ot halloween candy haul

[CA renter]

Agree with you, flyer. I’ve seen the same thing and think that today’s kids are going to have a much more difficult time going forward. Hard work, even intelligence or a college degree, are no longer a guarantee of a job of any kind, much less one’s “dream job.”

[flyer]

[quote=flyer][quote=njtosd][quote=flyer][quote=6packscaredy]Ok now getting back on topic:

Kids today; they think society OWES them free candy.[/quote]

Agree, 6pack. We’ve seen this with some of the kids our kids grew up with in RSF–who are now in their 20’s and early 30’s. In fact, there are those who have even become suicidal because their lives didn’t go as their parents promised. [/quote]

Go back and look at my earlier post in this thread with the quote from Socrates. Kids are no different today than they’ve ever been.[/quote]

NJ, I can agree to a certain extent that kids today may be no different than they’ve ever been, but I do believe the game they are being forced to play in life has changed since the time of Socrates.

With our global economy, there are far more people vying for fewer and fewer resources than ever in history, creating extreme competition, and resulting in “survival of the fittest,” thus limiting many young people’s options in life.

It just seems to me that things have changed drastically when over 50% of college grads can’t get their dream jobs or buy homes (at least in most of CA.)

In “my day,” (I’m 55) acquiring those, and other of life’s benchmarks was pretty much a “slam dunk.” We all know that is no longer true, and, from that basis, I would have to believe the game of life has changed in a big way for future generations.

Of course, all of this is JMO.[/quote]

Agree, CAR.

The above scenario is one of the major reasons we starting investing in real estate in CV and elsewhere many years ago. We wanted to make sure our kids and grandchildren would, under most circumstances, be financially independent.

They have now gone onto have great careers of their own, (we believe they became settled in their careers just before it all hit the fan) but they know we created a viable backup plan for them, should they need it.

[CA renter]

You children are lucky (as are ours), but it’s the people who don’t have this luxury that I worry about. IMO, we need structural change so that people can have a chance to make a decent living if they are willing to work hard enough.

[scaredyclassic]

Candy quality given at Halloween has improved daramatically over last 40 years

[flyer]

[quote=6packscaredy]Candy quality given at Halloween has improved daramatically over last 40 years[/quote]

Glad to hear something has!

[CDMA ENG]

[quote=SD Realtor]I would agree 110% scaredy. Definitely on 10/31[/quote]

I give a 120%! My Halloweens were fantastic and fun and I owe that to those who follow after me…

Kids get a kick out of receiving it…

I get a kick out of giving it…

And that is the way it should be.

I don’t believe in Santa or the reason for Christmas…

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate and have fun with it.

Kids are entitled to that too while we are on the topic. People made mine special and it is my duty to do that as well.

They are not entitled to receiving large scale gifts.

Regards,

CE

[CA renter]

[quote=njtosd][quote=CA renter][quote=SD Realtor]Not just candy. Society owes them health care, education, and a 6 figure job.[/quote]

And capitalists think their employees, customers, etc. owe them a profit…often, a very sizable one that is in no way correlated to the amount of “work” done or the risk taken on the part of the capitalist.[/quote]

CA Renter – I have to disagree. But I have to ask you a question – do you disagree with capitalism as an overall economic structure , or do you just not like parts of it?

In any event, no one holds a gun to anyone’s head and says you must work at this company or you must buy from this vendor (except, now that I think about it, the ACA). If you dont want to be cheated as an employee – start a business that doesn’t extract “sizable” profits (I’m including small businesses here). And in terms of being a gouged customer – there is always the DIY route. People did it for centuries. One could strive to be Amish (without the religion). I’m being a little flip here, but everything in life is a choice. And we should take care of those who are incapable of helping themselves, but not those who are unwilling.[/quote]

This isn’t related rentier capitalism, but to industrial capitalism — which I tend to be more okay with. Still, in a country with a system that enables these types of profits, do you think that these CEOs have absolutely no responsibility toward their workers, customers, etc.? Mind you, I have less of a problem with founding CEO’s making this kind of money…but is it really necessary to have these kinds of income disparities even within the same company?

The legal, social, physical, military, etc. infrastructure provided by our government makes these types of profits possible. Some could argue that they are paying corporate and personal income taxes which pay for all of the costs, but I’m not so sure about that. Would they be able to replicate their success in countries where all of this infrastructure doesn’t exist? I just don’t think so.

And IF they believe that they’ve honestly and ethically “earned” this compensation, why would anybody want to hide this information?

“(Reuters) – U.S. corporations will need to disclose how the paychecks of their chief executive officers compare with those of their workers under a new proposal released on Wednesday by a sharply divided U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

With CEOs of many U.S. companies earning hundreds of times more than their workers, unions and labor advocates are championing the SEC’s CEO pay-ratio rule. They say disclosures would help investors identify top-heavy compensation models.

But business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Center on Executive Compensation oppose the measure, calling the data costly to compile and of little use to investors.

Among U.S. companies with the highest-paid CEOs are Oracle, Walt Disney, Viacom and Starbucks, whose CEOs in 2012 earned between $28 million and $96 million, according to the compensation data provider Equilar.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/18/us-usa-sec-ceopay-munis-idUSBRE98H0EX20130918

[flyer]

[quote=CA renter]You children are lucky (as are ours), but it’s the people who don’t have this luxury that I worry about. IMO, we need structural change so that people can have a chance to make a decent living if they are willing to work hard enough.[/quote]

I agree, CAR, and we also stressed to our kids that, even though money may not be an issue for them, they still needed to strive to achieve their dreams as we did.

The most content, interesting and happy people I have ever met are those who achieved the goals they set out to achieve in life, regardless of the financial aspect.

[CDMA ENG]

[quote=6packscaredy]Candy quality given at Halloween has improved daramatically over last 40 years[/quote]

I disagree…

PPL in my neighborhood use to make great homemade treats.

The would put their address in the bag with the treat.

PPL cared… but with the proliferation of scumbags doing stupid shit to kids ppl are too afraid to do it.

CE

[spdrun]

What proliferation? There have been a mere handful of cases of poisoned/tampered Halloween treats in the past 50 years. (If you believe Snopes, the most egregious one was done by a kid’s own father for insurance reasons.)

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/poison/halloween.asp

The only proliferation is that of stupid rumors and fears fanned by the media who’s out to make an easy buck out of totally anomalous stories.

Every time I hear this kind of fearmongering, it takes me one step closer to getting on a one-way flight and moving to a place that’s not polluted by the US/Anglo media.

[scaredyclassic]

My youth: crappy candy corn, bad taffy, hard candy.
Today; top shelf stuff kitkats snickers Hershey’s etc.

Things are looking up!

[njtosd]

Flyer said:

“NJ, I can agree to a certain extent that kids today may be no different than they’ve ever been, but I do believe the game they are being forced to play in life has changed since the time of Socrates.”

I respectfully disagree. People, especially young people, emigrated to the US in various waves because the resources at home were, basically, nil. The Irish (my relatives) were forced out of Ireland by the English (my other relatives) and ended up here in a desperate attempt to not starve to death. Speaking more academically, populations tend to increase until they hit the carrying capacity of the environment (I don’t mean this in the green sense). So there will always be a struggle for resources. The only exception that I’m aware of was directly after the plagues that swept through Europe. The drastic reduction in population allowed many to acquire land and other resources they otherwise could not have. Even in that case , my understanding is that the sudden per capita “abundance” of resources did not result in excessive prosperity.

I think the media over the past 50 years has given people a false impression of what is average. Watch HGTV and see what people making a very modest income say they “can’t” live with (Formica counters or old carpet, for example). Life has always involved a struggle for the best stuff (jobs, houses, mates,etc). I think people have just forgotten that.

[spdrun]

^^^

Amen. There was an article this summer (maybe in the Times), that people were hard-pressed to find an 2-bedroom apartment in Manhattan/nearby-Brooklyn for under a mil. Yet, I’ve routinely found the same, mostly in less-trendy neighborhoods in more “plain-Jane” pre-war buildings for under $500k, sometimes a LOT under. It all depends on how high your standards are and how much hand work you’re willing to do.

[scaredyclassic]

Candy and sugar generally used to be rarer and more precious in my youth. Now there’s so much sweet crap everywhere in such abundance. Perhaps Halloween treats should move toward something else. Cash? Garage sale objects? I don’t know.

[flyer]

[quote=njtosd]Flyer said:

“NJ, I can agree to a certain extent that kids today may be no different than they’ve ever been, but I do believe the game they are being forced to play in life has changed since the time of Socrates.”

I respectfully disagree. People, especially young people, emigrated to the US in various waves because the resources at home were, basically, nil. The Irish (my relatives) were forced out of Ireland by the English (my other relatives) and ended up here in a desperate attempt to not starve to death. Speaking more academically, populations tend to increase until they hit the carrying capacity of the environment (I don’t mean this in the green sense). So there will always be a struggle for resources. The only exception that I’m aware of was directly after the plagues that swept through Europe. The drastic reduction in population allowed many to acquire land and other resources they otherwise could not have. Even in that case , my understanding is that the sudden per capita “abundance” of resources did not result in excessive prosperity.

I think the media over the past 50 years has given people a false impression of what is average. Watch HGTV and see what people making a very modest income say they “can’t” live with (Formica counters or old carpet, for example). Life has always involved a struggle for the best stuff (jobs, houses, mates,etc). I think people have just forgotten that.[/quote]

I actually agree with everything you’ve said above, NJ. What you mentioned about the media giving a false impression of what is “average” is at the core of what I meant about young people being forced to play a different game today.

IMO, the media, peer pressure, and familial reinforcement about what one is “entitled” to in life, are creating masses of delusional young people.

That’s not to say many will not succeed, and do extremely well–but more will not. They will simply be left behind wondering–“why didn’t I get what I wanted?”–not realizing they have simply been duped by false promises.

[Author]

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