I am a baby boomer, and I wish someone had given me that advice when I was starting out. My generation was a bit more fortunate in that good jobs were still available -- even pretty goods one -- but as our age started inching toward that of being a senior, employers started easing us out to save money by hiring younger people, paying them less, and denying them the benefits they had given us.

Once when I was in my 30s, a vice president in a very large corporation with whom I had never even spoken, came to my desk and said anyone who works as hard as you should be working for himself. At that point of my life, that was something I could not even consider, having a daughter preparing for college and looking at high tuition payments.

But in 2007, having finished my responsibilities, I walked away from an excellent job and started working for myself. Over a period of time, I have made this work for me, but I have always regretted not having started something of my own on a part-time basis while holding down a position in the orthodox workplace to pay family bills. This is something I now believe every person should do at a younger age, building their own business so that eventually they can work solely as their own boss.

That vice president was absolutely right. Anyone who is willing to work extremely hard at what they do should find a way to channel that for him or herself, not to another.

In the overall scheme of things only YOU can count on YOU to keep yourself employed, and how much effort, research, time and demand for your product or your service will dictate your financial rewards. YOU will never lay yourself off in order to hire a younger person, YOU will never deny yourself needed sick leave or a vacation and YOU will never undercut YOU. Only YOU can count on YOU through good times and bad.

Sam

I have known since Election 2000 he had ethical challenges. I am sure most of you know that as well.

I have heard it said more than once that his parents considered him the smart son. You must have read that as well.

It seems every time I hear him comment on something these days, his words make my jaw drop. He is just so simple. Does he actually think we who hear these things take them seriously? Knowing what we know now, he still thinks we were right to attack Iraq? George W. Bush* kept us safe? Call me crazy, but I didn't feel very safe on September 11, 2001, watching the Pentagon burning from downtown DC where I worked.

And when one thinks about the fact Florida is a 2016 must-win for him, why -- knowing there is an overabundance of senior citizens residing in Florida -- would he say he believes we have to raise the Social Security retirement age to 70? What was he thinking! Or was he thinking?

And speaking of "thinking", does he think that Election 2000 happened 15 years ago and everyone has forgotten about it? We the people are just too dense to realize that his manipulations of that contested election and the shady maneuvers that followed were to force the outcome to favor his brother? Catastrophes such as 911, an illegal invasion of Iraq, the 2008 economic crash, and a ten trillion dollar deficit kept off the general ledger for the next guy to fix ensued. We call those debacles collectively the Bush* legacy. That legacy was made possible by Jeb Bush, who greased the road to the White House for his brother -- Florida Supreme Court decision be damned! The right to vote is not necessarily paramount!

Someone should tell these commentators who have reported gushingly about Jeb's intelligence that simply being smarter than George W. does not necessarily a wise man make.... But the fact that some Republicans think he is the right person to occupy the Oval Office is not amazing -- it is terrifying.

Sam

Postscript edit:

Apparently, Lawrence O'Donnell and an election watchdog (his name is something like Fred Wertheimer -- phonetic) also truly find Jeb amazing. Lawrence just reported on his show tonight a 15-page letter has been sent to the Attorney General asking for an investigation as to whether Jeb has violated campaign finance laws. Lawrence said the election watchdog did not bother sending the letter to the FEC since it only investigates civil violations. The letter forwarded to the Department of Justice asserts Jeb has violated criminal law and cites several statutes.

The glaring (pardon the expression) elephant in the political campaigning room is the fact that Jeb has raised through his PAC approximately One Hundred Million Dollars. The current restrictions limit what someone exploring a run can raise to a figure reasonably suited for expenses during the exploration. Question: who needs One Hundred Million Dollars to explore his or her election viability?

I am going to check out a couple of things on Google, and if I find what I am looking for, I will update this edit.

Here is more: check out this truly cool article I found on the Huffington Post: How Jeb Bush Is Thumbing His Nose at Voters with his Super Pac Scheme.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/27/jeb-bush-super-pac_n_7154030.html