Get with the programs, boomers, or lose them (Barf!)

'Retirement' is a fluke in human history, not a right....

I'm inclined to agree. It was a fluke born of a post war prosperity boom. The rest of the world lay in ruin and the U.S. had excellent resources to be the supplier of food and manufactured goods. No competition and a world market. It doesn't get much better. That is no longer the case. The rest of the world is ready to produce and compete. The U.S. no longer has a monopoly. When we fail to offer a competitive approach, there are plenty of others ready to offer equal or better alternatives.

So, did you inform her that she didn't deserve it, and shouldn't have it?

She worked for years to pay for other old geezers (and thieving politicians) to spend that social security money. I'm paying more than enough to cover anything she's consuming. If I could opt out of the social security taxation (and most of the income tax), it would be far less of a burden to care for my mom directly. If her lifespan matches her mom, she won't be around much longer. My wife faces similar prospects. No woman in her family has lived past age 59. That's going back to 1423. She turns 49 this year. We're both going to enjoy the next 10 years because we never expect to retire before reaching room temperature.

Well, I certainly wish you a longer life than you anticipate! I don't like paying the Social Security taxes any more than anyone else does, but I do tend to agree with P.J. O'Rourke's assessment that paying them is what keeps our parents from living with us and completely depending on us. My own parents planned well enough for their retirement that they did not need Social Security to live on, and I am in the process of doing the same.

"So your twisted the kid's arm into enlisting?

And his objections you see, naturally, as symptomatic of the 'less than patriotic' Gen-X and Gen-Y....."

No, it never occurred to me and I still see no connection.

"Living in million dollar homes while voting for the Green Party and lobbying their socialist reps to up my taxes? Yearning for the glory days of spitting on soldiers in the airport while illegal aliens are cutting their lawns and making their dinners?

Odd bunch of 20-30 yr olds...."

These were not the homeowners, these are the driftwood that arrived in what is known as San Diego's "little Height Ashbury"
A lot of them have been pushed out in the last 6 years or so because the homes and cottages where they could all split the rent have become so valuable that many of the rentals were sold.
But it is still the collection point at the end of interstate 8 that draws an endless flow of them.

You are right about the greens party except that these are the foot soldiers, not the donors, they were demonstrating against the Starbucks when 911 happened, it took a couple of days before they could be convinced that something so big had happened, that it was no time to be picketing the coffee shop over global issues, so they laid off for a couple of weeks.

I know a few of them and they are a mobile lot raising funds, and attending anti global trade demonstrations.
The thing that I find most unique about this young crowd is a lack of a sense of humor, their self description is that they are anarchists.

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