Today I turned 60 years old. I thought I’d post a few of my impressions as I begin a new decade.
First of all, I don’t feel like I’m 60 years old. Physically, I’ve never felt better. And having survived prostate cancer and a heart attack over the last three years, I feel like the worst is behind me. We’ve purchased a treadmill, which I’ve been using on a regular basis, and I”m continuing to climb the seven flights of stairs to work, at least several times a week. I’ve been blessed with joints that allow me to do both. I know there’s no guarantee that I’ll continue to enjoy good health (the last three years have shown me how I can be blindsided), but I’m doing what I can to reduce the odds.
Secondly, although the 60’s are supposed to be the years when people start thinking about retiring and moving to Florida or Arizona, I have no intention of doing either any time soon. My reasons for this are fourfold: 1) I really love my job; 2) I like the seasonal changes that Amarillo provides; someone once said that four distinct seasons temper the soul – live in the same weather all the time and dry rot will set in; 3) I don’t want my future to be dependent on government programs that may not be there for my whole life; and 4) with more and more of us baby boomers retiring, someone is going to have to earn the money and pay the taxes the support them.
In short, I want to be a producer for as long as I can.
In short, I want to be a producer for as long as I can.
You sould substitute “provider” for producer. Don’t you just love socialism?
You sould substitute “provider” for producer.
I chose “producer” because that’s the term that Ayn Rand uses in Atlas Shrugged.
Here are a couple more of her terms (courtesy of Wikipedia):
“Looters” confiscate others’ earnings by force (“at the point of a gun,”) and include government officials, whose demands are backed by the implicit threat of force. Some officials are merely executing government policy, such as those who confiscate one state’s seed grain to feed the starving citizens of another; others are exploiting those policies, such as the railroad regulator who illegally sells the railroad’s supplies for his own profit. Both use force to take property from the people who produced or earned it.
“Moochers” demand others’ earnings on behalf of the needy and those unable to earn themselves, however, they curse the producers who make that help possible and are jealous and resentful of the talented on whom they depend. They are ultimately as destructive as the looters— destroying the productive through guilt, and appealing to “moral right” while enabling the “lawful” looting performed by governments.
Don’t you just love socialism?
Yeah. “From each according to his ability [producers]; to each according to his need [moochers and looters].”
The irony of all this is that that thanks to the half-a-trillion dollar raid on Medicare to help pay for ObamaCare, by the time I’m no longer able to produce, there’ll be nothing left for me in my time of need. All the more reason to work until I drop.
I know it’s unfair, but I’d rather be a net asset to society than a net drain. Call it pride.
Well I would rather work but with increasingly less incentive, I’m preparing to drop out. Might as well sit back and rock away my remaining years. Long as I have a roof over my head, a half reliable car, and the computer I think I’ll be fine. Of course I’m waiting to see whats going to happen to tri-care. And there is the remote cahnce that the next congress will repeal it all.
I’m preparing to drop out.
What you’re describing is called “going Galt” in the vernacular of Ayn Rand. I suspect more and more people will be reacting that way to “Obamatopia” in the months and years to come.
If you haven’t read Atlas Shrugged, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand what’s going on in this country these days. It’s a long read (> 1,000 pages), but well worth the effort.