Disagreeing

I: The former generation allowed this whole economic mess to come into existence. The end of social security, retirement, etc. is on the horizon for me and my generation. No, most people in this country (or in the West in general) are not doing "well." The average income has dipped far below what it was decades ago adjusted for inflation. The housing market is trashed. -Most- people are just "getting by." If you're in a category that isn't experiencing this, then do not...absolutely DO NOT generalize your situation to the rest of us. Because it's simply not the case. It's not that we don't work hard, we work just as hard as you did, if not harder. We have a more complicated world to deal with. We have less of a social security net to save us when we fall, and meet old age.

II: College /was and is/ a bubble that /will/ burst. Government handouts and private loans both are going to crash eventually, and so too will the price of college. The universities are /dependent/ on the government to keep their current tuition levels as high as they are. When the government starts cutting the fat, AND IT WILL, there will be some /serious/ problems on this front. But on the bright side, demand will decrease rapidly and drastically, and so too will tuition costs. Things will balance out eventually...It just so happened I was born in a generation where the pendulum swung the wrong direction.

III: The elite/bourgeois class /does/ have too much of the wealth. Historical precedents have been set here. When around 90% of assets and finance are in 10% of the hands, serious civil instability/unrest, riots, uprisings occur regardless of the form of government. This has a lot to do with the fact that once you reach this stage, just paying for a roof over your head and food on the table becomes difficult, if you're even able to accomplish either of these ends in such a situation. We're running about 80%/10% at the moment. The elite class, who basically has control over the government and our entire economy anyway, has the blinders on. They can't see that they are dependent on the 90% of us who deal with their intolerable, greedy nature. But eventually, it will bite them, unless they do what is right - and that's giving up much of the luxuries they have had for far too long for the benefit of those who got them there in the first place. It is amazing how ignorant people can be given their circumstances.

Much of this is brought on by a simple comment by an idiot. Why do I live at home with my parents at 25? Because I can actually save money, which means I have security. Because I know no one else is going to provide me with that, especially considering the direction of this country. It is very likely that unless I have saved significant amounts of money, I will /NEVER/ be able to retire. There is a slim possibility I will end up a professional someday making six figures, but every year that passes, the chances of that diminish.

Americans are sick. I really believe this. Why would you buy what you don't need, or more importantly, use credit if you can instead save for awhile to obtain it? If I am on good terms with my parents, if I do my share, if I pay my share, and still make out better financially than I would on my own...why would it be necessary for me to step away, until I am absolutely positive that I'm ready to make a decision to go from being able to save, to probably not saving much at all?

Until I see a real change in the economy and projections...I'm just feeling a great deal of uncertainty.

I may start working on a psychology bachelor online soon. It's the only discipline being offered that I'm remotely interested in, and it will get me to a point where graduate school is a possibility. This is my plan B.

I may also get booted back to operations shortly. Which means I'll be making a lot more money again. But it also means I need to work on that Plan B a lot more vigorously.