HI bob,   
      
   On Tue 2012-Feb-28 09:29, BOB BREED (1:123/140) wrote to RICHARD WEBB:   
      
      
      
    RW> AS I said, a society that   
    RW> is hellbent on defecating on its young.  A whole generation   
    RW> of "to hell with you i got mine."  Great place my grandson   
    RW> gets to live in.  Yet we tell him his vote counts, he's   
    RW> supposed to be a good little citizen and do what he's told.   
      
   BB> I stopped pulling the lever. :)  Gotta save my energy for something   
   BB> productive.    
      
   Yeah I know, i just won't stop, because if I pull the lever   
   I've got a right to bitch, and I'll quit bitchin' when they   
   put me in the oven or whatever they cremate you in.   
      
    RW> The trouble is, this baby boomer believed all the hype and   
    RW> bought in.  I figure at least I got lucky and was raised   
    RW> during its glory days when, as the song says "the future's   
    RW> so bright I gotta wear shades."  That was before some greedy old rich   
    RW> men decided they had theirs and the future didn't   
    RW> matter. Bring back King Ronnie the first!!!   
      
      
   BB>  I'm even better off than you are, having lived through what was   
   BB> maybe the best times ever - that period from about 1946 up to the   
   BB> mid'70s or so.   Good thing was back when I entered the labor market   
   BB> for what would become my career, it was with telco which paid a very   
   BB> good wage, had benefits, job security and based on all that the   
   BB> average dude could buy a home, a car, and with luck even a few bucks   
   BB> left over for a meal out now and again.   
      
   YEah, and your retirement's fairly comfortable all things   
   considered.  MIne won't be as much so, partly out of choice, I've chosen self   
   employment and greater satisfaction because working for the man at anything I   
   could see in front of me   
   wouldn't give me any satisfaction at the end of the day.  I   
   may cuss a lot of things, but there are moments doing waht I do when I really   
   feel like i've been aprt of something very   
   good, and for that fleeting moment that high without   
   resorting to drugs or anything else is the greatest one   
   there is.   
      
   BB> Not many jobs out there like that right now.  Even telco is slowly   
   BB> phasing out union represented workers.  It'll take a while, but the   
   BB> trend is there.    
      
   Yep, and with all these service industry jobs we don't want   
   to give the young universal health care, their employers   
   don't offer a health plan, etc.  REtirement plan, what   
   retirement plan?  Crime maybe/  WE expect them to raise a   
   family with that sort of uncertainty hanging over them.  IF   
   they decide to marry and reproduce at all they're insane!!!   
   The heck of it is, if they don't reproduce who's gonna pay   
   the medicare for the tag end of the baby boom?   
      
   We can have all this amazing medical technology that'll help you live longer,   
   if you can afford to access it.   
   My poor dad, he looks at all this, he was able, like you   
   were, to get a good job, union benefits, a good pensionplan, which was eroded   
   still in his last few years, but it's still better than I've got, or my sister   
   has I'm sure, and much   
   better than my grandson will hope to see even if he gets a   
   college degree.  i"m like bob Ackley, I'm trying to steer   
   him toward electrician or hvac technician or something they   
   can't outsource.  When i ask him (he's 17) what he plans to   
   do he tells me he doesn't know, he's still not sure.  I   
   haven't asked him that though for a year or so.  Maybe he'll decide grandpa's   
   right after all and become an electrician.   
      
      
      
      
   Regards,   
              Richard   
   ---   
    * Origin:  (1:116/901)