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You gotta love these threads straight out of the political sheeple handbook. First, let's demonize a generation, and indoctrinate another, and then we can push for political action that will screw over the sheeple who supported it to gain our agenda. Slurp, slurp, oh please tell me more.
The boomers actually made out just fine. They're the last generation where a pension is not an anomaly. They sold future generations down the river by tacitly approving the notion that pensions were 'too expensive' for workers. Never mind the fact that the executive pension system remains, fully funded at stratospheric levels, and CEO-to-worker pay ratio has ballooned from 42-1 in 1980 to 350-1 today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stoutboy
The whole loss of pension phenomenon is another issue. Basically, the same boomers who bought into the 'greed is good, live the good life NOW' philosophy were conned into giving up their pensions by the very political movement they supported that has decimated the middle class and created today's historically massive wealth disparity in the US. Funny how the executive pension system is still alive and well, exorbitantly funded in fact, by the same companies that told their rank and file workers to go pound sand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger
Heh, I get they didn't have individual control over it. But it was Boomer unionists who pushed for these pensions and essentially gave the younger folks (and taxpayers) the shaft.
And some of the ones I work with don't have realistic attitudes about the situation. They're mad because we took a pay cut a few years ago and they're mad because they're paying a lot more for their pensions. The younger folks aren't happy about it but are more realistic.
So it goes back to the same thing...Boomers are just an unrealistic generation.
It's very easy in hindsight to say "woulda, coulda, shoulda". One day future generations will point to our own selfishness in needing to drive huge gas-guzzling SUV's, preferring cheap crap made in China to the detriment of American workers, and allowing Walmarts to bury small businesses. Are we really so altruistic compared to past generations? I don't see it. I find it particularly hypocritical to single boomers out as creating entitled children, when we have 3 year olds getting iPads, current generation parents suing the school when our kids get detention, and 1 year olds having birthday parties in catered halls. I was raised by boomers and my first bike was used, my brother and I got maybe 5 or 6 gifts at Christmas, and if I got in trouble at school my mom assumed I deserved my detention (which I usually did).
Thank you! DH & I are both "boomers", ages 61 and 62, and neither one of us have a pension. Never did have one. We knew up front that we were going to have to work hard and save for retirement. We both have college educations, which we both had college jobs to help fund and lived at home to save money, and together have never made more than $60K in any of the 40 years we have been married. But we saved and have owned a house since 1976, both have IRAs and Roth IRAs and other investments. We have no mortgage, no car payment, no credit card debt. Daughter knew if she wanted something over and above the necessities and some toys, etc. she would have to save for them. She never felt denied. Her first car was my mother's car that came to me when she went into a home. Daughter worked extra hard in school and received scholarships to her first choice college. She also did some work in college as well, and has graduated with excellent degrees and has always had very well paying jobs. She has never asked us for a penny of help, even when we have offered it. She bought her own house several years ago, along with a car, furniture and other things she needed. She learned to do DIY stuff on her own. She currently has a boyfriend, but should that not work out she knows she will make it without having to come back home, although she would be welcome.
I am so sick and tired of all the "boomer bashing", especially painting all with the same brush. It's always somebody else's fault, never theirs. Some have made bad choices, but then again there are a bunch of milennials and Gen X that have made bad choices as well. A lot of kids today are so spoiled that it is ridiculous.....expensive cars, the newest phone, etc. Not all, mind you, but many. I worked with a woman whose daughter got really ticked off because they had an upgrade credit for a cell phone and they told the daughter that it was time for her mother to have it. Even though they had given the daughter the last 3 credits, she wanted this one as well. IMHO, she should have been happy to have a phone at all seeing that it was being paid for by her parents. And if I had spoken to my mother the way I hear some, especially if they don't get what they want, I would have been picking myself up out of the corner. And I agree about school......if I was punished for something in school (didn't happen as I respected my teachers) I would get the same at home. Didn't need to let them know, they already knew by the time I got there.
It's not like the private sector. Most government workers retire in their mid to late 50s. Police & firefitghters tend to retire in their early 50s.
Do you have a website/citation/graph for that? It sure doesn't agree with the people I know.
I was the anomaly in my office - I retired at 60, but left behind lots of people who were 62, 63, 64 etc.
Meet Nancie Eichengreen, 60 years of age. In 2012, after getting laid off from her legal secretary job, she decided to 'reinvent' herself, and went back to school (Yeshiva, an expensive private university) to pursue a master's in social work. She got the degree, but is still jobless and now $200k in debt.
The median salary for a social worker is $42k. I can't even begin to conceive what this woman was thinking.
Meet Nancie Eichengreen, 60 years of age. In 2012, after getting laid off from her legal secretary job, she decided to 'reinvent' herself, and went back to school (Yeshiva, an expensive private university) to pursue a master's in social work. She got the degree, but is still jobless and now $200k in debt.
The median salary for a social worker is $42k. I can't even begin to conceive what this woman was thinking.
1.That's her business, not yours.
2. Sixty is not old. Especially not in that field.
3. I'm sure she'll get a job.
4. the salary for an MSW in the NY metro area is substantially higher than what you have quoted.
This has nothing to do with boomers. I’m of the opinion that up to a certain age point (35) the government should not have to underwrite (loans) or invest a dime (grants) in educating a person.
oh wait. I'm not a boomer. I'm not even a product of boomers. Where are my bootstraps and my suck it up T-shirt? I gotta work harder to contribute to my IRA.
Nah.. joking...
If anything, I think the worst the boomer generation did was forget to prepare their children for the possibility of a downturn. That and the whole Hippie movement!
The boomers actually made out just fine. They're the last generation where a pension is not an anomaly. They sold future generations down the river by tacitly approving the notion that pensions were 'too expensive' for workers. Never mind the fact that the executive pension system remains, fully funded at stratospheric levels, and CEO-to-worker pay ratio has ballooned from 42-1 in 1980 to 350-1 today.
Ronald Reagan was not a boomer, and he was the one that pushed the 401k instead of pensions. Financial companies wanted 401k's so they can skim fees, whereas pension funds can't. The difference between 1980 and now started right there.
oh wait. I'm not a boomer. I'm not even a product of boomers. Where are my bootstraps and my suck it up T-shirt? I gotta work harder to contribute to my IRA.
Nah.. joking...
If anything, I think the worst the boomer generation did was forget to prepare their children for the possibility of a downturn. That and the whole Hippie movement!
The best we can do is try to better our parents.
Don't complain, and do what they say. Work harder, and get a better job. You believe it, so live it.
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IMHO, she should have been happy to have a phone at all seeing that it was being paid for by her parents. And if I had spoken to my mother the way I hear some, especially if they don't get what they want, I would have been picking myself up out of the corner. And I agree about school......if I was punished for something in school (didn't happen as I respected my teachers) I would get the same at home. Didn't need to let them know, they already knew by the time I got there.
