Hi5 to the few who have added me as their favourites, nice. I agree about what's been said about today's youth on how they're detached from the essentials of life. The incentive has been taken away, simply because parents have gone out of their way to provide and do everything possible for their loved ones. Nothing wrong with that, but you must balance it out with a bit of tough loves as well - kind of like character building.
I'm just as guilty as any other modern day parent. The things I let my kids get away with was never acceptable 'in my day' (sorry for saying that). I let them sleep in on weekends, whereas I had to get up by around 8am. I don't make them mow the lawns or do chores, whereas I had no option.
It's only now I've awoken from my errors. My father was extremely tough, but I was not scared of him. If anything, I liked his company. Teaching me fishing, welding, painting, etc was a lot of fun. Often he would set tasks for me during school holidays that had to be finished before he got home. I would do them without fail. What I gained from that was a tough attitude. On starting my apprenticeship, my boss was very abusive and would often use scathing words to bring me down. There were times where I would shed a tear in a corner, but soldiered on in knowing I had a goal to reach. I showed him up by winning many awards, and even topping Victoria several times. But I think many today would throw in the towel the minute any sign of harsh reality is revealed in their workplace. Imagine being a young baker, and rocking up at work at 4am in the morning. That is why we have ethnics here.
If you've read my other posts, you would be aware of my recommendations for having grandparents at home. It's not about saving tax dollars. It's not about having someone to look after the kids. It's about kids growing up with real guidance from those who have the time to teach. And grandparents are our best teachers - better than any education (almost). Mums and dads are tired - real tired from everyday life of working and doing essential chores around the home. That is why grandparents quickly fill in the gaps. Kids want to give, but first they need to be 'shown' how. You're not going to get that with today's high pressure lifestyles, and at day care centres.
And because mums and dads are tired, they begin bargaining the minute the child is born. Give it whatever it takes to stop crying. Unfortunately that carries over well into their teens. I know of 2 teenagers that cried when they failed their license test. Crying is the most basic form of defence. But it won't give you your license, so don't bother.
I'm not a big fan of labelling people into groups, like generation X, etc. I think any group who had lived in the best years would have lapped it up, and why shouldn't you? But the lack of accountability in this country is killing it. No one wants to pay for their own medical costs. No one wants to pay for their retirement. No one wants to face responsibility. A lack of self sufficiency is the white elephant - just look at Italy, England, Spain - all those old people who did not have enough kids. But they all want the tax payers to pick up the tabs. The issue is not what older generations have taken before, but what they are now expecting from the young. I think it's disgusting and a disgrace!
I'm not confident for the future here. There's too much debt in this world, too many old people, too much wealth distribution, and corrupt governments and bankers that keep distorting asset prices with low in interest rates, and high stimulus levels.
If only - If only interest rates were wound right up, and I mean really up, about ten years ago - almost to breaking point. What would have happened had that been the case? I'll tell you - a slower paced economy, with much lower profits for banks and corporations, and much lower house prices. And crucially, much lower debt levels and bigger cash deposits. Just think of how different our situation would be right now if the world's debt levels were much lower than what they are now? We would be a lot more stable, secure, and no where near as scared of China or the USA going into recession.
Alas, that is not to be. We are stuck with this high debt levels - very much a stalemate. Purely, the money that had been thrown into the economies in the last 8 years was done so on the belief that we would be earning considerably more than what we are earning now. Households and lending institutions are quietly very well aware of that. That is why money has now become expensive. That is why people are reluctant to spend.
Lack of fore-site and accountability is why we are in this mess. Who has been punished? Apart from a few token key individuals, then it's today's and tomorrow's tax payers that are paying for the mistakes. That is why mistakes will continue to 'accidently' happen in the future.
Our only ray of light are the Germans and Belgians; they are wanting strict codes for monetary policies, much to the annoyance of big corporations. The most basic of all is to ensure that 'all' banks have large enough cash deposit sizes. With that, then there will never be any bank bailouts. Australia really concerns me. If banks run out of money to the point where they need to borrow from overseas then what does that tell you? It tells you that the nation is consuming much more than it is earning. And if we all went to the banks at once to collect 'all' our money, how much will we get? From what I've heard, we will only get 2% back!
