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Only boomers who got that kind of security were in government jobs. Most of those good union jobs went away in boomers peak working years. The previous generation enjoyed more of those opportunities.
Exactly so. I'm at the tail end of the Boomer generation and those good jobs with lifetime pensions were already long gone by the time I entered the workforce.
"Allowed it" is an interesting concept...because so many millions of Americans have grown up in abusive or dysfunctional homes or eating lead paint off the walls or drinking lead in the water, etc......
With 100's of millions of people it's hard to generalize, but perhaps the lack of any culture (independent of materialism) is partially responsible? In the USA it is considered OK to abuse your children (many states even let strangers paddle your kids in school)....and our system considers the privacy of a family sacrosanct (judges will leave kids in abusive homes...to a large extent).......
I guess what I am saying is that we don't individually make a conscious choice to allow anything. But when we don't "teach our children well" and don't treat our fellow citizens right (lack of health care, education, etc) we reap what we sow.
There is always the escapee from the cycles of violence, ignorance and poverty - the subject of many books and movies - but what they don't tell you about are the other 95% who don't escape
Lack of culture? Interesting outlook. We are quite rich in culture here. My son grew up in the same culture and environment I did and he's doing well, aside for his pastime of riding bulls and getting hurt. I keep telling him he's gonna regret that one day. But, it's an integral part of the culture he was raised in. Ranch life and rodeo are rather linked.
So where is it you see a lack of culture? I suppose most large urban centers could be. Or maybe those places are just so different to me I just don't understand what the culture is. To me it seems that abusive homes are much more of a problem now than when I grew up. At least in that we hear a lot more about it.
It is certainly a big problem. Men, women and children are all affected by abuse. Yes, men do suffer abuse. I know, first hand. It's just not talked about the way abuse of women and children is. All serious abuse regardless of age and gender is causing a LOT of issues. Homelessness, mental disease, serious physical injury, and much more. Some people come out of it OK while many others go on to continue the cycle.
All in all I would say the we Americans are quite spoiled with all the technology available and in many places this causes a lack of self reliance and problem solving abilities. Another poster called me an "entitled boomer." Looking back I have to wonder what entitlement it is I was supposed to have had. Whatever it is bring it on. I'll take it now. LOL.
I never said I wanted Americans to be less spoiled...I want my kids and grandkids to be more spoiled.
If that's what you want, then Americans will get softer and softer. They will increasingly be unable to do anything themselves because they never had to when they were kids, and don't have to when they are adults.
If that's what you want, then Americans will get softer and softer. They will increasingly be unable to do anything themselves because they never had to when they were kids, and don't have to when they are adults.
They can tap keyboards and give commands to Alexa...and, if war comes, push the buttons for the Cruise missiles.
We live in a knowledge economy. Sure, there are a small numbers of jobs that require more than brains or a warm body, but certainly not most of them. As I've said many a time, the world is not a better place because 6 copier salespeople or coupon clipper hawkers came into my office....all "make work" IMHO.
In fact, it could be said the country is worse off. I'd rather 4 copier salespeople (yeah, behind the times, but still relevant) be filling up the roads than 6. Ideally there would be zero to one and I'd request one if any when I need it.
If that's what you want, then Americans will get softer and softer. They will increasingly be unable to do anything themselves because they never had to when they were kids, and don't have to when they are adults.
We have a different idea of spoiled...it includes having opportunities for work, education, travel, etc. that other don't have. I do agree that the worn kind of spoiling would make them too soft, so at least I partially agree.
Lack of culture? Interesting outlook. We are quite rich in culture here. My son grew up in the same culture and environment I did and he's doing well, aside for his pastime of riding bulls and getting hurt. I keep telling him he's gonna regret that one day. But, it's an integral part of the culture he was raised in. Ranch life and rodeo are rather linked.
So where is it you see a lack of culture? I suppose most large urban centers could be. Or maybe those places are just so different to me I just don't understand what the culture is. To me it seems that abusive homes are much more of a problem now than when I grew up. At least in that we hear a lot more about it.
All in all I would say the we Americans are quite spoiled with all the technology available and in many places this causes a lack of self reliance and problem solving abilities. Another poster called me an "entitled boomer." Looking back I have to wonder what entitlement it is I was supposed to have had. Whatever it is bring it on. I'll take it now. LOL.
When I speak of culture I speak of the modern world and 7.X billion people and 320+ Million Americans.
Like it or not, it was 1900 when more of our population was urban than rural and the figure is over 80% today.
There simply isn't enough "ranches" for us all to live on one. Also, it's not as if rural areas don't have MORE problems (statistically) than urban ones with hopelessness, abusive families, obesity and the like. At least that is what the figures show.
I'm sure there are many in those blue colored states that feel they have "culture", but the numbers show something different as lifespan and other such things ARE indicators of health and happiness.
We have a different idea of spoiled...it includes having opportunities for work, education, travel, etc. that other don't have. I do agree that the worn kind of spoiling would make them too soft, so at least I partially agree.
Soft can be defined in different ways. One of our family neurosurgeons is the softest man you will ever meet. He talks in almost a whisper, opens the doors for you and apologizes for being even a minute late. He's perhaps one of the top 3 best human beings I've ever met.
I can't say that about the "hard" people that I know.
To me, being spoiled isn't about soft or hard or even know-how. It's about thinking you deserve things that you don't...lack of gratefulness, we might say.
To whom much is given much is expected...and all of that. A poor woman who helps her neighbor is higher on my scale than a wealthy person who spends their time and money on self-gratification.
Huh? What bung hole did you pull this out of? I started out supporting myself on minimum wage. Driving a car I bought with my own money. I started my working life in high school. Just after graduation I was in an accident that crushed my right leg. Spent four months in the hospital with so many surgeries I lost count. It took a year for me to be able to walk and I went to work while in a walking cast as a dishwasher.
Yes, I was still at home with my Dad during this if you want to call that "entitlement" and it was his insurance through his work and from Navy retirement that paid for rebuilding me. But in the end run when I left home I went with my car and the clothes on my back. Didn't ask for or expect anything from any one. I came back to NV and found a just over minimum wage job I worked for 7 years, worked hard and produced and was rewarded accordingly with raises in pay.
I've never worked a union job (unions had zero benefit or clout in NV back then). I left that first job still in my mid 20s and entered the Trades as a laborer and working on a leg that has never ceased to give me problems. I got up in the morning and had to change bandages over ulcerations that never healed right, yanked on my work boots over it and jumped in the ditch. Doing so earned me the respect of the experienced tradesmen and they taught me till I moved up myself and was working right alongside them as an equal.
I'm no "entitled" anything pard. I worked in my trade but not the same job for most of my career but what's wrong with that? I was never handed anything from anyone. Now, I've already detailed way more history than I owe you or anyone else, so in conclusion you know what you can do and where you can put this blathering quoted comment. You've embarrassed yourself enough.
The bolded says it all. You supported yourself and managed to save for a car making minimum wage? Today, minimum wage is $7.25. Working 40 hours would gross you $290 per week or an average of $1,257 per month. Who is supporting themselves on that AND saving for a car?
But let's forget that for a minute. Who, today, could spend four months in the hospital and have their insurance cover all of it (or enough that they weren't extremely deep in debt)? Pretty much nobody. Maybe the military, I don't know. But nobody else.
Just those two things along are very, very different now. If a young adult had an unfortunate accident that landed them in the hospital for months, chances would be very slim to none that they'd emerge financially unscathed. And if they then went on to take a minimum-wage job, they certainly would not be paying their own bills and saving up for a car. That's the major difference now. It's much harder for young people to succeed following the footsteps of their Baby Boomer grandparents.
The bolded says it all. You supported yourself and managed to save for a car making minimum wage? Today, minimum wage is $7.25. Working 40 hours would gross you $290 per week or an average of $1,257 per month. Who is supporting themselves on that AND saving for a car?
But let's forget that for a minute. Who, today, could spend four months in the hospital and have their insurance cover all of it (or enough that they weren't extremely deep in debt)? Pretty much nobody. Maybe the military, I don't know. But nobody else.
Just those two things along are very, very different now. If a young adult had an unfortunate accident that landed them in the hospital for months, chances would be very slim to none that they'd emerge financially unscathed. And if they then went on to take a minimum-wage job, they certainly would not be paying their own bills and saving up for a car. That's the major difference now. It's much harder for young people to succeed following the footsteps of their Baby Boomer grandparents.
I explained what you are questioning. I was still at home and a dependent when the accident happened. Dads work and Navy retirement insurance caught the medical bills so there was no incurred debt for that. I was covered. But during the time I was recovering when I got into a walking cast I went to work. My car I bought while still in school before the accident. It had only been a week after graduation that the accident happened.
When I left home and was walking out of a cast I supported myself on minimum wage. Of course during that time I was only making 3.35 an hour which was minimum wage at the time I was living in a rathole apartment in a seriously crappy part of town in Reno. But it was cheap. Over time I worked my way up and things improved. When I learned my trade after earning the respect of the experienced guys who wound up teaching me till I was working as an equal then life got good. But it wasn't handed to me.
It was the military dependent insurance my Dad had that really saved the day after the accident. And the fact I was still a dependent at the time of the wreck. But I covered all that in my earlier post. Which was a response to that blathering nonsense that other poster spewed about me being and "entitled boomer" that had everything handed to me. Not hardly.
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Looking back I have to wonder what entitlement it is I was supposed to have had. Whatever it is bring it on. I'll take it now. LOL.
