Posted on 09/01/2016 4:21:23 PM PDT by pabianice
"...Now many in that class are turning 58 years old, and Butler is a shell of what it was four decades ago, with the mills long-since shuttered or shrunk — casualties of the globalized steel industry — taking most of the jobs and that old sense of security with them. People here are approaching their golden years with a sense of bitterness about the new, unforgiving economy and foreboding about what they will have to show for this life. Something their parents could count on — a comfortable retirement, debt-free and maybe in a warmer place — seems out of the question to many who say they see themselves scratching out a living until they are buried in the cemetery on the hillside near Connoquenessing Creek.
As interviews with more than a dozen in the Butler High School class of 1976 show, many of those bright-eyed 18-year-olds now feel weary, worn, baffled, furious. They were raised to work hard without complaining. But such stoicism is hard when the old dream they were sure was theirs is slipping away and with it any confidence that the country and its leaders understand their plight or care enough to try to help.
Many voice regret at some of their own choices, that they didn’t put away more money sooner, and sorrow that they will now have to work, as one woman put it, “until the day of my funeral.”
There is frustration, too, and plentiful disgust, at the state of the government and of politics more broadly — an outlook that leads some but not all toward Donald Trump, a candidate they feel is speaking for them like no one before. Or at least not speaking like the politicians they have come to resent...
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...
PA people need to take a course called “Connect the Dots”.
“...PA people need to take a course called “Connect the Dots”....”
Not all of us, brother.
PA isn’t all Philly and Pittsburgh.
The American dream getting routed to GibMeDats, blm, islam and every other unearned minority.
The will be the majority soon. I plan to give no crap nor take it from any of these enemies.
Our totally fiat currency and central bank mean that rampant money printing, government spending and debt creation means cronies, insiders, bankers and politicians get first crack at all the new money. Workers and average savers lose.
I grew up in PA. Graduated in 1976. That was a great summer, the bicentennial. Nevermind...
A lot of stupid liberals in the comments section. Mindless liberals will be the downfall of this once great country.
What killed the American dream in PA?
Democrats
Insane public unions
NAFTA
Insane workers comp costs
No tort reform
I’m a 64 y/o boomer. Fortunately, I planned pretty well, but I sure want a Trump victory to set me up. HRC will send the USA in a cultural and economic downward spiral. I fear for my kids, grand kids.
Remember when all the really smart, elite people were telling us that the America’s economy should be shutting down dirty, polluting smoke stack industrial manufacturing run by sweaty, run of the mill blue collar men and converting the American economy to service based economy
I do
That’s okay - Jeb Bush’s Dreamers are picking it up.
I have the bicentennial merit badge. You had to physically BE in Philthadelphia in 1976 to get it.
The “American Dream” has been dead for quite some time now.
What are they complaining about they have White Privilege
We all want Trump to win, because Hillary will definitely ruin our future. I'm retired and want to protect my nest egg. However, even with a Trump win, we're in for a wild ride in the future. Most of our GDP goes into paying interest on our deficits, and Trump will have to work very hard to make a dent on the deficit problem. So even with Trump, our nest eggs are going to eventually be eaten alive by hyperinflation. Difference with Hillary, is that it all falls apart right away. Trump can ease the downward spiral until things get better.
Two thirds of Americans believe that the country’s headed in the wrong direction.The labor market participation figures are at their lowest since records began.
Yet the helped Obama on his first term and his second
But wait, I thought Gallup just told us that ALL of us have “thrived” under Obambi?
Check that box for Trump, boomers!
Yeah, I remember, and that we'd be happier in a service based economy. All I see now are pissed off people working in service jobs. We were better off knowing how to make things with our hands.
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