They are everywhere, living in basements, filling our bedrooms, and dozing in our garage studio apartments. Who are they and what do they want? They are our children and they have come home to roost. After what we thought was a final goodbye with the scheduled weekly phone call and the hectic visit from hoped for grandchildren, we sent our offspring into the big bad world with hopes high as we dialed the phone number to that travel agent so we could book that dream vacation. Yet, like a boomerang, they flew into the night only to curve in a graceful arc right back into our homes and daily lives. We ask ourselves, what did we do wrong? Did we fail to supply enough emotional, educational and financial support so that they would be able to fend for themselves?
Well the answer to those questions are as varied as there are snowflakes in a blizzard and like a blizzard the children we call boomerangs returned to the safety and security of our loving arms. Never the less, we can break the problem into several key points that help explain why so many children have this urge / need to return. First and foremost, there is the cost of living today. Not since the Great Depression have people starting out on their own had such a hard time not only finding employment, but employment that is lucrative enough to allow one to live on their own. What people are now calling the great recession, (which using the textbook definition was a depression), has eroded the buying power of our wages to an extent that the cost of the basics in life can no longer be afforded by the average wage earner. Despite what the federal government says, if we used the same methods to calculate unemployment and inflation as we did in 1980, then the official unemployment rate would be 19% and inflation would be 10%. Significantly higher than what our beloved politicians are willing to admit.(read more here)
Redgage picture of the day----butterfly
Enjoy!
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