It's all the babyboomers fault!

[boiseguy]

Originally Posted by saganista

That's always been the case. That's how the program works. Or at least it did until 1983, when the Boomers agreed to tax themselves substantially more than what they would have needed to keep the system current in order to build up the reserve that would be needed to pay for the blip that their own retirements would eventually cause. That's the surplus. That's what's in the SS Trust Fund. It will peak around 2030 at a balance of about $5.5 trillion or so. Maybe a little more. Starting around 2020, it will be spent down so that then-current workers won't have to foot that extra Boomer bill. Pretty slowly at first, then faster. It'll all be gone somewhere around 2060-ish unless things somehow change dramatically between now and then.


Yes, and I agree with that part. But the largest part of the Boomers isn't at fault for anything no matter how you slice it. They went to college, they got jobs, they tried to buy houses (which wasn't easy with mortgage rates at 9-14%), they had kids, they took them to Disney World, they saved up to send them to college, and now they're getting ready to retire. They just tried to live their lives as best they could. I don't know why you want to blame them for that.


That 28% has never been a majority. Lots of things have happened on the national and global stage over the years that the Boomers have been around alright, but the average Boomer had nothing to do with any of them. Doesn't seem quite proper to be hoping that they'll all hurry up and die, which seems to be the sentiment of some.


I'm questionning the relevance and validity of an argument that is set up to give people credit or blame for things they had no control over and nothing to do with. Only a few people invented the PC, not Boomers. We just bought them once they got cheap enough to afford. Same with microwaves. And Cable-TV. And cell phones.


Yeah, and a decent chunk of that Greatest Generation joined the Communist Party at some point during the Depression. Particularly among the best-and-brightest of them. Then they turned around 20 years later and let Joe McCarthy and the Red Scare run amok. With a record like that, maybe we should root for the rest of them to die out real soon as well.


No, I'm merely saying for purposes of illustration that the number of Boomers is about the same as that of blacks and atheists added together.

so for the sake of argument.. we should phrase it.. WE as americans f'd up between 1970-2000's? rather than refer to a generation?... is that what you're looking for is political correctness? Look my parents are BB's and they atleast acknowledge we took a wrong turn or two durring these years...
THAT is the issue.. so if thats what needs to be addressed so as to not step on YOUR toes.. then I suppose that is what we can do.