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The Nation's Pulse
Get a Job
Are we really going to pay for slackers’ health insurance?
One of the gimmicks of Obamacare that got too little attention, in my opinion, was the proposal to keep “dependents” on their parents’ healthcare plans till age 26.
I forget what I was doing at 25, but it sure wasn’t relying on my folks for antibiotics.
The Obama Administration is just acknowledging what college professors and the media have been saying for some time: that a lot of young people are unwilling to sign on to the traditional idea of adulthood. In other words, to grow up.
It’s easy to see why today’s twenty and thirty-somethings would eagerly embrace the man-child lifestyle. You get the best of both worlds. You get to do adult things like drink booze, smoke cigars, and be intimate with the opposite sex (unless you smoke cheap cigars), but you also get to do kid stuff, like spend all day watching Cartoon Network, eat Fruit Loops for supper and blow all your disposable income on Arcade Fire downloads.
Better yet, are the things you aren’t required to do. Like go back to law school because your spouse thinks six bedrooms aren’t quite enough, or take out a 30-year mortgage, or spend every weekday evening squatting in the bleachers at the grade school gym.
The problem for the mediacracy is that the slacker lifestyle — at least as it’s portrayed in Judd Apatow movies — is not very sexy. In fact, it is kind of pathetic. Given no responsibilities and all this freedom to refrain from growing up, these so-called “emerging adults” opt to spend their twenties and most of their thirties smoking pot, surfing Internet porn, and playing Total War IV. So the media has redefined slacking and given loafing a whole new aura of respectability.
Slacking is now said to be a form of “discovery.”
Profiles of these emerging adults read like a hokey Somerset Maugham novel, with the hero trekking off to the Himalayas to find some transcendent meaning of life. Maugham’s characters, at least, were traumatized by their World War I combat experiences, so they had an excuse for “loafing.” The only thing today’s kids are traumatized by is their parents’ separation. The only possibility they are exploring is how long they can go without using soap.
The media may be fooled, but a lot of single women aren’t. Many gals are growing weary of dating aimless hipsters, aging frat boys, trust funders, and indie rockers, and wish these guys would grow up already. As comedian Julie Klausner put it in her memoir I Don’t Care About Your Band: “They are more like the kids we babysat than the dads who drove us home.”
LET’S BE GENEROUS. Maybe this generation of slackers is smarter than we think. Maybe all these children of divorce take marriage more seriously than their parents did, so they refuse to rush into it. After all, women who get married before they’re 25 make up about 64 percent of all divorces in the U.S. On the other hand, women who get married in their late twenties make up only 16 percent of the divorces. Shacking up may have also lowered divorce rates, since it weeds out bad relationships before they get to the altar, though some traditionalists don’t want to hear that.
On the other hand, don’t give emerging adults too much credit. If they seem to be developing a greater consideration for others by volunteering for City Year and the Peace Corps, and attending graduate school in record numbers, it’s only because they are shirking so-called “adult responsibilities” and need to kill time till they are old enough to get married, which is like 40 or something. More to the point, not everybody can work part-time at the Center for Faith, Spirituality and Social Justice. Somebody has to make a profit in order to keep the nonprofits afloat. That would be all of us over 40, I guess.
Incredible as it may sound, some of us longtime adults have found happiness by embracing adult responsibilities, like parenting, committing to a single person, purchasing a dream home, and — unless our kids turn out to be a bunch of childless slackers — grandparenting.;
My wife, who has seen my dog-eared copy of Generation X, tells me not to throw rocks on account of my glass house. Fine. Live and let live, I always say. But all you lazy 26-year-olds, don’t expect us to foot the bill for your health insurance.
Get a job.
About the Author
Christopher Orlet writes from St. Louis.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (120) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 2.24.11 @ 6:53AM
This trend is not quite new -- my college roommate told me her mother attempted suicide when her last child left home, reasoning that her life was over -- but as long as helicopter mommies continue to exist, slackers will too. But all is not lost. When Mom and Dad move to The Villages where nobody under 60 is permitted, likely the slackers will starve and the problem will be solved.
Alan Brooks| 2.25.11 @ 12:30AM
Fine, just make sure your well-off elderly kin pay more for their insurance- THEY are the greatest burden-- doesn't matter how much they contribute to the system (if it is a system), they are an enormous drain.
Melvin| 2.24.11 @ 7:32AM
One day coming home on leave while in the Marine Corps, getting off the plane, and walking through the jet way, I spied my mother, craning her neck like a mother hen, trying to spy her beloved junior.
When the family met, it was a grand affair. Because I was the first one to actually leave the State of Oregon.
My mother was crying ,tears were streaming down her face and her hand was running her hands through what little hair the Marine Corps allowed me to have.
My father was grinning like a Cheshire Cat, proud of seeing his son in uniform, mom uttered these words that for my entire life upon this earth I will never forget.
"Your not my kind, sweet little boy any more." I guess she had watched to many John Wayne movies and figured I had be programmed to be this blood lusting animal.
I responded to her with this simple kind phrase. "Ma, I grown up." A person would have thought I hit her with a roundhouse right. But you know what? From that point in time my mother no longer treated me as her cherubic little Melvin, she treated me like a man.
It is not easy for mothers to let go. We lived on the Pacific Coast in Oregon, and while standing on the beach I always wanted to see what was on the other side of the horizon, I wanted adventure, I wanted to explore.
I suppose my attitude stemmed from to much reading of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Leaving the nest I would wager is a 50/50 split. Half of the kid wanting to go and make his or her way in the world and the other half mom wanting to let go. Fathers always want their kids to go for some reason my wife is going through kid withdraws and I'm proud as punch of all my kids who have gone out and made their way in the world.
From the beggining my wife and were joined at the hip of telling our children as they got old enough. "Your going to leave this house on your own or with my boot up the nether region." This programing of their hard drives conditioned them to when they did leave it wasn't such a shock.
At least to me anyways, this is why grandparents are so important to their children. We are a wellspring of information that no childrearing expert can even come close to.
J.C.Eaton| 2.24.11 @ 10:47AM
Man, the Marine Corps is good for everyone concerned, Semper Fi!
da monk| 2.24.11 @ 7:44PM
Melvin: Well goody for you. You are not the only man who took responsibilty for their own lives. Most of us don't brag about it because the proof is in our children and how they are brought up their own children, with the help of their wives Just doing our job as a parent.
Louis Jenkins| 2.24.11 @ 8:36AM
Mr. Orlet:
Thanks for calling a spade a spade. I'm stuck with insuring a twenty something and it ain't much fun. When I was the kid's age I was out on my own with a job and working towards a college degree. Today it is different.
John Navratil| 2.24.11 @ 10:08AM
Mr. Jenkins,
With no intention to delve into the relationship you have with your child, I wonder what sort of quid pro quo might be available to reward you for you support, enable your child to feel like a valued contributor and prepare him or her for the future.
Does a room need painting? Are the gutters clean?
Tomas| 2.24.11 @ 1:01PM
I work for a non-profit religious organization. We are required to raise our own financial support. The organization does not have enough employees to get group medical coverage, so we are on our own.
To pay for our health insurance, I have taken a part-time job that will bring in just a bit more per month than the premiums will cost. The job is in a chain restaurant (upscale), and the work is often menial.
But, here's the rub: I'm 53, working mostly with 20-somethings ( and enjoying it, really). We are short-staffed - we need another 5 people to fill the staff shortfalls. We've been that way for about a year.
I tell young folks at church who grouse about not having a job, "Hey, we're hiring. Apply, and the job is essentially a slam-dunk."
Yet, they don't. Maybe the job is beneath them. I don't know.
Who does?
-
Donna| 2.24.11 @ 8:40AM
My observations about youth today are that dependency starts at 12. No responsibilities (household chores), given Ipods, laptops, video game controllers and money whenever they want it. At 15/16 they get to driving, parents buy them cars (tired of running them around to activities/sports), paying for insurance, gas, & spending money. At 17/18 when they graduate, go to college and find out they are not emotionally or educationally equipped. They party, join sororities/fraternities, and fail out of college the first year because the “college fund” parents pay for everything. The adult child has no concept of the value of education, money or goals. If you do have a child that can hang in with mediocre grades, the professors and deans start selling them a master’s degree. We as taxpayers have also been footing this bill for those who did not have parents that saved for a college fund.
My conclusions: anyone wanting financial aid-serve the country first. If my son is not ready for college, he’ll do 4 years military service like you did. I am trying hard as a parent to raise an upstanding citizen. But it’s daily battles against the Jones’ that don’t parent. I am a mean, drill sergeant Mom I am told. Lighten up he’s just 15. He’s just a teenage he’ll grow out of this, your tough etc. It’s unfortunate that so many parents subscribed to child centered parenting instead of child directed parenting. One friend once mentioned that Dr Spock and his book is what damaged parenting. I believe him.
Appleby| 2.24.11 @ 11:13AM
My Daddy was a milk inspector who travelled from farm to farm to do his job. He had one customer with a worthless son, said son being in his early fifties, and no matter what kind of stupid pet trick he got up to, the farmer would say "You can't blame Charley, he's only a boy." That got to be a pet phrase around our house. That was fifty years ago.
da monk| 2.24.11 @ 7:48PM
Donna: Whose children are you talking about? You cast a large net. There are a lot of young people today doing things on their own, just that you don't hear about them because it's not unusal and not newsworthy. I bethcha that when you were growing up there were slackers and go-getters. Give our present youth some credit, please
Jason B. Kane| 2.24.11 @ 8:49AM
My children were told that when their education was complete they could return to our nest for 6 months if they had a job. During that time no rent or expenses would be due. They could eat, sleep, watch television and enjoy heated and conditioned aire at no cost.
But there was one condition. Their paycheck less the cost of transportation to work (they could make and take a lunch) would be deposited in an account in my name for their use in the 7th month.
That worked so well my daughter was able to put aside almost $10,000 in her six months to make a financially comfortable move possible in her 7th month. And she was ready to go. Keeping only gas money leaves precious little for "girls night out", so she spent lots quality weekend days and nights with her Mom and I.
With my sons it worked even better. Once they heard the conditions, they never came back! Well not quite true. They came every Sunday after church to partake of their mother's astounding roast beef that was (and is) the 1400 hours Sunday staple in our house. All 13 still come on Sunday-that includes spouses and grandchildren. Life could not be sweeter!
GreatOne| 2.24.11 @ 9:45AM
Mr. Orlet is flat out wrong that "Shacking up may have also lowered divorce rates, since it weeds out bad relationships before they get to the altar, though some traditionalists don't want to hear that." He's apparently referring to the 2008 Teachman study, which was the first study that I'm aware of that didn't prominently tout the much higher divorce rate for couples who do cohabitate before marriage (approximately 50% higher than those that don’t).
However, what Mr. Orlet apparently missed, if he is referring to the Teachman study, is that couples who cohabitate (whether they get married or not) have a 40% breakup rate, and for women who lived with someone else in addition to the eventual husband, the divorce rate is twice as high than those who didn’t or only cohabited with their eventual husband. In other words, nothing has really changed despite the attempt to make it appear it had.
Fact remains: you have a better chance of not having your marriage end in divorce if you do not cohabitate before marriage. That’s not a “traditionalist” view, but a fact-based, sociological one - which is a primary reason why us “traditionalists” hold our views.
Alert1201| 2.24.11 @ 1:26PM
I did not have to sleep or live with my wife before we knew we would be happy together. We did resolve and promise each other that divorce would never be an option.
NavyBrat | 2.24.11 @ 10:24PM
I lived with my wife for 6 years before we got married. And we're as happy as we can be. I'm gonna be 32 in March, she'll be 30. We knew all of each other's idiocyncracies well in advance. And we both had a VERY clear idea of what we were committing to.
buckeyeman| 2.24.11 @ 10:02AM
Mr. Orlet may be flat wrong but so is the "GreatOne". The statistics cited are meaningless. It is a classic case of presenting associations and pretending that they demonstrate causation. Our society, laws and culture are ever changing and so complex that the consequences of these changes are simply inscrutable. The most apt observation (imho) is that interpersonal relations have changed and the current divorce rate is not influenced much one way or the other by cohabitation or non-cohabitation.
John Navratil| 2.24.11 @ 10:19AM
buckeyman,
'GreatOne' made a point and cited references to do so. The conclusion may be wrong but it was based on something a bit more substantial than personal opinion.
Why are the statistics meaningless? Given that people must initially establish relationships before they can be continued, why is a breakup not causally related to the relation and how it was established? Why is your personal observation most apt?
Anastasia Mather| 2.24.11 @ 10:26AM
My 20-year-old daughter works two part time jobs, with many others in between when she can get them and does not have health benefits. She makes too much money for Medicaid, and not enough to buy into a Medicaid HMO. We're happy to pay to have her on our insurance.
Not everyone is a slacker.
RacerJim| 2.24.11 @ 11:03AM
There are, of course, exceptions to every rule.
da monk| 2.24.11 @ 7:51PM
No, the slackers are the exception to the rule.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 11:04AM
Your 20-yr old daughter would still be covered before ObamaCare. Btw, is she single? lol
Anastasia Mather| 2.24.11 @ 11:33AM
Yes, she is single, but is too focused on her career in sound production and engineering to consider a boyfriend - she just broke up with one. :D
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 2:55PM
aww schucks.. :-(
da monk| 2.24.11 @ 7:51PM
And your point is?
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:28PM
Did you read the article, or just the comments. The article talks about how "dependants" are covered until age 26 under Obamacare. Then he goes into a rant about my generation.
Please just do the reading next time. Thanks for coming.
Stan Redmond| 2.24.11 @ 10:53AM
Why work when you can slack? When your every need is taken care of through childhood, college, and now post college "transitional adulthood" there is ZERO incentive to quit the teet and work for yourself. Democrats most certainly don't have any interest in people working because it ensures more and more democrat voters to vote out the big bad conservatives that are coming to take away thier lolli-pops.
There are some good things about slackers. I feel particular pride when I hire someone to mow my lawn and paint my house who has a bachelor's degree in liberal studies that is 29 years old. My food tastes better when I'm waited on by someone in their early 30s with their Gender Studies degree. Oh, and you ever had a starbucks coffee made by a feminine studies graduate? Delicious. I don't enjoy paying my taxes and now MUCH higher insurance rates to support them, but you have to find the bright side.
Anthony| 2.24.11 @ 10:59AM
Remember the old saying, "why buy the cow if you get the milk for free?", I think that's why young men aren't getting married. Apparently, young women are now required to sleep with young men after the third date, or so I'm told by the guys I work with who live at home and are in their twenties. I guess I'm becoming an old man, but it seems to me we need to return to our old Christian values, or at least these young girls have to stop being so easy.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 2:55PM
Hey, speak for yourself, buddy.
nita| 2.24.11 @ 3:25PM
AMEN
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 3:33PM
I never followed the 3rd date rule. I try to convince them there is nothing wrong with sleeping with me on the first date. "It just means you know what you want"
Got any daughters old man? lol
DG in GA| 2.26.11 @ 11:44PM
I've been hearing that too, from my 30-something slacker stepson who has been unemployed and living in our home for over 5 years while he plays computer games for days at a time and shacks up with his girlfriend (sometimes at our home, other times at her home - also paid for by HER mommy & daddy.) Now why would any self-respecting 30-something girl be involved with an unemployed (but IVY League educated) 30-something guy? Maybe she's buying into the myth that one day she can make him turn into the man she wants to be with. I don't know. I just know that both of them have Ivy League Bachelors and Master's degrees, and neither has ever bothered to seek employment in the fields for which their degrees supposedly trained them. Neither of them sees anything wrong with their delayed adulthood (they don't consider it such, BTW). In both cases it is the FATHER who doesn't want to let go of his little darling. The stepmoms can't wait for the kids to start acting like grownups.
Oh, and both of these adult children are die-hard liberals who totally support Obamacare - 'cause God forbid they'd have to pay for their own health care services. Unless, of course, Daddy will...
Dennis Duggan| 2.24.11 @ 11:01AM
In the 70s, it was called "finding yourself." Remember?
RacerJim| 2.24.11 @ 11:08AM
In the 60's, it was called "Make Love, Not War".
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 11:11AM
In the 20's it was called "Make Booze, then make love."
Appleby| 2.24.11 @ 11:16AM
And the answer then as now was, "You'll be sorry when you do!"
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 2:54PM
LOL!
DG in GA| 2.26.11 @ 11:47PM
Dennis, I don't remember very many people laying around "finding themselves" in the 70's. When I graduated from college the economy was even worse than it is today, but we got JOBS and moved out of the house! Only the very wealthy kids got away with staying in college forever or put off getting real jobs.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 11:03AM
Hilarious article. I'm part of Gen X, and I won't try to defend them either.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 11:09AM
Seriously though, what's with all this ignorance? Who says EVERYONE should have coverage? Maybe, like home-ownership, some things in life will only be appreciated when you have to sacrifice for them. Problem with the libs is, they think its gonna be free on the front-end. It's not free on the front end either, not to mention if this bill is not repealed, they will soon be taking another 20-40% of your paycheck to pay for these SLACKERS. And that's exactly what they are. Get out and work for something and quit depending on your neighbor to pay for your lazy-ass. nobody starts at the top. With the exception of the priveleged few, everybody has to PROVE themselves. So I suggest anyone who feels like this article is referring to them, get off the damn internet, facebook, and twitter, and get on the grind, son!
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 11:12AM
God have mercy on my children if I have any. They're not gonna get shit, and be treated like prisoners in their own home. CURFEW IN EFFECT. NO CELL PHONES! lol
da monk| 2.24.11 @ 7:56PM
PhiltheCapitalistPig: You just ruined your credabiltiy: How can you complain about how children are raised when you have no experience? Your just a blowhard. Come back when you have some experience in raising a child.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:30PM
So everyone that has raised a child is an expert, fool?
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:31PM
Last time I checked, poor parenting is how we get a bunch of "slackers."
One question, Oh omniscient parenting god, have you contributed a messed up child to this world?
DG in GA| 2.26.11 @ 11:50PM
Phil, I don't care if you don't have kids - you're right! The biggest reason people have 20- and 30-something slacker kids is because mommy & daddy support this financially. Whether they live rent-free in your home or M & D pay the rent and supplement the Starbucks income, the slacker finds being a slacker preferable to being an adult. If parents treated adult/children who behave like 16-year-olds as if they WERE 16, with curfews, no expectation of privacy, required to be at the dinner table, requiring chores, etc., these kids would grow up in a big hurry.
Petronius| 2.24.11 @ 11:16AM
I always say people only complain about the price when they don't want to spend money on it. The issues of conflict concerning medical insurance stems from those who want it for nothing and hold the belief that their betters owe it to them.
The large casualty companies and the AMA supplanted the old system of municipally supported general hospitals and clinics that ran like a Swiss watch and saddled the taxpayers with Medicare, Medicaid, and medifraud. If intelligent healthy people won't buy insurance, that's fine. If their checkbooks aren't fat, they should be prepared to assume the risk.
Sean| 2.24.11 @ 12:23PM
The problem is the 26 year olds are expected to foot the bill for everyone. They work and their wages are deducted to take care of all the lazy people over 65. Young men are just not buying into this sytem. As for the women like Julie complaining about them not being real men. Where are the real women for them? Most guys their age who got married ended up getting screwed in divorce. That is not a big motivator for them to get married.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 3:50PM
If that's not the truth, then I'll be damned! You've gotta be kidding me. Women don't even want a REAL MAN these days. They want fame and fortune. That's why all the young women (at least in this area) are nothing but "jersey-chasers" trying to land an NBA player and hit the lottery. These women tell us what they value, then when men reflect those desires, men get bashed for not being grown-ups.
I'm old school as shit. Old school values, you'll be hard-pressed to find Conservatives like me under the age of 30, and I can tell you, women don't want that these days. Today's young women are primarily vain creatures only interested in the arm-candy factor of a man along with materialistic desires.
So lets not get it twisted. Geez, I never thought I would have to tell a bunch of men to stop bashing men.
One thing I would like to add is that art/music is a reflection of the people, and what is valued in music these days? That's right, materialism. that's just the way it is today, not a whole lot to be done about it EXCEPT making yourSELF more enlightened and better than that crap. Rise above it all, and we'll change the country one person at a time.
da monk| 2.24.11 @ 8:01PM
Phil: Your under 30? How come you're at home 3:50 in the afternoon. Why aren't you at work?
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:32PM
I'm at work dummy, sorry I'm not a dipshit that thought the farming industry was where its at in the future to make a buck.
God, you are an idiot.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:50PM
Oh sorry for the kneejerk response, I just didn't realize some people think you can only use the internet in your home.
Do you think at all?
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:33PM
BTW, please get off my sack.
Joe D.| 2.24.11 @ 12:56PM
I am sorry Mr. Christopher Orlet, shacking up couples divorce at a much hire rate according to the statistics. It is something like 80%. I know you and your shacking up girl friend do not want to here this.
Chris' Wife| 2.24.11 @ 9:17PM
How dare you?
Slacker In Chief| 2.24.11 @ 1:09PM
Getting a job won’t necessarily help. Living as a slacker is like tasting the forbidden fruit, once you have experienced it, there is no going back.
I’m a working professional and except for the living at home part and eating fruit loops, I’m guilty of everything and worse.
But, these comments make it sound so bad. Sorry to break it to you but, being single in your 30’s is fun and has advantages (at least for a male).
Not being tied down by a home and family is an advantage when starting and building a career. Mobility is a big deal. Never having bought a home is looking pretty good in this market and prices are still falling. Not everyone dreams of a house in the burbs anyway.
I’ve cohabitated with a few girlfriends and I'm thankful I never married any of them. Ditto for many of my friends. Why would we care what Julie Klausner types write? Thirty something females seeking a family should not be looking for thirty something single males. We are no longer interested in marrying them. Most have spent the last decade focused on their career and behaving like sluts. Now they are starting to lose their looks and fertility and are ready settle for somebody and have a family. Well too bad, that ship is left the dock.
A fact of life is that women are like busses; if you miss one because anther will come along shortly.
They missed their chance to catch a man their own age and should now look for 40 and 50 year old divorced men (who will still find them attractive).
Not everybody is cut out for domestic life and domestic life isn’t all it is sold as. This is the first generation to really have a choice.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 2:53PM
ROTFLMAO!!!
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 3:15PM
Hey, how many single women are there these days that are hot, smart, successful, and don't have children??
(Trick Question Answer: Zero) FML
Steve A| 2.24.11 @ 1:50PM
Slacker, I enjoyed reading your take on it. You tell it like it is. I do speculate that you may end up one of the 40-50s reaching back to snag one of the babes you are trashing though. I can see it clear as day.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 2:58PM
LOL! You know that!
Oldefarte| 2.24.11 @ 1:57PM
Yeah, as one who worked continuously for thirty-five years until early retirement, funded my offspring's college education instead of treking off to expensive vacations, purchasing expensive homes/cars, etc; I say HELL YES, GET A JOB! Enjoy the PRIDE OF WORKING FOR A LIVING instead of sponging off of your parents and/or the government [me, you and all other taxpayers]. Be a MAN [or a WOMAN], and GROW UP [it don't hurt and you'll be doing THE RIGHT THING as Dr Laura proclaims]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wolflen| 2.24.11 @ 1:58PM
slacker in chief is refreshing to read...its like evolution...seeing outdated ideas brought to life via lack of self respect and morality...
my neighbor-28 yr old male...has well off parents who pay for his 2 bedroom apt...while he is "looking for work"...his live in girlfriend is working on her "masters degree" (in what area i have no idea...but i don't think it matters)..they do like loud and very loud "hip hop sounds" (its NOT music)--and seem to be able to exist on very large quantities of beer and substances that you burn and inhale..
there does seem to be benefits to this outlook on life...nothing seems to bother them...broken windows on their unit...flat tires on their cars...the mess their dogs leave on the walkways..the cigarette butts and empty beer bottles on the back patio (a common area) ...they laugh ALOT and very loud and very often...
perhaps i should cut back on responsibility and start drinking again..and taking drugs...and breakout my 60's sounds and turn up the volumn..invite alot of ex-hippy types over - and have love-ins in my one-bedroom...perhaps my lifestyle will spill over and make my neighbor complain..but i have a feeling they wont even notice...
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 3:04PM
Or maybe you should join a retirement home. I bet your dad talked about "Rock & Roll sounds" not being music. Go to bed, old man. I DO work, and have enjoyed more success than 80-90% of my similarly aged colleagues. But just bc I'm single, listen to hip hop music, and drink alcoholic beverages in no way is a reflection on my self respect or morality.
I think you are a bitter old man, that married your high school sweetheart, just to realize later down the road that you don't even like her, and now you're bashing the young men who have sat by and watched basically every girl I know that got married before 25 get divorced, remarried, and divorced again.
So take a closer look at who you deem as immoral or lacking self-respect. I think it requires the utmost self-respect to RESPECT marriage, and know that you don't enter it lightly. Some of us lazy gen-x'ers DO come from broken homes and DO take marriage very seriously, despite being a 28 year old single male.
Steve A| 2.24.11 @ 2:31PM
wolfen, What slacker fails to do is actually take a good, hard look at his life objectively. I would bet that what he would find, if he did, would be that nobody & I mean NOBODY really gives a rats a** about his career, his apartment, his car or his video game collection. Maybe his Mommy still cares but that would be about it.
A real man, at some point, recognizes that it's not about you & your social agenda anymore. He mans up, takes on some responsibility & learns that sharing his success ( & failures) with his family is the reward.
Slacker In Chief| 2.24.11 @ 5:04PM
Sure, few people other than Mommy really give at rat’s rear. So what? Sometimes I barely give a rip myself.
I can’t go back in time a dozen years and start a family at 24 (frankly most women don’t want to at 24 either). This leaves a couple options. First, is to agonize that I’m not a fully formed man because I am not domesticated and try to do something about it…and fast. Second, take pleasure in the opportunities being a single adult provides and take life as it comes. I don’t feel like living my life as one big self improvement project so I’ll pick #2.
I didn’t make this culture, but can you at least allow me to enjoy it? Sometime before I was born, baby boomers dropped acid and decided to restructure the culture. (Gender equality was always about telling girls they could be act like sluts so long as they were their own pimp, which is the male habit. Yes, it is equality like it or not. ) Well that didn’t turn out perfect, so in typical baby boomer fashion they find someone else to blame, in this case young males.
Fine, we’ll be slackers. Suites me just fine. It would, however, be gracious if the baby boomers could stop lamenting a situation they created.
Clint| 2.24.11 @ 6:20PM
Translation: Slacker can't get laid, can't afford a house, doesn't have a career & is a Mommy's Boy.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:48PM
Or he might have been slick enough to dodge a bullet by not knocking up one of his girlfriends, and having a child into an inevitable broken home. Just sayin'.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 2:57PM
Wait a minute, you old farts are lecturing us on being responsible adults? Sheesh... to think I thought it was the previous generations that mounted all this debt WE have to pay for..
da monk| 2.24.11 @ 8:06PM
Phil: Respect your elders! You're castigating YOUR parents with your comments about the last generation. Obviously they are funding you or you would be working at your job.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:34PM
How's that second shift job at McDonald's working out, loser?
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:47PM
Hey Monk, do monks work? nevermind.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 3:10PM
So, old farts, so socializing our nation and allowing progressives to have thier way with our constitution is your example of responsibility and being a "big boy"?
Please explain, since I see many of you want to preach from your high horse.
I do believe that over the past 80 years you guys have done what MY generation will have to clean up. But I bet we are the REAL GROWN UPS when it comes to that. Don't worry, let the REAL MEN clean up this mess, you sorry old saps.
You guys wanna bash slacker in cheif for not analyzing his own self. Maybe you should do the same and take a look at what YOUR generation has done to OUR country.
But keep calling the kettle black, hope it makes you feel better about your existence on this planet considering you've managed to swindle away the only example of a free society in the history of man. Good job guys, but at least you can drive your daughter home, like a man.
Let he without sin cast the first stone. Just sayin'.
Raymond Fencl | 2.24.11 @ 3:26PM
Phil - I am an old fart and agree with you. See this article: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg.....08-152.stm It is pathetic what the hippies of my generation have done to our country. While the hippies were drugging I was paying a mortgage, in the USAR and starting a family. Now we are leaving our children and grandchildren the obligations of the Great Society et.al. God help us all.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 3:39PM
amen, brother.
nita| 2.24.11 @ 9:17PM
I second that
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 3:40PM
Good read.
Steve A| 2.24.11 @ 3:48PM
Phil, Relax there pal. Take a deep breath. Guess I hit a nerve there. First off, I'm 44. Not quite over the hill yet. I have voted along a conservative line since I could pull the lever. I own a business & pay enough taxes to make you cry, I promise. I fully expect to not see 1 freakin dime of SS & am frankly fine with that. Making my own plans.
I am not casting moral bombs at slackerdude. All I am saying is that I was where he is at at one point in my life & it was not a good spot (even though I thought it was). Things change, including your perspective, priorities, goals & ambitions as the years pass. If you are truly searching for some meaning, focusing on youself, career, etc. can be a hollow deal at the end of the day.
Having said all that, I do realize that it's different stroke for different folks. Maybe slacker rides that train to the end of the tracks but there is nobody home when he gets to the end of the line. I guarantee you that.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 3:59PM
I can agree with that, but do you pay more taxes because you have a higher income or because you're married?
I know you don't even get a reach around when it comes to paying your business taxes, so I won't go there.
I do agree that there is more to life than career and self. I do agree that family is what makes it all worthwhile.
But is the only measure of being a responsible adult how many offspring you produce and how quickly you go into debt for a home?
I'm just saying, sometimes the responsible decision is postponing some of that. Does anyone ever stop to think many of the social problems today are caused by a large % of children being are being raised by children?
Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it all!
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 4:02PM
But in the same token, let me add that the world would be a lot better place if everyone focused on themselves, their career, and becoming a better person in general. In that respect I agree with Ayn Rand very much.
nita| 2.24.11 @ 9:21PM
Amen....Jesus's golden rule :)
Steve A| 2.24.11 @ 4:04PM
I do not disagree with one single thing you just stated.
I think the answer to your questions are: Both. No, respectively.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 4:00PM
I know that my ass gets raped on taxes being single and not owning a home. Hell, I'm gonna buy a damn house, even though I don't want one, nor the work that comes along with it, just to get a fair shake on taxes.
Steve A| 2.24.11 @ 4:10PM
Phil, Buy a house & rent out a room to slackerdude to help cover the note.....
Best of luck. Sounds like you are on the right track & have thought things through. Good for you.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 4:11PM
LOL. thanks brother
nita| 2.24.11 @ 9:23PM
great idea...rent a room to slacker and his woman/ man
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:35PM
Hey, let's take it easy on slacker, he sounds like a fun guy!
Roy| 2.24.11 @ 5:14PM
Won't help you - you'll just be paying property taxes then.
da monk| 2.24.11 @ 8:11PM
Oh Phil, thank you for taking over for me. I am sure you will straighten out the country and the mess we made of it. Of course, you are doing that right now at 3:10 in the afternoon when you should be working at a job. Fine example of "savior" are you.
nita| 2.24.11 @ 9:24PM
LOL....maybe works nites...day off :/
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:36PM
Nope, just not a slave.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:37PM
But not quite a union member on the other hand.
Question: Is it okay with everyone here if I slack off the last hour of the day, commenting and reading articles on the spectator?
Hell I thought everyone here during the day was at work, says something about a guy that assumes i'm not at work because I post online. Businesses ACTUALLY HAVE INTERNET. Kinda crazy this brave new world...
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:43PM
Must suck to be so bitter about your shitty job
Raymond Fencl | 2.24.11 @ 3:20PM
At 22 I was starting a family and paying a mortgage.
I also had my own insurance.
nita| 2.24.11 @ 3:36PM
Raymond, you are a rarity...good luck and God bless!
PattyMor| 2.24.11 @ 4:10PM
All the welfare programs encourage slackerness.
Why wait tables, mow lawns, or clean toilets when you can get on the dole? Why grow up when you can slide by and get on daddy insurance?
But, the whole house of cards is about to come crashing down. We simply can not afford it any longer.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 4:15PM
Patty you have illuminated a basic truth. I call it a basic truth, but its astounding how many people don't get it. I forget which psych doctor did the research back in the day, but it comes down to reward and punishment. They are reward NON-productivity and punishing the productive types. Given that reward & punishment is a behavior training method that works on just about all species, what do they expect the outcome of this to be?
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.24.11 @ 4:16PM
BTW, I said the same thing to my Mom today during lunch. "The house of cards is about to come tumbling down"
I can't wait.
da monk| 2.24.11 @ 8:13PM
Phil: You're home for lunch. Mommy is cooking for you. Your job must be close to home and your room. Hypocrit!
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:38PM
Man, I'm not gay, please stop hitting on me.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:41PM
Is this all you can do is insult, you pansy ass monk. I love internet tough guys like you. Just wish I could have some "face time"..
Ralph Davis| 2.24.11 @ 4:36PM
Wow. This post is eerily similar to the Kay S. Hymowitz piece from the 2/19 Wall Street Journal...Coincidence??
Ivy| 2.24.11 @ 4:37PM
My husband and I were astounded when our 25 year old daughter showed up as a possible elecction on our health insurance this year.
Said daughter has already completed college, done a stint in the Air Force, and is now a very successful professional. I'm delighted that, in a few years, she may well be able to buy and sell me!
Neither she nor her older brother would dream of coasting on mom and dad's bennies. They are two very responsible adults, and (rightly) look with disdain on those who won't cut the cord.
PolishKnight| 2.24.11 @ 4:43PM
My wife is a traditional woman (in the classic sense) and she was living with her parents at the age of 25 when I met her. In the culture where was from (not the USA), men were often the same way and stayed at home. This was NOT an excuse to slack off. Quite the contrary, the boys were constantly pressured by their parents to study hard, get a good job, find a nice girl, and get married and move away. The girls also experienced similar pressure without the good job part. Now THAT'S the key factor the author has missed.
Even many conservatives have bought into the hype that their daughters should have a dream job or at least a "backup" job and then finding a husband. Some are even told to play "hard to get." Their daughters hit their late 20's before they know it and then their early 30's and then panic sets in: What succe$$ful man is going to want to hook up with a 30 something spinster?
In addition, it does take people longer to "mature" nowadays due to the increased cost of living of dual income households and middle class bourgeois living: The girls take longer to graduate from MRS degrees, er, college and the boys have to go to school longer to keep up with them. If Jane gets a Bachelors degree, then Dick has to go longer for his masters. Do you want them footing the bill for rent and healthcare during that time?
Don't worry folks! (sarcasm) The good news is that if all works out and the stars align then the kids will marry and move out and get a 30 year mortgage that they should just finish paying off when their kids move out. Yikes. That's depressing. Don't tell them!
MikeBee| 2.24.11 @ 6:00PM
Years ago, the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21, as many kids were getting married early, and taking on responsibilities. But, if today's kids aren't taking on responsibilities until 28, I think it's high time to raise the voting age again.
nita| 2.24.11 @ 9:27PM
I agree
PCP Smoker| 2.24.11 @ 6:08PM
Spot on. Levin had a college student call him to advocate for socialized healthcare. The student admitted owning, and paying for, an F250 truck, a smart phone, all while living at home. You believe the nerve of this creep?
Kathleen| 2.24.11 @ 6:43PM
Borrowing from Battlestar Gallactica (non-slackers like this, too):
Shack Up and You Will Probably
Frack Up.
It's statistically true: a test drive only prolongs playing house and most shackies will divorce. How else to explain the longevity of some marriages 3 generations ago? Hmmmm????? A nice rationalization, Mr. Orlet, but it won't wash.
David| 2.24.11 @ 6:51PM
Hey Phil, don't buy a house, let's all get involved on the wave that is currently coming and that is to eliminate the home interest deduction. I don't own a home either, and I don't understand why people who do get such a huge deduction. Folks say it helps the economy.
Well excuse me, if I happen to be someone who wants to own 2 or 3 autos, that helps the economy in the same ways that home owneship does, yet I don't get to deduct my interest payments. Or maybe I want boats and other recreational vehicles, or fine furniture, or maybe I want to rent 2 places (you know, one on the beach).
Get rid of the interest deduction for home mortgages, and get rid of the EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT. I'll settle for either one being done away with first provided the other soon follows suit.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:39PM
Amen brother, Just for you, I'll get a boat instead! :D
Mike| 2.24.11 @ 9:16PM
Christopher,
As soon as McConnell and Boehner create the jobs, I'm confident the kids will go to work
You can't have it both ways Mr. Orlet.
Daniel| 2.24.11 @ 9:50PM
Chris Orlet, sorry to burst your bubble, but you have left out so many variables. Its easy to wag a finger at the younger generation and call them lazy, but its difficult to look at the big picture.
Truth be told, most jobs available to people this age do not offer health insurance. Furthermore, graduate school has become the new bachelor's degree. If one goes to dine or shop at many businesses, he or she would find that many of the workers at these lower paying jobs are staffed by young people... who work hard, part-time and go to school. These days with inflation among many things is making it more difficult for these kids to launch financially sound from their parents.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.25.11 @ 4:39PM
Exactly, I saw some union members from his generation acting pretty bad in wisconsin!
Richard Baker| 2.25.11 @ 6:47PM
Sadly, grade inflation at all levels of Education up through the Bachelors have rendered High School diplomas and BS/BA degrees generally worthless. Plus...Oh Yes, Plus, the knowledge level is abysmal. The "Education Establishment" is a total failure at the above levels. Close the public schools, fire the teachers and administrators, and give the parents education-only vouchers to choose the school of their choice. Make the "Educators" compete and produce like the rest of us. As for the parents, if they won't get involved then put them in jail. Harsh, yes but can our country stand anymore of the system we have?
MattZ| 2.27.11 @ 12:35PM
Yeah, I would encourage all lazy 20-somethings to get a job writing fairly asinine drivel like this as an occupation. That'll turn things around for America.
The actual problem is that health insurance is typically given through your job, which isn't the best idea with so many people out of work in a down economy. If you're that worried about "slackers" getting something for nothing, then you clearly don't understand how costs get passed on to others when the uninsured sick get emergency room coverage at several times the price of preventative appointments, etc.
MZ
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.28.11 @ 1:31PM
That's not the solution. The Group Employee Benefits market was created by, guess who, government via payroll deductions.
Nice try, Btw, I'm in the insurance industry, and have been for 2-3 years now, and you can't make an argument for Socialized medicine that I won't destroy, and I also have a family member that comments here from time to time with 30 years experience that can help me if I need it (which I don't).
But anyway, please just don't opine on things you are so clearly ignorant on. You don't even know how you're own insurance plan works let alone anyone else's.
So you're argument is, that instead of the masses paying for the critical illnesses that MUST be addressed as a matter of life and death, the masses should be covering that person for whatever reasons there might be, including critical illnesses, head colds, their children until age 26, is the way to go as a solution to problems in the healthcare system?
Pure foolishness.
I've been on conference calls with the Dept of Health and Human services regarding changes and the effects they are having with the National association of Health Underwriters and the Dept of Health and Human Services.
There is NOTHING positive in the Obamacare legislation.
PhilTheCapitalistPig| 2.28.11 @ 1:36PM
You lack a basic understanding of Insurance Principles.
Nevermind| 2.28.11 @ 12:02AM
I'm in my fifties and no one wants to hire me these days. My son, in his mid-twenties, is home semi-slacking (he makes decent money for himself selling online and throws more than a few bucks my way). We both need insurance and both welcome FREE insurance. At this point I look at it this way, if you ain't gonna give me no job, screw the system, and my son keeps me company and abhors the idea of marriage from all the horror stories his friends have been through and others. I'm happy with this situation and hope Obamacare comes to full force.
LestWeForget| 3.5.11 @ 10:28AM
Funny enough, I can currently count on my hand five of my friends, not including myself, with graduate degrees, some working on Master's Degrees with jobs, some that pay as little as $9 an hour, that don't off insurance.
Many waiting tables or bartending or working in offices, paying taxes and struggling to make ends meet. This article was completely insulting and out of touch with the reality that many young adults are facing.
Christian Louboutin | 6.23.11 @ 4:11AM
It's easy to see why today's twenty and thirty-somethings would eagerly embrace the man-child lifestyle. You get the best of both worlds. You get to do adult things like drink booze, smoke cigars, and be intimate with the opposite sex (unless you smoke cheap cigars), but you also get to do kid stuff, like spend all day watching Cartoon Network, eat Fruit Loops for supper and blow all your disposable income on Arcade Fire downloads.
Reebok | 8.11.11 @ 2:51AM
is good
العاب | 4.11.12 @ 5:24PM
I always say people only complain about the price when they don't want to spend money on it. The issues of conflict concerning medical insurance stems from those who want it for nothing and hold the belief that their betters owe it to them.
The large casualty companies and the AMA supplanted the old system of municipally supported general hospitals and clinics that ran like a Swiss watch and saddled the taxpayers with Medicare, Medicaid, and medifraud. If intelligent healthy people won't buy insurance, that's fine. If their checkbooks aren't fat, they should be prepared to assume the risk.