Parx Casino - Bensalem

[Walleye Hunter]

True. While you certainly benefited as a result, you did not directly cause the problem, nor was there any realistic way for you to prevent it. Even voting differently wouldn't have changed a thing, both political parties have been - and continue to be - fully on board with spending money we do not have.



...but this is where you go off the rails. Instead of recognizing the fact that government excess had a lot to do with your own successes, you shit on the people who are stuck paying the price.

To that, I suggest we all consider our positions more carefully. Everything you worked for and saved can be gone with the flip of a switch. The government doesn't even need to pass a law to whittle your savings down to nothing, they just need to print more money (and that is exactly what they are doing). As it stands right now, whatever money you have is worth 50-75% of what it was just four years ago. How many more halvings can your portfolio withstand before you find yourself in a bread line?

My point is this: none of us live in a vacuum. As you said... you did well by working hard "during prosperous times." Shitting on people who aren't doing well, in part because they are footing the bill for your prosperous times, reflects poorly on one's character. Plain and simple, you had it an easier time of it. This isn't anecdotal, this is fact - look up average wages and home prices for your time and compare that ratio to what is found today. Then recognize that many people, likely including yourself, built their wealth through owning their home.

Based on these numbers, you can easily see that it is anywhere from 50% to 300% more difficult for today's workers to gain entry into home ownership... the very vehicle many, likely including yourself, used to build wealth.

And let's consider that this is just one aspect of the shift in reality. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you were able to secure decent employment without a college degree. The reality is that today, most jobs with competitive wages require at least one degree. Meaning, workers attempting to build wealth today will actually need to start out deep in debt... a problem you very likely didn't have to deal with at all.

In summary: gloating rarely reflects well on a person. Particularly when the thing you're gloating about is in part paid for by the people you're shitting on.

I have no clue what you're babbling about. I started working at age 14 when I could get working papers and retired when my pension plan said I could and never skipped a beat. Today's 'workers' want all that without working.

[OwnTheRide]

I have no clue what you're babbling about. I started working at age 14 when I could get working papers and retired when my pension plan said I could and never skipped a beat. Today's 'workers' want all that without working.

Yes, pension plans, another great example of how much easier things were for you. Something you had that by and large doesn't exist anymore.

Plain and simple: you played the game by a different, much easier set of rules. The path you took to a comfortable life and retirement doesn't exist anymore. Your contemporary peer could work precisely as hard as you did, for precisely as long, doing the same job, and they would end up in a very different, much less financially stable, position.

Failing to recognize this reality and instead falsely placing all of the blame on the people you expect to pay for the prosperous times you enjoyed is not a good look at all.

[Walleye Hunter]

Yes, pension plans, another great example of how much easier things were for you. Something you had that by and large doesn't exist anymore.

Plain and simple: you played the game by a different, much easier set of rules. The path you took to a comfortable life and retirement doesn't exist anymore. Your contemporary peer could work precisely as hard as you did, for precisely as long, doing the same job, and they would end up in a very different, much less financially stable, position.

Failing to recognize this reality and instead falsely placing all of the blame on the people you expect to pay for the prosperous times you enjoyed is not a good look at all.

What makes you think I don't recognize that? How is it my fault? What am I expecting others to pay for on my behalf?

[Bang]

And you never paid taxes to support anyone, didja, Walleye!

[Walleye Hunter]

And you never paid taxes to support anyone, didja, Walleye!

Funny you should mention it. Nah, never paid any taxes, never had SS deducted from my pay check every week. Not Medicare or unemployment either.

[OwnTheRide]

What makes you think I don't recognize that?

Your gloating. Your stereotyping of today's workers. Your implications that current working generations want everything for nothing, when in reality they'd be delighted to get the benefits and opportunities you had that are no longer available to them.

How is it my fault?

You made the posts.

What am I expecting others to pay for on my behalf?

Since you and Bang brought up taxes, let's use that as an example. Social Security and Medicare taxes were lower during your working years, and had <much> lower income caps. Workers today are paying significantly more of their paycheck into these programs, which directly benefit you. Furthermore, the "trust" for these programs is primarily composed of IOUs - loans the government made to themselves to fund deficit spending that current and future workers have to pay back. So not only are today's workers paying higher percentages of these taxes, with much higher income caps, they're also paying back the IOUs that went out during the prosperous times you enjoyed... times we shouldn't have been accumulating debt but nonetheless were.

As I stated earlier, I recognize that you individually could not do much to stop this government largess. The least you could do is admit that you benefited from many advantages that no longer exist, instead of trying to pretend that your hard work is what differentiates you from people who work hard today.

Instead of saying that you "worked long and hard and saved" (implying that today's workers do not) and that you "did my part, carried my load, paid my taxes and paid my bills. That's more than today's 'worker's can toot about." (directly stating that today's workers don't work hard, pay taxes, or pay their bills), you could recognize that you worked during a time when you were able to find suitable employment without first going $50-$100k into debt for education, had retirement benefits like pension plans, had a significantly lower tax burden, and had notably lower housing costs-to-income ratios, among many other benefits... many of which were brought about by deficit spending with costs that were pushed down to future generations.

You may not have been able to prevent these changes from happening, but you can at least recognize that the advantageous path to success that was offered to you simply doesn't exist anymore. It certainly would be a better look than pretending that it's all due to the laziness of today's working folk.

[Walleye Hunter]

Your gloating. Your stereotyping of today's workers. Your implications that current working generations want everything for nothing, when in reality they'd be delighted to get the benefits and opportunities you had that are no longer available to them.


You made the posts.


Since you and Bang brought up taxes, let's use that as an example. Social Security and Medicare taxes were lower during your working years, and had <much> lower income caps. Workers today are paying significantly more of their paycheck into these programs, which directly benefit you. Furthermore, the "trust" for these programs is primarily composed of IOUs - loans the government made to themselves to fund deficit spending that current and future workers have to pay back. So not only are today's workers paying higher percentages of these taxes, with much higher income caps, they're also paying back the IOUs that went out during the prosperous times you enjoyed... times we shouldn't have been accumulating debt but nonetheless were.

As I stated earlier, I recognize that you individually could not do much to stop this government largess. The least you could do is admit that you benefited from many advantages that no longer exist, instead of trying to pretend that your hard work is what differentiates you from people who work hard today.

Instead of saying that you "worked long and hard and saved" (implying that today's workers do not) and that you "did my part, carried my load, paid my taxes and paid my bills. That's more than today's 'worker's can toot about." (directly stating that today's workers don't work hard, pay taxes, or pay their bills), you could recognize that you worked during a time when you were able to find suitable employment without first going $50-$100k into debt for education, had retirement benefits like pension plans, had a significantly lower tax burden, and had notably lower housing costs-to-income ratios, among many other benefits... many of which were brought about by deficit spending with costs that were pushed down to future generations.

You may not have been able to prevent these changes from happening, but you can at least recognize that the advantageous path to success that was offered to you simply doesn't exist anymore. It certainly would be a better look than pretending that it's all due to the laziness of today's working folk.

I think you've fallen and bumped your head or your meds ran out. I'm out.