America -- fuck yeah!

President (and I sincerely hope that doesn't happen) We will all be screwed.

or too frail to work? I guess just die.

and die quickly

My "dream" for retirement is "never retire" because it's too scary to contemplate such a drop in income.

workplace over the age of 60 were gone, too, in very rapid succession. They have ways of making your life so miserable that the stress becomes unbearable. Certainly, if your job is safe from that kind of prejudice and if your health holds out, you'll be fine. But when I was coming up on age 65 and could take a more generous SS payout, plus Medicare, and the stress was so bad my doctor said to me "is it possible that you can get another job or just retire? because you keep coming to me for stress related problems."

It was then that I had a moment of truth. I lined up a part time job with an organization I was volunteering for and made a smooth transition. I had consulted with a labor lawyer who told me what was happening to me is a typical pattern used by employers to get the older ones to give up and leave.

So I set a date several months in the future, told my boss I would be leaving and wanted to give them enough time to search for my replacement and also announced my age (of course, she knew that perfectly well). I also took the proactive step of telling my coworkers so that if the boss fired me it would look just terrible. It turned out to be a smart move on my part.

None of them have the first clue what the word "work" means, not a clue.

And we keep allowing ALL of OUR wealth to go to THEM

So we deserve this if we allow it

Naturally.

Because when the issues are looked at separately, most Democrats agree that neoliberalism and its effects are tragic and we must do something about it. But when it comes time to vote, it becomes all about identity politics. Which leads to my cynical and bitter tone in general.

argues very persuasively that identity politics are accelerating the road to neo-fascist feudalism. And he is absolutely correct.

(for those of us who have yet to acquaint themselves with the works of Mr. Niose)

Economic project - world conquest without war - application of the Shock Doctrine to the entire world complete with starvation wages, the annihilation of all social programs and the complete destruction of the commons - is one of the greatest threats humanity had ever faced and that stopping it has to be the unquestioned first priority of progressives.

Economics are universal and affect every person on the planet. And when you are functionally enslaved, and that is without question the neoliberal endgame, you no longer have or ever will get ANY rights. Economic justice is a necessary predicate to any other kind of substantive justice.

Everything else, for the immediate future, is rearranging the deck furniture on the Titanic.

The world is burning and putting out the fire has to be Priority #1.

Attention and energy from what should be the highest priority - preventing corporations from enslaving humanity and destroying the planet.

are much more and earlier affected by the enslavement and destruction you speak of? And that therefore their concerns must be met WITHIN the effort to oppose the enslavement and destruction?

Have to be attacked first. Treat the disease, not the symptom.

Back in 2008, I was furious that my equal marriage rights were called a "pony". Furious that that one big concern of mine was not being met. It clouded every other political position I had. I didn't care anymore that someone told me to "wait for the right time": my concern was real, it was there, and someone telling me to wait felt like someone being willfully blind/ignorant/homophobic/you name it.

I imagine that racial minorities (for just about everything), women (equal pay, health care rights), and what remains of the LGBT concerns (equal pay, ENDA, bullying, "reparative therapies&quot would not like a voice that says:

"we'll take care of your situation AFTER we take care of the bigger situation" - because that makes it sound as if their situation s somehow not part of the bigger situation. This is where holistic appraoch is needed. An all or nothing approach that says that equal pay fr women and workers' rights protection for LGBT and targeted poverty elimination for those who experience it and a restructuring of the way black communities are plicied - all of that becomes part of the program and the reform. Any reform that doesn't include those items is incomplete, because it prolongs remnants of the failed system we live in today.

We agree that the root is evil. But while we work on the root, try to cut away as many of the branches, so nobody has to keep swallowing the foul fruits.

But if the oligarchy succeeds in doing to everyone what they are currently doing to Greece, there will be no way to fight for social justice. Serfs and slaves have no right to be heard about anything.

down to every last jot and tittle. The neo-conservative / neo-liberal direction of the economy is a threat to almost every man and woman on this planet.

That should leave a mark. Unfortunately I doubt it will.

And lower all taxes on the not rich, and eliminate them on the poor.

Duh.

You don't get there by electing the same people over and over again. The same people who have been and are still part of the game. The same people who push policies and positions that enable the greatest transfer of wealth in history to continue at a pace that will soon create a landscape that provides little hope for the average person to live in dignity in their waning years.

The people we elect make decisions and laws that immediately affect our lives and futures. We, as individuals, have no direct influence on those laws and decisions other than the vote we cast. Yes, we can march in the streets, write letters and emails, make phone calls, but if our elected officials are not at their core people who believe in and seek to create a level playing field then short of rebellion our voting choices are the foundation to change the course we're on.

Which is why "Democrats" will fight him as hard as repukes and maybe even harder.

What passes for leadership in the Democratic Party is Locked in to a center-right, pro-corporate outlook which is hostile to any candidate to the left of Eisenhower. At the state level, the Party is abysmal. The difference between the Party in Texas and Florida is that in the former it is too weak to coalesce around a progressive, and the latter is strong enough to prevent a progressive from being elected in the first place. This, in the #2 and #3 states in the union.

posted it here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/128021606

My local club (south of Houston) is already on the Ready for Hillary! train. I hear through the grapevine that "although they sent it on letterhead it's separate from the official organization". Yup, and I have a bridge in West Texas to sell ya ...

At the 2007 FDP convention, aka, "Hillaryfest", a friend of mine (a former 2-time Democratic nominee for Congress) was roughed up by a former pro-wrestler and refused entry into the convention. All for showing up with John Edwards signs and literature. He was subsequently banned from Disney for life. Want proof?

candidacy weighed the odds he would be a threat to Hillary (not much), but referred to Sanders' supporters as the "Left." Along witb BBC's notion that Sanders is a candidate of the "fringe," a narrative is developing which pigeon holes his candidacy into a White Left Wing® group without the ability to break into the people of color vote, which Hillary is supposed to have locked up.

It seems the entire establishment of the Party and its allies in MSM is uneasy with Sanders, and have bought into the GOP meme that the Democratic Party is somehow stuck in 1970 when it did have a "left," well over from LBJ, Humphrey and even Sanders (if his beliefs now are what they were then).

You're kind of talking like these things will "just happen." As if one day they're not there, and hten poof, there htey are.

???

So take all your things together. Wage increases, tax hikes on the wealthy (and thus politically powerful) tax cuts for the less wealthy (and thus less powerful)?

And so i have to ask... How do we get there? Or are we talking about "our grandchildren's grandchildren" stuff here?

pay attention to Sen. Liz Warren, specifically at 6:18 :

I dunno about you, but short of running for office myself (I can't make the filing fees) this leftist has pulled all the levers, done all the walking and knocking and driving he can to change this situation.

we have one Sanders. we have one Warren. and if 2016 goes well, we'll be losing Sanders in the senate and adding him to the White House, where his legislative stretch is obviously limited to signing or not signing bills.

What does it take for a sea change?

Forgive me if I'm coming off as snarky or obtuse, it's not my intent. I'm frustrated and just a little depressed by what I see before me, and have this gnawing awful feeling that the whole thing is going to fucking collapse while we're daydreaming.

by having even one or two national scale politicians with loud megaphones out there making the case for the reforms we need, even if they currently have no chance of getting those reforms passed, things can change very quickly.

There's a lot of frustration out here in the U.S. It doesn't belong to any party or ideology, it's about things like this OP.

The two money parties very carefully keep candidates who don't basically accept the status quo from rising in their hierarchy. The MSM does the same. So the truth is seldom told. The finger of blame is almost never pointed where it belongs, which is at the corporatists who use our military, our extraction industries, our surveillance network, our banksters, our private prisons and brutal police state to disempower citizens and to obscenely enrich themselves in the process.

You get a few people out there preachin' it for real, you get a wild-fire of support and all of a sudden it's a whole different situation.

Climate change is a catalyst for change, as are things like millions (including myself) who are likely to "retire" into complete poverty, and the endless wars against foes who are really nothing more then blowback from the actions of the very same global capitalists who are causing all of these problems.

First we fight. It takes a few amazing people who can carry that load through the media wilderness, Warren and Sanders are two such people. We will lose some battles, but the message can absolutely take hold, and if it does, things can change very rapidly.

It feels hopeless, and it may be, but I think giving in to the apparent hopelessness is to solidify it.

A few great leaders who have what it takes to transcend the divide-and-conquer partisanship that sustains the whole corrupt system can leverage the despair people rightly feel and bring about great change, fairly rapidly once it starts.

It makes sense to me.
Wish I could articulate it like you did!

for a company's CEO and upper management teams.

In response, a democratic government will tax that compensation in progressive proportion to where that compensation is, on balance, vs. other employees at that same company. See "Wealth of Nations" for starters.

they seem to be so short sighted.

After being disabled for a couple of years and living on $1100 a month. I learned to be very frugal. Now that I've returned to work, I got an offer for a 3 day a week part-time bookkeeping job at a good hourly rate - enough to live on. I jumped at it because it gives me enough time to develop my own bookkeeping business. I figure if I can get enough clients and refferals, I can build a good part-time business that I can do for as long as I like to supplement my SS. Now I just need to get healthy enough that I can work full time until I'm 70, to maximise my SS.

ain't robotics and free trade off shoring fun ?

or fix them. Thats what I did and even though I am now retired, I could get a job tomorrow. I know that won't work for everyone, but you have to adapt to the labor market the best you can

Much as experience and knowledge should be important to the technology field, it still prefers younger people. Above 45 and looking to break into the fields - very difficult.

I don't have robotics experience but have worked with AI, expert systems, lab control/sensing, satellite ground control, statistics and modelling, system software development, project management, etc., etc. I'm now well over 60 and present well. What company wants to take the time to work with someone at that age?

... hmmm... there's some interesting possibilities there... those billionaires and their political lackeys had best stay well beyond the reach of those metal hands...

You worked for government "defense" and "security" contractors and have the necessary clearances, I'm surmising, or maybe you are among the last who remembers how to keep some fossil system running in a decaying industry being bled dry by oligarchs as they prepare to move the work overseas.

Those seem to be the only tech workers who don't get replaced by foreign workers willing to share small apartments with strangers and pool their resources to buy rice in bulk.

I'm a peculiar sort. I've always thought government ought to serve "We the People," not some "market" directed by a few oligarchs and the military-industrial-complex.

The uber-wealthy class needs to be taxed out of existence. Nobody ought to be so wealthy they can buy the political process and control markets, especially "labor markets." Ugh, what a nasty concept "labor markets" is in today's world. This is why we need strong labor unions.

I have a coffin under my office desk.

I have no illusion about what my future will be.

Between student loan debt and no retirement funds (until I got on Medicaid, I had to go through my savings whilst on chemo), I will be working until I can work no longer.

It is quite disheartening really. It is hard to be able to focus on things other than work and money when you are looking at such a bleak future.

The cynic in me thinks that the marriage equality ruling and the confederate battle rag coming down are just a few bones thrown our way to shut us up for a bit. I maintain simulators that train the pilots who fly rich SOBs around in business jets. Twenty years ago the pay was fantastic. With wages not even beginning to keep up with the real rate of inflation I sometimes feel I am living paycheck to paycheck.

Confederate flag? Yes.

It is all bread and circuses these days. Little bones are thrown to both the left and the right while we live in our narcissistic Facebook & Twitter bubbles and the reality is that as a population, we are getting fucked year in and year out by the corporatists in power be they the GOP or the New Dems.

I am sick to death of it!

That they're just throwing us little bones: social issues here and there, a few symbolic things. No real institutional changes.

Many are in poverty or near poverty now, thanks to the policy of keeping the bank$ter/donors money healthy. It's discussed in the ex Treasury Secretary's book Stress Test, by Timothy "The Butcher" Geithner.
"
Here, an audience of voters laugh at, not with, ol' killer Geithner: http://thedailyshow.cc.com/extended-interviews/z9b8f1/timothy-geithner-extended-interview

Generations of Americans will live in poverty, with no hope of every getting out, because of that traitor to our country - and the people, like me, who voted helped him get into that position to foist his advice on us.

I won't be fooled again, however.

Obama made him fire chief.

Not surprising all things considered, but so very sad that it has come to this.

And be specific:
- 401k's and other private "cool ideas" are not a substitute for a true pension
- privatizing social security would be an unmitigated disaster
- privatizing retirement only works for the 1/10th of one percent. Everyone else is screwed.
- private (employment based) pensions can work, but must have iron clad protections
- people need to quick the knee jerk reaction against "those who have too much" when referring to people who still have some pension. This only is there to divide and conquer.

And there are real things we can do right now to fix this.
- Increasing social security benefits markedly
- Lowering the retirement age radically
- Not taxing social security benefits and pension benefits (like 401k's are already done now)
could immediately eliminate most of this pain
- social security could easily be expanded to be a true pension, and could be increased especially for those who lost a pension

well done. should be an op.

in order to "boost the new economy", when that's where the growing sector of middle class jobs were, was also a destroyer of the middle class. Especially when this was never revised after the new economy was no longer new and should have no longer needed special help for innovation to happen.

Just like all the "incentives" for fossil fuels that are woefully out of date, they wonderful little gems just keep giving to those who know how to scarf it up. They never die and generally were not a good idea to begin with.

Except to the grave, and even then what about your family?

I am in the 1% (just barely), but still cannot see it happening before I am (again) about 70. And that is only maybe. Those I know even in that income (and sometime wealth) bracket, are also very nervous. Generally, they act like it will happen around others, but when pressed and pouring their heart out, they cannot do it either without a tremendous cut in lifestyle and possible insolvency.

Most of us who did well nevertheless had some event, say divorce, medical expenses, etc., that have wiped out savings and had to start over again. The 401K (if not already raided for those reasons) is not enough. And we had good returns on investment for much of that time. I even pulled mine out before the millenium crash and it did not make a difference. It was never going to be enough and we were played for suckers.

Other than that I agree with you.

It is certainly marketed as a tax break, again trying make people believe they actually got something good with 401k's so they will not complain when the pensions are gone.

That cap was set in the early 80's as part of the Tip O'Neil/Ronnie Reagan Screwage that raised FICA rates and increased retirement ages and has never been inflation adjusted. Consequently everyone who saved for retirement through 401ks or IRAs like we were told to do, will get their SS benefits taxed as soon as they cross the 30K limit on income. The fucking fuckers think we are really fucking stupid and they are fucking right.

I just turned 50.

I've had several earlier long spates of unemployment as well due to disability.

Yep, I'm doomed.

Whenever I hear the GOP make apocalyptic speeches about people lacking savings and nothing being there for retirement, I flinch. Whenever I hear anecdotes about elderly people being dumped in abusive nursing homes, becoming mentally ill and dying before their times I get the chills. Seniors are the fastest growing homeless population in my area due to both employment and rental housing discrimination, so I face the prospect of genuine homelessness at any time as well.

The basic problem is the demands from "rent-takers" are regular while the gig-nature of the new economy is unstable and nerve-wracking, and it gets worse as you get older. Because

It would be hard not to become extremely depressed or even have some psychotic break if regular people tried to plan for and look directly at the future. IMHO, this is why many people simply do not do it. They do choose not to think it all. They use TV, and casual games, and on-demand networked social media relationships to keep themselves "in the now" and mentally occupied. They have used "mindfulness" to convince themselves that this is a good thing - to constantly doing status updates with their immediate context or even their internal selves: but ultimately this is an art of distraction from fear of the future. No one has a clue what to do about it, so people prefer not to think at all.

I am guilty of doing this too.

living in future poverty is that the safety net may be gone. They will have no backup. When you are in poverty you find ways to adjust your lifestyle so that at least you can survive as opposed to just die.

For my parents generation (both born in 1917) there was little safety net at the time of their birth. Their parents ended up living with them or worse yet moving from one home to another owned by a relative. When my parents bought their little home it was not for investment purposes. It was to be a lifetime residence for them - a place to retire that was paid for. Their safety net was their home. They did not have senior housing to move into and neither will the seniors today because the waiting lists are very long.

My parents learned to plant gardens and can food for the winter from their parents and it worked. Even during the Great Depression many could eat if they had a piece of land to plant on. Today most in poverty rely on food stamps. But they are already being cut. Since most today do not have that little piece of land this is going to be a big problem.

I do not know what can be done to prevent this prediction from coming true but I do know that all of us no matter what age had better start fighting like hell right now to preserve that safety net that is under attack. If we do not most will be in the just die category. Go Union.

The basic cost to survive is much higher. If you own a car, you must have insurance. Healthcare is mandatory and expensive, if you're above the subsidy levels ie lower middle class it's astronomical even with the ACA. Mine is $650 a month - nearly a mortgage payment! I don't have any savings left. Now what? We are house poor - it's all we have. Cars are much more expensive to buy and maintain than in the past, with everything computerized, and not everyone lives near transit. In rural areas a car is essential.

Where we live we have the highest utility rates in the nation. There are places in our county that hit 120 degrees in summer so A/C is essential for older folks not to die, but how do you afford that? Cold climates have the same issue in winter to heat homes.

Got kids? A computer is a must now for them to succeed in school. Tuitions are through the roof. In the '80s my brother went to Harvard for around $1,000 a year or maybe a semester. AT UC now it costs $25,000 to $30,000 a year for tuition, room and board. What if you have more than 1 kid who is in college at the same time? Parents are going broke, and many from the middle class are falling into poverty.

Wages have not kept pace with inflation and the rising cost of living. Our parents didn't need cell phones etc.

Even such essentials as a basic washing machine or stove are much more money than in the past.

Medical costs if you get sick? Astronomical, even with insurance in most cases. God help you if you have none.

will not be able to go bankrupt unless you can pay for it yourself. Legal Aid cannot represent you because Social Security and other safety net programs are exempt and cannot be taken by creditors so ------ do it now if you are going to have to.

If you have debt that you cannot pay and you cannot go bankrupt the creditors hound you day and night for the rest of your life. Joy! Joy!

I have my small 50-yr old house on 1.5 acres, on a private well, a huge veggie garden, and lots of fruit and nut trees I've planted over the past 5 years. My flock of chickens is growing, the 250-acre state-owned wildlife management area a few miles down the road has lots of game to hunt, and I'm in good enough shape to bike 5 miles into town. Eventually I'll be installing some alt. energy sources, and adding even more insulation.

My wife and I sock away 10% of our gross income monthly, and made the decision to only have one child for economic and environmental reasons.

up a cooperative farm with all of us taking part in it. We do have a long way to go. Those of us in town have gardens also but no animals. Wish our community would okay having a few chickens in town. We have a beautiful fenced in yard for them.

Maybe I will get back to lobbying for that.

approx. twenty years ago that the United States was taking on the characteristics and living standards of a developing South American country.

With a defined benefit pension, acquired through life long employment in aerospace ...

Most of my younger co workers have 401Ks ...

Even then, if republicans take full Koch Kontrol, that can be wiped away by the stroke of a pen ...

I have been working hard to improve my fitness and well being, just to make sure I can last another 7 years ... Egads ....

Drop out the tiny winner class in this neofeudal economy and the numbers are much worse.

Averaging in the top wealth holders with everyone else makes the problem seem small in comparison to what it actually is.

I wonder, when the median for the bottom 90% finally hits zero and there's no more to steal, what then?

Gonna have to work til I die? Guess again. I'm 60. No one wants you after 55!! I worked in IT my entire career, and its been very difficult to find work lately. I am to the point where I quit looking. Currently living off of my wifes pension, social security, and transferring our nest egg monthly to cover the bills. I am on the ACA. I collect SS in 1.5 years and the pain of transferring money should go away then.

I consider myself lucky, and it's really shitty. I never thought I'd be forced to retire. I thought I'd be good until at least 65. I know a lot of people are much worse off than me and my heart goes out to those less fortunate. And I'd be right there with them if not for my wife, the ACA, and our savings. The lower and middle class are being totally destroyed by our store bought politicians. 40 years of the same old shit , with a rising increase of demolishing the middle class, is destroying this country. It's time for a change. A BIG CHANGE.

I'm voting for Bernie, cuz the same ole same ole, just aint gonna do it anymore. Look at where we're at. The numbers don't lie, and it don't look good. Without a thriving middle class, we're all screwed.

a lot of people claim they will work until they die but they better have a backup plan

Randi Rhodes said that, all the time. She started saying it about the purposeful chaos in Iraq, and later said it about everything Republicans are doing in the US.

In 2000, I could talk to Republicans as if they were Americans. I did not resent wealthy people overtly. Fifteen years has made me a Leveler. Wealth clearly poisons people -- the majority of them do nothing with it but invest in schemes to further concentrate wealth in their hands. And I can no longer have a civil conversation with a Republican. So much pain, despair and death in everything they believe -- there is nothing left to say except 'you are either purposefully ignorant or purposefully fucking evil'.

99% tax rates on all incomes over 1 million. Let's try that. On capital gains as well. Take that money and make sure every single American citizen has a decent school, home, clothing, food, and medical care. After that, take it to the world.

I'm not necessarily anti-capitalist; just would prefer it to be social capitalism, because the other kind of capitalism is poison, pure poison. Inefficient, cruel, and a threat to national security. It's rotting the nation. We'll eventually outgrow it altogether. For the moment, however, 99%. It's a start.

that wealthy baby boomers have stolen all of the goodies.

I won't ever be able to afford to retire. Ever. And I don't punch buttons on a keyboard and stare at a screen for a living. I actually have to do real work.

"I don't punch buttons on a keyboard and stare at a screen for a living. I actually have to do real work."

WTF?

Defensive much?

The point being that I have physical labor as a major component of how I earn my living. I wish I could make a living on a computer screen, but it ain't gonna happen and my body is breaking down.

Cripes, can anyone say anything on this forum without somebody getting butthurt and jumping their ass for it?

Whenever you feel up to moving some granite around, just let me know. Be sure and eat your Wheaties.

I'm your age and I've worked with my hands in factories, for brick masons, and a whole lot of other things; so I know what you're talking about. And yeah these people you're arguing with might be a bit over-sensitive (and then again maybe not) but the point I want to make to you is this: punching a keyboard and staring at a monitor is something else I do for a living and I can tell you: it's real work, bro.

I'm not coming down on you, just trying to help you to understand why some might be offended by your characterization. In some ways, working with granite is easier. Know why? Because you're moving around. You can put a couple of thoughts behind that or not; it's purely your option. We good?

Granted.

Moving around is putting it mildly, I average 14,000 steps just at work, a day. Wearing steel toe boots with no a/c. Of course we're good. My real concern is what will I do when I can't physically do it anymore? The crash of '07 ate my 401K in short order and the piddling I can put away now won't last more than a couple of months. In real terms, my health care takes 50% of my after tax income and it's not getting better. I'll likely drop dead on the job and I see no relief in sight.

I totally feel ya. The retirement situation is as fucked up as can be and we would certainly agree about how it happened.

I imagine you've done some thinking about a change of pace in your work? It would be a good thing to have another work to cycle into. Trust me, I ain't saying that's easy to do. Wishing you luck.

I think the world would be a much happier place if everybody could make a living doing something they like. I myself am hoping that I work until I die. But I enjoy my work. I sure wouldn't feel that way if I was in a job I hated.

that right there is sheer snobbery

someone in an air conditioned office has absolutely no idea how difficult it is to continue to work at a hard labor job past the age of 62.

Thanks for letting me know that it's not "real work." That makes the stress and low pay ALL the more bearable.

The point is, everyone deserves to retire after a lifetime of work without worrying about landing in the poorhouse. I don't care what kind of job a person does.

Corporate rules: If you don't work, you don't get paid. Plain and simple.

--and America's workers put up with it --many because they don't know any better. They don't know what it feels like to have job security and to be truly valued. They just suffer in silence. Because there are few alternatives out there. How often do you hear the words, "just lucky to have a job." We are all scrambling around in the pit, even at the professional level. Family life and quality of life is low priority, if you want to keep your job. That's by design.

Are Americans in general unhappy? I think they are.

America is the most greedy, heartless, brutal country on the planet. Thanks to Rethuglicons and their DLC accomplices, wringing every cent they can out of their employees in countless ways, providing as few benefits as possible. Even thwarting social amenities such as public transportation, educational and recreational facilities/opportunities, cultural outlets. Just watch TV and go shopping at Walmart (if you've got anything left to spend). When you have a stress related collapse, take drugs.

This is not a healthy society. This is not a sustainable solution.

forced out of the rat race. I missed it for a while, but I got over it pretty quick. Now dealing with less income is a real issue. I should make it until I officially retire at 62. Ii wasn't my original plan, that's for sure.

Never, ever thought I'd be forced to retire. No one wants a 60 year old IT manager. The economy and jobs suck for pre seniors(50-65).

--"pre-seniors" being forced out of the job market or stumbling along on lower incomes--and even trying to help the kids out on what little they earn.

Sad state of affairs.

White House Conference on Aging July 13th

Quite possibly the last generation to enjoy not only man made safety nets, but the greatest safety net of all time, a stable environment.

Kind of funny if you think about it. The generations that caused the most damage will be the last ones to enjoy the fruits of their labors in a monetary way.

The rest will be enjoying those fruits in the form of less fresh water, less fresh food, less wildlife, less trees, more heat, more disease and more wars.

Heck, the masters of the universe are probably setting wheels in motion as we speak that will leverage more pain on our children & natural world for a slight gain in digital wealth for they and their acolytes today.

Personally? I think adding more is the epitome of selfishness. But then, suffering myself so other lifeforms don't has always been a large part of my personal liberal manifesto.

Reduced to entry level minimum wage, I'm aware that the future is even more bleak when I stare into the approaching maw of "retirement."

Which is why I try to practice gratitude for all the joys unrelated to finances which present themselves daily: the smiling face of my darling chihuahua, Alia, and the the towering beauty of the hollyhocks in full bloom in my back yard.

And then work on a better tomorrow.

After all, could be worse...

both parents educated at a post graduate level (I'm just a little short of a doctorate, which was of no benefit for me for a public school teaching job due to my hiring cost when I went back after a wife/mom break). Substitute teaching? Nearly every day if I wanted; no benefits and permanent job recommendations from knowledgeable teachers ignored in favor of any lower cost youngster with school board connections (which to be honest, I'd once had when not needed),so know how it works. College level job? Near starvation possibilities. Only one out of four of my kid's grandparents had a high school diploma, let alone any college. They all were able to provide very well for their offspring (including indulging grandkids). The college fund we started at my daughter's birth stopped after a divorce when she was twelve. Still, she started out with some college costs covered, but still has many thousands in student loans after she graduated. She's now in a somewhat freelance job that she loves, but provides very little security. I won't go on to belabor this story.

job in an industry that moved to Mexico. He was offered re-training, and, always loving to cook, requested a culinary academy. No way, computer training was basically all he was offered. No further comment.

I'm all in

elect a fucking Congress that will do something REAL about it.

I really hope I die in the next 20 years.

Best way out, for me would be to go to Urgent Care to have a diagnosis of a heart attach. Refuse to go to the emergency room. Go home to die. Have my family call the County Coroner. The following week the county lets my family know where I am buried. It is the American Dream now; a dignified place to finally rest in peace.