Do you ever feel that you are somehow a failure because you

[rzemanfl]

failed to anticipate and plan for the possiblity that your country would go batshit crazy shortly before you were due to retire? Discuss.

[Kutjara]

1. No, I feel like a failure because I clearly anticipated...

...my country going batshit crazy, but couldn't think of a way to stop it. It's been like a slow-motion train wreck and I've felt like little more than a horrified spectator for way too long.

[rzemanfl]

2. This is an age related question and I didn't make that clear. I

will edit.

[villager]

6. I'm in my 40's now. I've expected this since I was in my teens.

But why the hell didn't I head straight to the countryside and start growing my own vegetables, etc., if I "knew?"

I think I figured I could "airlift" money out of the economy after some initial successes, and "get out" in the nick of time.

hmmm....

[Tellurian]

7. I don't think we can stop it..

Only the stong will survive to see the other side.

[Warpy]

9. Same here.

I screamed warnings until I was hoarse, gained a reputation as a crazy person in several successive neighborhoods because I've been warning about things like media consolidation and free trade without fair trade and a diddled tax system since the 1970s. Most people were lost in some sort of hypnotic fog, especially during the Reagan years when most of the real damage occurred.

I honestly thought of legally changing my name to Cassandra.

There is no way to fight the sheer stupidity of the masses. There are few ways to prepare for the inevitable collapse that occurs when the rich get everything their way.

We're not failures. Working people in the time of the first Robber Barons were not failures. We've all simply been outgunned. Until the cud chewers get desperate enough to join us, there is nothing we can do.

[Tellurian]

32. Agree, we must get debt free and accrue as much dinero as possible

in the short time we have left. If possible, find somewhere outside this country
as a base of refuge, where we can still work and earn a living..

I'm looking at the Koro Islands.

[BlueManDude]

3. I knew Bush was fucking crazy back 1999

it was 9/11 that made everyone else fucking crazy.

[rzemanfl]

4. I thought he was just stupid until 9/11. n/t

[rzemanfl]

17. I admit to being fucking crazy for a while after 9/11. But at least

I thought we should invade Saudi Arabia first.

[ananda]

5. I'm so depressed..

.. because I have had to come to terms with the fact that
I will be leaving the world much worse off than when I
entered it.

That's a hard bone to swallow.

[rzemanfl]

10. Right after 9/11 the local news interviewed a 94 year-old woman

in a nursing home who said "I know it's silly, but I don't want to die with the World in such a mess." Like it was her fault and reflected badly on her.

[bdamomma]

21. unless we change it, why is everyone acting so defeatist.

there are more of us than them.

[rzemanfl]

24. Not being defeatist-this mess is going to take longer to fix than I

probably have left, even if we started tomorrow. It took the better part of twenty years to recover from Viet Nam. Inflation, high interest rates, etc.

[tlsmith1963]

8. What Pisses Me Off is...

...the fact that I was treated for depression shortly before these neocon nutcases took over. Here I was, finally feeling some hope, then these horrible people took over my country. Fun, huh?:sarcasm:

Tammy

[rzemanfl]

12. Look at it this way, depression is the new normal. Happy is a

sign of severe mental illness or terminal stupidity.

[sandnsea]

16. lol, that's a good one

I think I will use that as a frame of reference... happy person = batshit bushbot.

Of course, I never much trusted happy people anyway.

[madokie]

23. happy is just a pill away

[acmejack]

11. Absolutely

Offshored, had to cash 401k when it was practically valueless, ditto stock, fell ill lost home & the rest, if I wasn't a disabled veteran I'd be dead (literally) so the VA is it for me. Got very little and they're after that...

[rzemanfl]

14. Sorry about all your bad luck. n/t

[madokie]

19. the VA has been good to me. I had heard horor stories after horor

stories and believed them until I finally had to go pay them a visit due to a blood clot in my leg. spent a week in the hospital and was treated like a real person while there. not sure but it might have partly been due to the fact I let it be known when I got there I was there to take orders not give them. still living to that creed now

[rzemanfl]

22. I had some surface clots and the pain was exquisite. Did you

have DVT?

[madokie]

25. Yes, now I have a blocked artery in the same basic location

and the chance of a bypass taking isn't great enough for me to take the chance. the doc's tell me at some point I will lose my foot no matter what so I am going to keep it as long as it is not bleeding and I can still kind of walk on it. hydrocodone is my new friend

[rzemanfl]

26. You have my sympathy. Take care. n/t

[madokie]

27. Oh but I have the most precious of all, breath

thanks though. no one told any of us getting old would be easy so I guess if we still have our sense about us we can be thankful

[acmejack]

33. Exactly, better than the alternative.

I wasn't bashing the VA, they do great with what they have. I'm in the same boat with you, I have a large economy sized jug of Hydrocodone myself.

and as the man said, at least they're not shooting at us...

[madokie]

37. I really didn't expect them to be here for me even thought in '67

the recruiter told me I would always have health care provided. Luckily I never had to use the VA until my 54th birthday and sure enough there they were. I like you, without them would be up a shit creek without a paddle. I am still amazed at how they seem to keep the level of care they do with all the budget cuts and all. Comrades for a time friends for life


believe I'll have a tok with that

[pecwae]

29. That's good to hear, madokie

I retired from the VA in Columbia, SC and worked at several others (not to mention being a patient at a few as well). They deserve the bad rap they get for the most part, but there are shining moments from time to time and I'm glad yours was positive. Being honest and cooperative with with up front does help. All the best for a swift, complete recovery:toast:

[orpupilofnature57]

13. I plan to work until I drop, Shrub has been a big help with that Fantasy

[rzemanfl]

15. Whenever I go to a retirement party, I always say mine will be

some people standing around saying "Who was that ambulance for, anyway?"

[sandnsea]

18. rotflmao

You're a funny guy!

:rofl:

[JVS]

20. Retirement plans? That's soooo 20th century. Droll really!

[brook]

28. Though I agree...

I was batshit enough today to tell a coworker that I hoped I could 'retire' in 2 years. At which time I shall be 75 years old. Of course, I will have to either win the Lotto; stroke out or buy a shopping cart to make that dream come true!

[GeorgeGist]

30. I hadn't ...

before you mentioned it. But what the hell, if the religionuts are correct we're all going to hell long before my retirement runs out.

[lectrobyte]

31. I don't know if I feel like a failure, but there's a lot of stress and a

lot more uncertainty than I expected at this stage of my life.

[Vinca]

34. No. No one could have anticipated the end of our country

as we knew it in 5 short years and it'll take decades to repair. I'm nearing "retirement" age, but the whole notion is ludicrous. Just get up in the morning, get through the day and if you happen to wake up the next morning, do it all again. (Cue the music.) Don't worry, be happy.

[union_maid]

35. OMG, YES!!!!

I'm so glad to see this. I'm having a post-midlife crisis about it. I don't know if I'll have time to read the whole thread before I have to leave, but I'm so glad you posted it.

[sweetheart]

36. failure in my human travails, in the light of god

I take my moments in life as a communion with god, however poorly "i" behave in this immaculate relationship.
And the presumption, pretty much from the outset, is that i have failed and will die and be forgotten, and
even just writing it, i feel humbled, more than that, in such an amazing life.

And nothing i can say or do, no matter what love or sorrow, will ever matter, humanity rather is judged by
the stupidest amongst us, the degenerate and the foul make the politics of their bankrupt prison state,
and they worship mammon, and are trapped in the cynicism, the doubt and constant distrust of other people
as a way of manipulating people to war and murder... a low degenerate criminal is elected president and
i am stuck in the back seat, cassandra.

Yet really, it has been very beautiful that bush has exposed the empire for what it was, a fraud.
And in the crumbling moral tatters of his once great towers, the monkey men scrabble for the scraps,
hiding in the shadows of nations from the silent billions who look on at this tragic play.
God is great. The corruption of the television cult will be wondered at as the barbarians
sack rome in future, fat couch waddles taken away of their remotes and wondering what
happened to all that freedom.

:-) Oh the freedom to watch stupid virus-people probe new lows in poverty... and when one is poor,
then we all are poor, and we all suffer, for one and for all, just existing in the apparition of
war and loathsome intent between sentient beings.

[union_maid]

38. Kicking this because I just want to

I think some of the replies here, while all valid, aren't speaking to the feeling that the OP refers to. Or maybe I'm reading into it because it's so much what I'm feeling. My husband and I were on a track to do OK. We weren't greedy or money obsessed, which now seems like our first mistake. He was earning a very decent middle class salary when his job got offshored at the same time he developed health problems. I had stayed home a few years with each of our two kids, worked part time when they were growing up and went full time when the younger was a teenager. By that time I didn't have a career, but my salary added to his made ends more than meet. We each had a 401K and his was looking like it would just be about enough to make retirement modest, but OK.

We saw the offshoring coming and he did what he could to prepare. He kept updating his skills. What we didn't really see coming until it was almost upon us was the near total devaluation of experience in the job market. Add to that the health issues which severely limit what he can take on. He could have continued doing his old job if he still had it, but forging a new career is very hard and we really don't know how long he'll be able to continue. For now we're very lucky he's working, but it's so much less. A lot of the 401K is gone and of course it was worth less anyway. Even with insurance, the medical costs got ahead of us. I developed some health problems of my own. I'm still working, but I have to stay put. I'm in a job where if I have to take off time for treatment and recovery, it's OK. It's union and they're nice there anyway. We're just not in a position to dig down deeper, take on second or third jobs or do the things that you can do when you're young and healthy to ride out a difficult time.

I feel like a failure because in late middle age I can't maintain my home without taking on unaffordable debt.

I feel like a failure because I can't take my adult children and grandchildren to dinner without worry about the expense, let alone a whole day of an amusement park or any of the things I always thought I'd be able to do at this point in life.

I feel like a failure because we're living on a precipice. We're perilously close to becoming a burden on someone at all times and we're not even old yet. There's nothing left to fall back on if one more disaster strikes.

That, at least, is how I relate to the OP.

[villager]

39. kickin' it...

so some can find solace by the campfire...