Friday Pussy - Boomer Cat

Headline reads "Blame boomers for congestion in job market". As if we had a choice. They raised the retirement age to 66 1/2 and higher a few years back meaning you can't get full social security until you hit that magic number. They've outsourced 62,000 manufacturers in the last 15 years meaning layoffs for millions. If you're over fifty and have a full time job you're one of the lucky ones, most are working part time or not at all. Then there's been the increases in taxes and fees and other living costs. All putting the squeeze on people who should be enjoying their golden years.

So blame a boomer? I think not. It was the underlying greed at the top that caused all this. Why pay a worker here a decent wage when you can get some foreigner to do it at a fraction of the cost? And what do we the consumer get in return? A lack of jobs for one and cheap shoddy products that fall apart. And forget "name brands" they care more about their bottom line than what their name stands for. And companies like Sears and Target wonder why they're going down the tubes. Sears was once noted for its' Craftsman tools made in the USA are now made in China. Said to be the best in the world. Guys would go into Sears just for those tools. Now they're made from cheaper steel and heavier.

Automation hasn't helped either. What once took dozens of workers hours to do can now be done in minutes with a robot. All well and good for the bean counters not so much for the laid off workers. The down side for the corporation is that if the robot happens to be programed incorrectly the entire production run is lost. (Did I hear a screaming goat?) But corporations being the greedy sots they are will just sell the product anyway and wait for a recall demand later. Can't interrupt the cash flow now could they? Good luck calling customer no service. Never seems to be covered under warranty and if it is they'll fight you anyway. Easier to pay Abu in India a couple of rupees to give you the run around than to pay hundreds to actually fix the problem.

Then there's computers. While they've made repetitive tasks easier and automated they've permeated nearly every aspect of modern life but to an extreme in my opinion. I see no need to put a computer on a water pitcher no matter what it's purpose. And is it really necessary to know what the temperature of your water heater is when you're traveling abroad? And yet you can do so with a smart phone and many of the newer water heaters. And what happens when the water heater gets into an argument with the refrigerator? Who's going to settle that? No, give me a dumb phone and mostly manual tools and I'll be happy. Just because it's new doesn't necessarily mean it's good. For the most part it will probably eliminate somebody's job.

With online banking most branches are down to one or two tellers. That said.
Bank fails later...