This.
I don't expect parents to be brutally honest about the future for their kids, but that's the explanation for most people's silence on the issue. They are just hoping. Sadly, it's Obama type "hope."
Decline of Functioning Society
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I don't expect parents to be brutally honest about the future for their kids, but that's the explanation for most people's silence on the issue. They are just hoping. Sadly, it's Obama type "hope."
If i ever have kids I’ll be brutally honest and may let them have a little more license than I got growing up. Here’s why - my parents were strict so I’m just considered lame by the hood rats and trailer moms. I have a hard time navigating that world. Also, I got the least help with my schooling out of all my friends. Like most people had their undergrad paid for. I took out 60 some to pay for my own. I’m down to the final 18k. When you are a teen you need to figure which route you wish to follow, the UBI assistance route which requires you to develop your charisma and bust your butt socially, or train for being in the upper class as a teen. You don’t get to just be a worker bee anymore.
I’ve thought about getting a masters and just playing by the rules but wouldn’t I just be nuking my progress? Jumping right back on the debt treadmill. I feel the best bet would be get some certs and see if i can use certs + my undergrad to break into the laptop classes. Honestly, I’d have an easier time imitating their travels, manners, tastes than I would the trailer park types. But I’m in my 30s … I feel like the 20s was the time to be thinking about this but I had “hope”
This isn't the case where I live. You can be a tradesman and qualify in a relatively short time and make a good go of your life still. Same applies to the middle income bracket.
The rich here are mega rich but they exist in their own increasingly rareified world. But then you could argue they always did.
I think if you want to make something of yourself you have to go out and get it and do whatever it takes. If you want to waste your life watching screens then fine, but you get exactly the result you woudl expect.
There is an existential dilema when focusing on one's age and location within the time-space continuum. You think "30" is old, and I'm thinking "I'd give my left testicle to be 30 again." In many respects, you have your whole life ahead of you.
The problem as I see it is a lack of passion for a personal endeavor that makes good money. The only solution I've found for this is entrepreneurship. To paraphrase Robert Kiyosaki, the corporation is the secret of the rich. You must start recieving your paycheck from a corporation which you own. Recieving a paycheck from a corporation that another man owns is a short term solution to a long term problem.
There was a documentary I watched called “men not at work” and it was about how prime age men 40s and 50s, when you’re at the peak of your career, are just going on disability and checking out. I’ve also noticed that since the pandemic a lot of men retired early at this age. A lot of guys just stopped working and if they’re not watching screens, they’re resting on their laurels. If you don’t give someone ownership in society, don’t be shocked when they check out.
Pleased I don't live in America I think this sort of thing is stronger there.
We do need bankruptcies and a crash. Also if possible some trials and executions of politicians and bankers for treason. There should be a retrospective especially on the whole Covid thing.
It feels like the old paradigm barely exists anymore, that which started in the 50s and was still going strong in the 80s. The social contract is so badly broken and the world is so very clown. Who knows, maybe there are still pockets and niches of society where everything still runs as it formerly did..
This right here. This is why we can’t change anything as a society. It you’re American and in the top 25% everything’s running exactly as it formerly did. It’s hard to change anything when 25% is crushing it and 50% relies on the 25% for handouts. It’s only the 25% middle that wants change.
That, but moreso, "if you don't incentivize behavior with a chance at a young/thin woman" ... then they will check out.
Seems like it's still realistic to at least be middle class in the US, probably even upper middle class if you're willing to do the trades, accounting, engineering, etc. But our purchasing power is not nearly as good as it used to be, and real estate is out of control in several places. Many people have no chance of buying a home in their hometown, even with a good job. The good news is that the US is massive and there are still many affordable places to live.
Unfortunately having a family seems to require both parents working these days, but I'd rather find a way to spend a lot less and have a wife stay at home. The modern woman being ok with that is the big question mark in that scenario.
Unfortunately having a family seems to require both parents working these days, but I'd rather find a way to spend a lot less and have a wife stay at home. The modern woman being ok with that is the big question mark in that scenario.
The "what do you bring to the table?" is being mentioned on more and more podcasts or youtube vids, though this may be a type of echo chamber. The other way they ask it, which is probably better wording, is "How does this woman benefit my life?" The sad reality is that when you consider what a lot of men (not all) have done to become what they are, and what they take on, even with a girlfriend, you quickly realize that the guy pretty much just might get sex. That's all. The weirdest thing about this which is almost never talked about, only I've actually said it from what I've read and seen, is that they act like a woman doesn't also benefit or enjoy sex; it's a mutual benefit, one would think.
You look at the interaction, and you pay a lot in time and attention, as well as money, and she might do some cooking and cleaning - and most don't, or you'd have to harrass them to even think about doing it? And they ask why men are like, why bother? sheesh
Yeah I ask myself this a lot when I meet women. Seems like most of them suck the life out of men. Most men are not worth being friends with either.
I used to get depressed about stuff like this, but you learn to embrace it as you get older. Better to be alone than around lunatics.
True.
Realistically for the young men of today the realistic option is work hard, save and invest, followed by 3rd world early retirement. I don't know which young person in a first world country is realistically going to stump up $1 million or more for a family home in a major metropolitan city. For young men in their 20s and early 30s living in the west long term is basically already nonviable.
My cooking is nothing special yet I can cook better than most young women I know. At this point even in 3rd world countries its rare to find an attractive young woman (aged under 25 who is looks-wise a 7+) who will cook and clean. I don't even bother thinking about that anymore.
If I decide to live in a cheaper country I will get a cleaner to clean my place, take my clothes to the laundromat and do the cooking and grocery shopping, etc myself.
I wouldn't even worry about trying to find a woman who would contribute to basic things. If I can just find a young somewhat attractive virgin who is pleasant to be around I would be over moon with that and would not even bother worrying about getting her to cook or clean, etc.
That's why it's so untenable, indeed. You can have the money and just realize how dumb the "game" is at this point, playing into absolutely nonsense "Jonesing" type expectations for women who don't really do much for your life. Or who want to work more than take care of the kids, etc.
I've been saying this for years, and I know you also agree. That's why the age gap shaming or cockblocking thing is so dumb, and families in most cases are too. I suppose one answer might be that women also feel backstopped by their boomer and older parents, so they don't see a guaranteed future as really very meaningful. The funniest part of that is that they then find out 10 years later how much work sucks, and then seek a guy who has "lots of money" only to find no one cares about them much anymore.
What's the oldest age you'd still consider "early retirement"?
I would consider under 40 to be extreme early retirement. Under 50 I would consider to be early retirement. Over 50 I no longer consider early retirement as such as there are already a decent number of people who retire at that age especially in previous generations.
I don't know how it is in other Western countries, but what keeps me sane in the US is living in a more rural area. There are still lots of cheaper rural towns here, and even some of the mid size cities are a lot cheaper if you need a city.
Like a different world compared to the major urban hellholes here.
Floriduhman
Protestant
I agree, except I don't believe there was ever really was a basis for hope that *people* could turn things around. We are so far gone now only a supernatural move of the Holy Spirit through widespread Revival will have any chance. I do pray for that.
But we definitely aren't supposed to allow overwhelming discouragement to creep in. Jesus said when you see more and more signs of the end to take heart and look up, because it means your redemption draws near. And with that anticipation of our faith and struggles becoming sight and hearing "well done" from Jesus Himself, I know that the direction of this current world means I may have to suffer torturous persecution and pray that I may have the same mind that Jesus exhorted in Matthew 5:10-12 and the apostles demonstrated in Acts 5:41.
this is the US’ saving grace. It’s a large country and there’s outter areas that are still affordable and people are relatively sane. This makes America the best option for men in the West / Anglosphere. If the whole country was New York and California we’d be screwed. But seeing Texas and Florida slowly transform makes me afraid this won’t always be the case. Yet other posters in this forum assure me the people in those regions won’t put up with it unlike what you see happening in Georgia and Virginia.
That is correct and often ignored. There's a reason that the Christians have said, "Come Lord, come quickly!" throughout time. It seems most are too insistent on sticking around, or hanging around, in the world which is not the point of things.