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As a Gen X, I have never worked a day in my life. I was diagnosed with a disabilty at 16 and was given state benefits. I still take the state benefits today.
Oh, cripe. You are in England. Stay out of it. This is not your country or fight.
I'm 47, same age as Barack. Listen to you all whine and point fingers.
I've never even owned a Blackberry. I just got a cellphone this February and that is only because my husband gave it to me. He was too afraid because I leave for work at 5 a.m.
My mother-in-law is 61. Biggest loser you would ever want to meet. Boomer all the way. Major pothead. Can't keep a job. Still, the idiot had a house since 1984 because she was in the boomer sweet spot. She's been in foreclosure about four times.
I swear, drugs have addled boomers minds.
You are a boomer actually. I'm not far ahead of you. I was not the typical boomer and no one in my family was. We all worked hard, still do, usually 2 jobs going on. Not every boomer was a pothead or drove a VW. I actually hate classifications. Sorry about your MIL.
Hippies - we barely had them in Texas. The 60s really didn't get to Dallas until late 1969 and early 1970. Men with long hair were ridiculed and called "ma'am". Most of my boomer (I am a late boomer) friends are pretty conservative with money as we all had parents from The Great Depression.
OK I will say that some of my boomer friends have some pretty spoiled brat kids. I have told a couple of them that if their parents were still alive, they would be appalled!
Seems like you are trying to reach across the generation divide. Thank you. I'll take your hand. Maybe, together, we can all fix things, and to heck with the chaff.
Seems it's the younger people here doing all of the finger pointing here, blaming everything on boomers.
Sorry to hear you MIL is a loser and drug user but for everyone like her I can find 10 like her your age at 47 and younger. You're to young to remember that we all weren't drugged out hippies! And most of them were left wing liberals. If you check the prison system I'd bet most in for drugs are not boomers.
It was a lot harder to buy a house in 1984 than it was in 2008.
And you say "Boomer all the way" like it is a state of mind, well it's not, it's an age thing.
I don't blame the Boomers totally for the nation's problems it's inevitable that other Countries are going to catch up and that the US couldn't have remained the sole global hegemony.
The thing I do blame the Boomers is their poor decision making especially voting or putting in place those upper echelons of government and in corporations. Instead of improving efficiency, fostering innovation and productivity (like the more expensive and successful European (Germany - 30%+ exports), Japanese, and Canadian economies), the Boomer "elites" and decision makers decided to compete through cost reductions and racing for the bottom.
Reduce costs, reduce costs, is the Boomer manager and government mantras. Cut back pensions, cut back health care, cut back labor costs by outsourcing, cut back R&D by outsourcing, cut back white collar jobs, cut back blue collar jobs, cut back, cut back.
As a result, we have the majority of the population making less and for the first time in 75 years that future generations are going to be worse off than those of their parents.
"The study, which made national headline news on May 25, 2007, emphasizes that in real dollars, that cohort made less (by 12%) than their fathers at the same age in 1974, thus reversing a historic trend. The study also suggests that per year increases in father/son family household income has slowed (from 0.9% to 0.3% average), barely keeping pace with inflation, though progressively higher each year due to more women entering the workplace contributing to family household income." Generation X - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Standing in the shadow of dad's salary - May. 25, 2007
So, it isn't in the "imaginations" of Gen Xers and future generations... it's verifiable fact that current working generations and future generations are worse off than their parents.
This passage basically debunks the "Slacker" label:
"Even as male incomes have declined and household income growth has slowed, the nation's productivity has remained robust. While the two once kept pace with each other, U.S. productivity has quickly outpaced income growth since the mid-1970s, according to the report."
So, productivity has increased over time... but pay has declined or stood at a stand still... go figure... squeeze more! cut back! cut back! cut back!
The second thing I blame Boomers is for not saving. I know many on this board are fine and have done their rightful part in savings... but generally speaking the group as a whole has done poorly, and therefore HAVE to continue to work. I've already outlined my disappointment of the group in regards to their hording of positions of advancement for future generations in a previous post.
I love my parents, and I love my inlaws... but in terms of accepting accountability... Boomers are pretty arrogant and ignorant toward the plights brought about by their decisions.
Okay. First thing's first. You have to realize that the entire point of the Baby Boomer Generation was to prolong adolescence as long as possible. They're the first generation to really have society oriented around their needs, and we'll pay the price. Heck, all you have to do is look at the long-term damage wrought by the childish idealism of the 60s to realize that.
Alright. I think the toughest from the generations that are left need to pick up the pieces and move on. We are Generation O. All of us.
Let's just move around the whiners and the entitlement seekers and bring back this country, this America that I, and you, and all of us, love, before it is ruined.
Sweeping generalizations seldom work, because they’re seldom based on fact. And while it’s a lot easier to blame someone else, the reality is, every living adult generation has contributed their fair share to the mess we ALL find ourselves in. If you want a (partial) cast of players, consider:
Ronald Reagan, father of Reaganomics. The Greatest Generation.
Alan Greenspan, responsible for easy money and rolling one asset bubble into another. The Great Generation.
Bill Clinton, repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, deregulating Wall Street. Boomer.
Henry Paulson, escalated the deficit, selling, baiting and switching the bailout bill. The Great Generation.
Wall Street, bundled toxic mortgages into shady SIVs that destroyed faith in the financial system. ½ Boomer; ½ Gen Jones and X.
Irresponsible homeowners, originated toxic mortgages by foolishly buying homes they knew they couldn’t afford. 1/3 Boomers; 2/3 Gen Jones, X and Y.
Anybody who thinks it’s all the Boomers’ fault is arguing emotion, not reason. Ditto anybody complaining about the Boomers breaking social security. The first Boomer just tapped social security this year. After paying into it for 45 years, they’ve paid a lot more in than any other generation and they’re just now starting to get something out. It’s a flawed system—a Ponzi scheme set up by FDR, a member of the Lost Generation, with a nod to Charles Ponzi, another member of the Lost Generation.
Generation has little to do with one's success or shortcomings. Most people are about as successful—or not—as they make up their minds to be. Skewering one generation is pointless when many have contributed. I’d rather find a solution than whine about who caused the problem.
Sweeping generalizations don't work except in history books like Houghton-Mifflin and Time-Life, and probably 100 hundred years and beyond.
Then they they will talk about the Beaver Cleaver Generation of George W. and whatever you all deny, well, it will all be there for posterity.
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