My dad is retired UAW (they never say GM). I am not going to staunchly defend GM as a business entity, and in fact GM/UAW was one of the early catalysts that caused me to become more conservative. Quick aside, I was an enlisted electronics/avionics guy and felt well-qualified to enter the skilled trades when a big opening occurred in our hometown plant in the 90s. As it turns out, there were quotas so it didn’t work out and all I’ve ever really wanted to do was live around that area (youngstown) but it’s such a depressed economy I’ve not been able to pull it off. Not with niche tech skills and an advanced degree. I managed to live there from 2000-2005 as a consultant, but had to give up traveling.
Now back to my dad’s retirement. As near as I can tell for his 29 or so years he collects about $2300 per month. I am not sure what healthcare premiums are, but they are not free. When he hits SS age, his pension will be reduced by the amount of money he gets from SS. I am not even sure if he’s set this up well so that my mom gets roughly the same amount if he should pass.
When I was a little toddler he was probably making $4-5 per hour, and by the time he retired, I’d guess he was up around $25/hour. I don’t think these people are living high on the hog at all. I cannot fathom how it’s said that these folks are making what’s routinely reported. My neighbor where I lived before coming here told me once his salary was about 33. I took that as a per year, but let’s say it was monthly. At the time I was making 89K and thinking shit how does this guy do it.
Certain positions pay well, the trades for instance. Many guys make good money by working as many Saturday’s (time X 1.5) or Sunday’s (double time). Of course they had no life, just work.
In any event my parents didn’t have college money for me, lived in a tiny little house in need of much repair, and did for us what they could. Neither were educated and they had me at such a young age, that priorities of parenting were more important than getting back to school. My feeling is that we were not poor, and didn’t need welfare, but outside of that we weren’t living it up, taking fancy vacations, etc.
