Sdwd

[rancher hicks]

The key word there Tom is "entitled" or any derivation thereof! These kids think that they're entitled to a high paying job without qualifications. They think they're entitled to a house as nice as home was straight out of the gate. They're entitled to a shiny new car, the big screen TV, on and on and on......Somehow, they've missed the boat. I'm not sure who is to blame. The government? Perhaps. Liberal education? Maybe. Maybe even me. I just don't know. All I know is that she is not the person I thought we raised her to be. Yes, some of the blame can be laid at the feet of the people she chose to call friends. They have been the biggest influence with her. But who's to blame for her friends flaws?

Who knows. Perhaps it's all a part of the steady decline that all great societies throughout history have faced. All I can do is keep my own hearth and home in order and hope that someday she comes around to understanding the way the world really turns. In order for that to happen, she has to first discover that she is not in fact, the center of the universe!

Forgive my input, but as a parent it can be hard not to blame myself. However there comes a point in everyone's life where they and only they can make the decisions and choices. Oh we all like to lay the blame at someone else's feet, but really at the root it's us who choose.

Even if we don't learn right from wrong at home, we see the examples good and bad all around us. We are influenced by more than our parents. By teachers, friends, acquaintances, doctors and even strangers. We love our kids and do our best.

As for the "entitlement" thing, even adults too believe they're entitled to somethings. Folks pay taxes and figure they're not getting our fair share. The media keeps saying we deserve a good retirement of playing after we choose to retire. Who of us would say, "oh I don't deserve to own a house, or car or tv"? What all are entitled to is the opportunity to have these things, if they work to achieve them.

In my mind our parents and theirs worked so we could have a better life than they did. I've worked so my kids could have a better life than I. Why should I be resentful if they do? It's what I've worked for. Not so they could struggle like I did.

Me? I think everyone who wants a job is entitled to a job. Even old geezers like me. Yet the government in NY is giving tax credits to hire the young. 18 -24. Of course it's the voters who choose to elect those who will give them the most of what they want.

I believe, If there is one thing our government should do, it's provide us the opportunity to have a life. That being to create jobs.

 

[cmom]

Quote: Serrin, I don't know where our daughter got the idea that we owe her but we have friends that she has told we owe her. Before I retired my husband and I both bought new cars that we saved up for. We had never bought new cars before. Somehow she got the idea we had money and she would tell her friends that, like you building your dream home a little at a time when you could afford it and you did the work yourselves. We did that with an older home. It is small but we saved and remolded it to the way we wanted it so we could enjoy it with whatever time we have left on this earth.

 

[finnfur]

Me? I think everyone who wants a job is entitled to a job. Even old geezers like me. Yet the government in NY is giving tax credits to hire the young. 18 -24. Of course it's the voters who choose to elect those who will give them the most of what they want.

I believe, If there is one thing our government should do, it's provide us the opportunity to have a life. That being to create jobs.

Rancher I buy your theory but seekers must be qualified to obtain jobs and Government does not create jobs . Basically the Governments job is to spend our money.
Business investors actually create jobs . Most Government restricts job growth except government jobs.
JMHO

 

[cmom]

Quote:
If you want a job and you are lucky enough to get through the interview then to be considered you have to be drug tested, but if you want government public assistance just fill out a few forms and it's yours just as long as you fill out the forms correctly.

 

[rancher hicks]

Fin - I'll agree that the government does not "create" jobs but it can do more to promote businesses and jobs. Clearly how they're going about it now is not working. As for being qualified that is a given, but even the lowest of intellects should be able to have a job.

Cmom, what you say may be true but it's not quite as easy as we might think for everyone. While DD and hers just applied for rent assistance they were turned down. They do get food stamps though and WIC. He works two jobs and just doesn't get paid enough nor get enough hours some weeks. She's a stay at home mom. They have a small but nice apartment. Rents here are very high. I see folks lose one job only to be hired in a similar job that doesn't pay the same nor enough. I see young people making what I made more than 20 yrs ago. If it was hard for me then with prices what they were, imagine how hard it is with prices as high as they are now.

One couple I know there rent is over $700 month plus. They're newly weds so both work. She is pregnant and he makes just over $11 hr. for Verizon.

I also keep in mind that we may not know the whole story with some folks. There are those who are the working poor and will never be able to earn enough to live on. Then there are those who just don't have the IQ to be employed.

There was a time here in Syracuse when public transportation was the means many used to get to work. Now with businesses and offices spread out to the suburbs and limited service it's just not that easy to get to a job.

Myself? If I were to take the bus, I'd have to walk more than a mile and there are no sidewalks. It's just not safe. We have a cross on the corner where a young man was killed last year riding his bike to school. Culture has changed and not for the good imho.

Factories and businesses used to be consolidated. Not anymore.

The answer is in change. Change so folks can work. Change that we ourselves make without government intervention.

 

[cmom]

I agree with you 100%. Not all circumstances are the same. Our daughter who is now a convicted felon because of drugs can't get a decent job because of the felony. She was supposed to get it sealed but always has a reason why it hasn't happened in the 6 years since she has gotten out of prison. She has seen several different attorneys but we can't get any information because of the attorney client confidentiality. It is always the attorneys fault so she goes and gets another attorney. She is single and 47 years old. She gets free medical, food stamps and I don't know what else. She does work but gets paid under the table so she can report no income. I do worry as she is not contributing anything for her future and time is running out. Will she be on public assistance for the rest of her life as well as working under the table. I'm sure she will get some social security when she becomes of age, but will it be enough to live on? She recently changed jobs and moved from her free rent place to a place where she now pays rent but she lives in a trailer park and I think she is not paying high rent there. I think her utilities and cable TV are included in her rent. We paid for her schooling when she went to school. She did get her associate degree in culinary. Her sister at 43 put herself through school and got her bachelors in accounting and is now a successful CPA. I agree that many on public assistance don't want to be but have no choice especially if they have a family to support. Those are in entirely different circumstances and feel for those. Her father and I worked hard all of our lives to get where we are now. Nobody gave us a thing we worked hard for what we have. I know times are tougher now. Prices were lower when we were young but also were the wages. I remember back when $2.10 was minimum wage. Sorry for my ranting. I will say no more...

 

[Serrin]

Rant away Cmon. You haven't said a single thing I can take exception to. Let's face it. The world our generation grew up in no longer exists. Sad, but true. I worry for the young folks coming up in this age. Their chances of realizing the "American Dream" are slim to almost none. Maybe we were wrong in trying to make things better and easier for our kids. Maybe it would have been better to let them struggle as we did. Maybe they'd have a better appreciation of what we've accomplished along with a better understanding of what it takes to be an adult!

 

[finnfur]

Oh yes I remember those days .
At 14 in high school I worked on a farm for $0.33 hour summers and weekends . Plus in summer days off I cut grass for folks. Shoveled snow in winter . No car at fourteen.
Rode bike or walked 8 miles to work. Dad helped build a two wheel cart out of salvaged stuff to carry push mower behind bike.
All that set up a work ethic that stayed with me my entire life.
Like Serrin and Denny my wife and I built our own house in 1980 while working full time jobs.
Started our own business in 1994 and she started another ebay business in 1996.
We are not rich but we are making a living. The lord has been good to us.
Was it smooth sailing ? No there were times we didn't know where the next meal or baby food was coming from but we kept digging.
Youth today [ there are exceptions] expect to have at 28 what parents accumulated in a lifetime.
Neither of us has had college but we never stop learning in life. 90% of life is all about choices we make .


Merry Christmas all

 

[cmom]

Rant away Cmon. You haven't said a single thing I can take exception to. Let's face it. The world our generation grew up in no longer exists. Sad, but true. I worry for the young folks coming up in this age. Their chances of realizing the "American Dream" are slim to almost none. Maybe we were wrong in trying to make things better and easier for our kids. Maybe it would have been better to let them struggle as we did. Maybe they'd have a better appreciation of what we've accomplished along with a better understanding of what it takes to be an adult!

Thanks, so true, Amen... I do think about a lot of things as we get older as we are now the old folks and friends our age are starting to drop like flies. It seems that quite frequently we hear that this one has passed or that one has passed. I think of life this way, when we were born each was given a book and each day of our life we have torn out a page in that book but no one knows how many pages are in their book.

 

[Serrin]

OK, my family just called. from the road. They're less than 10 minutes away , so I gotta make this quick........


MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!!!!

And may each of you have a bright and prosperous New Year!!