Is it too late for anyone to live a half-good life in the US

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The old timers here always say "we were poor,but didn't know it."Most talk about being very happy,and they had a lot less than we do.Depends on your perspective,I am satisfied with what I've got.My American dream is fulfilled.But then I am happy with less than most.

The baby boomers were the last generation where it was typical to able to work 30 years at for the same company and retire with a good pension, not that all of them had it made in the shade.

The baby boomers (in my opinion) are also the generation most responsible for the mess we are in. Their day has long passed, but so far, it's still all we ever hear about. The same generation that was urged, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" has been the same generation that won't sacrifice and demands everything...even if it means bankrupting the system for their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

I think only the "millennials" got some token attention, and even their generation is no longer current.

How sentimental of them....however a couple things. For one there was also less technology back then....so I think part of the having 'less' had to do with less electronics and such like not necessarily a lack of money with which to cover basic needs and other wants in life. Also someone likely isn't going to be 'very happy' if they are suffering malnutrition from not getting enough to eat, don't even have basic necessities covered and every day is struggle on top of the hunger pains and headache caused by the malnutrition....or if someone can afford to cover basic needs and still have some left for wants that aren't 'needed' per say but that is always under threat like it could end tomorrow that can cause significant stress.

That said I think it is good to appreciate what you have, try and look at the bright side and not get caught up with thinking how you need so much more, and you're unhappy because you only have one car instead of 3 or stuff like that, but realistically poverty or being on the verge of poverty causes a lot of stress and other problems that can contribute to physical and mental health problems....It is certainly possible to be happy with 'less' however if its less in the sense you can't even cover basic needs or its real struggle to budget money to cover it then yeah that is going to effect ones ability to be 'happy'. Hopefully I am making some sense.

Most didn't have much money,but they were not malnourished here.People grew huge gardens,had livestock,and ate stuff from the woods,made molasses and their own whiskey.It would be harder on people to be poor in the city,here farmers could trade at the store,eggs,milk for what they needed.Herbs from the woods if you were sick,goldenseal and ginseng grows wild here,people would and still do sell roots to the herb buyer.People helped each other,if your house burned your neighbors would come for miles to help rebuild.There used to be box suppers,where girls would make a lunch and decorate it and the boys would bid on it.Also pie suppers,the money from this would help the sick or needy in the community.People would make a party of building a barn,lots of food,maybe some moonshine,and a dance later.If you were sick,people would bring food,do the chores for you,they knew that you would do the same for them.People took care of each other better back then,everyone had value in the community
The only thing would suck was the lack of modern medicine,lots of little head stones from the pre-vaccination era.

I agree MissLizard, we may have gained and made major strides in technology and be able to chat live across the global village, but at the same time we've lost a lot of the humanit, caring and what in South Africa would be referred to as the spirit of ubuntu. (people).

My gran and her generation may not have had dvds, computers, GPS, etc but they were happy. They had enough to survive, regular holidays at her brother's beach holiday resort, a vegetable patch, fruit trees such as an avocado tree that bore wonderful fruit, a dog, an oak-lined street... what's not to like?

I'm roughly your age and we had a lot of things to keep occupied with. Since we didn't have technology yet, we didn't miss it!

A friend had one of the first video games,pong,it was so boring.Outside was better.You never see kids outside anymore,you had to force us come in.I don't remember complaining about the heat,we rode bikes all summer long,dug in the dirt,water gun fights,swimming,catching lightning bugs,who wanted to be inside?That was dull,we had four tv channels and nothing really on in the day to interest kids except the sat morning cartoons.
My kids didn't get video games till they were teens,we had lousy tv reception in this valley,two channels and one was PBS,they had to watch educational shows We did have a VCR and rented movies on the weekend for a treat.So my kids also went outside to play when little,they had dogs,baby chicks,bikes,berry patches,and a small wading creek in the front yard.All the ingredients for fun.

I seem to remember a lot of turmoil in the 1960s and 70s. President assassinated, cities trashed by segregated rioting, crowds in the streets protesting the war and well into the 70s, unions out on strike.

But what I don't seem to remember was the wonderfulness you seem to allude to. In fact during the '60s through the '80s it was JAPAN (and NOT the U.S.) who American workers looked toward for the ideal of a "lifetime job", and magazines and newspapers glorified them (until the '90s when Japan became more and more to emulate US.

It was the generation before us who had the last lifetime jobs.

But what change I DO seem to remember was the need for a job applicant to have a college degree to compete, as opposed to the experience generated resume.

I thnk my reply was close enough, if you'd actually read the whole thing. I'm not going to write a whole essay on it just to cover everything for you.

Actually, the holders of the US debt do not expect (or want) the debt to be repaid. The debt holders just want/expect the minimum payments for an indefinite period of time. And just for the record, the biggest holders of US debt are all US financial institutions, not foriegn governments.

America wont even pay the minimum though, unless someone loans us the money. It is a PONZI scheme that is still maturing.

America gets natural resources for paper, and uses its military to enforce this arrangement.

I read the whole thing. It's wrong of you to say otherwise and continue an honest conversation.

But having lived through the era you mention and been in a position of hiring and firing while following Federal guidelines (and etc.) during this period I believe I'm on the mark.

But, I'll give you, It wasn't a sudden happening where someone suddenly decreed:

"You're a "baby boomer" so you must live so-and-so." It was more of a gradual thing changing through time and NOT confined to only people from one era; and certainly NOT the baby boomers.

Both things you said are rubbish. If the US stopped paying interest people would lend their money to someone else.
If the US uses its military to force people to lend them money and accept their dollars, how is it that countries with small militaries do the same? Iceland? Japan?

Look for the key words. Nothing in this sentence even implies that everyone had it made in the shade during that era which had it's ups and downs. I assure you it IS different than that now with the growing instability we've experienced in the more recent years.

"The baby boomers were the last generation where it was typical to able to work 30 years at for the same company and retire with a good pension, not that all of them had it made in the shade."

For me this ends our tit-for-tat picking fly s**t out of pepper discussion.

The US government never pays its debts. It borrows ever-increasing greater debt to pay back its creditors.

This is the nature of a PONZI scheme.

You are welcome to challenge my "rubbish" with some facts, however, you need only search google for "America PONZI scheme" and do some reading.



I never said it "forces people", just "enforces".

The Saudi King and his 1000 princes stay in power thanks to the USA. He fills his vaults with US Treasury paper and gives us oil, while we provide "protection service" to keep our friend in power and enforce the arrangement.

Though, I would speculate that behind the scenes, the military is probably used as an implied threat against smaller countries. Look at Iraq, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Grenada .... the US has shown it does not respect sovereign borders, especially for clandestine activities.

But it makes its debt payments. There is a big difference between how an individual, a business, and a government should run their budgets.

This is the nature of a PONZI scheme.



If you are using the terms "America PONZI scheme" for your information, than you only have "facts," not facts. That's like Googling "government alien conspiracy" to prove that there is an alien government conspiracy (albeit slightly less absurd).