D&O, wow, meatpacking ... me too. I had a comparatively cush job in the biz, but it is still tough work, even the cush jobs.
One point, you say:
"We've got a whole country full of millions of folks now that expect to have everything they want without having to work for it."
What there is is the me generation. There was the Greatest generation, born in the 20s and 30s, grew up in the depression, went to the War, came back, taxed the wholly crap out of themselves to pay for it, taxed themselves some more to build the interstates, the airports, put themselves into college (GI bill), saved, and live within their means.
Then came the Me generation, born in the 40s and 50s, subsidized their college, created medicare but chose not to fund it, cut their taxes and used SocSec surplusses to 'balance' budgets, and now they are getting old, none of their labors and taxation supported that which they have entitled themselves to (SocSec and Medicare) and a population demographic (the most important component) that can't make it work. So they proposed to lock-in SocSec and Medicare for themselves and then take it to the next generation. I expect pretty soon they'll see fit to return to the tax policies and investment of the Greatest Generation. Dandy bunch. Blame them, not the kids that want three iPhones. Take away all of those kids toys and it doesn't make a dent. The burden is and has been the ME generation.
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