I find it difficult to write these days, mostly due to politics and business.
One one level, a lot of the GOP seems be adopting an apocalyptic "victory or ruin" approach to elections, and an increasingly authoritarian style when they do win. This is not a viable long-term approach in a democratic republic -- or in any other kind of democracy. It is one reason I have put off retirement; a fixed income is perilous if there are major disruptions.
More immediately, my line of work is undergoing a series of consolidations and adjustments that mean more and more work is being done by fewer and fewer people, and to step out of the game of musical chairs at all means losing your place. The big owners are more and more remote, the pay gap between the corporate bosses and the clock-punchers is getting larger and larger, and as far as they're concerned, "artificial intelligence" is probably going to make most of us redundant before too long anyway. There's a lot of incentive to keep on getting while the getting is at least adequate, because tomorrow it may all go away.
But all of this (and plenty more) is not at all conducive to calm reflection. I'm running as fast as I can to stay caught up, knowing the music will stop and at that point, the question will be not if things are bad but how bad they are, and how quickly will they get worse.
I was hoping to retire in more or less genteel poverty, under a largely stable national and local government, in a world that wasn't notably more screwed up than the one I grew up in (which had an ample supply of problems, many without clear solutions, but people were at least trying). That's not what we've got and navigating the present makes me feel like a drunk on a highwire.
Update
1 year ago
11 comments:
I got my latest Social Security statement a few days ago. If I can work until 70, I will have a decent bump-up in SSI payments over what I would get if I retire at 67. I'm in the same industry as you, so the question is will I have a job to retire from at 67, let alone 70?
Then again, it's pretty apparent that Trump is desperately flailing about, stumbling from disaster to stupid utterance and back.
The incompetence is becoming harder and harder to cope away with his usual 'fake news!' shtick. His egomaniacal toxic positivism and 'everything is great, best it's ever been!' messaging just makes these hard times that much harder.
MAGA may try to call for authoritarian action, but I don't think that the people- even most Republicans- are going to want to give absolute power to an obviously incompetent old guy.
I'm 70 maintenance electrician, journey man. I " retired " at 64 mainly to get my funds out of the 401 program. I was able to return to work as a private contractor at better pay...no bennies though. Anything like that possible for you?. Though life long mid road Republican I agree with Joe and Roberta
Don't write about politics - Its demoralizing to both you and me. Stick to cheerier subjects. Anyway, " pay gap between the corporate bosses and the clock-punchers is getting larger and larger" is a real issue, apart from politics. It divides our people,
I can understand the impulse behind "don't write about politics", but as the saying goes, even if you're not interested in politics, politics is interested in you.
What I get tired of in the F2F world is people saying "why doesn't somebody do something about Trump?" Responses about which party controls Congress and the Supreme Court and about how slowly courts operate, well, those either go over heads or have the impact of tossing a handful of sand on a steel plate.
And when I run into people who say that Trump is doing a good job, I don't engage. I see them as either partisan idiots or traitors and, no doubt, they think the same of me.
"Don;t write about politics" is advice akin to "You'd be prettier if you'd smile more."
In each case, I have the same reply: give me a reason to.
I'm also a Republican that's horrified at what my party has become... but as an amateur historian, I'm not surprised.
If one is careful in the approach, one may find that the Trump supporter isn't as committed as one may think. I suspect that a fair few are having regrets, but are afraid to voice them, because their MAGA friends might get mad.
And I wouldn't be surprised if some those friends are also having regrets but don't want to say anything... and so it goes.
Of course, if directly attacked for their choice, they tend to get defensive & angry- as a lot of people embarrassed by bad choices tend to do when it's pointed out.
In deep coal mining, when the ore fails, the Big Boss may tell the miners to do what is known as 'robbing the pillars'. That is, all through the mine, there are pillars of perfectly good ore that hold up the roof. So the miners go to the far end of the mine shaft and start mining the pillars.....backing out of the mine as they go and hoping to God that the roof doesn't fall in on them...that it only happens deeper in the mine than where they are.
Businesses are robbing the pillars...the pillars of R&D spending, product quality, worker safety/compensation, customer sat, environmental "externalities", community's economic foundations. But management won't be there when the roof falls in....on everybody else. Pity that.
The NYTimes has an article on MBA mentality and general lack of conscience, morality, ethics, that kind of stuff. Free link
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/18/opinion/business-school-mba-harvard-cornell-cambridge.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KlE.E2RP.RXiNHAg1qYtV&smid=url-share
That socialism the Republicans keep warning me about is starting to look pretty good.
Well said, Mr Dean.
Post a Comment