The American "work until you die" mentality

[MatureDJ]

This is just utterly depressing

http://www.smartmoney.com/retirement/pl ... ostemailed

... Ailika Thomas woke up from a snooze, her husband brought her coffee in bed. It was 7 p.m., and the 73-year-old was facing a long, moonlit drive from her rural Indiana home to Chicago ... Thomas's destination was her job. Five nights a week, she drives 90 minutes each way to work the midnight shift as a research supervisor for a big company downtown ... Thomas can't afford to retire.

After having kids late in life and surviving a job loss, 67-year-old David Weiner is looking at 10 more years of work.

These folks could live abroad at a fraction of the cost of living in the USA, but they would rather just work until they die.

[zboy1]

The "American Dream" is dead and has been for a while now. I don't want to end up becoming a workaholic and working a job till I'm 70 years old--something that is very common in the United States. What kind of life is that?

[NorthAmericanguy]

The way I see it, people in America work until they die for two main reasons:

1. They put themselves in the situation (i.e, having kids late, having too many kids, taking out loans).

2. Americans don't save any money nor do they want to live frugally.

[NorthAmericanguy]

The "American Dream" is dead and has been for a while now. I don't want to end up becoming a workaholic and working a job till I'm 70 years old--something that is very common in the United States. What kind of life is that?

I don't believe the dream is dead, I just see that it's harder for the average person to obtain the American dream.

[NorthAmericanguy]

Ailika Thomas woke up from a snooze, her husband brought her coffee in bed. It was 7 p.m., and the 73-yeald was facing a long, moonlit drive from her rural Indiana home to Chicago ... Thomas's destination was her job. Five nights a week, she drives 90 minutes each way to work the midnight shift as a research supervisor for a big company downtown ... Thomas can't afford to retire.

I saw this in California, people would drive from Riverside/Barstow Ca to downtown Los Angeles and back everyday to work simply because the desert was the only place they could afford to buy a home.

It makes no sense to me. Why spend 15/30 years of your life trying to pay off a home that was built in 3-4 months by some day laborers.

[All_That_Is_Man]

The way I see it, people in America work until they die for two main reasons:

1. They put themselves in the situation (i.e, having kids late, having too many kids, taking out loans).

2. Americans don't save any money nor do they want to live frugally.

Ain't that the truth. The typical American feels entitled to trips to Las Vegas, or a cruise through the Caribbean islands, or a brand new foreign luxury SUV the instant they have money - not taking account that they still own money on their cable bill, mortgage, student loans, smartphone, credit card, etc. This childish behavior is especially true in American women, or married couples where the woman wears the pants (go figure). It pisses me off, because the simple acts of living frugally would free them from every one of those debts to begin with.