cincibuck
You kids stay off my lawn!
I'm on the cusp of silent and boomer generations... 1943... In a very real sense I'm a part of the boomers. My parents raced with the draft board deferrments... my sister was 8 years older than me and Dad needed two kids to stay out of the war. It didn't work. He left in mid 43 and came home in late 46.
What seems to me to separate the generations is the amount of discretionary income... for the first ten years of their married life Mom and Dad were lucky to have money to pitch in and help buy a jug of beer for the family on a Friday night. The depression no more than ended than the war came along. As a result my parents didn't own a home and two cars until they were well into their 50s. My dad dropped out of high school in 1930 to "go to work." What a joke, washing walls for 25 cents a day, 1/4th of an assembly line job at Delco Products and any other "work" he could find. In 1947 he returned to high school at nights and then went to college, all thanks to GI bill. My mom went to work in a defense plant in 44. She left work when Dad came home and then returned to it when I reached third grade. Her income formed the basis for family vacations and a college fund for my sister and me. My parents never went into debt for anything other than the house. In their 60s my parents retired on Dad's GM pension and both of their social security accounts. (and deserved it after surviving the Depression and WWII)
I grew up EXPECTING to go to college. I went thanks to my dad's increased affluence (Bless you, GI Bill) and that of his peers. I could make enough money working in a GM factory in the summer to cover books, tuition, clothes and social life. My parents gladly picked up the car expenses. By my late 20s I was living in a home I was buying and paying for two cars. I never went into debt for anything other than a house and cars. I picked up my Masters degree and an ABD education level (bless you again, GI bill). I'm retired now from the "have to work" situation and am now having fun teaching two English courses at Norther Kentucky Univ and playing a lot of golf.
Then comes my daughter's generation. Despite our help she graduated with a bit of debt. She worked every summer, but there was no way she could make enough to cover her tuition, room and board. Today, as I listen to other parents and my daughter's friends, I hear more and more of kids graduating with huge debts and going into more debt to get a car. I hear more and more of kids still living at home through school and through the early career years. (I'd have died first). The money for beer and fun and games seems to be there in greater amounts than I think I enjoyed, but the serious, pay-for-college, get-a-jump-on-life money seems to have disappeared.
I know I see the world from a very limited vantage, but I suspect that discretionary income for the average American is beginning to decline... either that or they're postponing home ownership, kids, retirement savings, in order to pay off college debt and cars.
I don't envy the generations behind me. It looks to me like they will have to run enormous debt levels to maintain the livestyle my generation had handed to them. We're leaving you to solve the transition from an industrial based economy to a service based one, from a national economy to a global economy, from a nation that leant money to one that borrows. We leave you with unresolved racial issues, inner city schools, medical costs soaring through the roof and two political parties that seem determined to pull us apart even further than Vietnam.
Good luck and God bless you. I hope you do a better job than we did.
What seems to me to separate the generations is the amount of discretionary income... for the first ten years of their married life Mom and Dad were lucky to have money to pitch in and help buy a jug of beer for the family on a Friday night. The depression no more than ended than the war came along. As a result my parents didn't own a home and two cars until they were well into their 50s. My dad dropped out of high school in 1930 to "go to work." What a joke, washing walls for 25 cents a day, 1/4th of an assembly line job at Delco Products and any other "work" he could find. In 1947 he returned to high school at nights and then went to college, all thanks to GI bill. My mom went to work in a defense plant in 44. She left work when Dad came home and then returned to it when I reached third grade. Her income formed the basis for family vacations and a college fund for my sister and me. My parents never went into debt for anything other than the house. In their 60s my parents retired on Dad's GM pension and both of their social security accounts. (and deserved it after surviving the Depression and WWII)
I grew up EXPECTING to go to college. I went thanks to my dad's increased affluence (Bless you, GI Bill) and that of his peers. I could make enough money working in a GM factory in the summer to cover books, tuition, clothes and social life. My parents gladly picked up the car expenses. By my late 20s I was living in a home I was buying and paying for two cars. I never went into debt for anything other than a house and cars. I picked up my Masters degree and an ABD education level (bless you again, GI bill). I'm retired now from the "have to work" situation and am now having fun teaching two English courses at Norther Kentucky Univ and playing a lot of golf.
Then comes my daughter's generation. Despite our help she graduated with a bit of debt. She worked every summer, but there was no way she could make enough to cover her tuition, room and board. Today, as I listen to other parents and my daughter's friends, I hear more and more of kids graduating with huge debts and going into more debt to get a car. I hear more and more of kids still living at home through school and through the early career years. (I'd have died first). The money for beer and fun and games seems to be there in greater amounts than I think I enjoyed, but the serious, pay-for-college, get-a-jump-on-life money seems to have disappeared.
I know I see the world from a very limited vantage, but I suspect that discretionary income for the average American is beginning to decline... either that or they're postponing home ownership, kids, retirement savings, in order to pay off college debt and cars.
I don't envy the generations behind me. It looks to me like they will have to run enormous debt levels to maintain the livestyle my generation had handed to them. We're leaving you to solve the transition from an industrial based economy to a service based one, from a national economy to a global economy, from a nation that leant money to one that borrows. We leave you with unresolved racial issues, inner city schools, medical costs soaring through the roof and two political parties that seem determined to pull us apart even further than Vietnam.
Good luck and God bless you. I hope you do a better job than we did.
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