Why are you opimistic or pessimistic about the future?

[Deleted]

What are your reasons for being either optimistic or pessimistic about the future, both on a macro level and a personal level?

Thanks

[Ava]

I'm always positive about the future. It's a strange quality I have considering that I suffer from depression.

Each time I think about the future I see good things happening.

At a personal level, I see good things in my future. I had to change my lifestyle and eating habits due to a recently diagnosed illness. I am already starting to see results in my body, my mood and my energy levels. I had a test blood last Friday and I'll see my doctor in two weeks. I can already visualize me in her office, and she's telling me my numbers are improving.  I see my future self living a long and healthy life.

My present is kind of chaotic because my job is moving an hour away in the summer and I have big decisions to make. I've also wanted to leave my present geographic area for a long time. In short, I've no idea right now where I'm going to be living and working six months from now. But I picture myself somewhere I'm happy, with a meaningful job.

As for the world in general, I'm also optimistic. It's more difficult to remain optimistic as you see wars, poverty, starvation and hate everywhere. But when I look back in History I see human evolution and I think society has been improving, people get to have more and more rights, and less and less human beings live in abject poverty as time goes by. Just look back a few decades and you'll see racial discrimination running rampant. That is no longer the case. Now turn back a few more decades and women were considered second class and not allowed to vote. Now turn back 100 years and people were dying of diseases that are now preventable. Keep looking back and you'll find more and more things have improved. And I think it will keep going. It's difficult, and millions of people in the world are suffering today, but we are going on the right path.

I am totally a glass half-full person. Heck, I even thought I had a chance to pass Statistics last year. Of course that didn't work out at all. But another good quality I have is that I recover quickly from a setback. The same day I found out I had failed Statistics I went to the school and enrolled in the Summer session, and passed it after studying like crazy.

The same way now I'm battling Diabetes with zero intention of letting this illness take over my life or my well being.

[Deleted]

I am optimistic about the future, but I think there are many reasons one can be pessimistic. 

I think the economy doing well is mostly a sham based on false facts.  I don't know what of the 2008 problems were fixed.  It seems to me that the government just spent a bunch of money to push the problem down the road and that problem still has to be fixed.  I think the richest of the rich are mostly greedy manipulators.  They got the bailout in '08 and the growing disparity between the richest and everyone else is the result.  We, as a nation, have the greatest income and wealth disparity since before the great depression.  We have record numbers getting social security disability, which is needed by many, but is a sham abused by more. Government pays people to not work and ends up with millions of people not working.

Not to go to deep into politics, since that is for another board, but I will say I think the system is very broken.

I think the media is owned by just a few and manipulated by probably even fewer.  There are few if any new organizations that are respected by most citizens. Some plane crash or celebrity whatever, can dominate the news for weeks, when it has little affect on the people viewing.  The ebola scare was just hyping up false fears to sell news.  Political coverage is completely this or that and leaves out anything that is not the two political parties.  All solutions are seen to be national problems to fix and local or individual solutions are never mentioned.

I think people see our economy as capitalism when in fact it is cronyism.  Millions were given to solar companies that failed and no one asks where that money went.  The founders of Google are wanting one of the loans they have, that was guaranteed by the government, to be dissolved.  They have billions and are among the richest people on earth yet want the government to back loans they take out and cancel those loans once things look bad.  I think most people, especially here, look up to and admire, the rich and defend them as being worthy of the things they have. I think they stole most of it by manipulating government rules and laws.

I said I was more optimistic though, and that is because I think mankind has always gone forward and we will again.  I see people like Snowden as a hero.  Bitcoin might change the way money works, if not the idea is there for something else to come along. I think millions of people are being paid by the government not to work, but that can't last forever and those people will start working and having a better life.

I think racism, while still a problem, has lost a lot of its strength.  I think it was replaced by classism and distrust of the poor.  Those poor will get richer once the wealth disparity starts to weaken, which I think has to be inevitable.

So my view is good time short term, bad times medium term and then things start going better.  All of course just my opinion for what it is worth.

[Spellbound454]

You can be an optimist...or a pessimist.. Makes no difference to the outcome.

but an optimist generally has a better time of things

So give yourself a break and don't be on a downer.

[Deleted]

Mar 22, 2015 17:41:40 GMT -5 Ava said:

I'm always positive about the future. It's a strange quality I have considering that I suffer from depression.

Each time I think about the future I see good things happening.

At a personal level, I see good things in my future. I had to change my lifestyle and eating habits due to a recently diagnosed illness. I am already starting to see results in my body, my mood and my energy levels. I had a test blood last Friday and I'll see my doctor in two weeks. I can already visualize me in her office, and she's telling me my numbers are improving.  I see my future self living a long and healthy life.

My present is kind of chaotic because my job is moving an hour away in the summer and I have big decisions to make. I've also wanted to leave my present geographic area for a long time. In short, I've no idea right now where I'm going to be living and working six months from now. But I picture myself somewhere I'm happy, with a meaningful job.

As for the world in general, I'm also optimistic. It's more difficult to remain optimistic as you see wars, poverty, starvation and hate everywhere. But when I look back in History I see human evolution and I think society has been improving, people get to have more and more rights, and less and less human beings live in abject poverty as time goes by. Just look back a few decades and you'll see racial discrimination running rampant. That is no longer the case. Now turn back a few more decades and women were considered second class and not allowed to vote. Now turn back 100 years and people were dying of diseases that are now preventable. Keep looking back and you'll find more and more things have improved. And I think it will keep going. It's difficult, and millions of people in the world are suffering today, but we are going on the right path.

I am totally a glass half-full person. Heck, I even thought I had a chance to pass Statistics last year. Of course that didn't work out at all. But another good quality I have is that I recover quickly from a setback. The same day I found out I had failed Statistics I went to the school and enrolled in the Summer session, and passed it after studying like crazy.

The same way now I'm battling Diabetes with zero intention of letting this illness take over my life or my well being.

I knew you were optimistic.  You always come across that way to me in your posts.   

[Deleted]

I'm an optimist. Despite a horrible childhood, things have always sort of worked out well for me. Even the horrible childhood could have been much worse.

I was married to a pessimist for almost 25 years.  I know the "doom and gloom" attitude.  That's probably why we are divorced, to be honest.  He lacked the capability to be truly happy.  My present DH laughs at me, but I take the time to enjoy stuff.  If I buy a new sofa, I have to look at it a dozen times during the day.  I don't take happiness for granted.  It is why I only like to go out to eat once or at most twice a week.  It would lose its pleasure.

My kids (the ones I teach) told me once when "optimism" was the word of the day that I was what they thought of.  I am not Pollyanna.  You guys know that.  I can see the worst.  But eventually I shrug and say, "It will work out for the best."

It always does. 

[Deleted]

Mar 22, 2015 18:03:22 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

I'm an optimist. Despite a horrible childhood, things have always sort of worked out well for me. Even the horrible childhood could have been much worse.

I was married to a pessimist for almost 25 years.  I know the "doom and gloom" attitude.  That's probably why we are divorced, to be honest.  He lacked the capability to be truly happy.  My present DH laughs at me, but I take the time to enjoy stuff.  If I buy a new sofa, I have to look at it a dozen times during the day.  I don't take happiness for granted.  It is why I only like to go out to eat once or at most twice a week.  It would lose its pleasure.

My kids (the ones I teach) told me once when "optimism" was the word of the day that I was what they thought of.  I am not Pollyanna.  You guys know that.  I can see the worst.  But eventually I shrug and say, "It will work out for the best."

It always does. 

Do you think they will have a better, more prosperous life then their parents?  Their generation, I mean.

[Deleted]

Mar 22, 2015 19:48:23 GMT -5 @hickle said:

Mar 22, 2015 18:03:22 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

I'm an optimist. Despite a horrible childhood, things have always sort of worked out well for me. Even the horrible childhood could have been much worse.

I was married to a pessimist for almost 25 years.  I know the "doom and gloom" attitude.  That's probably why we are divorced, to be honest.  He lacked the capability to be truly happy.  My present DH laughs at me, but I take the time to enjoy stuff.  If I buy a new sofa, I have to look at it a dozen times during the day.  I don't take happiness for granted.  It is why I only like to go out to eat once or at most twice a week.  It would lose its pleasure.

My kids (the ones I teach) told me once when "optimism" was the word of the day that I was what they thought of.  I am not Pollyanna.  You guys know that.  I can see the worst.  But eventually I shrug and say, "It will work out for the best."

It always does. 

Do you think they will have a better, more prosperous life then their parents?  Their generation, I mean.

Better doesn't automatically equal more prosperous.   

The future will be different from the present.  That is about all my crystal ball will tell me.  But as an optimist, I don't equate "different" with "worse."  It might not work for me, but that's not them.

[Shooby]

I don't think it is really Either/or. I think you can simultaneously be both or neither or one or the other. I personally find the Perpetually over the top Happy Peppy Puppy People to be tiring. Just because you aren't going through life like a Cheerleader on Speed and Redbull doesn't mean you aren't happy. You can be happy without having to vomit up lollipops and sunshine everywhere you go! lol

[cronewitch]

I am optimistic because I have seen things for a long time and they aren't getting worse. I keep thinking the stock market can't go higher then I remember when it was Dow 2,800. I worry about the uneducated youth, those who aren't college material. They are having the tough times that will last for life. Used to be a woman with a high school education could marry a man who worked and she could stay home, now the man doesn't make a living for an entire family without an education or getting lucky getting into a union job. Many of them are working part time minimum wage jobs where even keeping a car running is a big deal working retail or fast food 20-25 hours a week. I don't see how they will do better some will lose housing and it will be really hard to get back to living indoors. But we will solve that problem, they will create cheaper housing or remove the rule only allowing 30 hours or less work for ACA. Worse still is the Meth and other drugs used by the poor, but they can seek treatment when it gets too bad, it will be hard to land a job or housing with a criminal history so maybe someone can profit from using them as cheap labor with rent included. Some will choose a life of poverty by using drugs or going to jail and bad credit and with so much information available it will be hard to start over if they clean up. This underclass leaves lots of good jobs for the people who do the right things so the housing market and job markets will be good and the stock market because the homeless don't affect them.

[happyhoix]

I would have to say I am short term optimistic and long term pessimistic, if that makes sense.

I come from a family of gloom and doom people, but I have to say, other than occasional annoyances, I am happy most of the time (hence my user name). 

However, long term, I am pessimistic. Both my parents ended up with dementia/alzheimers and I'm certain I will end that way, as well, so I'm already planning a quicker, cheaper exit. As for the world - there is a theory that we haven't discovered any advanced civilizations in the universe because as soon as a civilization develops a method of mass destruction, they will very shortly use it to destroy themselves, and since we've got the weapons required to destroy the earth, I think it's only a matter of time before we do - not today or next year, but say, within the next five generations.

I know, not very cheerful.  

[Artemis Windsong]

I am uneasy about the future.  I am grateful for a smooth, uneventful now.  All is good for the moment, and I put loads of the good moments together.

[Deleted]

One of my big worries about the future is the interest rate rising on the public debt.  The average interest rate the govt pays is, I think, ~6%.  If the interest rate goes above that by a few points, say 8% or 9% then we would be paying enormous amount just on interest.  Just like many here think Phil's historical number is going to happen, I think the historical interest rate will happen.  That is when I think things will start to fall apart.  I think after that though things should rebound, so a tough fall and then a rebound.  My guess for the future of the economy.

Can someone explain to me why this is not inevitable?

[Ryan]

I notice in general, that I'm a lot happier when I'm not following the news.  I used to constantly be reading current events, politics, markets, etc.  

These pundits just have no idea....they can't forecast anything, so why even bother listening to them?  They just need to keep talking so people will keep watching.

In general, I'm optimistic about my own future.  I don't know about the country as a whole though.  I think we'll all be ok.  

[Deleted]

Mar 23, 2015 16:03:21 GMT -5 @hickle said:

One of my big worries about the future is the interest rate rising on the public debt.  The average interest rate the govt pays is, I think, ~6%.  If the interest rate goes above that by a few points, say 8% or 9% then we would be paying enormous amount just on interest.  Just like many here think Phil's historical number is going to happen, I think the historical interest rate will happen.  That is when I think things will start to fall apart.  I think after that though things should rebound, so a tough fall and then a rebound.  My guess for the future of the economy.

Can someone explain to me why this is not inevitable?

The debt bothers me in general. We can't keep borrowing. So I truly believe that taxes are going up.  This is why I want to move at least some of my IRA $$$ to my Roth now. I am old enough to remember rates as high as almost 50% on earned income.

[mroped]

I am an optimist!
To me life is just about being or trying to be happy by finding the beauty in things all arround.
All hard things are in the past and I'd like them to stay there. From here on...just rose petals! 
Today was a great day and tommorrow will be even better.
As the song says:"Don't worry, Be happy!"

I don't understand how some of you consider themselves optimists and yet worry about the market crashing and interest rates rising or taxes going up.
The way I see it is will cross that bridge when we get there.

[Lizard Queen]

I keep thinking that the future has to be better because the present kind of sucks.    I do worry that the future will take too long to get here for me, and I will be left behind before I get a chance to enjoy it.  I could enjoy the present better if it weren't so hard on my husband.


I'm not worried about the market or the economy long-term.  Everything goes in cycles, and if you can read the signs ahead of time, you can make lemonade out of lemons.  I do worry about the environment, because it seems like too many people don't give a fuck at all.  For instance, so many people don't care at all about fuel economy until gas gets really expensive.  I also worry about the increasing sort of police-state that this country seems to be heading for.  I think that the pendulum will eventually swing the other way on that one, though not soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

[Deleted]

Depends

On a personal level I think our system holds up for 60 more years and I can enjoy a very comfortable life and retirement. I at least prepare for that, though in a "Walking Dead" scenario I have a plan for that as well.

Long term who knows? Someday the world will stop spinning and the sun will go out can humanity survive that? Sure, either through evolution or moving away. Will it? I have to think if the rapid advancements over the last 100 years continue nobody will recognize this place in a thousand years.

[shanendoah]

I have always been a bit of an optimist, and I am glad of that.

On a personal level, I am definitely optimistic about the future. Why? Because I have control of a lot of the factors in my personal future. Not all of them, to be sure, but enough to believe that I can and will maintain some kind of control and the future will be good, even better than the now. (Though I'm pretty happy in the now, too.)

On a macro level, I am both pessimistic and optimistic. I am pessimistic in that I believe many of the issues people have mentioned here will come to a "do or die" head- the environment, national debt, class warfare, etc. However, I am also optimistic that once we get to that point, we will figure it out. (I am really looking forward to Stephenson's new book Sevenses.) At that point, it may take drastic action, unbelievable change, but I do believe we will figure it out and then move on to a new set of problems.

[Robert not Bobby]

I am optimistic in the sense that I believe in humanity and a bright future, and every gut instinct tells me I shouldn't.

I believe, in the long run...many many centuries after you and I are gone, all of our petty differences will be just that, inconsequential, trite and petty.

I am pessimistic about the short term. About otherwise decent human beings being brainwashed into evil people.

Every age has its challenges. Ours, as hard to believe as it is when you are in the middle of it, has probably fewer than those who went before us.

The glass is always half full in my world.

[movingforward]

I am an optimist and, like others have said, believe we have evolved into a more tolerant and accepting society.  I believe most people are good but you only hear about the bad ones.  There have always been bad people who do terrible things to others but now we have the media telling us about it over and over again.  The media loves the fear factor which is why I limit my exposure to the news.  Talking to people who seem addicted to the news (some of these people are in my family) can be difficult because they see nothing but bad stuff all day long.  Not only do we have all day news channels but now they have to run additional news across the bottom of the screen as well.  It is just too much... I have retired family members that sit around watching nothing but the news during the day and they are convinced that the USA is going to completely collapse and people are going to be dying in the streets.  I really have to keep my conversations with them generic because they will go down a rabbit hole and get stuck there, and it will put me in a bad mood. 

Like shane said, I feel that I have a certain amount of control over my own future.  Sometimes, things just are what they are and life throws you curve balls but in general I make decisions that shape my own destiny and I feel good about that.  It seems like pessimists often feel like they have no control over their future.  I feel sorry for those people...