Why are the over 50 crowd never given notice ?

[blues90]

I hear all the solutions posed for the youth which is necessary of course and there is talk about medicare for those in retirement but what about all those between 50 and 66 who are not doing very well and seem to be left out on the own ?

[rolleitreks]

1. We're boring and unattractive. Who cares? n/t

[bobbolink]

67. You've summed it up quite well.

Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[flamin lib]

2. We need Universal single payer health care. Then everybody

is covered and nobody is left out.

[electron_blue]

63. Can you clear something up for me? What is the "single" about in

single payer health care. I get the part that everyone is supposed to be covered, but does this mean everyone pays individually for it and it does away with, say, group or family coverage? I always wondered....

[Lydia Leftcoast]

71. It means that the whole nation is a single insurance pool and that

one insurer (probably the government) pays all the bills.

[electron_blue]

76. ok thanks!

[Warpy]

3. I'm in that group

and we're the most likely to be pushed out of our jobs between 55 and 60 because it's cheaper to train some kid than it is to risk higher insurance premiums to deal with our health problems, whether or not we have any yet.

Nobody gives a shit, that's why. We're no longer attractive enough to be poster children for anything and the corporate mentality says that our years of experience are worth less to the company than pure youth is.

I've been without insurance since 1987. I'm sure my life will be shortened by quite a few years because of the lack of preventative care. I could barely keep up with minimal care of a chronic and occasionally fatal illness.

This country doesn't care about it's people, period, although it finds the young useful.

[LiberalEsto]

8. I've had no health insurance for 20 years

Luckily my husband had good family coverage, for now.

Nobody wants to hire a 54-year-old woman unless they're looking for a cleaning lady.

[rebel with a cause]

54. I have been walking in your shoes

Fortunately,:sarcasm: I've almost died twice in the last year, so I how have a small disability pension and medicaid to pay my medical costs. There is no way I could ever afford the medicine I am taking now to keep me from going into another spiral. My life has been shortened because of lack of preventive care, and if it had not been for a caring case worker (who had worked for three years trying to get me help), I would still be in the same situation.

Good luck to you. I hope you find some way to get preventive care soon.

[uppityperson]

4. Because everything is our fault

We broke everything. There are too many of us. We took all the good jobs and greedily raked in all we could, expected the world and it is all our problem. We are old and ugly but not yet aged and cute. We had it all and squandered it. We are not pulling together as a bloc yet?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

28. We're starting to get out of the way ...

We'll retire and let the GenX take the good jobs. Then they can screw things up in their own way. When I'm aged and cute, I'll grumble about the old and ugly GenXers sending messages to me through my dentures.

[Burma Jones]

5. From the classic "The First Family" by Vaughn Meader

Reporter: "What do you plan to do about the problems of the Elderly?"

JFK: "Try to stay young."

[Matariki]

61. well he managed that one - in the only way possible.

[HereSince1628]

6. Because you've either "made it" or you never will.

Our circumstance is the perfect mirror of the US economy. In either case you are neither deserving or interesting enough to be of interest.

If you've not made it and have a problem just remember that rope is cheap and trees are everywhere.

[EFerrari]

60. My mom made it in her mid fifties. She's now sitting on a good

deal of capital.

Stop watching television. :)

[AnnInLa]

7. thank you!

bring back the Gray Panthers!

The Republics think that by the time you are this age, you should be well-off enough not to sponge off the tax-payers. Many of the Dems who took chairs of the various committees in Congress recently are "of a certain age." I hope they can do something for the rapidly aging population...namely universal health care, insurance, price controls on medicine, affordable housing.

And movies/tv programs that star older people! You go, William Shatner!

[nam78_two]

9. I agree

The elderly are always shafted in a youth based culture.

[last1standing]

10. Ah yes, the baby boomers....

You guys held all the promise of a new enlightened age with your flower power, make love not war, peace mentality. But somewhere along the line you traded it in for a 401k plan and a new Mercedes. You forgot about flowers and love and peace, and instead chose a plot in suburbia and voted for reaganomics. It all seemed so good at the time. Now things aren't going so well. Your company, that you helped globalize, has decided it no longer needs you when it can outsource your job to China. The pollution and carcinogens that you turned a blind eye to are shortening your life and now you can't afford the medical support to save yourselves. Its interesting that the very institutions you once fought against managed to co-opt you. Its strange that you never looked back at all the impoverished people in the world as you marched toward globalization and oppression of others. And now it's funny that those institutions have begun to treat you as you once treated others, with contempt and callousness. So where is your medicare? Where is your Social Security? What happened to that safety net? They all went away after you voted to punish that mythical black woman who drove her Cadillac to the welfare office. You destroyed them when you voted to end welfare as we know it. Now, its time to reap that which ye have sown. Bitter fruits indeed, but don't blame the migrant workers who picked your crops - you voted to deny them basic human rights. Don't blame the government that won't help you with disaster relief - you voted to end farm welfare so there's little they can do. You could look to the corporations who sold you bad seeds, but they're immune to your retribution - you voted for that when you took on those nasty trial lawyers who were clogging up the judicial system with frivolous lawsuits. You can only look to yourself and the greed that overshadowed all the promise of your youth.

Of course I don't mean this as a specific attack on you, blues90, or any of the progressives here who never lost their idealism and courage. This is just the opinion of a 38 year old guy who's seen the promise of the previous generation go up in smoke and is very disappointed at what could have been. At least my generation never held up much promise so there's not much to be disappointed with. :)

[maine_raptor]

12. Ahhh, see this why

the old saying "children should be seen and not heard" is still valid. :sarcasm: :rofl:

Ok, first: "the opinion of a 38 year old guy who's seen the promise of the previous generation go up in smoke". Back when I was 38, I thought about the prior generation the same way.

I mean, after all, I didn't have the jet pack, flying car, or cheap, unlimited electrical power via nuke plants that THEY had promised me.

Second, your comment: "At least my generation never held up much promise so there's not much to be disappointed with." How sad, how utterly sad that really is.

[last1standing]

15. "How sad, how utterly sad that really is."

I couldn't agree more. It is very sad that my generation and the ones after have never given the world much hope. You won't get an argument from me there.

But there are the exceptions in every generation who work to make up for the failings of their peers. As an example, I don't think many of us here at DU have sold our ideals and dreams for stock options. Many of us could be far more wealthy if we were to abandon our beliefs, as most others do, but we haven't. We deserve some credit for that.

My little rant was more about how all that idealism of the '60s turned into the greed of the '80s. How did that happen?

[Sapere aude]

25. The greedy of the 80's were also greedy in the 60's. I'll tell you one thing.

There is no relationship to having wealth and not having ideals. That is the big mistake you make.

[Geek_Girl]

77. I asked an ex-hippie co-worker of mine that very same question

How did that happen? He said most people involved int he counter culture movement in the 60's were in it for the drugs and free love thing. :shrug:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

82. Very true--there was a minority of genuine activists

and a lot of party animals who just liked the drugs and sex.

And as a matter of fact, most boomers did NOT become hippies. At my college (a small private church-related college with a lot of first-generation college students), the Young Democrats and the Young Republicans had roughly equal numbers.

Sure, there were people who went around in torn jeans, Indian blouses, and long hair, but there were also young women who went around in dresses that looked Victorian except for the hemlines, white tights or knee highs, and colored yarn in their pigtails. There were young men who wore sports shirts and chino pants, and suits and narrow ties on special occasions.

The idea that all boomers became hippies in the 1960s, disco dancers in the 1970s, and stockbrokers in the 1980s is one of those media-generated myths.

Here's what I was doing:

1960s: junior and senior high school, college at a small private college that had no visible activists until 1970
1970s: graduate school, study abroad, and my first teaching job
1980s: being an unemployed Ph.D., finally getting a full-time job,
1990s: losing said full-time job, establishing my own business

I've never been a Republican, never owned a house, and wouldn't own a car if I could get away with it. I voted Republican ONCE in my life, and that was for Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield, to thank him for his opposition to U.S. involvement in Central America and his support of public transit.

[SoCalDem]

39. and don't forget that power does NOT automatically go to the

next person in line..

There are many people in control who are PRE-boomers. THEY have been calling the shots..

The ones with REAL power are the oldies who keep hanging on..

Boomers have not yet really taken control of much of anything important.

[SharonAnn]

80. That's what I've been saying. We've till got 80+ year olds controlling things.

Our state Senate leader is an obnoxious 80+ year old "conservative" Democrat. What's really frightening is that he's next in the line of succession if tour governor dies or resigns. And there's nobody groomed to replace him.

In our county, the chairman of our county commissioners, who sets all the agenda for county decisions, has been on the commission for 44 years. He's 80 years old.

I just started fighting back in my family against the 80+ year olds in the political arena. They're all right-wingers. I just told them it was time for them to step aside. I am now 60 and I'm going to have a voice. They're pretty angry with me but I've decided "to hell with them". I told them they'd been running things since I was born, and they were in their 20's, and it's time for them to step aside.

I don't know if we'd be any magic cure-all, but i can tell you that as long as people like Rupert Murdoch and Sumner Redstone are running the major media companies, we're not seeing any "new" voices.

[Blue_In_AK]

13. Oh, here we go again... n/t

[MGKrebs]

18. I've wondered about this myself.

Was it really only a small minority who believed in the social revolution, and the nerds and the straights just eventually overwhelmed us with numbers? Or did we really finally sell out? Did all the sacrifice finally catch up with us? The years of poverty and (minor) lawbreaking/civil disobedience, and advocacy for causes both great and small just wore us out? Maybe we just wanted to get married and have some kids? Maybe we figured the end of the war, substantial civil rights progress, and womens lib was enough? Maybe the murders of RFK and MLK shook a lot of us. Maybe we have parents to take care of.

Me, my body just changed. I can't drink as much, smoke as much, walk as much, stay awake as much, talk as loud, learn as fast, or get as mad as I used to.

[HereSince1628]

24. Actually thank the counter-revolution the greatest generation mounted.

Thanks to the Reagan and Bush I administrations the conservative movement was re-established and flourished.

A result of that 12 year run was the convincing of the nation, even the elected democrats of the mid-90's, that supporting US labor and jobs was something to be abandoned in favor of "globalization."

Now the hole is so deep that even guys trying to develop credentials with labor, such as Edwards, change the subject (as on Hardball this past Tuesday) when asked what they will do to re-establish American industry.

[thingfisher]

31. The generation that gave us both Clinton AND Bush.

To many people view the Boomer generation as a monolithic bloc of same thinking people who were inordinately pampered as the post war prosperity kicked in and became a bunch of pot smoking revolutionaries who didn't appreciate their birth right.

The ruling class never intended to relinquish any of their power to the masses. Since the 60's we have seen a progressive errosion of most of the advances that were gained in the 20th century for the common man. The assault continues today and the things that boomers once assumed were givens are now better uderstood as anomalous good times brought on by the social dynamics of a post war economy not yet totally focused on military spending.

Many of us are now facing a grim future, having had our retirement savings destroyed by dicey investment scams (which looked perfectly legitimate), and facing unemployment for all the reasons mentioned above.

I think we should avoid the easy route of painting all the boomers with the same brush. Had we been more effective in fighting the corrupt government of our day (who didn't shy away from murder to attain their goals JFK, RFK, MLK) perhaps these same people would not have had the chance to bring us the Reagan/Bush criminals and their spawn which is still infecting our nation today.

The same small minority of the ruling classes are the ones who trump the majority of any generation when it comes to wielding power.

[marions ghost]

40. oh yeah baby boomers have failed us...

wah wah :eyes: the whole generation is full of selfish assholes. They brought it all on themselves. Everything would have been fine if the baby boomers hadn't f'd up. (yawn) I think you maybe mean the extreme rightwing baby boomers? The liberal ones were trampled.

You sure bought that divisive Reagan-era BS ...

[femrap]

50. You attack Boomers when you should be attacking

the Corporations....and the extremely wealthy who implemented most of these horrid, draconian, and greedy policies.

And since you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

[last1standing]

52. Thats very kind of you.

I can't tell you how much I value your opinion. :sarcasm:

[femrap]

64. No wonder I fear for the future of our country with

snot-nosed, lazy-minded little assholes like you in it.

Go read a book...or maybe an article...hey there's a good one about Corporations in Rolling Stone by Paul Krugman that spells it out for you.

You obviously have issues with your parents. Ignored.

[last1standing]

66. Looks like I hit a nerve, huh?

What a putrid mass of bile you've just spewed. Do you feel better now that you've been able to take a bit of your frustrated life out on me? Maybe you can go one more day without the zoloft, huh?

You obviously have issues with everyone around you. Psycho.

[IronLionZion]

51. Well the lowest expectations are for my generation

so we'll easily exceed expectations (I hope) I'm just a 23 year old guy hoping that one day we will all have job security, good quality affordable health care, equal opportunities, etc.

[rebel with a cause]

55. excuse me

but some of us never traded in our ideals for that house in suburbia. We worked hard, paid into social security and tried to do the right thing. Never cheated or lied to get ahead, in fact I lost the best job I ever had (as far as pay) because I refused to play politics, kiss butts, and sell out. Well now I am sixty-one years old and in failing health.

well, I have a question for you, and others like you. If we are so many in number that we are going to break the social security's back when we retire, then what happened to all that money that we payed into the account over all those years? People with retirement plans have still payed into the ss system. If our number is so large, then there should have been a large surplus growing in the ss fund.

No, that surplus was paid out to the last generation and what was left was taken by bush to give the wealthy their big tax cut. We are not all to blame for the way things are. The ones who sold out were the ones who could afford to. And even if we were at times fooled by the dark side, we never sold our souls to them. We never became what we had fought against, even when we did not recognize the real danger. There are none of us perfect, but the ones who suffer the most are not the ones who sold out, they are the ones who stayed true to their beliefs and refused to become a part of the corporations.

[sandnsea]

62. Uhm, Korean War Generation

Don't believe me? Think about the 75 year olds you know. They're the ones who had their own issues as children of the Depression, who fought the forgotten war, who lost their own jobs in the 70's as unemployment and inflation skyrocketed. Not all of them, but many decided Democrats had screwed it all up, they were ripe for the right wing message.

The children of the 60's tolerated the insanity of Reagan-Bush, and after that Newt Gingrich. Some kids today think they have it rough - but they don't know what it is to deal with 10% unemployment and 15% home mortgage rates. We did the best we could to get control away from these right wing idiots, but there were an awful lot of Reagan babies who started popping up, who believed all this bootstrap economics too.

We're also the first generation to agree to pay for our own SS retirement, who put the environment over our income which is why you don't see rivers on fire, who implemented a national immunization program for all children, health care for almost all children, senior citizens centers in every town, and a whole lot more that nobody had even dreamed of in the 60's. We did an awful lot for the generation behind us and our kids too. In fact, the South Park generation might want to take a look at themselves and their own selfish ideas before they go critizing boomers.

[MiniMe]

68. Outsourcing of jobs is a big consideration

I'm 49 right now. So many jobs are disappearing right now overseas that it will soon be hard to find a job other than flipping burgers. Of course, nobody will be able to afford to eat at those places anymore. Employees over 50 who tend to be making more money are given the choice to accept a buyout or risk being laid off with nothing, and those are the lucky ones. Older workers used to be valued, now they are looked at as a liability.

During my working career, I've seen most companies stop promising pensions. Now the corporations will hire 2 part time people instead of 1 full time person so they don't have to give them health insurance. Companies used to actually care about their employees and their families. All of that is gone now (for the most part since there are still some caring companies out there) so the CEO's can get those multi-million dollar bonuses and stock options.

We used to respect and value those older than us, they were our Moms and Dads and Grandparents. Now its all about me, me, me. Of course, I care about me too, but I also care about my Mom and my aunts and uncles that are still around. The attitude that "if you didn't make it, tough, you should have saved more" is just wrong. Do you know why they didn't save more? Because they spent all of their money on their kids, on activities for their kids, on college for their kids, etc. They wanted to make their kids life better than their own, to not have to know hard times. So they sacrificed for their kids, and now the kids say why should we pay to help you out when you are a senior.

Sorry for the rant, just me 2 cents.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

72. Speak for yourself, kid

I'm farther left now than I ever was as a student.

[blues90]

11. So we are then screwed

Too old to be economically viable and too young to be covered with a security net .

Looks like the boomers will have to create communes all over again and this time it will be vital to our survival rather than an adventure .

Most people I have known for years close to my age "57" were blue collar workers , some I knew from working for years had their life together but had lived in their home state and kept the family ties strong so they had help when needed .

Others like me with only high school educations did have good jobs in the many trades or learned on the job when things used to be done this way in offices . But now we are left behind by the tech world and this is something we will never catch up with in this rapidly changing global economy . Now even people who have degrees are getting hit so this pushes us ever further into nowhere .

For me the entire world has changed where I don;t recognize it and feel I have no part . I always thought my parents had it rough but in comparison they had the fad's and music we brought out but the basic climate was unchanged . I feel like I am living on the wrong planet and got there without remembering a thing .

I am hurting these days , but I can say I never sold out my ideals and fairness for all .

[LeftyMom]

14. Yep. How dare politicians and the media ignore those baby boomers.

In case you haven't noticed, politics is geared to your wants, needs and concerns. Even the campaign music is picked to appeal to your tastes, and will be until they run out of "classic rock" songs to use or you guys start dying off. Every commercial on TV is to sell you a compilation CD of music you got laid to in 1968, some car that apes the styling of the car you used to get laid in or the pill you need if you want to break in the new car. Pants sizes are all screwed up because they had to skew them up (or disguise the larger sizes as "relaxed fit") for boomers who didn't want to admit that they were aging and naturally getting a bit pudgy around the middle. Every town of any size in America has a radio station dedicated solely to playing the music you grew up on so you don't have to make the effort to try new things or adjust to the fact that most of the Beatles are dead and the Stones are really, really, old.

But everybody ignores you.

Boomers. :eyes:

[Sapere aude]

22. Gee hope you die young and pretty so you don't have to get old like us.

[LeftyMom]

29. The problem isn't getting old

The problem is

1. refusing to see it

2. insisting on being the center of the fucking universe from cradle to grave

We get it. There are a lot of you. You did some interesting things about forty years ago. Now kindly get over yourselves.

[blues90]

35. It has nothing to do with how many of us there are

Or what we did , this is the best offer always given to brush off reality .

My parents generation still had the so called chance at the american dream , they still had a chance to make a fair wage and did not need degrees to do this .

In the 60's boomer times the world was not in a drastic change , the same sort of jobs did exist and the tech world had not dominated the work force .

This is an entirely different world now for the boomer to cope with .

As a boomer I ask nothing except a chance and not to be ignored . Anyone under 50 would never understand the changes we have to deal with but since some who are younger perhaps when you hit 50 you may find yourself sitting in a new world without the qualifications or insurance to continue to survive in the work force . It is your world now , we did not destroy the education system or buy into the hype of the cheap outsourced product and ignore the lost production jobs in the USA . That's your baby .

[Hippo_Tron]

74. I agree with you about the drastic changes in the job market

I don't know if you've ever seen the movie Primary Colors but there's a scene where Jack Stanton (fictionalized version of Bill Clinton) tells a group of blue collar workers that he can't bring their jobs back and that the country is going to have to "go back to school".

After taking an economics course I realized just how true that is. To get a good job in this economy you need a degree. The problem is that people aren't willing to invest the money that we need to send as many people that we can to college. American consumers save a huge amount of money by buying our goods from China but we aren't willing to have a fraction of those savings be taxed so that we can invest in education and we can have a workforce that has the skills necessary for this economy.

Not only that we're not even willing to invest in primary and secondary education to prepare people for college. Even the freepers who value the sacred free market should be able to understand that if we raise teacher pay we will attract better teachers. Unfortunately we don't, so we're reduced to asking is our children learning?

[rebel with a cause]

81. Years ago I would have agreed

But now I don't. I have a Master's degree, but due to my age and limited physical abilities, I was unable to get a position anywhere. Both of my children have degrees and they are working at positions that only require a high school degree. And they are not alone, there are others who work beside them in the same situation. Education is good, but there have to be jobs there for when the degree is earned. Luckily for me, after not being able to afford preventive health care, my health deteriorated to the point where I am totally disabled. I learned the hard way, that if there is no jobs, a college degree only leaves you more in debt. :nopity:

[LiberalEsto]

36. We're not looking for attention

At least I'm not.
I'm not looking for sympathy, either.
I'm just looking for a job -- so I can qualify for a pension because there is unlikely to be any Social Security in my future. Unfortunately women my age - 54 - aren't much wanted in the job market.

I've worked since I was 14, but made the mistake of getting extremely sick a short time after my first child was born, being on disability for a year, and then being unable to handle full time work due to chronic fatigue syndrome. (And no, it's not a figment of my Baby Boomer imagination). Since then I've mainly worked part-time, and luckily my husband's got a full time job with health benefits.

We've managed to get by without big vacations, fancy cars, tech gadgets, etc. Many of my clothes and most of the house furnishings are from garage sales. So is our little used stereo. I haven't been to a movie in years, except "Inconvenient Truth." I don't mind -- I don't need stuff.

Please don't lump us all together in a stereotype. We are all people, and we are all struggling to survive in an economy controlled by the wealthy few.

Instead of criticizing on one another about whose generation did what, why don't we focus on the real source of our economic issues -- the CEOs who grab obscene salaries and rip off workers' pensions, while laying off thousands and shipping jobs overseas so they can grab even more profits.

[TahitiNut]

38. Wow!

Is there a big sale on broad brushes in the Central Valley somewhere? :eyes:

[treestar]

42. That may be a hopeless cause

America was child centered in the 50s, about teens in the early 60s, about college students in the late 60s/early 70s, about youth in the late 70s, careers in the 80s, parenthood in the 90s, now its about middle age, see where I am going with this? The US will be all about retirement in a few years, and then all about the elderly, who will suddenly gain the wisdom they seemingly lost in the 60s. ;-)

[JVS]

30. Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

Ignored, the country has been centered on them for nearly 40 years!

[rebel with a cause]

56. You need to go hug your mother or something.

the relaxed fit came about for the guys and girls who wanted to wear their pants hanging off their butts, not by baby boomer's. I use to not be able to get clothes to fit my expanded waist because sixteen year old size 8's were buying them all. The people listening to the oldies stations are mostly the twenty something year olds because I have one and that, and the indie music, is what he and his friends listen to. they are all big Beatles fans. I don't listen to the radio or buy music off the television. Most commercials are not targeted for my generation, neither are they for yours, they are targeted mostly for those under eighteen. And stuff that may be targeted to my generation is so BORING that I can't stand it for sure.

As for admitting that I am aging, I am proud of my mostly white hair, and wish the part that remains dark would hurry up and join the whiteness. I remain somewhat young at heart, but then your brain never grows old, only your body does. In fact, I may enjoy going through my second childhood, my first one was not that much fun.

I don't feel ignored, I feel insulted by you and others like you. I wish I could be there when you reach my age and see how you feel when your opinion does not matter, you are treated like a child but expected to still be independent and responsible, and you are made to feel like a burden on society. well, a society of people like you are in a pain in the butt as far as I'm concerned.

[blues90]

16. Now days the new generation has nothing to offer

They use our music and abuse it for some cheap commercial , they remake old movies over and over into ruin . King kong and the war of the worlds are prime examples .

I suppose there are just so many ways and ideas left to create and this has what has brought us to the high tech playstation 3 world .

I hope the next generations do find a good life and have nothing against them . It does trouble me how the boomer generation is blamed for almost everything , we did not have all the warnings to avoid most of the problems we face now . If we did we may have gone about things in a different way .

Not all boomers tossed all fate to the wind , we had good intentions . We tried to confront corporations to change their ways . But we did not see the future changing so drastically so fast .

I would have never imagined we would have so much of a population growth and so many cars let alone computers taking over for the human worker , this was all science fiction then , we were told computers would make life easier and save time not eat up jobs to eliminate the worker or see jobs outsourced as they are now . Never saw this coming .

[Strawman]

17. You're right

I've noticed that and I'm not even in that age group. That's the age group most severely screwed by downsizing and outsourcing. People who worked hard and played by the rules, bought homes, sent their kids to college only to get kicked to the curb by corporations who can hire in someone at half their salary so they can fire them when they cost too much five to ten years later after a few raises.

I'm a big believer in wage insurance as a policy designed to benefit this age group. Something to at least keep people who worked hard all their lives afloat until they can get into their retirement savings (if they're lucky enough to have any) and Social Security. Pay some portion of the difference between their old good paying job and their new, lower paying jobs. We've concentrated to much of the costs of globalization and Wall Street profits on the backs of that age group.

We could afford it for a fraction of what we've spent in Iraq!

[Der Blaue Engel]

19. I don't hear a lot of consideration for the 30-50 group either

but then, we were never paid any attention to, so we're used to being screwed. We know there will be no Social Security for us, and our retirement plans are being phased out faster than they can outsource us.

I was waiting for my bus this morning in the rain, and saw one of our neighborhood "characters": an eldery man, bent nearly double, who shuffles as if in slow motion up and down the street with his shopping cart collecting cans. He is so bent that he can only stare at the ground. His shopping cart serves as a walker. I wondered where he sleeps, why he has reached this state without any medical intervention, and why he has to keep going, going, slowly forward as if stopping that agonizing shuffle would drop him dead. And then I realized that was what my life would be: struggling slowly forward until I drop. I hope to goddess I have somewhere to sleep when it rains.

[rebel with a cause]

58. There is not much consideration for anyone these days.

But you have a heart and see that. I feel sorry for the your generation and the others to come, because I see the way things have gone. We fought so hard for so long and look what it got us. But if you look at history, you will see this repeated over and over again. Ages of enlightment followed by "dark ages". :cry: :sarcasm:

I am getting too depressed and I know I am getting very depressing. Remember: Things are always darkest before the dawn. Every cloud has a silver lining. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. There I feel better.

I'm going to go wash dishes. :woohoo:

[Sapere aude]

20. Man what a bunch of negativity. I am 60 and I hope most of you stay far away with your attitudes.

To most of you please learn about the law of attraction. What ever you constantly think about you set in motion things to bring it too you.

Stop seeing the glass as half empty and maybe your world will look a little brighter.

Geeeesh!

[Kelly Rupert]

21. Given the massive entitlement programs for the elderly,

I would think this question is unwarranted.

If you're referring to pre-retirement people, I find it hard to see why they should be given special consideration that 40-year-olds and 30-year-olds would not.

[AZBlue]

86. "Massive entitlement programs for the elderly"????

LMAO!!!!!!
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

Surely you jest!!!

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[InkAddict]

33. Funny you should mention that "smell"

it's my exact recent experience with the world of work notwithstanding fresh clothing, a shower, and new shoes. Funny, how an experience can trigger all those old insecurities. The loss of confidence is the worst part. Bullies suck - don't be one!

[Ariana Celeste]

26. nvm generation arguments are not worth it

fact is the govt doesn't give much of a shit about any generation

[CrispyQ]

46. And there you have it -- the truth.

Our government happily pits one group against another, be it generations, race, religion, gender. And while we fight among ourselves, blaming each other, the rich eat the poor.

It saddens me to read so many mean-spirited comments in one thread.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

27. Boomers have demands too

though pretty much mundane stuff. Health insurance for all, peace, affordable housing, that sort of thing. Mostly given up on the really cool stuff, like legalized drugs.

Folks 50-66 have one thing in common, I think. A high percentage vote. Dem or Rep.

[CrispyQ]

47. ...

"Mostly given up on the really cool stuff, like legalized drugs."

:thumbsup:

:rofl:

[napi21]

32. Actually, they shouldn't! The very young don't really pay much attention

to politics, and have the lowest voter turnout of any age. I'msure they aren't much for contributing to campaigns either! Once you reach your 50'syou realize just what all this political stuff means, how it affects everybody, and you in particular. Having made it or not might matter to the amount of your political contribution,but I can tell you the first political contribution I ever made in my life was to Howard Deanwhen he was a candidate for Prez, and I was 56 yo. I never spent the amount of time watching CNN, Cspan, & MSNBC as I have in the last7 to 10 years, and of course years ago, there was no DU!

The only group that votes in bigger numbers thanthe 50's crowd are the Seniors!

They ignore us at their peril!

[Cleita]

34. True. the fifty to sixty four year old citizens do fall between the

cracks an awful lot. I did too at that age. I couldn't get decent health insurance anymore even through my employer. It was harder to find a decent job when laid off too. If we had universal single payer health insurance it would go a long way to helping this demography as well and the younger generations.

[AnneD]

48. The world didn't quite turn out like I hoped it would....

I am 53 and except for one time-have voted (Dem) since I was 18. I may not have had money but I donated my time and enthusiasm. I wanted a clean environment and have tried to recycle. I have wanted a car that ran on a different fuel but Detroit let me down.

I knew that it would take more to support my age group so I advocate increasing the SS and medicare when they did-I also wanted it in a locked box in the 80's but no one listens to one person in their late 20's when they talked about retirement. I wanted it to continue because I saw that it was a blessing to my aging family members and my widowed sister, but Washington let me down.

I had planned not to be a burden, but saw my job evaporate. Thank goodness I saved enough to that I could retool myself (there goes the retirement egg). I pulled my self back up and started saving again. I was looking forward to getting a house-but the market crashed, I lost a fourth of my savings, and Wall Street let me down.

I am back at square 1, unable to offer more than the minimal help to my one child. My youthful strength is slipping and I will be lucky to finish out my career (Nursing) in one piece-they want them young and cheap these days. My saving grace is that I WILL get a pension from the state. I hope my state won't let me down (there are too many to screw with and I watch out state pension broad like a hawk.

Others may have let me down, but I didn't let myself down. I've had to eat shit sandwiches some days-but I am still here. I had a plan (and still do)and a bit of luck. I always try to learn everything, 'cause God only know when you need it. The world I will leave to my daughter isn't what I had planned to leave her, but I never gave up trying (wish we could have had the cool drugs legalized for you-sorry).:shrug:

One of the things I have learned is that money is power-and Washington has both. The powerful and moneyed (on both sides of the aisle)want to keep theirs. Now the GOP will part you from all your money by passing laws they say will help you, but they just pick your pockets clean. The DEM will pick your pockets too, but they don't pick as much and they do use some of it to benefit ordinary voting folks. And while there is a bit of this pitting one group against another in the Dem's, it is worse in the GOP. Pitting one group against another is a way to keep control. Now think about that next time you participate in a thread like this. It is just a distraction to keep you from being active in doing what you need to do.

[antigop]

37. Rep. Pete Stark's Early Access to Medicare bill for ages 55-64

http://www.house.gov/stark/news/108th/2004_floor/floor_2004-05-12_MedErlyAcs.htm

CALL HIS OFFICE! TELL HIM TO RE-INTRODUCE THIS BILL WHEN CONGRESS RETURNS!
phone:
202-225-5065

[ComerPerro]

41. yeah, gosh, cause I never hear about the baby boomers in the media

you guys are probably the most overlooked generation of all time.

[blues90]

43. This is all media hype

Just as it was during the 60's . We never looked for recognition from the future generations , we only did what we needed at the time .

Nothing was for the wrong reason except vietnam , we just wanted peace and no more war and if the future generations would have picked up where we left off then possibly we would not in this mess we are in now . We were not for corporations either , sure many boomers sold out but many or most did not they just tried to take responsibility and make a living , that's all .

I recall the times well , most of the hype was in the industry not something we chose to wave about . All the hype sprung out of none sense from media clones and fashion garbage .

The beatles started out as a pop group but soon evolved into serious thought and function and we did as well .

Sure there was alot of stupid insane stuff but this was the industry which did not reflect the truth .

Now all we want is a job to carry us to our old age not handouts or anything else , just a job we can do and feel usefull , a simple request which our parents did still have for the most part , as future generations should have as well even if they don't have the desire than to do anything more than work in a factory or auto plant if this is all that is available . People used to be able to work until retirement and had benefits and time for some fun and family .

How many have this now days unless they are fairly well off ?

[ComerPerro]

44. well, you can thank Reagan and the greed of the 80s for that

right around the time the boomers turned 30-40. Not that I'm pointing fingers...

[blues90]

49. It began in the 60's

Right after the british rock or pop groups came on the scene along came the commercial answers in the form of the monkeys and the fashion spill of twiggy and silly tv shows with paul revear and the raiders and shindig . All the kids from the america grand society mimic all the brought on hype and it all became spun into a joke .

There were many boomers who stayed with the normal dress and had the boomer change the world toward peace ideals . It was far from a drug based society but rather an informed one .

[rebel with a cause]

59. I wish we were overlooked.

The baby boomers at the moment are the blame alls.

It is not our generation that is overlooked, it is our age group of any generation. I remember when my father, God rest his soul, was in his late fifties and could not get a job, and that was forty years ago. When I complain about such things, it is not because I am a baby boomer, it is because the way society looks at people in this age group. Before, now and forever.

[izzybeans]

45. I'm putting the over 50 crowd on notice. It seems nearly all the big corporate

criminals and corrupt politicians come from this age range. They start the wars, build up the deficits, and destroy our future. ;) But of course I'm only half kidding.

Bad Bad Bad example for use youngin's *shakes finger, puts on slippers, and sits back down in recliner*

[smitty]

53. I was born in 1947 and I'm a baby boomer. I seems that many

of us can't accept that we're the adults--the parents and the grandparents (I've got three)---and we're no longer the center of everyone's attention.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

57. we're ignored

Yep, I'm 51 and too old to be taken seriously in the job market.

We were so damn competitive, and there were so many of us, that no matter how hard I tried, I could not be successful, expensive private school college degrees and all.


They don't want experience and education and competence. It's ALL about who you know, like the Bushes. If you don't have buddies with money and power, you are fucked over.


I saw a commercial today for one of those expensive rip-off proprietary schools that promise you a non-transferable non-accredited "degree" in some minor field. I saw "Criminal Justice" on the screen and I told my sweetie, "Well, do you think I should go there and get a criminal justice degree? The lawyers aren't impressed by a Doctor Of Jurisprudence degree and 25 years experience working in the courts."

Hell, when I was a court reporter, the National Shorthand Reporters Association would NOT let me put "B.A., J.D." after my name. I had a knock down fight with them and told them they REALLY did not want court reporters to get a good education, since they were threatened by my credentials.

We're gonna have to move to the country and start communes and grow our own food. That's all I can see. I'm planning on moving to the country and getting the hell out of the rat race. I'm tired of mean, nasty, mediocre, jealous bosses, and all those other people who were busy blocking me from getting anywhere with my credentials. I never had a mentor and they wouldn't give me a chance

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[cap]

65. very true...

somehow our generation got blindsided and thought we lived in a meritocracy. When, in fact, folks like the Bushies couldnt stand the fact that there was now real competition for something that they felt was their birth right. For a while, we had a meritocracy of sorts. Personnel actually graded people on their knowledge of the business and that was a factor in promotions.

I dont think we should fight each generation. We need to look at issues in a balanced manner as a family; each generation feeling responsible for itself and for other generations. Each generation weighing its need and capabilities and obligations. Each generation needs to live for the other generations.

[marions ghost]

75. agreed, divsions

between the generations are destructive...keeps us all in consumer hell fighting for scraps. Which is just how the conservative powers that be like it.

[frustrated_lefty]

69. What is "not very well?"

Do you pay taxes for stocks and bonds at the end of the year, or are you barely scraping by paycheck to paycheck? I'd guess you're doing ok, and just have a few years for the marching hordes of the AARP to get behind you and your needs.

I may be out of line, but it's hard to get behind you on this.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

73. What's a paycheck?

I haven't been able to find a job in several years of intense looking, alumni office consulting, alumni networking, yada yada.

I am one of those who gave up on looking for a job and therefore am not counted in the official unemployment figures. I said "to hell with it".

The real unemployment figures are up in double digits. Anyone who believes the crap the government spouts about employment and the good economy is a damn fool, to put it politely.

[frustrated_lefty]

78. That's kind of my point, though.

You can say "to hell with it," and you have sufficient savings to survive.

You ask "what's a paycheck?" Mine is $1370 every 2 weeks, roughly $45k a year. I stayed in school into my 30s to earn a Ph.D. Honestly, I'm happy to have found a job which I think will help make the world better. But, yeah, with an ex wife and kids, I scrape the bottom of the barrel every month. I, and most of my generation, can't afford to say "to hell with it." Be a few days late on a paymet, and the creditors are pounding at your door.

You're right on the unemployment figures. I just don't know what we can do about it, and that sucks.

[blues90]

79. That sums it up

I had a good job that ended in oct 2004 , it took 6 months on unemployment and 5 months of freaking out and selling stuff i had to find another job in the same field , 4 1/2 months of that until I was laid off and now 9 months of freaking out selling almost all I had and odd small sparse jobs and the jobs now seem to be less and less available on ALL the damn internet big promise job sites .

I do truely believe more than anything else it is my age 57 which is the breakdown point . Do you know what it feels like to go to a temp agency as a last resort and all around you have vaste computer skills and all are in their 20's and here you are feeling like you just landed on neptune .

[Lydia Leftcoast]

70. We ARE the forgotten ones here

Children, teens, and twentysomethings are cheap to insure.

When you hit 50, though, your insurance premiums take off into the stratosphere, so you either pay crippling premiums or accept such a high deductible that you're paying thousands of dollars a year for NOTHING. :grr:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

83. Yup

My partner got canned in May and we lost our health insurance. I just keep taking my meds and hoping I don't get really sick. And hoping he doesn't get sick either, and he's older than I am.

[Blue_Tires]

84. ttt n/t

[AZBlue]

85. I don't know and it disgusts me. Senior care and support is sorely lacking in this country.

Apparently you're only important here if you're under 18.

[cap]

87. no one can really blame other generations for things..

what child wants to blame his parents? What parents want to blame their children? We all want a world where our generation can be self-sufficient at a dignified occupation. We all want our parents to live comfortably in their old age free from want. We all want the next generation to be well equipped to leave school and be self-sustaining.

None of us wants things the way they are.

[AZBlue]

95. Oh, I'm not blaming the under-18.

I'm blaming the agencies and programs that only cater to them.

Did you know that the Salvation Army, for example, won't help anyone unless there's a child under the age of 12 in the house? So, if you have a 14, 15, 16 and 17 year old that you can't feed, well, that's just too bad. Or, if you're a senior couple who can't pay their electric bill and you happen to live in Michigan, well, hope you have lots of blankets this winter! And I could go on and on with examples of BS just like this. All people are equally important, no matter what their age.

[rebel with a cause]

88. Oh come on,

Paris, Britney and Lindsey are over 18. :D

[lumberjack_jeff]

89. I'm 44. When my kids are grown and gone, I'll need less help.

It's appropriate to focus attention on those who are most vulnerable - kids and to a lesser degree, the elderly.

Demographically, the people you refer to are doing the best.

[rebel with a cause]

91. I thought like you when I was 44 and in reasonably good health

Now I am in my sixties and in failing health. I have not been able to work full time for eight years, at all for four. Tell me how I am doing?

[lumberjack_jeff]

92. Universal health care is important for everyone.

What we ALL need is guaranteed health care. Singling out 50-60 year olds for attention is counterproductive.

It sounds as if you aren't doing any better than my 7 year old child with autism. You both need services.

[rebel with a cause]

93. true

I agree wholeheartedly. The thing that I think of, and this is what we are talking about, is that when I began to have my problems and tried to get to get help, I was told that if I had children under 18 or if I was over 65, I would be eligible for assistance, but because I was in my late fifties and did not have young children there was no programs that would help me. When my health worsened, it took a caring case worker three years to get me any help and that was only after my health crisis.

I believe in national health care, but then I am a bit of a socialist. Not like we have been told socialist are, but one that believes in equality for all of the people. This calvinistic entitlement that is taught by the neo-Christians just don't sit well with me.

[Lasthorseman]

90. I am

looking to "retire". The real estate people don't understand my desire for a David Koresh style survivalist compound in the most rural area you can find.

[Quantess]

94. They don't?

Well, have you tried telling them what you've told us, in those exact words?

Some real estate agents have a hard time listening to their clients.