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I'm part of the silent generation (born 1935-45). Spouse and I were able to retire in our early 50s. We were lower-middle class growing up. But I had it better than my parents who lived thru the Depression and were very poor, but retired comfortably. They fared better than their parents and "moved on up" as the decades went by. Their parents though made out better than those who came before. The saying used to be that each succeeding generation will have it better than their ancestors. America.
That's certainly not true for today's working class. I feel sorry for them. Is this the first generation that regressed, or did it start during an earlier time? Generation Xers? Baby boomers?
The American Dream only started after WWII, with the Boomers' parents en masse buying homes with mortgages, moving into suburbia, getting cars, expecting their kids to go to college, and building wealth. It is not some long-running phenomenon, but it is a phenomenon. Nothing lasts forever. Economies change, and with it what is attainable. Also remember it was a middle-class dream (the rich didn't need it and the poor couldn't dream), and you can see what is largely happening to the middle class.
When China figured out they could make the rules. As long as our manufacturing is outsourced we are going to be led by the nose. And as long as the workers in this country feel that they are too good to do manual labor (I'll pick welding as an example) the productivity in this country will suffer.
The young lady who cut my hair in Iowa was married to a welder. There were always openings for new hires and he made very good money. Want to live the American Dream? Get trained and get a job.
When China figured out they could make the rules. As long as our manufacturing is outsourced we are going to be led by the nose. And as long as the workers in this country feel that they are too good to do manual labor (I'll pick welding as an example) the productivity in this country will suffer.
The young lady who cut my hair in Iowa was married to a welder. There were always openings for new hires and he made very good money. Want to live the American Dream? Get trained and get a job.
Try finding a competent welder these days. That was the biggest challenge the past 15 years of my career ...
The die was cast March 4th, 1933 at the moment when Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated as president.
The atmosphere of opportunity has been continually poisoned since. Business restrictions, erosion of freedom, and needless wars have destroyed the America our forefathers knew. When there's no longer an America there can no longer be an American Dream.
A few saw it early. In 1936 his vicepresident, John Nance Garner, refused to run with him again; Al Smith, Democratic candidate for president in 1928, effectively walked away from the Democratic Party for the rest of his life.
The American Dream isn't just a catch phrase; it's the life Americans once lived.
I'm part of the silent generation (born 1935-45). Spouse and I were able to retire in our early 50s. We were lower-middle class growing up. But I had it better than my parents who lived thru the Depression and were very poor, but retired comfortably. They fared better than their parents and "moved on up" as the decades went by. Their parents though made out better than those who came before. The saying used to be that each succeeding generation will have it better than their ancestors. America.
That's certainly not true for today's working class. I feel sorry for them. Is this the first generation that regressed, or did it start during an earlier time? Generation Xers? Baby boomers?
i believe there has not been a generation that has known such abundance since the post-war generation, with GI loans for college,VA loans for homes, mass housing being built in new suburbs with little or no down payment, and new schools being built to accommodate the growing baby boom children.
i'm assuming that you went to calvert hall high school in baltimore, and this is where i grew up also- towson high '61. so my contemporaries and i benefited greatly from the post war boom; having been brought up in the fifties, there was the feeling among some primarily middle class contemporaries that this is how it has always been and will always be.
when i started working as a social worker in baltimore county in the late 60s, some of the families i worked with in s.e. baltimore county, had wage earners who had worked all their lives at Bethlehem steel , GM, and other plants that had flourished for years, and had small pensions from those companies. however in that period $600 to $800 pension a month plus social security was very sufficient for them to live on in retirement. those jobs are gone, and technology has replaced the skilled working class worker. it is felt that today everyone needs to go to college and colleges are "dumbing down" course work and offering remedial courses as a regular part of their curriculum. therefore, a college degree has been devalued as well.
it is, of course, a vastly different world and i don't see that it will change back. to my way of thinking, it is sad.
on a personal note, i'll add that the first house my husband and bought was in 1969, loch raven village- close to calvert hall. we loved it there.
The first generation that regressed was the last half of the baby boomers. Due to several factors, they did not have the opportunities of their parent's generation. As a result, many baby boomers are in worse financial shape than their parents.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tek_Freek
When China figured out they could make the rules. As long as our manufacturing is outsourced we are going to be led by the nose. And as long as the workers in this country feel that they are too good to do manual labor (I'll pick welding as an example) the productivity in this country will suffer.
The young lady who cut my hair in Iowa was married to a welder. There were always openings for new hires and he made very good money. Want to live the American Dream? Get trained and get a job.
As much as I do not like China, let's be fair here and place the blame where it belongs. The blame belongs on all of the politicians of both major parties, at the national, state, and local level. Ever since Richard Nixon opened the door to China in a gesture of friendship, the politicians in Washington passed "free trade" laws and did everything they could to encourage businesses to ship jobs overseas. The state and local politicians followed that lead by passing laws, taxes, and fees to make doing businesses in their jurisdictions as hard as possible for a variety of reasons.
And don't try to blame Wall Street. They had nothing to do with it.
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