Financial Future

Just exactly how much debt is the country in at this moment? Can anyone even spell the number let alone say it? Can anyone even fathom just how much that really is?

My question is, what does all this debt mean to those who are going to be depending on the government, the financial institutions, the economy to be able to retire in the next five years? And if they go ahead and retire, what's to say the money they begin with won't all of a sudden just be gone at some point after that? And if it is, who do you complain to? And I'm only thinking about those who are close to retirement (ME), I'm not even accounting for all those poor seniors who couldn't get back into the job market on a bet, Walmart and McDonalds aside.

Perhaps we could complain to the Chinese government who has invested so heavily in this country's business at this point as we seek anyone and everyone's assistance to bail us out. Perhaps we could complain to South Korea who has also invested because we bailed them out 60 years ago, right? In fact, how many of the potential countries who could financially take us over have at some point been beholden to us? Probably some if not all. I hate it when the shoe is on the other foot, especially when I'm the left foot.

It's a very unsettling feeling when you know you have no control over your future but lots of other people do. The fact that I'm going to be in this bad place with millions of other people only makes it worse. I need to come up with a back-up plan and fast. That would be a back-up plan everyone else hasn't already thought of. The problem is I'm tired of racking my brain, I've done that for the last 45 years of my career.

Retirement should not mean having to rack your brain, Dennis Hopper told me so, sitting on that chair in the middle of the desert surrounded by blue sky. I want what he has, is that too much too ask?