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Oh, wow. It's been 5-6 years ago, but yes. The years 2008-2009 were gruesome.
Both of us got whacked. My husband was PIP'd and then RIF'd from his job
of 29 years after a change in management. What a tortuous process that was,
for him and for me.
He was out of work for 4 months and finally found a new, similar position
where he was highly appreciated and felt good about his work.
Three weeks after he was hired, then the place where I'd worked and basically
done 2 jobs for nearly 2 years suddenly decided it didn't need me any more.
(Of course not, because I'd developed my subordinate very well. She eventually got my job. :-)
Nine months later, and once again, a change in management meant my husband
was once again moved out, this time via being asked to resign.
He came home midday with that letter in his hand, we looked at each other, and
I said "What the hell?"
So off we went to the carwash to ponder our next moves.
But the fact is, stockholders want profits to increase each quarter. To do that, corporations practice business in a way that is anti-employee, anti-family, anti-community. It's a vicious cycle. Millennials think they are being discriminated against, but I would suggest they walk a mile in the shoes of an employee who is getting close to retirement age. It's a scary place to be.
I don't necessarily disagree with you here. But there is a way out of this vicious cycle, as you put it. Not for everyone, but certainly for most folks in top half of the income spectrum, and even for some in the lower half. It really revolves around better lifestyle design...for lack of another term.
The problem with it is people need to get the lifestyle design thing right when they're young. It's possible to fix it down the road for some, but for many more it's not. This is what good lifestyle design looks like:
Onward and upward folks! For many of us, our former employers proved to be less than desirable and to make matters worse, the homes we bought for our families while working for these beggars are worth less now than what we gave for them many years ago. Then too, some folks are not so fortunate and have even lost their homes during this downturn.
Around here we just like to say "money is tight." However, there are still dollars out there to be gathered up if your time is spent using your brains and not spent "eating worms." I now find myself competing with younger folks with a whole lot less education for the very few dollars that I can find floating around. This is the way it works when times get tough, i.e, only hard times trickle down when the money dries up.
Regarding those young folks who now spend all their time on their PCs blaming whole generations for their economic woes, age awaits them, if they are lucky.
Old people design, source and produce the PCs, etc, that such time is spent on. Who will do it when we are gone? It is a serious question. The knowledge is bleeding away.
Advances in productivity and automation have frankly made much of the workforce flat out superfluous.
The real reason we want everyone to keep working is the economic morality of our culture.
Every one of us agrees with the idea that "he who does not work, shall not eat", but that cultural belief was formed in scarcity conditions when everyone worked in agriculture, thousands of years ago.
There's simply no need for most people to work. Still, suggest something like a universal basic guaranteed income and people freak out imagining all the lazy slackers living it up. That's the deep-seated emotional and now irrational economic morality of our culture.
So we look for makework for people, doing stuff that could be automated. Or we drive 55-year old superfluous tech industry employees into an early grave from stress or ruin their marriages, forcing them to mainline propaganda like "Who Moved My Cheese".
If we had a properly built out infrastructure I would be inclined to agree with you, but we don't. That means, not enough of the right work is happening.
I'm 71. I tried to retire at 67, but instead I got a raise and a promotion. I tried to retire at 70, but i let myself be talked into another 2 years by another raise, but i accepted it with the provision that i work 1/2 time. They bought it. I am going to retire at 72. I have a piece of paper that says so.
Wish me luck. Perhaps, they'll pay me not to work?
Last year I met a guy at the airport flying out one Thursday to his home in the next state. He's in his 70s. He kept trying to retire but his company keeps calling him back. His boss is in his late 80s! He's been commuting for many many years like that.
I am in my 50s and I love being with older people. Always admired my elders even from a young age. I'm the oldest where I work and feel a responsibility to show how professionalism is done. My boss is one who keeps only half his promises - a decade younger.
Funny thing - the conversation at the airport went to smart phones and I recommended the guy get a droid or iPhone to keep tabs on his grandkids. He said at their meetings no phones are allowed. Only pens/pencils and papers. And his grandkids can write him letters. I got a kick out of that. My colleagues - during meetings keep checking on their phones for messages. I make a point not to do so. Even my boss checks for IMs.
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