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You have probably heard an older person in his or her 60s to 80s say this is the greatest country in the world. Often they have little idea of the struggle that the young people of today face in terms of finding employment or finding a girlfriend. My grandmother lives on a pension because of the unions back at the time of my grandfather and now she opposes unions. They came from an America where people cared about other people and not everybody was spoiled, isolated and disconnected. I don't begrudge people their success but I get this attitude that "if it doesn't affect me directly, I don't care".

That is my issue with Americans in general - they only see themselves and nothing else in the world.

Their success consisted of robbing unborn generations and cannibalizing the future of their nation for their own short term creature comforts, so you certainly should begrudge them it. Generally the people born in the West between about 1940 and 1960 would have to be the most selfish, psychopathic assholes in the history of the world. Here is Stephan Molyneux talking about them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyJ7lRur43o

Agree...however, Its everywhere...being from India...a poor third world country..even then my grand parents and my parents did not had to struggle to get jobs and make money, inflation was very low, they could afford to make kids and live happily ever after...

Now, My parents cannot understand my struggles and they impose their ideal life on me...All my friends share the same experience...

For the younger generations its far worse than older one....As I have said..Its reverse, we are going backwards literally ..This existence is going backwards...The kids suffer more than the old...That why I have said...Make way for kids, young people, respect them more than old one....because they are suffering more than us..

The reason, they act crazy hip hop and drug culture is the tremendous negative environment they are living under...its far worse then when we are born even...like if our life is hell now...the kids now a days are living below hell...can we imagine their life when they go and seek work...Respect the Young more than the Old

Exactly, Temprano. I was just talking with an old dude who graduated from high school in 1953. He gave me some long speech about how anybody can accomplish whatever he wants if he just works hard enough. And of course, like all old people, he couldn't understand why I wasn't married yet. In his mind, there are millions of wonderful women out there and I just have to go out and choose one. It's like the elderly think it's still 1960. This is the reason why I dread talking to my mother.

However, I think that old people in their 60's get it. They came of age during the Vietnam War, when all of this shit was just beginning. They realize that this country isn't worth dying for anymore.

And then if you ask old people what is the worst change they say the violence on TV. Not corporate greed, not social isolation, not a culture that is turning increasingly self-centered and certainly not mental illness. Nope, violence on TV is to blame.

And now that we are the Iraq war generation, I opposed that war in 2003 because it wasn't worth dying for. Now I oppose any war because America I not worth dying for.

I'm sure that many older people are in denial because they grew up in a different time period where people were more socially connected until the expansion of freeways and the popularity of television.

It's hard for many of them to understand why western men have such a hard time meeting women given the economic requirements that women have for men.

Many old men grew up in a time period, where a man could make much less than $30,000 and still be able to attract women.

Many old men were able to meet women effortlessly in their younger days and that's why they can't relate to younger men today.

SilverEnergy wrote:I'm sure that many older people are in denial because they grew up in a different time period where people were more socially connected until the expansion of freeways and the popularity of television.

It's hard for many of them to understand why western men have such a hard time meeting women given the economic requirements that women have for men.

Many old men grew up in a time period, where a man could make much less than $30,000 and still be able to attract women.

Many old men were able to meet women effortlessly in their younger days and that's why they can't relate to younger men today.

I have noticed this too, the older generation of americans can't relate to the younger generation. This is because for some reason they are stuck in a time warp and still think it's the 1950's.

When I first graduated from college years ago, I had old people ask me, "how come you can't find a job yet, you have a college degree, all I had was a high school diploma and I had no problem finding a job."

They don't realize the economy has changed since the times when they were young. Back in the 1950's a person with just a high school diploma could find a job making enough money to move out on their own at age 18.

They also wonder why men have such a hard time meeting women today, they don't realize that meeting people today is MUCH more difficult than it was when they were young.

Back in the 1950's parents would actually set up their sons and daughters with neighbors and with friends from work. That no longer is the case today.

Neighbors? Hell, many of us don't even know our neighbors today.

Temprano26 wrote:Neighbors? Hell, many of us don't even know our neighbors today.

So true, I have been living in an Apartment complex for 4 years now and I don't know who my neighbor is, I don't even know if someone rents there or not

Unfortunately, this is just human nature or at least human nature in Western cultures. There's a reason it's called the generation gap and it works both ways. How many young people understand or are interested in the problems of their parents or grandparents. We all have a tendency to not listen.

I am 61 and have two teenagers. The two say I don't understand because it was different when I was in high school. I laugh because of course it wasn't different st all, or at least not very different. I also laugh because I told my parents exactly the same thing. I'm sure they thought it was funny too.

As to whether problems are harder today - overall I don't think they are. To a certain extent the problems are different but the struggles in life are the same. The human issues of life and death, love and family, war and peace have always existed and will always exist. Life is a struggle; it always has been and always will be.

Both generations look at each other through Rose colored glasses. The depression era oldster thinks young people have it better than he did - and in some ways he's right. The young person has complexities that they old guy can't understand - and in some ways he's right.

Too bad we can't listen to each other more. We might all learn something.

davewe wrote:As to whether problems are harder today - overall I don't think they are. To a certain extent the problems are different but the struggles in life are the same. The human issues of life and death, love and family, war and peace have always existed and will always exist. Life is a struggle; it always has been and always will be.

Both generations look at each other through Rose colored glasses. The depression era oldster thinks young people have it better than he did - and in some ways he's right. The young person has complexities that they old guy can't understand - and in some ways he's right.

What in God's name are you talking about? Baby boomers could cross the road and get a job that would allow them to support a family, were essentially guaranteed a middle class lifestyle with a college degree, paid peanuts for most services and were essentially guaranteed exponentially rising house prices, all because they were happy to screw future generations. How can that possibly be compared to the situation of young men today?

Cornfed wrote:

davewe wrote:As to whether problems are harder today - overall I don't think they are. To a certain extent the problems are different but the struggles in life are the same. The human issues of life and death, love and family, war and peace have always existed and will always exist. Life is a struggle; it always has been and always will be.

Both generations look at each other through Rose colored glasses. The depression era oldster thinks young people have it better than he did - and in some ways he's right. The young person has complexities that they old guy can't understand - and in some ways he's right.

What in God's name are you talking about? Baby boomers could cross the road and get a job that would allow them to support a family, were essentially guaranteed a middle class lifestyle with a college degree, paid peanuts for most services and were essentially guaranteed exponentially rising house prices, all because they were happy to screw future generations. How can that possibly be compared to the situation of young men today?

My point was clearly that every generation has a tough time understanding every other generation. It works both ways. And employment is not the only problem in life. No sense in telling you the various employment problems I and my peers have had, since you wouldn't believe it. Crossing that road ain't as effortless as it seems. But again that wasn't my point.

People need to understand who set this system up and like all pyramid schemes they fail. The United States government went bankrupt in the great depression. The creditors of the CITI of London came in and setup a Ponzi Casino fake economy for the last 80 years.

Like all Ponzi's they work at first but a infinite growth paradigm in a finite world of resources was the system our rulers setup in an attempt to bring world wide hegemony across the board through their counterfeiting con job.

It was only natural for the herd to signup, Ponzi's look good at first as long as the base continues to grow. People are naturally selfish and we have failed our children of tomorrow.

They set all this up because America was doing a good job of inventing the modern world so they have drawn this house of cards out as far as it can go while the citizenry was producing fruits what they considered to be worth the effort of keeping it pumped up.

Now they are pulling the plug on us as we have served our purpose, this is going to be real ugly. This is a big house that is going to collapse and more than likely to the ground.