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The Generational Issue

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Posts

  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    If the Millenials do nothing but suck up a bunch of shit while fixing things, and make the Boomers fucking burn, I'm putting that down as a win for our generation.

  • CasualCasual Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Flap Flap Flap Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Thanatos wrote: »
    If the Millenials do nothing but suck up a bunch of shit while fixing things, and make the Boomers fucking burn, I'm putting that down as a win for our generation.

    Honestly, I think it's far too late to kurb the boomers power or use the polls to disadvantage them. That ship has sailed. Even if we did succeed to politicizing the millennials (which we won't it's impossible) it would take decades to reverse all the boomer friendly legislation and societal norms out there. By that time they'll be in the ground anyway. At this point for us a win would be somehow managing to live comfortable lives in spite of all this, and maybe fixing things for our kids.

    Casual on
  • NODeNODe Registered User regular
    Canada is facing exactly the same skills shortage/ high youth unemployment. Don't even touch first nation youth unemployment because holy balls.

    The solution? Change immigration law so that corporations can fast-track in demand skill sets from abroad!

  • chrisnlchrisnl Registered User regular
    NODe wrote: »
    Canada is facing exactly the same skills shortage/ high youth unemployment. Don't even touch first nation youth unemployment because holy balls.

    The solution? Change immigration law so that corporations can fast-track in demand skill sets from abroad!

    Are Canadian politicians just blatantly stealing terrible ideas from the USA? Because damn.

    steam_sig.png
  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    There won't be a next generation if only the well~off millenials are reproducing while everyone else gets vasectomies/tubes twisted.

    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
  • SticksSticks I'd rather be in bed.Registered User regular
    Err, the well-off usually have a lower birth rate than the less well-off.

  • AManFromEarthAManFromEarth Let's get to twerk! The King in the SwampRegistered User regular
    Cantido wrote: »
    There won't be a next generation if only the well~off millenials are reproducing while everyone else gets vasectomies/tubes twisted.

    That is literally the exact opposite of historical trends.

    Poor people have more kids because they don't have access to adequate birth control or information about how to use it and a number of other reasons.

    Also, we've still got a massive population of immigrants.

    The next generation will be just fine, numberwise. It might not be ivory white, sure, but there will always be a Next Greatest Generation waiting in the wings to run the country. And that's a comforting though for me.

    Lh96QHG.png
  • LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    Thanatos wrote: »
    The key is just to repeal Medicare. This solves everyone's problems: after four or five years of no Medicare, there will hardly be any Boomers left, it would pretty much instantaneously balance the budget, and the Republicans get to win on the "get government out of Healthcare" angle. Win-win-win.

    Oh hey, it's Rand Paul. So, gonna run for President in 2016?

  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    The key is just to repeal Medicare. This solves everyone's problems: after four or five years of no Medicare, there will hardly be any Boomers left, it would pretty much instantaneously balance the budget, and the Republicans get to win on the "get government out of Healthcare" angle. Win-win-win.
    Oh hey, it's Rand Paul. So, gonna run for President in 2016?
    The secret is, after all of the old people die from lack of Medicare, we'll just pass Single Payer for everyone.

    Thanatos on
  • emnmnmeemnmnme Registered User regular
    Thanatos wrote: »
    If the Millenials do nothing but suck up a bunch of shit while fixing things, and make the Boomers fucking burn, I'm putting that down as a win for our generation.

    You're a Gen X-er. You graduated high school before 2000.

  • NODeNODe Registered User regular
    chrisnl wrote: »
    NODe wrote: »
    Canada is facing exactly the same skills shortage/ high youth unemployment. Don't even touch first nation youth unemployment because holy balls.

    The solution? Change immigration law so that corporations can fast-track in demand skill sets from abroad!

    Are Canadian politicians just blatantly stealing terrible ideas from the USA? Because damn.

    Stephen Harper spends a lot of time standing at the border making notes, yes.

  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    emnmnme wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    If the Millenials do nothing but suck up a bunch of shit while fixing things, and make the Boomers fucking burn, I'm putting that down as a win for our generation.
    You're a Gen X-er. You graduated high school before 2000.
    Did not, bitch. Suck it.

    Thanatos on
  • BamelinBamelin Registered User regular
    NODe wrote: »
    Canada is facing exactly the same skills shortage/ high youth unemployment. Don't even touch first nation youth unemployment because holy balls.

    The solution? Change immigration law so that corporations can fast-track in demand skill sets from abroad!

    Ironically those same immigrants get here thanks to their "in demand" skills and still can't get jobs because corporations want somebody that will fit their corporate culture (ie. code for thy want canadianized fluently English speaking workers).

    Personally I think that it's time to take a hard look at immigration policies. When your having trouble employing your own population it's maybe not the best time to be importing even more competition.

    Immigration has had a drastic effect in other areas too such as real estate in Canada. A single family home in Vancouver costs almost a million dollars in part because rich immigrants bring cash to the table diving prices up (in Canada our real estate bubble never popped -- yet). This has caused many younger vancouverites to leave British Columbia period.

    Meh off topic ...

    The bottom line to me is that we need to start thinking about our youngest citizens if we want them to be able to afford to support our oldest. This means skills training, jobs, possibly protectionist policies, and immigration reform.

  • Cultural Geek GirlCultural Geek Girl Registered User regular
    It's honestly not just the boomers that are screwing us, it's also a large number of misinformed rural poor. Without the misinformed rural poor, they'd not be able to do anything at all.

    I'm not sure what the solution to that is, but it's something to do with talking to the rural poor on their terms, without demonizing or talking down to them. There was a time less than a hundred years ago when most devout Christians voted democratic because they thought it was a sin not to help the poor. The republican party has pretty much turned the fundamental premise of evangelical Christianity from compassion to hate in under a century. We gotta figure out how that happened, and un-happen it.

    Buttoneer, Brigadeer, and Keeper of the Book of Wil Wheaton.
    Triwizard Drinking Tournament - '09 !Hufflepuff unofficial conscript, '10 !Gryffindor
    Nerd blog at culturalgeekgirl.com
  • LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    The key is just to repeal Medicare. This solves everyone's problems: after four or five years of no Medicare, there will hardly be any Boomers left, it would pretty much instantaneously balance the budget, and the Republicans get to win on the "get government out of Healthcare" angle. Win-win-win.
    Oh hey, it's Rand Paul. So, gonna run for President in 2016?
    The secret is, after all of the old people die from lack of Medicare, we'll just pass Single Payer for everyone.

    Sure you will.

    Because who wouldn't have faith in the social safety net after an entire generation of Americans were thrown to the wolves to die?

    I'm sure that your cohort of strapping young sociopaths will unite around the idea of expanding the social safety net for the benefit of everyone, well, after everyone they have a grudge against is dead.

    Including all the disabled folks who currently need Medicare to pay their medical bills.

  • ThanatosThanatos Registered User regular
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    The key is just to repeal Medicare. This solves everyone's problems: after four or five years of no Medicare, there will hardly be any Boomers left, it would pretty much instantaneously balance the budget, and the Republicans get to win on the "get government out of Healthcare" angle. Win-win-win.
    Oh hey, it's Rand Paul. So, gonna run for President in 2016?
    The secret is, after all of the old people die from lack of Medicare, we'll just pass Single Payer for everyone.
    Sure you will.

    Because who wouldn't have faith in the social safety net after an entire generation of Americans were thrown to the wolves to die?

    I'm sure that your cohort of strapping young sociopaths will unite around the idea of expanding the social safety net for the benefit of everyone, well, after everyone they have a grudge against is dead.

    Including all the disabled folks who currently need Medicare to pay their medical bills.
    The social safety net was created after everyone aside from the robber barons got completely fucked in the Great Depression. So yeah, I think that will help a ton.

    And disabled people rely on Medicaid (and SSI), not Medicare. Two different things.

  • SticksSticks I'd rather be in bed.Registered User regular
    I don't...think he was being serious Lawndart. At least I hope not, my father is a boomer after all...

  • NODeNODe Registered User regular
    Bamelin wrote: »

    Ironically those same immigrants get here thanks to their "in demand" skills and still can't get jobs because corporations want somebody that will fit their corporate culture (ie. code for thy want canadianized fluently English speaking workers).

    This might be Alberta oil and gas specific, but as someone selling houses to well off oil and gas workers there are a lot of new arrivals in engineering/management positions that aren't remotely "canadianized" or fluent in English.

    If you turn your head to the side and squint this whole issue could be percieved as xenophobic "they took our jobs" nonsense. It's really not, it's just another example of governments (comprised mostly of baby-boomers) feverishly kissing the asses of corporations (mostly run by baby boomers) with no regard for the long-term impact...or even the immediate impact on the young and uneumployed and under employed.

  • AManFromEarthAManFromEarth Let's get to twerk! The King in the SwampRegistered User regular
    Bamelin wrote: »
    NODe wrote: »
    Canada is facing exactly the same skills shortage/ high youth unemployment. Don't even touch first nation youth unemployment because holy balls.

    The solution? Change immigration law so that corporations can fast-track in demand skill sets from abroad!

    Ironically those same immigrants get here thanks to their "in demand" skills and still can't get jobs because corporations want somebody that will fit their corporate culture (ie. code for thy want canadianized fluently English speaking workers).

    Personally I think that it's time to take a hard look at immigration policies. When your having trouble employing your own population it's maybe not the best time to be importing even more competition.

    Immigration has had a drastic effect in other areas too such as real estate in Canada. A single family home in Vancouver costs almost a million dollars in part because rich immigrants bring cash to the table diving prices up (in Canada our real estate bubble never popped -- yet). This has caused many younger vancouverites to leave British Columbia period.

    Meh off topic ...

    The bottom line to me is that we need to start thinking about our youngest citizens if we want them to be able to afford to support our oldest. This means skills training, jobs, possibly protectionist policies, and immigration reform.

    Nooooo fuck shit no. The genie's out of the bottle on globalization. There may be like, an inch of ground we could move on, but its not very stable.

    Lh96QHG.png
  • LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    The key is just to repeal Medicare. This solves everyone's problems: after four or five years of no Medicare, there will hardly be any Boomers left, it would pretty much instantaneously balance the budget, and the Republicans get to win on the "get government out of Healthcare" angle. Win-win-win.
    Oh hey, it's Rand Paul. So, gonna run for President in 2016?
    The secret is, after all of the old people die from lack of Medicare, we'll just pass Single Payer for everyone.
    Sure you will.

    Because who wouldn't have faith in the social safety net after an entire generation of Americans were thrown to the wolves to die?

    I'm sure that your cohort of strapping young sociopaths will unite around the idea of expanding the social safety net for the benefit of everyone, well, after everyone they have a grudge against is dead.

    Including all the disabled folks who currently need Medicare to pay their medical bills.
    The social safety net was created after everyone aside from the robber barons got completely fucked in the Great Depression. So yeah, I think that will help a ton.

    And disabled people rely on Medicaid (and SSI), not Medicare. Two different things.

    Except the generation before the New Deal didn't actively roll back existing government programs in order to spite an entire generation of people for funsies.

    Also, people who have disabilities severe enough to get SSI benefits do qualify for Medicare after two years.

  • tbloxhamtbloxham Registered User regular
    Bamelin wrote: »
    NODe wrote: »
    Canada is facing exactly the same skills shortage/ high youth unemployment. Don't even touch first nation youth unemployment because holy balls.

    The solution? Change immigration law so that corporations can fast-track in demand skill sets from abroad!

    Ironically those same immigrants get here thanks to their "in demand" skills and still can't get jobs because corporations want somebody that will fit their corporate culture (ie. code for thy want canadianized fluently English speaking workers).

    Personally I think that it's time to take a hard look at immigration policies. When your having trouble employing your own population it's maybe not the best time to be importing even more competition.

    Immigration has had a drastic effect in other areas too such as real estate in Canada. A single family home in Vancouver costs almost a million dollars in part because rich immigrants bring cash to the table diving prices up (in Canada our real estate bubble never popped -- yet). This has caused many younger vancouverites to leave British Columbia period.

    Meh off topic ...

    The bottom line to me is that we need to start thinking about our youngest citizens if we want them to be able to afford to support our oldest. This means skills training, jobs, possibly protectionist policies, and immigration reform.

    Nooooo fuck shit no. The genie's out of the bottle on globalization. There may be like, an inch of ground we could move on, but its not very stable.

    The best we can do with globalization is start passing good labelling laws and the like. For example, on products there could be a nice neat label saying 'This product made in a factory that operates in accordance with basic human decency and environmental responsibility' and then very conspicuously have the opposite. So, you don't demand that companies overseas not sell to the US. You just demand that if they are going to exploit third world prices/laws to outsource their workforce that they at least have to slap it right there on the box.

    So you could choose between paying an extra $20 for the item that is made in a responsible way, or buying the cheap one and knowing someone probably died so you could have a bouncertron 4000 for your kid.

    "That is cool" - Abraham Lincoln
  • CasualCasual Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle Flap Flap Flap Registered User regular
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    The key is just to repeal Medicare. This solves everyone's problems: after four or five years of no Medicare, there will hardly be any Boomers left, it would pretty much instantaneously balance the budget, and the Republicans get to win on the "get government out of Healthcare" angle. Win-win-win.
    Oh hey, it's Rand Paul. So, gonna run for President in 2016?
    The secret is, after all of the old people die from lack of Medicare, we'll just pass Single Payer for everyone.

    Sure you will.

    Because who wouldn't have faith in the social safety net after an entire generation of Americans were thrown to the wolves to die?

    I'm sure that your cohort of strapping young sociopaths will unite around the idea of expanding the social safety net for the benefit of everyone, well, after everyone they have a grudge against is dead.

    Including all the disabled folks who currently need Medicare to pay their medical bills.

    Jesus Christ. You talk like dismantling the social security net is something we could actually do. Like I said already, by the time people in our generation get anywhere near positions of power the boomers will be long dead and there would be no point. This kind of talk is more idle fantasy about striking back at our tormentors than a serious plan of action. The millennials can't be politicizated in any numbers.

  • BamelinBamelin Registered User regular
    NODe wrote: »
    Bamelin wrote: »

    Ironically those same immigrants get here thanks to their "in demand" skills and still can't get jobs because corporations want somebody that will fit their corporate culture (ie. code for thy want canadianized fluently English speaking workers).

    This might be Alberta oil and gas specific, but as someone selling houses to well off oil and gas workers there are a lot of new arrivals in engineering/management positions that aren't remotely "canadianized" or fluent in English.

    If you turn your head to the side and squint this whole issue could be percieved as xenophobic "they took our jobs" nonsense. It's really not, it's just another example of governments (comprised mostly of baby-boomers) feverishly kissing the asses of corporations (mostly run by baby boomers) with no regard for the long-term impact...or even the immediate impact on the young and uneumployed and under employed.

    Yeah my comments were more aimed at corporate positions in the cities ... Different situation from Alberta.

    I worked with Internationally Trained Newcomers looking for project management work. One of my clients from China ... 24, she was a project manager back home with literally hundreds of people reporting to her. It was difficult to get her to understand in Canada those positions don't exist for people her age ... It's going to be a boomer in that job.

    Demographics of Canada is one of my first workshop topics when talking to newcomers ... Many of whom just can't understand why it's so hard to land a corporate job here.

  • NoughtNought Registered User regular
    Sticks wrote: »
    I don't...think he was being serious Lawndart. At least I hope not, my father is a boomer after all...

    Burn the traitor in ours midsts!

    On fire
    .
    Island. Being on fire.
  • AManFromEarthAManFromEarth Let's get to twerk! The King in the SwampRegistered User regular
    tbloxham wrote: »
    Bamelin wrote: »
    NODe wrote: »
    Canada is facing exactly the same skills shortage/ high youth unemployment. Don't even touch first nation youth unemployment because holy balls.

    The solution? Change immigration law so that corporations can fast-track in demand skill sets from abroad!

    Ironically those same immigrants get here thanks to their "in demand" skills and still can't get jobs because corporations want somebody that will fit their corporate culture (ie. code for thy want canadianized fluently English speaking workers).

    Personally I think that it's time to take a hard look at immigration policies. When your having trouble employing your own population it's maybe not the best time to be importing even more competition.

    Immigration has had a drastic effect in other areas too such as real estate in Canada. A single family home in Vancouver costs almost a million dollars in part because rich immigrants bring cash to the table diving prices up (in Canada our real estate bubble never popped -- yet). This has caused many younger vancouverites to leave British Columbia period.

    Meh off topic ...

    The bottom line to me is that we need to start thinking about our youngest citizens if we want them to be able to afford to support our oldest. This means skills training, jobs, possibly protectionist policies, and immigration reform.

    Nooooo fuck shit no. The genie's out of the bottle on globalization. There may be like, an inch of ground we could move on, but its not very stable.

    The best we can do with globalization is start passing good labelling laws and the like. For example, on products there could be a nice neat label saying 'This product made in a factory that operates in accordance with basic human decency and environmental responsibility' and then very conspicuously have the opposite. So, you don't demand that companies overseas not sell to the US. You just demand that if they are going to exploit third world prices/laws to outsource their workforce that they at least have to slap it right there on the box.

    So you could choose between paying an extra $20 for the item that is made in a responsible way, or buying the cheap one and knowing someone probably died so you could have a bouncertron 4000 for your kid.

    Nice, this is actually the exact kind of thing that I was thinking when I talked about the inch we might have.

    I'd also wonder how feasible it would be to require American companies to meet American worker's rights and compensation levels. I think that China and India may be beating us to the punch on this one, I don't see their people wanting to keep being wage slaves forever.

    But we also have to realize that a magnificent portion of manufacturing is gonzo and never coming back. Even Obama acts like that's not the case sometimes and I feel like that attitude is retarding our ability to use the dynamism of our economy to find new ways of commercial imperialism.

    Lh96QHG.png
  • tbloxhamtbloxham Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Casual wrote: »
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    The key is just to repeal Medicare. This solves everyone's problems: after four or five years of no Medicare, there will hardly be any Boomers left, it would pretty much instantaneously balance the budget, and the Republicans get to win on the "get government out of Healthcare" angle. Win-win-win.
    Oh hey, it's Rand Paul. So, gonna run for President in 2016?
    The secret is, after all of the old people die from lack of Medicare, we'll just pass Single Payer for everyone.

    Sure you will.

    Because who wouldn't have faith in the social safety net after an entire generation of Americans were thrown to the wolves to die?

    I'm sure that your cohort of strapping young sociopaths will unite around the idea of expanding the social safety net for the benefit of everyone, well, after everyone they have a grudge against is dead.

    Including all the disabled folks who currently need Medicare to pay their medical bills.

    Jesus Christ. You talk like dismantling the social security net is something we could actually do. Like I said already, by the time people in our generation get anywhere near positions of power the boomers will be long dead and there would be no point. This kind of talk is more idle fantasy about striking back at our tormentors than a serious plan of action. The millennials can't be politicizated in any numbers.

    Well, we could try to control the medicare budget in a way that isn't just 'the boomers get theres, nothing for anyone else' since provided we manage the boomer cost spike carefully and invest wisely we don't have a medicare budget problem. The issue we do have is that the boomers will pass legislation saying that they get perfect care forever, and noone after them gets anything. Hell, we could see a situation where thanks to their manipulation of the healthcare system, Generation X dies BEFORE the boomers.

    tbloxham on
    "That is cool" - Abraham Lincoln
  • Salvation122Salvation122 Registered User regular
    Casual wrote: »
    The elephant in the room that everyone is fervently looking away from is that the bottom rung of the employment ladder is gone now. There are no jobs that don't require experience. In my industry especially, the oil industry, the problem is laughably obvious. The first day I started my job a geophysicist told me that in the next 5-10 years something like 60-70% of all the people in his profession were due to retire. They're in a system where there's a shrinking pool of workers to draw from and the industry is scraping along by headhunting specialists away from each other at ever greater prices because no one is willing to train new ones or even hire ones with less than a few decades of experience. The industry is heading towards a very obvious skills shortage in the next few years which they refuse to address because *gasp* that would involve training and hiring people younger than 40.

    My dad is facing this right now. What he does is nothing incredibly special, I would think; just applied logic. Yet he is soon to retire and most of his colleagues either have or are also about to retire. He is not training anyone, and neither has any of his colleagues. Considering what he does, I imagine his company all-but collapsing when he does, as he's busy putting out fires as it is due to the no replacements thing.

    And doesn't a large chunk of the population learn from others teaching them how to do things? I mean, that's why we have teachers, right?

    One other thing that I guess I've noticed, comparing myself and my father, is that he is a company man, and has been for 25+ years. I don't know if anyone around my age that has stuck with a place for more than five, to be honest. As someone said, we're a generation of mercenaries or whores. We go where the money and needs are. We get poached and passed around, and have no real loyalty to anyone but ourselves. I wonder how this came to be.

    Shit, my grandfather told me "Be it ever so humble, there's no ass like your own" when I was twelve. I don't think it's a terribly new attitude, it's just that the benefits for working for a single company for a long time have dropped off the edge of the world compared to where they used to be.

  • RiemannLivesRiemannLives Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    emnmnme wrote: »
    Thanatos wrote: »
    If the Millenials do nothing but suck up a bunch of shit while fixing things, and make the Boomers fucking burn, I'm putting that down as a win for our generation.

    You're a Gen X-er. You graduated high school before 2000.

    it's not a matter of dates. Gen-Xers are those unfortunate enough to have main-line baby boomers as parents (edit: and it's important that culturally they were baby boomers).

    RiemannLives on
    Attacked by tweeeeeeees!
  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Casual wrote: »
    The elephant in the room that everyone is fervently looking away from is that the bottom rung of the employment ladder is gone now. There are no jobs that don't require experience. In my industry especially, the oil industry, the problem is laughably obvious. The first day I started my job a geophysicist told me that in the next 5-10 years something like 60-70% of all the people in his profession were due to retire. They're in a system where there's a shrinking pool of workers to draw from and the industry is scraping along by headhunting specialists away from each other at ever greater prices because no one is willing to train new ones or even hire ones with less than a few decades of experience. The industry is heading towards a very obvious skills shortage in the next few years which they refuse to address because *gasp* that would involve training and hiring people younger than 40.

    My dad is facing this right now. What he does is nothing incredibly special, I would think; just applied logic. Yet he is soon to retire and most of his colleagues either have or are also about to retire. He is not training anyone, and neither has any of his colleagues. Considering what he does, I imagine his company all-but collapsing when he does, as he's busy putting out fires as it is due to the no replacements thing.

    And doesn't a large chunk of the population learn from others teaching them how to do things? I mean, that's why we have teachers, right?

    One other thing that I guess I've noticed, comparing myself and my father, is that he is a company man, and has been for 25+ years. I don't know if anyone around my age that has stuck with a place for more than five, to be honest. As someone said, we're a generation of mercenaries or whores. We go where the money and needs are. We get poached and passed around, and have no real loyalty to anyone but ourselves. I wonder how this came to be.

    Shit, my grandfather told me "Be it ever so humble, there's no ass like your own" when I was twelve. I don't think it's a terribly new attitude, it's just that the benefits for working for a single company for a long time have dropped off the edge of the world compared to where they used to be.

    Boomers never explicitly say "I only care about me," rather, "I only care about my family." It's no less destructive though. "I'm too busy raising MY family! I shouldn't have to pay taxes ever! Every breath I take is God's gift to America!"

    Cantido on
    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
  • Salvation122Salvation122 Registered User regular
    Cantido wrote: »
    Casual wrote: »
    The elephant in the room that everyone is fervently looking away from is that the bottom rung of the employment ladder is gone now. There are no jobs that don't require experience. In my industry especially, the oil industry, the problem is laughably obvious. The first day I started my job a geophysicist told me that in the next 5-10 years something like 60-70% of all the people in his profession were due to retire. They're in a system where there's a shrinking pool of workers to draw from and the industry is scraping along by headhunting specialists away from each other at ever greater prices because no one is willing to train new ones or even hire ones with less than a few decades of experience. The industry is heading towards a very obvious skills shortage in the next few years which they refuse to address because *gasp* that would involve training and hiring people younger than 40.

    My dad is facing this right now. What he does is nothing incredibly special, I would think; just applied logic. Yet he is soon to retire and most of his colleagues either have or are also about to retire. He is not training anyone, and neither has any of his colleagues. Considering what he does, I imagine his company all-but collapsing when he does, as he's busy putting out fires as it is due to the no replacements thing.

    And doesn't a large chunk of the population learn from others teaching them how to do things? I mean, that's why we have teachers, right?

    One other thing that I guess I've noticed, comparing myself and my father, is that he is a company man, and has been for 25+ years. I don't know if anyone around my age that has stuck with a place for more than five, to be honest. As someone said, we're a generation of mercenaries or whores. We go where the money and needs are. We get poached and passed around, and have no real loyalty to anyone but ourselves. I wonder how this came to be.

    Shit, my grandfather told me "Be it ever so humble, there's no ass like your own" when I was twelve. I don't think it's a terribly new attitude, it's just that the benefits for working for a single company for a long time have dropped off the edge of the world compared to where they used to be.

    Boomers never explicitly say "I only care about me," rather, "I only care about my family." It's no less destructive though.

    My grandfather grew up during the Depression and was explicitly speaking in the context of whether or not you should be loyal to your employer. The other half of the quote was "business is business; if you expect loyalty, buy a dog."

  • MillMill Registered User regular
    It's honestly not just the boomers that are screwing us, it's also a large number of misinformed rural poor. Without the misinformed rural poor, they'd not be able to do anything at all.

    I'm not sure what the solution to that is, but it's something to do with talking to the rural poor on their terms, without demonizing or talking down to them. There was a time less than a hundred years ago when most devout Christians voted democratic because they thought it was a sin not to help the poor. The republican party has pretty much turned the fundamental premise of evangelical Christianity from compassion to hate in under a century. We gotta figure out how that happened, and un-happen it.

    Probably could be easily overcome if most of the non-religious indoctrinated Gen-X and Millennial generation started to vote for a change. I'm pretty sure we out number both the republican boomers and the dumbfuck younger fundies that would vote republican.

    Now if someone really wanted to kick the GOP in the balls, one would start looking for quotes from the bible to show that the Republican party is made up of shitty, hypocritical Christians. They bitch about taxation, hit them with "give on to Caesar what is Caesar's" and mention that you can't take you wealth with you to heaven anyways. When they do something that equates to fuck those in need (elderly, poor and sick) hit them with the appropriate quotes from the Bible that are very critical of such an attitude. Now if someone really wants to fuck them up, every time the GOP tries to rally around the Christian flag, just casually throw out one of those doctrine differences between some of the major sects that causes animosity (taking advantage of their uncompromising and intolerant mindset). Pretty much divide an conquer, granted if the two generations after the boomers weren't so apathetic towards politics, this would be needed. Even if it was needed, given how good the fundies are at indoctrination, keeping them divided and apathetic towards politicians of all stripes would probably be a good thing for the country anyways (I'm pretty sure we'll be able to rally them for campaigns against poverty - I'd throw something in about being low level troops during conflicts but I suspect most of them already can't pass the entry tests).

  • SticksSticks I'd rather be in bed.Registered User regular
    Nought wrote: »
    Sticks wrote: »
    I don't...think he was being serious Lawndart. At least I hope not, my father is a boomer after all...

    Burn the traitor in ours midsts!

    What? No, I said bomber. He's, uh, really into wearing leather bomber jackets and pretending to be a pilot. Yea.

  • BamelinBamelin Registered User regular
    I will say one thing ... This thread makes me very glad you guys are my cohorts on this journey. One thing I really appreciate about Millenials is their ability to put their heads collectively together and try to find solutions. With boomers typically one guy makes the call (usually to their personal and groups benefit), Millenials I find tend to talk shit out round table style, and rally around a gen Xer that pushes it through the boomers to get the Millenials plan implemented.

    One of the big skills of my gen (gen X) we bridge the cultural gap between boomers and Millenials.

  • CantidoCantido Registered User regular
    Bamelin wrote: »
    I will say one thing ... This thread makes me very glad you guys are my cohorts on this journey. One thing I really appreciate about Millenials is their ability to put their heads collectively together and try to find solutions. With boomers typically one guy makes the call (usually to their personal and groups benefit), Millenials I find tend to talk shit out round table style, and rally around a gen Xer that pushes it through the boomers to get the Millenials plan implemented.

    One of the big skills of my gen (gen X) we bridge the cultural gap between boomers and Millenials.

    That's the beauty of the Intertubes.

    3DS Friendcode 5413-1311-3767
  • DoodmannDoodmann Registered User regular
    In the spirit of this thread I thought I would throw out my March success: 60 applications (this is low because I was out of town one week) lead to 1 phone interview and 2 internship interviews. I've followed up with all of them and if any of them call back I will take it. How do you guys think I'm doing? The only thing I'm not applying for are unpaid internships and stuff where they wont even look at me (7-10 years experience).

    Whippy wrote: »
    nope nope nope nope abort abort talk about anime
    I like to ART
  • Harry DresdenHarry Dresden Registered User regular
    It's honestly not just the boomers that are screwing us, it's also a large number of misinformed rural poor. Without the misinformed rural poor, they'd not be able to do anything at all.

    I'm not sure what the solution to that is, but it's something to do with talking to the rural poor on their terms, without demonizing or talking down to them. There was a time less than a hundred years ago when most devout Christians voted democratic because they thought it was a sin not to help the poor. The republican party has pretty much turned the fundamental premise of evangelical Christianity from compassion to hate in under a century. We gotta figure out how that happened, and un-happen it.

    A key factor is fixing the education system and making it easier for them to get better educated (like better access to the internet) on a larger scale. That will help dismissing their misinformed beliefs. That said, that's only a first step. It'll take numerous attempts with long term programs. It'll take generations to fix this erosion.

  • BamelinBamelin Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    Cantido wrote: »
    Bamelin wrote: »
    I will say one thing ... This thread makes me very glad you guys are my cohorts on this journey. One thing I really appreciate about Millenials is their ability to put their heads collectively together and try to find solutions. With boomers typically one guy makes the call (usually to their personal and groups benefit), Millenials I find tend to talk shit out round table style, and rally around a gen Xer that pushes it through the boomers to get the Millenials plan implemented.

    One of the big skills of my gen (gen X) we bridge the cultural gap between boomers and Millenials.

    That's the beauty of the Intertubes.

    Well I mean it. I really appreciate Millenials ability to talk shit out. Look at me and Darkewolfe a couple pages ago. If we were boomers we'd be ready to kill each other by now. Instead we came to an understanding and respect by talking instead of screaming ...

    Bamelin on
  • BamelinBamelin Registered User regular
    Doodmann wrote: »
    In the spirit of this thread I thought I would throw out my March success: 60 applications (this is low because I was out of town one week) lead to 1 phone interview and 2 internship interviews. I've followed up with all of them and if any of them call back I will take it. How do you guys think I'm doing? The only thing I'm not applying for are unpaid internships and stuff where they wont even look at me (7-10 years experience).

    The old model was 1 interview for every 10 resumes sent out (assuming you are qualified for what you are applying for). I've been on EI since December around 7 interviews with Probaly close to 80 resumes sent out.

    So I think you are doing well. Ive talked to people who have sent out hundreds of resumes with no interviews ....

  • DoodmannDoodmann Registered User regular
    Ya, I'm also trying to do graphic design so my history gets me squat and the 2 years under my belt (plus 7 years of part time coaching) make me underqualified for most full time positions. I know I could do it, the few interviews I've had agree, but either HR axes me or they hire someones friend or cousin. It's frustrating.

    Whippy wrote: »
    nope nope nope nope abort abort talk about anime
    I like to ART
  • EuphoriacEuphoriac Registered User regular
    Doodmann, I went through the exact same thing you did, but mine was for programming.

    Now I work in a completely unrelated job, earning barely above minimum wage...

    Keep trying honestly, I gave up looking for my ideal job and while I pay the bills just fine, I can't say I'm as happy and fulfilled as I'd like to be.

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