Reply #18: Ummmm......

[Coyote_Bandit]

My own first grade teacher was well past retirement age.

But then this really isn't about age is it?

You wrote:
"When I say the jobs need to go to younger people, I mean the ones with families to support and careers to build... and those jobs just ain't happenin'......I propose a society where old people can work if they can and want to, and where young people have a future."

Guess what?

Old people have a future too. Their life isn't over. They too look forward to the opportunity to do different things, to travel, to make various purchases. Stripping them of income and the opportunity to earn denies them some of the basic pleasures of life - if not its bare necessities.

If an older person finds pleasure, strength, and meaning in their work - or if they find it necessary to earn an income to provide necessities or secure a higher standard of living they ought not be made to feel guilty for doing so. They are not stealing from someone else by taking advantage of the opportunities available to them.

Old people ought not be obligated to make sacrifices to advance the desires of younger generations.

Some old people are pretty damn fit and healthy and quite capable of filling demanding physical responsibilities. I used to know an 80 year old man who worked long days in the heat every summer picking strawberries - and he did it just because he wanted to.

Folks who have kids and families are not entitled to a superior standard of living just because they have children. Nor are their lives somehow inherently more valuable because they procreated - regardless of their sense of self-importance.

Millions of undocumented illegal immigrants have come to this country to make a better life for themselves and have prospered without the ability to be legally employed.

It's not that opportunity doesn't exist. The thing about opportunity is that one has to seek it out. One has to be flexible and willing to embrace the opportunity rather than demand a predefined scenario to follow a traditional career path. One has to be willing to work - sometimes doing dirty, dangerous or undesirable tasks. It is certainly an advantage to have technical, trade or manufacturing skills. And one needs to be willing to make their own way. It is entirely possible to earn a damned good income without being employed. But it's a whole hell of a lot easier and safer to work for someone else.

If we had an economy based on real productivity there would be ample opportunity for all. But we don't. We have an economy based on consumer spending. We value wealth creation over productivity. We want to send out kids to Ivy League schools so they can get white collar jobs. Some of us even teach out kids that blue collar work - or self-employment - is beneath them. We need to change our attitudes - and the politicians need to put policies in place to transition our economy back to one based on real productivity.