Comments by "KGS" (@kgs2280) on "How History Works" channel.

  1.  @Novusod Not quite. Yes, everything was going great for Boomers…until things started going downhill around the late 70s. Then when Reagan came in with his “Reaganomics”, the floor was torn out from underneath us. Remember, one generation doesn’t start when the one before ends. We overlap with, generally, at least two or three generations. The Boomers’ childhoods, teens and very early adulthood were generally very good, because our parents got that massive boost after WWII, but then the reality of the Vietnam War along with finding good work with good pay started going downhill. Our parent’s generation, in their old age, which many mistake for Boomers, was good because they had that hand up, and were able to invest their money and save for retirement. While a number of Boomers made it in the stock market, or got good jobs, a whole lot of us did not. That’s why a lot of us who are now elderly, can’t even begin to figure out how we’re going to afford a senior home in a few years. That’s why a high percentage of the homeless, at least in the U.S. are seniors, because a bout of cancer or other medical expenses will have the bank taking our homes. Medical expenses are the #1 reason for homelessness in the U.S., and the chances of incurring them go up exponentially in our older years. And a lot of us never had that “ladder” you speak of. Especially the women. A lot of doors were opening…for a few, but for the rest of us, we were facing an ungodly backlash against us for having the temerity to even ask for equal pay, or even a livable wage. Even when I was in college, I had a government loan which included a work/study program to help offset some of the costs, and it paid for me to live on campus, and life was good…for the first two years. Then, suddenly, the government decided that, since I was still underage, and my father theoretically could pay for my tuition, that I could no longer have my loan, my work/study or my room in the dorms. But my father (nor my mother) would pay a dime for me to go to college, because, in their “old-fashioned” minds, I was just going to get married, make babies and bake apple pies, even though I told them that was not what I wanted, at all. I wanted a career. So, I had to leave my studies and the only work I could find was for minimum wage (of course, women at that time were not likely to get the “better” jobs the men could get), while I still had to pay off student loans for my two years of college (of course, those rates were quite a bit lower then, but still hard to pay off with minimum wage, esp. with renting an apartment, paying utilities and trying to eat. That’s why we called them “The Ramen Years”). And yet we see the younger generations getting into tech (which didn’t exist until we were well into middle-age) and making extraordinary incomes, so we tend to see them as having better opportunities. So, we tend to see other generations through a comparison with our own, and it really doesn’t work because we see only a narrow slice which is touted in the media.
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  2.  @santostv.  Why should they? How did sacrificing your disposable income and time become a requirement? The decision to become a parent is a personal choice. Some people simply don’t want to do that, and that’s fine. They should not be forced to do it. But society keeps telling us that we’re just not “normal” or “good enough” if we don’t. More people (especially women) are waking up to the fact that we don’t have to have children, that we have a choice, and are opting out. And, of course, that is why some politicians are trying to take that choice away (and I’m talking, primarily, about birth control here).
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  3.  @MaoRatto  I don’t understand that at all. The idea of a “bloodline” or “legacy” is just a social construct, originally created by wealthy people and royalty. The word “legacy” technically refers to the wealth/money you leave to your heirs. So, if your name is something like Spencer (in the U.K., or Rothschild or Roosevelt, then, yes, it makes sense to pass that along, with your money, to your children. But if your name is Joe Blow and you live on an average income, it means nothing, absolutely nothing, except your personal desire to have children. While humans, just like all other animals, have an instinctual drive to mate in order to keep the species going, there is no other reason for it (unless, like I said, you’re wealthy or royalty). And, not everyone has an innate desire to procreate and have children. I never did, that desire was simply not in me. Even as a woman, I never heard or felt any kind of “biological clock”. What I did have was a keen desire to fight against all the societal pressures and expectations that I “should” have children simply because that’s what’s society “expects” of me because I’m a woman.
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  4.  @MangoPanic  That was definitely one of the top reasons I didn’t want to have children. I could hardly afford my own life as an adult, so how in earth could I afford to also feed a child, much less give him or her some good foundational necessities so they could have a life better than a continuation of poverty?
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  5. The bottom line is that the decision to have children is (usually, and with planning) a personal choice. I am so tired of hearing people say, “well, you SHOULD have children because you can make it work economically if you cut corners, reason, reason, reason, etc., etc., etc. No, you should have children because you, personally, want them, and for no other reason. And you should not have children if you don’t want them. There were a whole lot of reasons I didn’t want children, but I didn’t, and I stuck to my decision, and I have never, not once regretted my decision. It worked out very well for me, and I will, happily, never have a child who blames me for screwing up his or her life.
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  6.  @redhgffdsgd1605  Funny thing, there are thousands of women voluntarily joining the military in the U.S. every year (and in a number of other countries as well). It’s not that uncommon anymore. And, my personal opinion regarding the draft for women at this time in our history is: why should a woman be forced to enter combat and possibly get maimed or killed for a country that hasn’t yet, and fights against giving her equal rights as a citizen? (The Equal Rights Amendment has still never been put into the Constitution, which means women aren’t considered, legally, to be equal citizens). When the government gives women equal rights, maybe then we can discuss the draft (although I, personally, don’t believe in the draft in general).
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  7.  @chrisdubs121 Well, if I’m not born into one of those countries, I don’t have that to look forward to, do I? And perhaps moving to another country is rather difficult, as I would have to leave my (original) family, everyone I’ve ever known, learn a new language, and, first, qualify for acceptance by one of those countries, and, if possible, find a way to have a job lined up in the new country. Sure, easy-peasy. /s
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  8.  @swaggery And if you’re in the U.S., why have children when you’re just as likely to have a girl as a boy, and we’re seeing our government strip away rights for women at an alarming pace. Why would I risk that life for a daughter?
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