Efficiency and Quality of life

I have watched people fade away without enough efficiency or quality of life throughout my life here in the U.S. I have seen it also in the places I have traveled to around the world but not so much because outside of spending 4 months in Japan, Thailand, India and Nepal in 1985 and 1986, mostly I have been only up to 3 weeks time in whatever region of the world I have visited ever since.

But, I can say that compared to the 1950s many more people choose to live longer here in the U.S. (because it is a choice) than they did then.

The reasons for this are many.

First, in the 1950s people were still reeling and recovering from World War II (and mentally many never did) and physically people either died from it or they didn't.

But now, it has been so very long since then that PTSD isn't in EVERYONE like it was in everyone who had survived World War II whether they had been on the front lines or not. No. Now most people are shielded in one way or another from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and even now from the mideast wars which is why on one level people are more sane than in the 1950s here in the U.S.

On the other hand, they now lack the horrific experiences which cause people to change their behaviors, so in that sense we are in very dangerous times indeed with people living in video games or computers or TVs or books and being too theoretical and not practical enough in regard to what wars do to the world and it's peoples.

However, I intended to write about individual Efficiency and Quality of life in this article.

People are living longer because at least in the U.S. their lives are better. For example, many people my age are having to support (or subsidize) their children in some way, shape or form because their children cannot get the high paying jobs they could when they were in their 20s and 30s in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.

So then, the problem becomes: "What happens when all the baby boomers are gone and there still aren't good jobs for their grandkids?" What happens then?

Without quality of life people's life expectencies will begin to drop once again if that happens and you will see the life expectancy of the U.S. go from the 80s or 90s back down to the 50s or 60s except among the rich, middle class or very well educated.

So, efficiency isn't just for a few of us. Unless we find a way to spread that efficiency and quality of life around more of us there is going to be a grim reckoning about 20 to 30 years from now or less not only in most of the world but also here in the United States.