RW>    
      
    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.   
      
    RW> Yeah I know, i just won't stop, because if I pull the lever   
    RW> I've got a right to bitch, and I'll quit bitchin' when they   
    RW> put me in the oven or whatever they cremate you in.   
      
   As long as you know it's just an exercise, that's fine.  But you'd have more   
   luck pulling the handle of a slot machine - at least there you have a chance of   
   winning. :)   
      
    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.   
      
    RW> YEah, and your retirement's fairly comfortable all things   
    RW> considered.  MIne won't be as much so, partly out of choice, I've   
    RW> chosen self employment and greater satisfaction because working for the   
    RW> man at anything I could see in front of me   
    RW> wouldn't give me any satisfaction at the end of the day.  I   
    RW> may cuss a lot of things, but there are moments doing waht I do when I   
    RW> really feel like i've been aprt of something very   
    RW> good, and for that fleeting moment that high without   
    RW> resorting to drugs or anything else is the greatest one   
    RW> there is.   
      
   Never used drugs and neither did any of my 3 sons.     
      
    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.   
      
    RW> Yep, and with all these service industry jobs we don't want   
    RW> to give the young universal health care, their employers   
    RW> don't offer a health plan, etc.  REtirement plan, what   
    RW> retirement plan?  Crime maybe/  WE expect them to raise a   
    RW> family with that sort of uncertainty hanging over them.  IF   
    RW> they decide to marry and reproduce at all they're insane!!!   
    RW> The heck of it is, if they don't reproduce who's gonna pay   
    RW> the medicare for the tag end of the baby boom?   
      
   Good question, but above my pay grade. :)  Then when you read that 50% of the   
   babies born by women under 30 are by unwed mothers.  Just another clue that   
   tells you the younger generation is turning their back on marriage, probably   
   driven by the high divorce rate.  Of course some of these women may be in a   
   committed relationship that may work in lieu of marriage - time will tell.    
      
    RW> We can have all this amazing medical technology that'll help you live   
    RW> longer, if you can afford to access it.   
    RW> My poor dad, he looks at all this, he was able, like you   
    RW> were, to get a good job, union benefits, a good pensionplan, which was   
    RW> eroded still in his last few years, but it's still better than I've   
    RW> got, or my sister has I'm sure, and much   
    RW> better than my grandson will hope to see even if he gets a   
    RW> college degree.  i"m like bob Ackley, I'm trying to steer   
    RW> him toward electrician or hvac technician or something they   
    RW> can't outsource.  When i ask him (he's 17) what he plans to   
    RW> do he tells me he doesn't know, he's still not sure.  I   
    RW> haven't asked him that though for a year or so.  Maybe he'll decide   
    RW> grandpa's right after all and become an electrician.   
      
      
   Anything tied to the medical field might work.  Learn to repair that stuff and   
   I would think you would have a fighting chance at a decent living.   
      
      
      
      
      
      
       
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