Fading American Dream

[Jaga]

Young people have much less chances for good jobs compared to their parents. I see it, I experience it (although I am not that young anymore), and it is really sad. CBS news had a report from Harvard about it.

www.wsj.com/articles/the-american-dream-is-fading-and-may-be-very-hard-to-revive-1481218911
Barely Half of 30-Year-Olds Earn More Than Their Parents

Economists and sociologists from Stanford, Harvard and the University of California set out to measure the strength of what they define as the American Dream, and found the dream was fading. They identified the income of 30-year-olds starting in 1970, using tax and census data, and compared it with the earnings of their parents when they were about the same age.
In 1970, 92% of American 30-year-olds earned more than their parents did at a similar age, they found. In 2014, that number fell to 51%.
...

[karl]

Jaga

In our known world, we face many things that effect our respective lives, and one change is what it is, change. Our world is in constant change, and we as people must willingly rather we wish to do so or not, change with it. Take for instance what you have brought up, your work life? For yours was to change, and you have done so very successfully I must say.. There is little reason that others can not do the same.

My own person experience whilst working my assigned area in the Pacific North West {Seattle area} Change was and is evident, for that is of three powerful engines of change, being it is a Seaport city, Boeing and Microsoft. With this, a very well educated work force by virtue of various establishments of higher education coupled with the close by University of Washington.

In the manner of The American Dream, this is a myth promoted in the fields of non-sense, there is no American dream, never was, except in the minds of promoters. This myth is a tool of selling autos and nothing more. If those that believe in it, so be it that my self will not spoil their dream time. In the stead of dreaming though, it would be much more profitable to get to work with improving their resume for a better job.

America is a competitive nation that depends upon innovation and this is what educated working Americans excel at. Perhaps once out of the nonsense of tossing perfume on dog poop, simply say it stinks, clean it up and be constructive.

Karl

[Eric]

When my father was my age, 34, he already had two children. He worked a full-time job and my mother had already stopped working to raise my sister and me. On that one full-time job he was able to support his whole family: pay the mortgage, pay utility costs, buy food, clothing, support two cars, pay medical expenses, and STILL manage to put money into savings.

Such a thing is nearly impossible today unless one works in the corporate echelons of major companies. Wages over the past 30 years have stagnated or, at the lower levels, even gone DOWN. Costs, on the other hand, have increased disproportionately. It is now virtually impossible for even a childless married/cohabitating couple to survive on one full-time income. And with children it's even harder. Many of my classmates with one, two, or even three children have both parents working full-time jobs, and there are often part-time jobs thrown in, too, just to ensure enough income - not to save, but just to live.

One of my classmates, for example, has three kids. She works a full-time job. Her husband works a full-time job. And each of them also has a part-time job, split so that one parent is always home every evening with the kids while the other works, then the other parent works, and so on. That's 40 hours plus 40 hours plus 20 hours plus 20 hours = 120 hours of work per week in one household, and it's STILL not as successful as my father's 40 hours of work a generation ago. His 40 hours accomplished more than my classmate's family's 120 hours.

This is not living. This is working to death. Why? Because corporations are too big to fail, even if their economic performance isn't successful. Because corporations do not pay taxes - legally. Because rich people, like Donald Trump, do not pay taxes - legally. The money this country runs on seems to come increasingly from the middle and lower classes, those who are less able to afford to pay, while those who easily can - the rich and the corporations - are finding more and more LEGAL ways to save their money instead of paying it into taxes.

A line will eventually be crossed where this is unsustainable. If too many people lose their houses and their livelihoods because they're expected to support the rich and the corporations, everything will collapse.

[Eric]

Now, let me talk about health insurance.

The United States is the ONLY first world, industrialized, modernized nation with NO kind of guaranteed, universal, socialized access to healthcare. There are plans like Medicaid and Medicare, but those are only eligible to certain and restricted portions of the population.

Obamacare was a very small first step towards what the rest of the world has, but the Republicans were worried that a state-run system would mean the private health companies would face "unfair criticism," which is why Obamacare ended up being what it is now - a barely-controlled "marketplace" of private insurers, basically. And beginning in 2017 the costs for everything will rise dramatically because the insurance companies are forced to spend a lot more money than they had been previously because they're no longer able to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions (meaning the people who need coverage the most), and so on.

This year I've been paying $250 per month and my deductible (what I must pay out of my own pocket before the health insurance company starts to pay) is $2,500. It's high, but at least I can pretend it's somewhat reasonable. Starting next month, though, my costs rise to $270 per month and my deductible will be $7,500. I couldn't even find a deductible as low as what I have now. The lowest was $3,200, but that would cost $800 a month - more than I pay in rent!!

On top of this, many hospitals and doctors are now requiring deductibles to be paid in full BEFORE any treatment begins. My deductible exceeds both my net worth and my credit limit. It would be impossible for me to pay ahead of time and in full. Simply impossible. But since I have both a high deductible and a "catastrophic plan," which is meant to cover emergencies under the assumption that a high deductible is better than having to pay 100% of costs out of pocket without any insurance at all, I'm at very high risk of being charged the full deductible before any treatment can begin.

I have chronic health conditions. I have serious urological problems that I've been treated for before - in a country with socialized healthcare. I have other conditions that require treatment, but I haven't been able to see a doctor in over 7 years because healthcare in America is too expensive. In fact, before Obamacare I had no health insurance at all after graduating from college and no longer being covered on my parents' plan. But even with insurance it's prohibitively expensive.

The ONLY option I have left available is to wait until the situation is so serious that I must be treated in the emergency room. Only there are they required by law to stabilize (not fully treat, but just stabilize) the patient FIRST and talk about money AFTER. But even then, there are two problems. First, they're only required to make the patient stable enough to leave the emergency room on his own. Any further treatment is not performed there. Second, emergency room costs are ASTRONOMICALLY expensive, and health insurance companies usually find ways to not have to cover all of those costs themselves. And then, since I've only been stabilized and not treated, the problems will eventually come back, so then I'd have to go back to the emergency room when the problems become serious again, only have the immediate problem taken care of to a minimal degree, and get another ASTRONOMICAL bill which I wouldn't be able to pay.

There is no healthcare in America, really. There is sick care. And it costs a fortune.

[Jaga]

Karl,

I agree partly with your post, yes, change is causing lots of distress. Students in the high school may choose the careers that are obsolete in ten years when they graduate.

The problem which I talk about is not just change, but also lack of prospects for people with education. In the past education was a guarantee of a good job. People in your age group had it almost secured, at least white men. Now, this does not happen. Education without help from family, friends or a sense of belonging to a certain group of church does not give a good start and anything in life.

Otherwise we should have more than half CEO and bosses - women, since there are more women university graduated than men, but this does not happen. Even men, young men, do not have the same prospects in life.

Karl, I think you live in a bubble. All of us do live in a bubble until a crisis strikes. You are surrounded by people who have jobs, like you. When I lost my job, once, twice, and started working with people with much more modest means, I started understanding that the problem is much deeper, it is rather structural.

What I mean, even if an individual person tries to work the hardest she/he can, the person cannot succeed, without change of the structure of the economy, which favor rich and elderly, over 60 years old.

[Jaga]

Eric,

good point about your dad who was able to sustain the family on his salary. This was also a model of 50s (30-40 years before you were born), when dad was bringing money and mother took care of children. This was not exactly the model I would like to see, since I am not the great housewife. My mom also did not work until I started kindergarten, but she was educated with job experience, so she was able to go back to the workforce.

You are right, I see jobs in Southeastern Idaho. There are only two places where salaries are OK. The National Laboratory - but the workforce there was cut from 12 th to less than 4 th and the medical profession, especially the doctors. Everything else - education, small businesses, service jobs, agriculture: potatoes pay very little about 10 dollars per hour no benefits.

Your post about a lack of health insurance speaks for itself. It is so sad and I wish I could find a way to help you. Is there maybe any organization in Florida helping people with health problems, maybe state of Florida has some funds? In Idaho we have some extra funds for so called critical care.

[Jaga]

Eric,

again. You expressed your concerns very well. I know several people in EITC (community college) who are on Obama's care since this is the only insurance they can afford.
I wish I knew whether there is any advocacy group you could contact in your area.

[karl]

Dec 10, 2016 9:45:03 GMT -7 Eric said:

Now, let me talk about health insurance.

The United States is the ONLY first world, industrialized, modernized nation with NO kind of guaranteed, universal, socialized access to healthcare. There are plans like Medicaid and Medicare, but those are only eligible to certain and restricted portions of the population.

Obamacare was a very small first step towards what the rest of the world has, but the Republicans were worried that a state-run system would mean the private health companies would face "unfair criticism," which is why Obamacare ended up being what it is now - a barely-controlled "marketplace" of private insurers, basically. And beginning in 2017 the costs for everything will rise dramatically because the insurance companies are forced to spend a lot more money than they had been previously because they're no longer able to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions (meaning the people who need coverage the most), and so on.

This year I've been paying $250 per month and my deductible (what I must pay out of my own pocket before the health insurance company starts to pay) is $2,500. It's high, but at least I can pretend it's somewhat reasonable. Starting next month, though, my costs rise to $270 per month and my deductible will be $7,500. I couldn't even find a deductible as low as what I have now. The lowest was $3,200, but that would cost $800 a month - more than I pay in rent!!

On top of this, many hospitals and doctors are now requiring deductibles to be paid in full BEFORE any treatment begins. My deductible exceeds both my net worth and my credit limit. It would be impossible for me to pay ahead of time and in full. Simply impossible. But since I have both a high deductible and a "catastrophic plan," which is meant to cover emergencies under the assumption that a high deductible is better than having to pay 100% of costs out of pocket without any insurance at all, I'm at very high risk of being charged the full deductible before any treatment can begin.

I have chronic health conditions. I have serious urological problems that I've been treated for before - in a country with socialized healthcare. I have other conditions that require treatment, but I haven't been able to see a doctor in over 7 years because healthcare in America is too expensive. In fact, before Obamacare I had no health insurance at all after graduating from college and no longer being covered on my parents' plan. But even with insurance it's prohibitively expensive.

The ONLY option I have left available is to wait until the situation is so serious that I must be treated in the emergency room. Only there are they required by law to stabilize (not fully treat, but just stabilize) the patient FIRST and talk about money AFTER. But even then, there are two problems. First, they're only required to make the patient stable enough to leave the emergency room on his own. Any further treatment is not performed there. Second, emergency room costs are ASTRONOMICALLY expensive, and health insurance companies usually find ways to not have to cover all of those costs themselves. And then, since I've only been stabilized and not treated, the problems will eventually come back, so then I'd have to go back to the emergency room when the problems become serious again, only have the immediate problem taken care of to a minimal degree, and get another ASTRONOMICAL bill which I wouldn't be able to pay.

There is no healthcare in America, really. There is sick care. And it costs a fortune.

Eric

Upon your reply and situation of such deplorable senseless medical/Insurance issues. What you are paying is simply criminal for what you are receiving in service from your medical insurance coverage. I was also to notice some thing of this nature whilst in the Seattle area with other workers. Most of those workers with out medical coverage as well as street people, used the hospital emergency entrance for medical service. I am not sure what the low income workers were charged, but the street people were seen with out charge. Their explanation to me was: The hospitals were required to provide medical service even in light they knew they knew they would not receive payment.

I do agree with you, as a person in dire need of continued medical service, it should be the right of all American people to have access to a medical coverage commensurately to income personal income level. For it was of my understanding this was addressed under the affordable medical care act. It would so appear my understanding was at fault.

Karl

[karl]

Dec 11, 2016 0:00:16 GMT -7 Jaga said:

Karl,

I agree partly with your post, yes, change is causing lots of distress. Students in the high school may choose the careers that are obsolete in ten years when they graduate.

The problem which I talk about is not just change, but also lack of prospects for people with education. In the past education was a guarantee of a good job. People in your age group had it almost secured, at least white men. Now, this does not happen. Education without help from family, friends or a sense of belonging to a certain group of church does not give a good start and anything in life.

Otherwise we should have more than half CEO and bosses - women, since there are more women university graduated than men, but this does not happen. Even men, young men, do not have the same prospects in life.

Karl, I think you live in a bubble. All of us do live in a bubble until a crisis strikes. You are surrounded by people who have jobs, like you. When I lost my job, once, twice, and started working with people with much more modest means, I started understanding that the problem is much deeper, it is rather structural.

What I mean, even if an individual person tries to work the hardest she/he can, the person cannot succeed, without change of the structure of the economy, which favor rich and elderly, over 60 years old.

Jaga

You do have some very important points you have covered well. With the matter of equal opportunity for women in the business and working world. We have very similar in Germany, there are legalities to excluding women of positions in the work place. It is a known. The difference usually is as to which is more qualified for the stated position as posted as a opening. There are of course abuses, but most firms watch this very closely to insure some one falls not through a crack.

Some years past, my self was to serve in the Personal Department in Bonn upon my return from Kosovo. Even at that time, we each received a copy to be signed of Freedom of employment. Remember this was of one of my stores of The Murder of Osker the mouse in my office.

Yes, I do agree with you, most of us do live in a bubble,, my self not excluded. My self, I work at the pleasure of the government that employs me, with this, the classification I am listed at, I may not be dismissed even under due cause, but, I am subject to criminal charges if found that I have abused my preveleges as provided and/or committed chargeable offence{s} whilst on or off duty. Subject to that, if another under my direction has committed a chargeable offence, this then would be accountable to me as if I personable had committed the state offence.

The personal cost to my self has been the destruction of two marrages, long periods of separation from home/family and friends. But then, I was well aware of this at time of recruitment and accepted the terms.

There is a price to pay for most things in life, we pay them for what it is worth, and continue our respective lives as best we may.

Karl

[Jaga]

Karl, there is also a loss of secure blue color jobs in America - no more miners or car factory workers with benefits like before.
I realize you tried to answer to my post but nothing is showing up yet.

[Jaga]

There was an interesting article in today Idaho Falls paper. It is from a syndicated columnist. She talks about different reasons WHY PEOPLE DIE YOUNGER THAN BEFORE
Here are the parts that caught my attention:

The death rate for non-Hispanic whites between 45 and 54 years old in the United States was actually ticking up. The mortality rates for African-Americans, Hispanics and other age cohorts were continuing a downward trend that had been steady and steep for decades (or centuries, by some measures). Even more disturbing, the Case/Deaton study suggested that these white Americans were dying not of heart disease or cancer (though some do, of course) but of diseases that imply a sickness of spirit as much as of body — suicide, drug overdoses and cirrhosis of the liver. This could be a signal of the declining economic prospects of lower-skilled workers, or it could be a symptom of the loneliness and despair that the breakdown of families has left in its wake.

what about the fact that these white Americans have no good jobs and no prospects for future like their parents did?

www.creators.com/read/mona-charen

[karl]

Dec 11, 2016 11:15:37 GMT -7 Jaga said:

Karl, there is also a loss of secure blue color jobs in America - no more miners or car factory workers with benefits like before.
I realize you tried to answer to my post but nothing is showing up yet.

Also have I heard the same in America, this is becoming a situation also in Germany. For many of the former hands on work in such manufacturing as in the auto industry is computerized. The work is there, it is just different that requires a more qualified person.

It does sound though of your new president elect, if his word is good, that the coal industry may very well begin high production even more then in past. For a great deal of abstract industries rely on coal for raw materials such as in medicine/dyes/plastics and other related industries.

My only observational area of labour and industry is primarly that of the Pacific North West. Of this, must I then rely upon your description you have provided that exist in your area of Idaho.

Karl

[Eric]

Dec 11, 2016 0:08:04 GMT -7 Jaga said:

Eric,

Your post about a lack of health insurance speaks for itself. It is so sad and I wish I could find a way to help you. Is there maybe any organization in Florida helping people with health problems, maybe state of Florida has some funds? In Idaho we have some extra funds for so called critical care.

The state of Florida has actually refused federal funding, refused to expand its Medicare program, and refused to set up its own health insurance marketplace.  Florida's governor is very pro-business and he's made many statements before equating any kind of government subsidies at all to "laziness."  He would rather see people work non-stop on very low salaries rather than receive any kind of assistance, even with healthcare.

[Eric]

Dec 11, 2016 11:04:26 GMT -7 karl said:

Eric

Upon your reply and situation of such deplorable senseless medical/Insurance issues. What you are paying is simply criminal for what you are receiving in service from your medical insurance coverage. I was also to notice some thing of this nature whilst in the Seattle area with other workers. Most of those workers with out medical coverage as well as street people, used the hospital emergency entrance for medical service. I am not sure what the low income workers were charged, but the street people were seen with out charge. Their explanation to me was: The hospitals were required to provide medical service even in light they knew they knew they would not receive payment.

I do agree with you, as a person in dire need of continued medical service, it should be the right of all American people to have access to a medical coverage commensurately to income personal income level. For it was of my understanding this was addressed under the affordable medical care act. It would so appear my understanding was at fault.

Karl

Yes, American healthcare is criminal.

The emergency room is required to treat everyone who enters to the point of stability, meaning to the point where they are able to leave the emergency room without imminent worry of death, basically.  Everyone gets a bill, and the bill for emergency room services is enormous.  Whether people pay the bill or not - that's up to them.  A typical emergency room bill runs into the thousands and tens of thousands of dollars.  If people simply don't have that kind of money, they don't pay.  The hospital will eventually write it off as a "bad debt."  But the consequences of that bad debt will remain with that person for life every time the person tries to obtain a bank loan, a credit card, a mortgage, anything.  And then those who do pay have to end up paying not only for their own services, but everyone collectively has to make up for the bad debts that the hospital accumulates, too.

It should be a right of American citizens to obtain healthcare, but it is not.  Even many politicians (Republicans, of course) insist that access to healthcare, like access to anything else, is a financial privilege for those who can afford it.  Healthcare in America is a for-profit business, unlike the rest of the world, where it is a service.

Obamacare was supposed to be a step towards a universal healthcare plan, but the Republicans have always been very much against it.  They complained that it would be "unfair competition" for a state plan (like Medicaid) to compete against for-profit insurance companies, and so the provisions of Obamacare had to be changed drastically just to get it to pass.  And health insurance companies are complaining they're losing too much money, since they can no longer exclude people with "pre-existing conditions" (those who need health insurance the most) or those who have accumulated too high medical costs throughout their lifetimes.  It used to be perfectly legal to deny people coverage for those reasons, now it isn't, and the health insurance companies are paying a lot more than they're used to, and that affects their profits.

[Jaga]

Eric, I completely agree and I don't understand why one party does not care for anybody else except elderly and veterans.
I saw letter "for Amy" which shows a problem of depression as related to unemployment, but even Amy does not see it that way. I am like you, very sensitive on the issue of unemployment, since it is so difficult for me to be employed....and it hurts a lot.

below is a letter:

www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/ask-amy-former-friend-gives-gifts-to-get-invitations/2016/12/05/32b51e40-b10c-11e6-8616-52b15787add0_story.html?utm_term=.d765ea2a434e#comments
Dear Amy: I’m a 25-year-old woman. My fiance of nearly three years recently broke up with me because of my mood swings and outbursts linked to my depression.
I have had bouts of depression since high school, but they went untreated. My episodes increased while my fiance and I faced increasing financial problems and unemployment. Then my depression reached a breaking point when we had to move in with my parents and I faced another long period of unemployment.
Things got so bad that I started to lash out at him, even though I was not angry at him and never meant to cause him pain.
After the breakup, I finally managed to get help. I am currently undergoing therapy and taking antidepressants, and I have a diagnosis. As the meds give me a chance to think like a normal human being, I realize just how badly I treated the man I loved.
Now that we’ve broken up, he barely wants to talk to me. I have hopes of getting another chance with him after completing more therapy, because I still love him.
How do I tell him of my diagnosis and apologize for my behavior during those turbulent months without making it seem like an excuse?
Depressed, Now Broken

Depressed, Now Broken: You should write to your ex and explain your situation, disclose your diagnosis and describe your treatment. Apologize for your behavior that caused him pain. This is not an excuse, but an explanation.
Please don’t do this expecting him to come back. Do this to complete the circle and as part of your recovery. Stick with your treatment and therapy, and do your best to get a fresh start.