What happened to American optimism?

[CmdrShepN7]

This guy Phil Chalmers visited my school a decade ago.

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/07/25/...-leading-juvenile-homicide-expert-258874.html

He said violent video games, movies, and music make people violent. He also said we were living in the end of times.

I commend anyone who fights bullying but I just had to laugh!

I can’t believe he still speaks at schools!

What happened to American optimism? Even though we may as well be in the end of times we should aspire and desire a future full of space travel and exploration!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

JFK
MLK
RFK
Vietnam
Watergate
The Oil Crisis
Iran-Contra

That's what happened to American Optimism.

Although people always believe we are living in the end time. That's not new.

 

[tvguy]

I'm optimistic every time I look at how my 401k investments are performing .

 

[melanielll]

Social media killed it.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Well, I know I am far less optimistic than I used to be, and that's all I'm going to say about that.

 

[ShadeDK]

I thought this guy's name sounded familiar. But no - I was confusing him with Superintendent Chalmers (or, as Ralph would say, "Supernintendo Chalmers" - which is sort of funny since this guy, you know, is against video games). They share a passing resemblance, too.

 

[dclpluto]

I'm optimistic every time I look at how my 401k investments are performing .

It’s been looking really good. Soon if nothing happens I should have a million in mine. Where I work we will have no pension our pension is frozen. So will only get a little over 400 a month there. Have to get Medicare when I retire which I hear is not too bad but you have to pay for secondary insurance. Social security who knows what will happen to that. Probably always be there but they could up the age at anytime. So somethings are optisimic but some things are not.im only 48 so got a ways to go to retirement.

 

[mjkacmom]

It’s been looking really good. Soon if nothing happens I should have a million in mine. Where I work we will have no pension our pension is frozen. So will only get a little over 400 a month there. Have to get Medicare when I retire which I hear is not too bad but you have to pay for secondary insurance. Social security who knows what will happen to that. Probably always be there but they could up the age at anytime. So somethings are optisimic but some things are not.im only 48 so got a ways to go to retirement.

Do not expect this to continue until you retire, DH is CFA and sees things going downhill soon. My dad pays $500 a month for supplemental insurance now.

 

[dclpluto]

Do not expect this to continue until you retire, DH is CFA and sees things going downhill soon. My dad pays $500 a month for supplemental insurance now.

I never said i expected it continue until I retire.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

I'm optimistic every time I look at how my 401k investments are performing .

That's us. Just got our statement, and very optimistic.

 

[Colleen27]

Social media killed it.

I think you're on to something there. I tend to be an optimist by nature, but social media strains even my faith in better things. It is often a venue where the worst of mankind is on display 24/7 and things that were once hidden for fear of judgment and condemnation are laid out plain as day, and where people say things that they would never dream of saying to someone in person.

But I also think there's real cause for concern, and I doubt you'd have found much "American optimism" among the 'little people' during the last gilded age either. High levels of inequality in a society tend to correlate very strongly with high levels of dissatisfaction, especially when the inequality isn't "We have enough, they have more than they could spend" but rather "We can't afford medical care and have to work until we die, they have more than they know what to do with and want to raise our taxes so they can have more".

 

[MillauFr]

I think it depends on where you live. Some places in the US are going down the toilet. Other places are booming. There seems to be an increasingly wide divide between the two.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

JFK
MLK
RFK
Vietnam
Watergate
The Oil Crisis
Iran-Contra

That's what happened to American Optimism.

Although people always believe we are living in the end time. That's not new.

Yeah I can't think of a better list.... unless you want to add "the aftermath of the oil crisis and Iran... "

*sings IASM*

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I think you're on to something there. I tend to be an optimist by nature, but social media strains even my faith in better things. It is often a venue where the worst of mankind is on display 24/7 and things that were once hidden for fear of judgment and condemnation are laid out plain as day, and where people say things that they would never dream of saying to someone in person.

But I also think there's real cause for concern, and I doubt you'd have found much "American optimism" among the 'little people' during the last gilded age either. High levels of inequality in a society tend to correlate very strongly with high levels of dissatisfaction, especially when the inequality isn't "We have enough, they have more than they could spend" but rather "We can't afford medical care and have to work until we die, they have more than they know what to do with and want to raise our taxes so they can have more".

The healthcare thing is a real concern. It's always been a concern for the poor, never for the rich. But, now it's having a huge impact on the middle class, though it's not impacting everyone equally. People who were once on an even playing field economically are no long peers in this regard. And it doesn't appear to be getting any better going forward.

Also, due to variances in benefits, there have always been some jobs that allowed retirement in your 50's, while others required staying until your 60's. The former remains while the latter group can now look forward to working into their 70's. That's a big gap.

 

[sam_gordon]

JFK
MLK
RFK
Vietnam
Watergate
The Oil Crisis
Iran-Contra

That's what happened to American Optimism.

Although people always believe we are living in the end time. That's not new.

Yeah I can't think of a better list.... unless you want to add "the aftermath of the oil crisis and Iran... "

*sings IASM*

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, "Rock Around the Clock"
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Zhou Enlai, Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben-Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say?

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning

Written by Billy Joel • Copyright © Universal Music Publishing Group

 

[IAHFTPT]

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I think it depends on where you live. Some places in the US are going down the toilet. Other places are booming. There seems to be an increasingly wide divide between the two.

My area went into free-fall after the major industry (Steel) shut down in the late 80's/early 90's. But we struggled through and figured a way to rebound.

 

[MillauFr]

My area went into free-fall after the major industry (Steel) shut down in the late 80's/early 90's. But we struggled through and figured a way to rebound.

Why I can't figure out is why more people don't move? Sure some do but why stay in a place where it is very difficult to make a living. I left Minnesota even though I liked it because the job prospects were terrible.

 

[Spencer Wright]

I think it depends on where you live. Some places in the US are going down the toilet. Other places are booming. There seems to be an increasingly wide divide between the two.

I am 27 y/o and am struggling to remain optimistic but am finding it to be increasingly difficult. I live right outside of Philadelphia, and while some pockets are struggling with the opioid crisis; overall the area is booming. The Philadelphia skyline is swarming with construction cranes, and there is an abundance of new offices and new housing. I have completed a MBA recently and have worked professional jobs for about 5 years, as well as having some excellent internships while in my undergraduate program. I do not have children or really any kind of obligations besides the usual bills and things.

Therefore, I should have lots of opportunity available to me, however you cannot even apply to many companies if you did not go to one of a couple of dozen colleges, or have worked for a few specific companies (especially the big four). I have been trying to get into the HR field, however I do not have a law degree or an IT background; therefore most jobs I apply for are closed off. So even if you are in an area with lots of opportunity, if you did not go to an especially prestigious (i.e. extremely expensive college), and have worked in exclusive niches such as business consulting, %99.00 of doors are slammed in your face.

Many companies now will even ask about 'interesting hobbies', and include examples such as home beer brewing, mountain climbing, and world travel. If I wish to function in a financial responsible manner, than I can't engage in hobbies like that!!

How can most people compete with that??

I shall try and remain optimistic, and have continued relevant coursework to expand my business knowledge, however I fully understand why many Americans throw their hands up and become despondent.

 

[Colleen27]

Why I can't figure out is why more people don't move? Sure some do but why stay in a place where it is very difficult to make a living. I left Minnesota even though I liked it because the job prospects were terrible.

Moving takes money - money for the physical move, for first/last/deposit on a new place of residence. It is also a big gamble for those at the lowest end of the spectrum, where jobs are mostly "apply in person" and there's really no way of lining something up before making the leap. Plus there's the time without a paycheck - after the old job ends, if there is one, before the first payday at the new - and potentially waiting periods for being able to resume any public assistance the family is receiving if the move takes them across state lines.

We hope to relocate to another state in a few years, when the kids are off to college, and we figure we need at the bare minimum 3 months' living expenses plus $10k for moving and securing housing to pull it off. Not many people who are living paycheck to paycheck or unemployed in a depressed area can put that kind of money together. And that's not taking into account family ties - lower income families tend to be more inter-generationally reliant, in terms of grandparents or aunts/uncles helping with childcare, adult and teen kids/grandkids helping with elder care, etc. Detaching from that non-monetary safety net incurs costs as well.

I have completed a MBA recently and have worked professional jobs for about 5 years, as well as having some excellent internships while in my undergraduate program. I do not have children or really any kind of obligations besides the usual bills and things.

And that's another discouraging facet. It takes a lot more to get your foot in the door than it used to, which handicaps college grads who had to work their way through and didn't have the luxury of lining up an impressive portfolio of unpaid internships with the "right" companies. I've been seeing this a lot with my classmates - the middle class kids who had parental help with college and a car that they didn't have to pay for are doing far better, 6 months after graduation, than the ones who were too busy working to take on multiple internships and on-campus activities, or who were relying on public transportation and couldn't get to the most desirable student jobs. It is easily the difference of $10-15K in starting salary, not to mention a much easier path to a job in a hard field to break into.