adopt a couple whose savings you've wiped out in a feel-good move you've forced to equalize the "burden".
Seniors should just be content to starve in the streets so you can feel they've paid their dues?
You gonna willingly pay an elevated tax rate to fund the additional burden upon any welfare program you'd obviously be creating with your 'feel good' moment? Hmmmm.
Location: Just transplanted to FL from the N GA mountains
3,997 posts, read 4,153,672 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Randomstudent
That would be because often I hear someone talk about reforming it. The first words out of their mouth are "oh but this won't impact 50+". I would never vote for such a politician. I understand it needs to be reformed, but I want a balanced approach not a lets just dump it on Gen X and Y.
I give up. I guess 30 pages ago I just should have said. We've paid our whole lives, you're going to pay your whole lives and every generation after you is going to pay their whole lives. Get used to it. Suck it up. No one is dumping it on you, no more than it was "dumped" on us. Better yet.. just give me the money I was FORCED to pay into it up until this point, and I'll be more than happy to never ever draw a check. Or cut me off, when I hit the dollar amount I've paid in. And while we're at it...in order to be fair, what else don't you think someone else shouldn't have to pay for? Because I'm sure there are a bunch of taxes that I pay that you benefit from, so we'll be sure to cut those out too.....
No. I think every president except Clinton, up to and including Obama's first term had a hand in this and we are going to have to fight politically to get our politicians to act responsibly. I am ready to do that. I just dislike how this is getting dropped on my generation like a load of bricks and then insult is added to injury.
Clinton did it as well. He just hid it. They took money from Social Security that didn't have to be paid immediately to pay other expenses that did have to be paid immediately so that short term budgets looked good. But since that money will eventually have to be paid out in benefits, all it really did was push that debt down the road. There's a trillion and a half in interdepartmental transfers during the Clinton years that are eventually going to have to be made good, and whoever the President happens to be then is going to take the blame instead of Clinton.
I understand ebay needs to make money but the fees are ridiculous. I sold a coin for $127, bought it for $95. That's a $30 profit after shipping right? Well no because they took $11 out of it. $30 is a nice profit and worth my time but $19 is hardly worth the bother of buying it, listing it and shipping it. I would be better off washing dishes for my neighbor.
I am getting an engineering degree. However I'd never be a petroleum engineer. I'm not into raping the planet.
That's awesome your son found a niche but like I said, it's not easy. I'm a musician, I've been promoting my music for the better part of a decade, and still nobody listens. It's not like I haven't tried and I'm not still trying, I'm just venting about how it seems like nothing works.
Your idea that becoming a petroleum engineer is undesirable might be shortsighted. Perhaps such an engineer could be focused on doing the least amount of damage to the environment. Or reducing the water required for fracking. Or 100s of other things. Maybe formulating a cleaner gasoline with a higher energy content. (By assuming that petroleum engineers rape the planet you display preconceived ideas). I understand you may prefer mechanical engineering or electrical engineering - but that's not what you said.
Walmart makes a net profit of about 4%. Your example was relatively rich - $19 of a $127 sale is about 15%. Most businesses make nowhere near that much. I'd say you need to up your volume or find a cheaper outlet.
As for being a musician - well that has always been a tough business hasn't it? The vast majority of musicians, painters, sculptors, writers etc. cannot earn a living. Here in Austin, a very music oriented city, the majority of musicians just "get by" from what I am told. But thousands are here right now for the SXSW trade show/festival, all looking for their break. You gotta be good, really good in some way, to succeed.
1) Start a business. For example on Ebay. If you make a profit, they will take most of your money away in fees to the point it's not even worth the time put into listing and shipping. Or take out a loan and open up a place, and fail because nobody can afford your service in this economy.
2) Go to college. Only everyone goes to college so you are likely not to get a job for it, and you're left in servitude paying off your student loan debt. There are plenty of people still paying off their loans from the 1980s.
3) If you're lucky enough to find a job, most of them pay barely over minimum wage. Perhaps enough to share an apartment with a friend or partner, but by no means enough to start a family. The work is also more often than not very mundane and stressful, usually retail or cold calling.
I don't think this is justified in a country with so many resources. There needs to be a structural change. I'm 23 years old and I feel like my generation born in the 1980s/1990s has little hope of being more than debt serfs.
It was exactly like this in the late 70's too. We survived, you will too. The big difference for us? We could say "At least I have my minimum wage job so I am better off than the people who don't even work at all." That is no longer true. Also we knew everyone wasn't a winner and that life wasn't fair and we learned how to deal with those concepts while we were still young. We understood that failure or struggles to succeed weren't the end of the world and you could pick yourself up and move on, even eventually being stronger and better when everything was said and done. My generation has done your generation a huge disservice - we didn't teach you how to not be devastated by dissappointment. Those are lessons that are best learned as children and we didn't let you do it.
I hear you OP. The boomers ate the steak, drank the wine, and popped the seed corn.
The best thing you can do is VOTE. Your generation finally has the numbers to change our government, and get us actually investing in the country again, rather than starving it, launching unfunded wars, and helping the rich fleece the rest of us.
VOTE, and you will change the country. For all their whining and ranting the angry white old folks who have screwed over the country are waning in power. Help move that along and the future is yours.
Fiddlehead, you sound racist against what you call "angry white folks"
It was exactly like this in the late 70's too. We survived, you will too. The big difference for us? We could say "At least I have my minimum wage job so I am better off than the people who don't even work at all." That is no longer true. Also we knew everyone wasn't a winner and that life wasn't fair and we learned how to deal with those concepts while we were still young. We understood that failure or struggles to succeed weren't the end of the world and you could pick yourself up and move on, even eventually being stronger and better when everything was said and done. My generation has done your generation a huge disservice - we didn't teach you how to not be devastated by dissappointment. Those are lessons that are best learned as children and we didn't let you do it.
I think all future generations will be in the same boat with what they are being taught.
1) Start a business. For example on Ebay. If you make a profit, they will take most of your money away in fees to the point it's not even worth the time put into listing and shipping. Or take out a loan and open up a place, and fail because nobody can afford your service in this economy.
2) Go to college. Only everyone goes to college so you are likely not to get a job for it, and you're left in servitude paying off your student loan debt. There are plenty of people still paying off their loans from the 1980s.
3) If you're lucky enough to find a job, most of them pay barely over minimum wage. Perhaps enough to share an apartment with a friend or partner, but by no means enough to start a family. The work is also more often than not very mundane and stressful, usually retail or cold calling.
I don't think this is justified in a country with so many resources. There needs to be a structural change. I'm 23 years old and I feel like my generation born in the 1980s/1990s has little hope of being more than debt serfs.
1. You are incorrect, the fees on ebay are minimal. Take out a loan, and price your services to compete with others who provide the same services, if your price is better you will get business.
2. My kid went to college, and has a great job. Of course she has a great work history, starting at the low end of a totem pole ad working her way up. She has great references, because she didn't expect to start at the top, and did things the right way.
3. I have a job, not minimum wage, my kids have jobs, paying more than min wage. You start at the bottom and work your way up. I work with people and have family that all prove you are incorrect.
This is justified in ANY country you live in. You earn your own way.
I don't understand why 1 bedroom apartments are dumpy.
..I live in a 400 sq ft apartment.
Mattress works fine.
Shower and sink work fine.
Stove top, while small works fine.
Fridge works fine.
As long as those are okay, that's all the space I need to live in.
..Total bills are 500-550, depending on season
..Food is 300
..Insurance is 120
..Scholarship/loans pay for school.
...Took me a while to find a job, but I work it around 35 hours a week, providing for
...Everything.
...I am gen Y. I work full time and go to school full time.
...It's not hard.
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