That's funny, I get that meeting crap from oldsters, when a quick IM would handle things. They also want to call instead of using email or text.

My guess is that your an unabashed fuckup and everyone feels the need to make it a meeting so they can gauge how much you understand and cover their asses.

Don't gloss over how much easier it was to live a frugal life then. Every company wasn't trying to dip a finger into your wallet with recurring charges. You weren't brainwashed from birth to consume. Advertising psychology was in it's infancy.
There are plenty of other examples. You can't just toss up your hands and claim your grandpa and I are playing from the same deck.

That's great if your starting out in a high price area, you can save, or sell some crap and roll into a low price area with a nest egg. I see it all the time.
It's much harder if you start out in a low price area.

I think the simple fact is that our society has been swindled.
We've been lead to believe that saving for retirement, saving for your child's education, and saving for your medical care are achievable goals. They are only achievable for a small subset of the population, a load subset. Most people will always live on what they make. Social capital is worth more then money in the bank, whether it's kids that will help (historical), or society (European model).
Wealth can always be stolen, it can disappear in a moment, often when it is most needed. It can be stolen by inflation, predatory financial markets, swindlers, poor planning, etc. We need to learn to invest more in our social net instead of hoarding and saying, "I got mine."

Because what you got, is too tempting to those who ain't got, and those who got, but gotta have more.

let's see your citations. I don't see many teenagers in the $15 /hour protests.

That's true, it is debated, but it's far from automatically bad or automatically good. It's hard to argue that maintaining the status quo is going to make things better. At some point, any change is good.

I see the opposite. Alot of conservative opinions are knee-jerk simplistic stances.
To use your example, raising the minimum wage will cost jobs. Anyone can follow that "logic", unfortunately, it doesn't hold up in the real world.

Another example is "death tax", it kicks in when you die...
It actually doesn't, it only kicks in when an estate over a certain amount is transferred, hence inheritance tax.

What about abortion, it's bad to kill a baby. Sounds simple and everyone agrees, however, the issue of abortion is not about killing babies, it's about the failure of our society to help young mothers and cherish the children the produce.

Too many people either can't or won't analyze things, they are more interested in a catchy argument that "sounds" right, but breaks down in the real world.

My rule of thumb, if it's being hawked no AM radio, it's probably a scam.

Just imagine them as high frequency traders, skimming the float. Feel better now.

It's not much different

The stainless steel rat rises again?

Rightists don't need government force. They want the gov stalk and harass anyone with the troves of information they collect, why resort to force when you can blackmail and intimidate. The few cases where force are necessary are edited out and impossible to prove.

And any waitress who stopped by to ask if you need drink refills, or are happy with your meal could submit a bill.

HSA's came to my employer well before Obama.

Wait, that doesn't sound like a free market solution?!

Why is this preferable to single payer?

It's not the government that would raid them, private companies would fee them to death and find all sorts of ways for them to distort the market.
Large pools of money are detrimental to everyone.