[speaker001:] okay you ready to discuss the the topic
[speaker002:] what's the topic
[speaker001:] okay the topic is social changes and discuss social changes in America and how they relate or how they differ today than they were ten fifteen or thirty years ago
[speaker002:] okay
[speaker001:] are you ready for that okay pardon me
[speaker002:] you bet I'll let you lead out I'll let you lead out
[speaker001:] okay well uh there's uh it's kind of an interesting interesting topic and one that I think is quite fascinating because uh couple of years ago I guess uh not very not many not very long ago seemed like the whole world not just the United States but the whole world was kind of in a standstill where everyone was basically in a you know a very comfortable position so to say even though the the cold war was was in full swing you know you had the the Russians against the Americans the Communists against the Free World and in the last couple of years things have tranged dramatically not only on the political front but also on the economic front where uh couple of years ago we had uh America uh was a one of the leading powers and one of the strongest nations in the world as far as economics were concerned and now we're having a very tough time in a recessionary period we're also have a very humongous trade deficit and uh and that's kind of frightening also you know a couple of years ago ten fifteen fifteen ten fifteen years ago an individual going into a career could expect to have that career basically throughout their whole life and thirty years ago that was that was basically it whereas now we're expected to have a career change every you know every couple years and possibly five four to five career changes throughout our lifetime and so I think uh you know things there's been an awful lot of social change lately and a lot and uh
[speaker002:] I think one of the things that's interesting to me is if you look particularly at the political changes is that the they seem to be social they seem to be economically driven also
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] so if you look at Russia and what's happened over there I think the change in Communism was as a result of the economic problems that they were experiencing I think was I look at the economic problems in the United States right now one of the things you wonder is what's that going to do to us
[speaker001:] true
[speaker002:] I think the other kind of changes like job changes and those kinds of things I mean I think it's great that you can have three or four different careers in your life I think it must've been terribly boring to go through your life doing just one thing for fifty years or forty years
[speaker001:] um-hum  yes yes
[speaker002:] so I think that opportunity for job change in the fact that that aspects changing
[speaker001:] true true
[speaker002:] and the uncertainty of whether you're gonna have a job is not as good but the fact that you really can make major changes in your life and jobs
[speaker001:] um-hum well do you do you think that's good or bad
[speaker002:] I think it's great
[speaker001:] you think that's great
[speaker002:] oh yeah
[speaker001:] that something yeah because a lot of people seem to stagnate once they get into position they they're very comfortable they lose the ability to learn and the in a sense become unteachable they think they know all there is to know in their area set path and you know come in and put my time in from nine to five and when that's over with that's that's it without even giving a second thought to advancing their education or getting extracurricular um education and and I think that's an excellent opportunity for us to to expand ourselves also
[speaker002:] I think one of the problems with with education in as it relates to this though is that I don't know that education education is prepared to help people make those changes it still seems a lot of the training and education that goes on is gearing people towards a profession
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and not giving them the skills and whatever those skills are necessary to make those job changes which I think's gonna be a hard thing for for people to face
[speaker001:] yes I agree with that I agree with that so I I believe that uh an individual should really learn how to to learn
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] learn how to adapt learn how to grow in the in their college or whatever education they might take so that that's good that's good
[speaker002:] there probably needs to be some training on how to to to to adjust to these changes as they come about I mean if you look at the the high unemployment rate right now and you look at people who are in those situations I don't know that they have good coping skills or a lot of them even ideas of how to make those changes now
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] so it seems to me that while those changes are taking place maybe we're not well preparing people to make the changes with them
[speaker001:] yeah I I I read a few articles off in the newspaper and some publications where stress uh for those people that are laid off and also for those people that are not laid off but were threatened with a layoff and threatened with a reduction in their company is extremely high right now that stress is a very prominent factor in the work place
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and it affects