Presidential rankings

I took “Tim, I gave you all the information you needed to know that there was a housing bubble at least three years before it popped” as conversational, not as an accusation that I didn’t see the pop in the housing bubble coming. As you noted, I think it was widely recognized that it was coming.

I remember talking to my wife about it as our house hit it’s peak value. I had been at my job for less than 5 years, so I wasn’t vested, yet. We felt trapped, knowing that we could sell at the peak, but would have to stay in the area for another couple of years and had (at the time) 10 cats to worry about. We decided to keep the house, and thankfully we aren’t underwater.

That experience has me wondering what to do. I’m miserable, these days. My job isn’t what was promised, by a long shot. As it was sold to me, I’d be moving home in about 9 months, but in reality I’m looking at at least 2 more years of paying rent in one town while paying a mortgage in another. And, I’ve started to wonder if I can even do the job. It’s incredibly hard, and it’s not just me saying that. Virtually everyone I work with agrees, including my boss. And here’s perhaps the most ironic part; I’m waiting to see how the SCOTUS rules on Obamacare before I can make any decisions on my own. I’d quit tomorrow and figure out what to do, next, but I’m 55 years old, wouldn’t have health insurance, and the job market isn’t going to get better. High paying jobs with benefits are literally a thing of the past.

So anyone that tells me that “the Supreme Court doesn’t matter”, IMO, is a fucking idiot hasn’t heard how the SCOTUS DIRECTLY affects my life, right now, in real time.

Thanks to 30 years of Reaganomics, the job prospects for someone my age suck in the extreme. (Not to say they’re good for others, like young adults graduating from college.) Another person my age who was laid off the day I was, and was at roughly my level, is still unemployed over 2 years later. (And there’s been another round of layoffs, since. BOTH of the supervisors I reported to are now gone.)

With the backing of the extremely wealthy, the GOP has been going after people like me for 30+ years, and they’re succeeding. (Again, I’m not limiting that to just my age group, or even Americans. The “conservatives” have been destroying the middle class in Europe, as well.) We’re in an extremely bleak time, worldwide. It’s hard to find anything to look forward to, any more. And instead of looking for leaders who will change that, nearly 50% of Americans think that Romneybot, the vulture capitalist, might be a better POTUS than Obama?

It’s really stunning how the marketing of “we can all be wealthy if we just give more money to rich people” has paid off for the greedy bastards who funded it. To take such an absurd concept and convince half of America it’s true is mind-boggling. This Presidential election shouldn’t even be close. The elections for the House and Senate shouldn’t be close. Liberals should be taking over our Federal government by large margins. Yet, we keep going back to the same old tired policies that are killing most of us.

I can see why people just give up.