Work Until You’re Dead?

[Kimura]

A sizable chunk of the adult population is going to punch a clock until they keel-over in the office parking lot and get hauled off in the company dumpster. And those are the lucky ones, the so called baby boomers. By the time we get to the millennials it’ll be even worse because the economy will have been ravaged by 25 or 30 years of austerity leaving the proles to scrape by on hardtack and gruel. Pensions are already being looted, Social Security is under fire, and any small stipend that supports the poor, the unemployed, or the infirm is going to be terminated. That’s why everyone is so down-in-the-mouth, because their expectations of the future are so bleak….

Go figure. And there’s a larger point here too, which is that Americans have always believed that their children would enjoy a higher standard of living than their own. Until now, that is. Now most people think things are going to get worse, much worse. You see it in all the surveys. Expectations have changed, the future looks darker than ever before, and people are scared.

Continued:

Work Until You're Dead

I think both left and right with eventually address this since our current trajectory will become politically unsustainable.

 

[SteadyMercury]

Some basic personal finance skills would go a long way for many of the people who are 60 years old and realize they have no savings.

 

[Kimura]

Some basic personal finance skills would go a long way for many of the people who are 60 years old and realize they have no savings.

We're dealing with stagnant wages, increased housing costs, increased health care costs, skyrocketing college tuition costs, high unemployment rates, and whole host of other issues. It's more complicated than tightening one's belt.

 

[Mr Natural]

The Boomers were the last generation virtually guaranteed a better life than our parents.

 

[alan1]

That article paints a pretty grim picture.

Years ago, when I was in college, I was taking a financial management course and the professor was adamant that a comfortable retirement wasn't about how much one made in their working years but more about how much one saved during their working years. The professor was 40 years old and retired. His teaching gig was because he wanted something to do, he only taught one class a semester, hard as heck to get into that one class.

Too many people were convinced that Social Security was a retirement plan. It isn't. SS is just a buffer to prevent people from starving to death. Anybody that isn't saving for their retirement is foolish.

 

[expat_panama]

...punch a clock until they keel-over... ...the so called baby boomers...

That's what the extreme loopy left is saying today. Last Sept. they story was that the shrinking workforce number used to generate a lower unemployment rate was all because of how every single boomer was retiring as soon as possible (from here):

... the majority are still retiring by the time they're 66. And so this month's numbers echo last month's: 10,000 baby boomers a day hitting 66 and thus, a shrinking workforce

imho the loopyloonyleft can't have it both ways. Boomers retiireing or boomers not retiring. How about we just pick one to rant with?

 

[norwegen]

I think some of my co-workers are already dead.

 

[alan1]

We're dealing with stagnant wages, increased housing costs, increased health care costs, skyrocketing college tuition costs, high unemployment rates, and whole host of other issues. It's more complicated than tightening one's belt.

Not a whole lot has changed in the last 100 years, the only difference is that this time it is in your lifetime.

 

[Dot Com]

REAL wages haven't risen in the last 40 yrs. THATS changed.

 

[percysunshine]

I think some of my co-workers are already dead.

You are a US Postal Service employee?

 

[Moonglow]

I get by on son of a bitch stew and corn pones.

A cowboy dish of the American West.

A beef stew, various recipes exist, and some sources say its ingredients may vary according to whatever is on hand. Most recipes involve meat and offal from a calf.

 

[boedicca]

A lot of people are on the DAMD plan: Dead At My Desk.

Thanks Progressives!

 

[jasonnfree]

...punch a clock until they keel-over... ...the so called baby boomers...

That's what the extreme loopy left is saying today. Last Sept. they story was that the shrinking workforce number used to generate a lower unemployment rate was all because of how every single boomer was retiring as soon as possible (from here):

... the majority are still retiring by the time they're 66. And so this month's numbers echo last month's: 10,000 baby boomers a day hitting 66 and thus, a shrinking workforce

imho the loopyloonyleft can't have it both ways. Boomers retiireing or boomers not retiring. How about we just pick one to rant with?

Without the loopy looney left there wouldn't be social security and probably not medicare and unemployment. Are you questioning the gloom predictions? I don't, it's reality and nothing boomer generation did wrong. If they had saved more for retirement they probably would have shortchanged their kids, on tutoring, music lessons, college, etc. Oh well, the boomers can always retire in a third world country. I've lived in south america and can handle the culture shock. Many can't.

 

[Spiderman]

Some basic personal finance skills would go a long way for many of the people who are 60 years old and realize they have no savings.

We're dealing with stagnant wages, increased housing costs, increased health care costs, skyrocketing college tuition costs, high unemployment rates, and whole host of other issues. It's more complicated than tightening one's belt.

No it's not.

Buy smaller houses, buy less crap, go to college part time while you are working and take 6 or 8 years to get a degree

I'm sick and tired of people whining that they have no money while they are driving a new car or worse a leased car, sipping on a 5 dollar coffee, have HBO Showtime, Cinemax and all the pay sports channels, eat out 5 or 6 times a week pay 200 a month for a stupid cell phone etc etc etc.

 

[Moonglow]

My Papa had no problem working his farm till 85. When he had to stop he was sad. I don't want to stop either.

 

[boedicca]

We're dealing with stagnant wages, increased housing costs, increased health care costs, skyrocketing college tuition costs, high unemployment rates, and whole host of other issues. It's more complicated than tightening one's belt.

Not a whole lot has changed in the last 100 years, the only difference is that this time it is in your lifetime.

I disagree. The last 100 years has resulted in a phenomenal destruction of the value of the dollar...which had been fairly stable in the prior 100. Thanks to the Fed and our government's insatiable and irresponsible desire to spend us into oblivion, savers who planned for their future have been screwed over.

Thanks Progressives!

 

[Moonglow]

Some basic personal finance skills would go a long way for many of the people who are 60 years old and realize they have no savings.

We're dealing with stagnant wages, increased housing costs, increased health care costs, skyrocketing college tuition costs, high unemployment rates, and whole host of other issues. It's more complicated than tightening one's belt.

No it's not.

Buy smaller houses, buy less crap, go to college part time while you are working and take 6 or 8 years to get a degree

I'm sick and tired of people whining that they have no money while they are driving a new car or worse a leased car, sipping on a 5 dollar coffee, have HBO Showtime, Cinemax and all the pay sports channels, eat out 5 or 6 times a week pay 200 a month for a stupid cell phone etc etc etc.

While working at the church giving away Christmas presents, there were folks collecting stuff that were driving 30k vehicles with 1k per tire spoke rims with wide tires and 500 dollar I-phones.

 

[percysunshine]

My father in law is a farmer. At 76 he still does everything he has the strength to do. He tells me he will be happy to die on the job because he enjoys it so much. I can't really argue with the guy about that. I am glad he loves his job.

 

[Moonglow]

We're dealing with stagnant wages, increased housing costs, increased health care costs, skyrocketing college tuition costs, high unemployment rates, and whole host of other issues. It's more complicated than tightening one's belt.

Not a whole lot has changed in the last 100 years, the only difference is that this time it is in your lifetime.

I disagree. The last 100 years has resulted in a phenomenal destruction of the value of the dollar...which had been fairly stable in the prior 100. Thanks to the Fed and our government's insatiable and irresponsible desire to spend us into oblivion, savers who planned for their future have been screwed over.

Thanks Progressives!

What we need is a few years of deflation...

 

[Katzndogz]

Only the poor and lower end of the middle class retires. The very weathy work until they drop on the job. The upper middle class retires into second careers.

The idea of retirement into idleness was always silly.