The squeezing of the middle class.

[redstatebluegirl]

I know there have been many posts about this issue but after having breakfast with a few friends between the ages of 50 and 65 this morning I wanted to see what the DU community thinks.

All of these friends are female, one is a nurse, one a retired school teacher, two of them work as staff at the university here in town, and two are retired staff from a hospital, one on disability and then me a 60 year old who took early retirement due to illness.

Every single one, even the ones who are married, are barely making it financially and feel what one of them described as "the squeeze". We all agreed that our government doesn't care about the working people in this country any longer. We are disposable, especially after we reach "an age", get busy and die already one of my friends said this morning.

Most of us took a beating with the financial meltdown prior to President Obama. My retirement portfolio did not have time to recover by the time I was forced into retirement by a bad back. My portfolio lost almost 40 percent during that time, one of my friends took an even worse beating because her husband had been taking chances to increase their retirement.

What is normally a fun Tuesday morning breakfast turned into a pity party that made me depressed. All of us are educated, all of us have worked since our teens and for that we still have mortgages, old cars and a Wednesday breakfast is considered the highlight of our month.

One thing I noticed is how angry everyone has become over all of this. They brought up something I think is important, is there any candidate that has declared who truly cares about us? What would we have to do to take back our country? All of us vote, we all work for our party to try and change what is happening but nothing happens except the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

It is really apparent here in Oklahoma, go to the upscale mall in OKC and you see the oil money live and in color. People dripping in money, high school kids driving luxury cars parking next to a school teacher driving a 14 year old car.

I truly believe we are going to see some kind of uprising in this country if this doesn't stop. I may not live to see it, I need to die quickly to satisfy the 1 percenters , but I do believe the masses are getting very angry.

Am I alone in this thinking?

[upaloopa]

1. I am 69 and one year from retirement.

My pension starts then. I also have social security. My wife is seventeen years younger than me so she will still be working. We are selling our house and using the proceeds to pay off our debts. Then we are buying a new smaller house with a smaller mortgage payment. I will have a savings and be able to save after I retire.
I don't see the federal government as having anything to do with this. Mostly I have been lucky and made some right decisions. I could just as easily been bankrupt and homeless 8 years ago. But things worked out differently.
There was a time I was homeless and during 30 years of marriage we have been up and down several times. Almost homeless twice.
I think some of us might stop looking to government as the sole determiner of our fates. Yes government can ruin us as in the recession of 2008. Also I could lose my pension or social security to a repub government.
The way I see it we are born in to a time and place and are dealt a hand. It is up to us to play that hand as best we can.
A combination of government and our efforts has an effect on our futures. But it is plain that in 2015 government is not going to improve our lives given the make up of the Congress and SCOTUS. We can vote and that is our input.
This is not popular here I know but I believe in the power of attraction. I think we attract to ourselves what we dwell on.
I don't mind anyone bashing what I say. It doesn't effect my thinking or my outcome so go ahead.
We are captains of our destinies more than we think. Luck and opportunity play a roll also. There are no absolutes here.

[redstatebluegirl]

2. I don't think we were looking to government to bail us out exactly.

I think we see the disparity in people our age. I thought we had made good decisions, I like you, have a spouse who is younger by a wide margin and is still working. What all of us see is our country deteriorating and the financial burden is falling to the middle class. Incomes are not going up and our retirement accounts don't seem to keep up with the increases, especially in healthcare. Once I am on medicare and have the extra policy I will be much better off. My out of pocket is killing us.

It is issues like healthcare costs and income inequity I want them to deal with , not give me a handout.

I agree that luck and opportunity play a roll and I would never give you a hard time for your opinion, we need to get more tolerant of each other here. We all come from different places and different circumstances. Understanding those are what this place is all about I think...

[upaloopa]

3. I see day after day here posters say the Dem

party needs to get more progressive so that their outcomes will improve. And if it doesn't they will not vote for the current candidates.
That attitude makes me think that those folks don't see any roll for themselves in the improving of their outcomes. A good example are the folks who see Warren riding in on a white horse and saving the country from the 1%. It isn't going to happen but they still hold out hope it will.
I think we need an infusion of positive thinking and determination into our lives or else we remain in a victimhood mentality and nothing will improve because we've convinced ourselves that we are powerless.
Just my point of view.

[redstatebluegirl]

4. I will always vote for the Democratic candidate.

I love Warren but I understand that in many ways she is so far left she is unelectable nationwide, so is Bernie who I love to death and quote often. I don't think I want someone on a white horse, but I want someone willing to tackle the tough stuff without wilting the minute they see a poll.

[upaloopa]

5. We need to get rid of Citizens United and have

public campaign financing and equal access to voting. The next Dem can help with that by placing liberal judges on the bench and by helping to elect a liberal Congress.
The Bernie or Elizabeth or nothing crowd will not help us get there one bit. The right takes these things one bite at a time and builds on their progress. We should learn from them. We need to think long term.

[redstatebluegirl]

6. I was encouraged by what Hilary said yesterday about Citizens United.