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Used to be a time when a fair days work was rewarded with a fair day's pay. That is not so much the case today. Actual hard work is often the lowest paid, and the most lucked down upon by both the Boomers, and their offspring. Honest work is marginalized for greater profits, or merely offshored. Hence, we have a rather shallow society today that tends to worship any path to easy money, while belittling everything else.
I look at how the older generations in my family got by. My grandfather returned from WW2 with a young one to care for and a wife. Worked as a mold making apprentice. Honest work, and he retired at 55 without a pension. No problem. Owned 2 homes and was able to live off his saving (heavily invested in CD's) till he died at 92. My other grandfather returned from the Korean War and remained in the reserved. Worked as a bus mechanic for the school district, and eventually rose to become the superintendent of the bus line. Again, retired at 55 but with a pension. Home owned outright and never had to worry about money during retirement. Still alive today, and will be the first to admit, at age 25, I've got a challenging road ahead.
Now, looking at the boomers in the family... They were doing fine. Until recently. Father worked as an engineer for 30 years until 2005. Laid off and never worked in that field again. My uncle, a tool and die maker, made great money until 2007. Took buy out from GM. Sticking around would have meant loosing the job regardless, so he took the hint. The rest... A few in the business realm are doing great. Quite a few of the engineers entered forced retirement. A few in the medical field are doing fine. Just seems like opportunities have not grown with the times. In my opinion, we are going to be a very divided society going forward, and many are never going to have the opportunities previous generations have enjoyed. The young folks will go where they see the money. That isn't in the honest work previous generations have flocked to.
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