[ExI] the formerly rich and their larvae...

[Tom Tobin]

On 2/11/08, PJ Manney <pjmanney at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Feb 11, 2008 8:04 AM, Tom Tobin <korpios at korpios.com> wrote:
> > A "bit" of debt?
> >
> > I'm in the hole to the tune of over $70,000 USD, and I didn't even
> > finish my graduate-level education.  This is from a *state* school
>
> When we sold our house in SoCal, do you know the very first thing we
> did when the check cleared?
>
> We fully funded our kids' college savings accounts.

This is why I somewhat resent my parents' lack of long-term planning
with regards to having children; they were both blue collar workers
before retiring (a firefighter and a police officer), and I'm the
oldest of four children.  They've helped us out where they could, but
being blue collar as they were, why couldn't they stop at *one* (or
*zero*, never mind issues of my existence) child/children?  Why
couldn't they wait until they could drop $5K or so into stocks or a
savings account, even, before having a child?  All their children were
"planned" in the traditional sense, but you really have to wonder at
the meaning of the word when it leads to screw-ups like my own.  ^_^

I still can't help but envy those who get largely free rides through
the educational system; while I have fairly libertarian leanings,
those break down when it comes to the immense sway parents' decisions
have over children, e.g., the disparity of wealth obtained by means of
parental assistance.  (Shades of Rawls's veil of ignorance, perhaps.)

I really need to stop ranting about this.  :p