Obama soaking the very young people who idolize him
What we are witnessing today is a historic inter-generational transfer of wealth. Past generations could expect a better life, but today’s youth are picking up the tab for the baby boomers. What’s more, it is the policies of the man they held up as a hero that are inflaming the problem.
Maybe young people still haven’t noticed, or don’t really care — at least not enough to change their voting habits. Maybe they are too interested in political issues like immigration reform or gay marriage to worry about their economic future…. But I suspect some day in their 30s when they are trying to get ahead and raise a family, many of them will have buyer’s remorse.
Of course, it may not take that long. There is one more irony to discuss. And that is, if healthy young people don’t sign up for ObamaCare – if they don’t “fall in line” – the whole system could come crashing down. The success of the Affordable Care Act is premised on healthy young people signing up. But what if they don’t? What if the glitchy websites prevent them? Or what if they just make a calculated decision to pay the fine (“tax” as John Roberts would have you believe)?
It may be that banking on young people really was fraught with danger. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. Now that would be ironic.
~ Matt K. Lewis, The Week, November 11
[Photo via MLive.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Unfortunately most decisions made in America these days sacrifice long-term gain for short-term gain. We’ve become soft and unable to cope with our own desires. Of course every society in history has been a victim of them mentality at times, but we’ve turned it from a sad act of life into a life philosophy. Abortion is exhibit A, and soon everyone will find out just how important it is to have a young, growing society as opposed to an old and dying society. I was just reading today that Social Security is now a loss for the average worker; they would have lost less money sticking the same amount as their FICA contribution in a mattress and letting inflation devalue their wealth.
We have the power to reverse this trend, at least for our own families. We don’t need the government to change us; we can do it ourselves.
First: Think of Social Security as a welfare tax. You are working, and you are contributing to help those who failed to save for their old age. You will not get paid back. Do not reckon on Social Security to enhance your own retirement; it is not a savings plan. This is not “fair,” of course; but don’t bother complaining. Just face the reality and plan around it.
Second: Live frugally and save arduously for your own retirement. It helps if you do this as a labor of love — you are saving up for your children and grandchildren’s futures, more than for yourself.
This is how families lived for generations. It helped families to get through the hard times, because children learned how to be frugal during the good times. It can save your family as well, and help them through the coming storm of economic turmoil.
I’d be willing to bet my next paycheck that if asked, not one of these young people could have told you why they idolized Obama. They couldn’t have told you what he stood for, what he believed, or what they knew about him. It was just…just…HIM!
I remember trying, without success, to get that question answered time and again on this blog alone by Obama supporters. Simple question, why do you support this guy? Never did get a straight forward answer. In fact people were quite irate that I asked.
OK folks, now like the love struck widow robbed of her life savings by the smooth talking sociopathic con man, you’re left empty handed. Story as old as the human race.
“Second: Live frugally and save arduously for your own retirement. It helps if you do this as a labor of love — you are saving up for your children and grandchildren’s futures, more than for yourself.”
You realize there is an income level where this is literally impossible right? If every cent you have goes to necessities, this pie in the sky stuff about savings means less than nothing.
It reminds me of a hilarious article I read about how to get out of poverty. The article had advice like “have six months worth of bills in savings” (impossible for a lot of poverty-stricken people) and having your retirement savings taken out of your paycheck (but what would you buy food with if you didn’t have that money?).
People don’t complain about Social Security not going to be there for us because we’re lazy and don’t want to save. Many of us complain because we have no other retirement options.
Yes, Jack. Some people struggle at a subsistence level and are unable to save. And no one accuses them of being lazy.
But most Americans live beyond our means — or at least, less frugally than we ought to — and then we blame the government for taxing us for Social Security that “won’t give us a fair return on our investment.” I am speaking to this majority: We can save our families, without waiting for any government reforms.
Most of us are not as poor as we think we are. If we have enough money for a cell phone and cable and internet service, then we have money to save.
“Yes, Jack. Some people struggle at a subsistence level and are unable to save. And no one accuses them of being lazy.”
Are you kidding? People certainly do accuse those people of being lazy. You ever seen how much people judge those on food stamps or WIC or whatever? Do you have any idea how broke you have to be to get that kind of assistance? But no, people judge your clothes (that person doesn’t look poor enough to be on assistance), what food you buy (because it’s totally their business how you feed yourself), etc. People DEFINITELY judge and accuse the lowest income levels of being lazy, among other things. One of the reasons I’d rather just not eat at the end of the month, I won’t give people the satisfaction of judging me for using food stamps.
“Most of us are not as poor as we think we are. If we have enough money for a cell phone and cable and internet service, then we have money to save.”
This is unbelievably out of touch. Have you ever tried to have a job or job search without a phone? You end up not getting the job or fired, you certainly can’t pick up extra shifts and such without a way for them to get hold of you. You can’t be without a phone anymore and still be viable in the job market. But no, let’s make sure we shame people for having a necessity of modern life. And many jobs (like mine) require internet as a part of the job requirements. Internet’s also getting pretty necessary for job searching and such as well. Cable everyone can live without, and many poor people do.
Jack, I am very fortunate because I am one of the 15 percent of workers who gets has a pension. I know this sounds terrible, but that’s the only reason I’m at this job.
I don’t judge people for having foodstamps. I mentioned that I work with chronically mentally ill people. They get about $700 month in social security benefits and they NEED SNAP.
As for Obama’s young supporters — I can’t help but thinking about that quote from Oscar Wilde — be careful what you wish for because you just might get it!
Hi phillymiss,
I love the saying, closely related to Wilde’s:
When the gods want to punish mortals, they answer their prayers.
No idea who said it but I like using variations of it as you’ve probably noticed.
Obama’s national approval rating as of this morning – 39 percent.
New IL stats for OCare:
– 30,901 applicants
– 1370 signed up for a plan (chose to do so out of the 30,901)
-IL state legislature has yet to approve a marketplace
I think it is quite easy to blame Obama but I feel that this is much more complex. Many of the problems that young people in America face are the same ones that young people in Canada face and we have a conservative (~Republican) government.
First off, young people are now competing in a global market. Instead of competing for jobs with other Americans or in my case with other Canadians, businesses can now hire someone from the developing world and pay them lower wages, offer no benefits and no pension. This is exactly what is happening in Canada with our Temporary Foreign Workers program. And it is happening to many professions including engineering, computer science and law. This means many of our young people rack up debt going to university only to discover there are now no jobs for them.
Added to this is the fact that many countries such as India and China have millions of workers that offer cheap labour with no worries about safe workplaces, pensions, health benefits or decent wages.
Secondly the boomers (of which I am on the tail end of) have done a brilliant job of sucking up all the wealth without much regard for the workers they oversee or anyone else for that matter.
In the 60’s and 70’s profit was often passed DOWN through a company. Now it flows only upwards to the CEO and to the shareholders. The workers who earn the company its profit get nothing, and often work for minimum wage or see only basic cost of living increases and nothing more. The gap between the very wealthy and the middle class is growing yearly.
A case in point: in Canada the CEO of Canadian Pacific Railway earns $50 MILLION. This is completely obscene. I worked for this railway as a young person doing clerical billing for freight. I can tell you that many workers at CP Rail do not earn good wages.
It is ironic that many of these older boomers are the ones who protested the injustice of the Vietnam War and ranted against the “establishment” in the 1960s. They are now the ones hoarding the wealth and heaping out social injustice by the bucketfuls.
Angel: this blaming as you call it is only confined on this thread to the ACA. Many claim that this is great law and cite Canada and other nations that have socialized medicine as exemplars. These problems you discuss aside Angel, I would truly like to read your synopsis of the Canadian healthcare system. Is it working, how are the premiums in comparison to policies and income level, the providers, wait times, rejection numbers (is age an issue) and anything else you would like to contribute specifically regarding socialized healthcare? Please write soon…
So in my province, health services are funded by revenue from taxes paid by employers and individuals. Each person pays a health premium based on how much income they earn. Low income earners do not pay.
Every one has a health card which, when you see your doctor or go for any sort of procedure at a hospital, you must show.
Doctors bill the government per visit and based on procedure done.
Some things are not covered – for example dental surgery and exams, eye examinations, circumcision. You can go to whatever doctor you want and pretty much any hospital as well.
Some employers offer health plans as well to cover costs of the above. For example my benefits plan covers dental, prescription drugs and eye glasses. But there are limits. I can claim up to $450 for a new pair of glasses but that is once every 4 years. That is not a problem for me since my eyes change so little. But it can be difficult for others who might need new lenses every year.
Personally I have had mostly good experiences at hospitals. Wait times can be terrible though for emerg – up to 8 hours in some cases. But some hospitals are trying new ideas to move things along. My daughter has a special disorder that causes her to have vomiting episodes and she has a protocol so that when we show up in emerg she is simply admitted to the ER and gets a bed immediately.
You must be joking angel. I’ve been informed by US conservatives that everyone in Canada either comes to the US for healthcare or dies when they have emergencies. No exceptions! ;)