Teeing Off: Who Needs Retirement?

Courtesy of The Henry Rollins Show

Have you noticed how many advertisements you see for loan agencies these days? You know why there's so many? Could it be that more than ever, people are spending more than they're making? More than they'll ever make? That perhaps what they want is completely out of their price range? I saw an ad on TV recently where an actress who is acting as a person in debt said she was so relieved that because her loan all her credit cards were paid off and that she was out of debt. Huh? She's still in debt--just to a different company. Why many people are compelled to live above and beyond their means is distressing. Perhaps they have been poisoned by too many lives of the rich and famous type shows. Perhaps some Americans are obsessed with the attractive and well publicized wealthy and want a taste of it for themselves before they shuffle off. There's a kind of Thelma and Louise "Aww, fuck it!" mad dash over the cliff fatalism to all this. For some who willfully spend beyond their means there is an air of self-destructive entitled justification that is frightening. What are they thinking, after they become millionaires, all this will be behind them? Those who plan poorly enough to find themselves in debt rarely plan well enough to get out. To be in debt and have to pay on the debt just so you can watch the rich and famous on a plasma screen in high definition is just not worth it. There are people in America who will be in debt all their lives, well beyond their capacity as part of the workforce. What then? Who picks up the tab? Do you just get punted out of your dwelling onto the street? Does Visa, just curse and shake their fist when they see your obituary? Does the guy at the bank give you a hug and tell you just forget about it? You could take all the time I have spent resting assured there would be Social Security for me when I am old and it would make a second feel like an hour. America is a great place but it turns from the land of opportunity into a dead end nightmare when you're in debt and even then, the lines of credit just keep on coming. The President says the economy is strong. I say start learning Chinese! Many Americans seem all too eager to put off responsibility to a later date. They can't build hotels in Las Vegas fast enough. People can't wait to get out there and part with their cash. This country has no money left but there's some people you just can't talk to. Other countries look at us and wonder what's in the water. We freak them out with our reality shows and half-time displays, we terrify them with our foreign policy, our leader bewilders, angers and alienates them at every turn. And we're broke. So, by the time you retire, what do you expect to retire to? Only 25 hours a week employment? Doesn't leave much time for walks and MacGyver re-runs. You could end up competing with young folks and undocumented workers for minimum wage employment. You might have to do some things you never thought you would to get enough money for your meds like selling hard drugs to pre-teens or mugging fellow retirees for the few bucks they may have. Where will you live? I hear public parks are nice and the fresh air will do you good. Not so great in winter though. On the other hand, you could just do your best to live within your means and not get taken for a ride by every credit card company who keeps showing up with more money every time you're trying to kick. After all, we all can't be trust fund kids, heirs or born again Texans.

-- Henry Rollins