Westozzi:

...Well who would have predicted since the Americans defeated the Japanese in the Pacific (and the Germans in Europe) in 1945, Australia would be so prosperous and free. It is comforting now to know the Americans are the biggest foreign investor in Australia today and not the aggressive Asians. Let Australians fight to keep it that way for the next forty years or more by supporting them to implement a greater military presence on our shores!

I fully agree there individual.

I have a number of friends in micro business, most one or 2 man outfits. Many of them, like the fencing contractor, the concrete contractor, the shed erector, the truck body builder & quite a few others are getting into physical trouble as they near their 60Th.

Most of them are aware that their continued earning capacity is limited, & are quite worried about it, when some still have some way to go on the mortgage.

Hasbeen,
I suppose you too knew blokes who worked their bodies to the limit only for the Government to hold out their hand for the poor bastard's pension when they khaked it three months after retirement.
I suppose the money was well spent then on some single mother who sends the kids to Child Care while she's in the Pub playing pools & poker machines all day. Other beneficiaries may include drug addicts. All far more deserving then the bloke's widow I guess. Ah yes and, putting the young crap-heads into corrective institutions for them to skil-up on breaking in techniques costs a fair bit too. Nah, I think make us work longer so we won't need to dip into our pension funds. Heaven forbid for us workers to get more than a year of joy in life.

YES!

I'm Gen X, (44) and we're already subject to discrimination, people over the age of 35 are considered, "Mature" workers.

I sometimes do work in partnership with another bloke and when we need a labourer we use a semi retired guy who's 63.
In general older guys who are used to the construction lifestyle are a better use of the budget than youngsters, they make fewer mistakes, they don't hurt themselves as often and what's most important...they TURN UP!
I did work for a kitchen company a few years ago who had an old guy of 70 still working for them, he'd been with the firm since the early 1970's. He could run rings around the young guys for a few hours, he was highly efficient and productive but you'd often find him stretched out asleep on the floor at lunch time or dozing in the cab of the van in the late afternoon.