My grandfather, born in 1918, never finished school. He worked in a warehouse his whole life, and my grandmother never had to work outside the home. He saved some money, offered to pay for a college education education for his children, bought two houses in CA, retired early and motor-homed around the country for about 20 years before passing.
My father, (baby boomer) finished high school. Didn't go to college, but worked blue-collar jobs most of his life. He bought property in CA, put in 3 acres of grapes, sold it to live closer to town and now has a nice home on an acre, a nice camper-trailer, two boats and a great barbecue. This despite a couple of nasty divorces that were financially decimating, I'm sure.
Me? Well my generation (those of us born in the '60s or thereabout) have it a bit tougher. Those two cases above were standard for their generations. For those of us who came later, forget it.
This is what I call "the slow screw." A decades-long slow decline in the standard of living in the US. It's not getting better. It's not going to get better under Jomama or McPain. At least Barak sometimes hints that he is aware of this.
On my trip to the US this summer I met a friend from college who is doing okay. Works in the healthcare industry and rents a nice place on the beach in Newport. (Wisely waiting to buy)
I told him that I thought healthcare is broken, with 1/4 of the US uninsured and so many more overburdened. He asked me if I thought it should be socialized. I almost choked and couldn't bring myself to say yes.
I pointed out to him that this is not a real problem for neither he nor I. We're both doing okay financially. My worry is not us, but his two under-10 daughters and my 9-month old son. What about them?
This is the thinking we are collectively avoiding by continuing the selfish ignorance of the boomers.
J
2 comments:
Your analysis is right on. You see these new "studies" coming out hinting at the fact that the standard of living has declined in recent years. It seems like people are shocked at the possibility...It's been happening for years now. It's AMAZING to me that people aren't up in arms. Years ago, you got a pension and didn't have to put 15% of your income in a 401K, you didn't have to take out a gigantic mortgage for a not-so-gigantic house, you didn't have to take out a second mortgage for your health insurance and a third to put at least help your kids with their tuition while at the same time paying off your own student loan debt from 20 years ago. I feel like we are getting walked all over and nobody has anything to say about it. Maybe it has to do with the fact that we have less and less time off and are increasingly asked to work longer and longer hours and nobody has the time to protest this gross injustice. But if we don't do something, it's going to get much worse because the Boomers' retirement bill has yet to come due and guess who's going to foot the bill on that one too?
Anon -
Thanks for the reply. Regarding your wondering why more people aren't "up in arms" - It's the 'slow' in the 'slow screw.' The fact that it's in slow motion makes it difficult to get people excited.
Thanks for your comment. How did you ever get to this blog?
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