I am a divorced veteran that started his working career as a "poster boy for NAFTA". I grew up in Flint, MI and I graduated college with an electronics degree the very same year that GM decided to uproot and move their operations to Mexico.

There I was with my nice fresh Electronics degree and looking around at my hometown as it began to implode economically. The auto industry WAS the economy of Flint and without it, everything began to collapse.

With a family on the way, I didn't have many choices. I enlisted in the US Navy and spent most of that time serving in the Submarine Service. Yes, I am a veteran; however, I never really saw any action. Being stationed first on a fast attack (USS Seahorse) and then a missile boat (USS West Virginia), I spent most of my time praying we never actually had to do our job!

After getting out of the Navy, I landed in Indiana with my brother-in-law taking us in. The only job I was able to get at the time was in an auto-glass factory. The pay was low and we could barely afford to move out on our own.

From that point onward, my working life was an endless cycle of debt. Jobs in my field were always pathetically low pay and would only last for 2 to 3 years. Just as I was starting to get back on my feet, here comes the next layoff as the current company would start downsizing, restructuring, sending operations overseas. Thanks to the Bushes, the Clintons and Obamas selling out our country over and over and over! They literally destroyed my industry and my entire adult working life has been an endless cycle of debt just trying to survive!

In 2016, having become practically homeless, I was lucky enough to land a job in a casino. This, thankfully, has provided a door out of the endless struggle in the electronic manufacturing field with it's endless offshoring, layoffs and inadequate wages.

Problem is... I now find myself 10 years from retirement age with no way in hell to ever do so. The casino industry has it's own headaches... and well, after 35+ years in the electronics field, I am burned out and disgusted at having to be a wage slave just to keep surviving day to day. The goal has been set based on calculations I have done for how much I would actually need to retire at 67. All I want to do is just retire... Immediately, if at all possible.

I am so done with this endless nightmare... I pray to God every day to be set free!