Most people used to be established, financially stable and able to skate by under any circumstance by the age of 50. The golden years use to start earlier. That was the time to start relaxing, have fun, vacation and see things you have not seen yet. Those times died out for most. Hell, quite a few use to retire in their 50's back then. I see too many damn people in their 80's working nowadays.
I hear what you are saying. Maybe it would be better for me to say it this way. Just because some people are highly educated and can get 100’s on exams doen’t mean they are smart maybe just book smart meaning the basics in life they are ignorant. I know many just like this they can add up 50 numbers in a second and memorize anything but if CNN told them to buy ocean front property in Buffalo NY on Lake Erie they woukd believe it and do it. Back in college one guy in our EE class would get 100’s on almost every test. Why, the idiot professor would copy the test questions right out of the text book and the text book had a detailed solutions book that went with it. He would memorize the solutions. Well, one time the professor switched gears and used original test questions where you had to use your brain and common sense to figure it. I beat him on that test, I was blown away! He wasnt that smart he just spent hours memorizing but really had no solution solving abilities. We all laughed he was crushed!! So my point is that just because someone is highly educated does automatically mean they are smart in life or have common sense... amp!
Yup, the reason ya see that poor old dude working as a greeter at Walmart is that these days everything's just too damned expensive! My parents and their generation worked their asses off, cut corners all they could and saved all they could. And for the most part generally could retire with a paid-for house, a nest egg in the bank, and a decent retirement check. But over the years the cost of living, taxes, gas, groceries, ect. ect. has gone up incrementally but steadily, and while wage averages have also gone up over the years, they haven't kept up with the more expensive world we live in. It sucks, but it's the world we live in for now, and there's always the possibility it could get worse (a lot worse) before it gets better. As I recently posted, I've just retired at 62. A little scary yeah, but as so many others here have said, life is what you make of it. I was faced with either early retirement and continue at a part-time job, or staying with the job I was doing that required 12-13 hours a day, a job that I hated and was never going to move out of as long as I stayed there. I'm a big believer in that health and happiness are all tied together, and I've spent too many years already being stressed-out and unhappy at work. Looking around at my co-workers, who were a pretty unhappy bunch overall, I could see what I suppose nowadays is called a "toxic" work environment screwing with them too. So I decided to retire early, rather than sticking around until my health failed me from stress and lack of sleep. I'm lucky in that I'm in pretty good shape for an old fart, and I would like to make good use of that while I still can! I'm actually lucky in so many way to be where I am and have what I do..Reading the replies here, and the sh*t some have had to deal with, can serve as a great reminder of how puny one's own problems really are compared with others. As for the "golden years"? Hell, they're ALL golden years! If one lives long enough, they get to be a kid, a teen, an young adult, middle ager, then senior..With a great lifetime of memories, both good and bad, and the wisdom and experience that goes with life's lessons..Yeah, life sometimes hands us lemons, but one can either bitch about it, or make lemonade! Or at least make the best of it..One just needs to step back, put things in perspective, and remember to LIVE! SALUD!
In a nutshell, the top 1% has more than the 90% down. And they do not play fair or want to share. By sharing I do not mean give away but actually treat and pay people respectfully for what they are worth. It will definitely get worse before it gets even close to what it was before if that can even happen.
And that is the truth! Wall Street is one of the biggest reasons for greed, corruption and NOT treating people well...its all about the share holder making sure everything is done to make them happy OR Wall Street will destroy the company.
Everytime I read the OP Title Mr. Dickinson sings in my head: So understand Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years Face up, make your stand And realize you're living in the golden years
LOL..I think we've arrived at " stupid is as stupid does " and Filipe enjoying taking it somewhere where he shouldn't. BP
I think he's trying to say that you can either take advantage of others, or you can allow yourself to be taken advantage of; those things can change over time, even daily, and that one should enjoy buttsecks?
And somehow the richest of the rich pay a lower tax rate than the working class. It didn't kinda seem like he was insinuating that.
Just remember on a global scale we are all the 1%. My goodness you lot need to keep your perspective. I grew up as poor as people get in Australia. I spent my childhood sleeping with fleas, cockroaches and mice, getting dumped at school at 7 am freezing and lonely until someone else turned up, changing schools every 6 months because my parents could never make the rent and either watching them lay into each other, or worse turn on me. I left their house at 18 with a bag of clothes the change in my pocket and no job. I slept on the street and begged the smith family (charity) for food. I was better off than a lot of the people I knew then. I got a legit job instead of selling myself. I spent my 20's putting myself through engineering at night while working full time. Finally at 32 I bought the cheapest house in brisbane and paid it off in 3 years. In 2013 I suffered a perforated bowel and nearly died. Since then I've dealt with 2 major and 2 minor cancers, type 2 diabetes and inflammation in my bladder which gets me out of bed every hour through the night. I'm in constant pain, sleep deprived and this last year has been lost completely between weekly procedures, passing blood and tissue from places they shouldn't come from. Sad story right ? Well I'm not complaining, not one little bit. I was born in a western country. The west ain't perfect but it's a million times better than everywhere else. I'd be dead a dozen times over if I'd been born in a non western society. Capitalism ? Yep it ain't perfect, but it's 1000x better than the alternative. No one forced you to spend your life doing blue collar work. Society is not responsible for your problems and no one else has an obligation to support you or make your life better. Anything you get from society is a gift, given to you by your fellow citizens most of whom have just as many problems as you do. Life isn't perfect and sh1t happens, but keep your perspective. Every day you wake up is a golden day.
