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The young tend to keep blaming us Babyboomers for all the problems with Social Security and the lack of planning for having enough money to live on in retirement.
Well, there might be a bit of logic to that blame on some level. Who's been running the country/holding the high power political positions for the most part for a while now, "managing" SSN, "managing" medicare, "managing" the national debt? Those of the baby boomer generation largely. Who has largely been electing baby boomers into office for many election cycles now? The baby boomers.
But for the lack of planning for one's own retirement? Nah. That's always been in the domain of the individual no matter what generation they are from.
Boomer's have a mixed bag. I think they were the last generation to believe in the system/the first generation to challenge the system. As children, they likely saw the system working for their parents, who put in their time and were lucky enough to enjoy some great economic times. Liberals and Conservatives weren't that far apart. Nearly 25% of the US held manufacturing jobs in the 50's. It made sense to think that an 8 hour day would pay the bills, allow a home purchase, and that the company would pay a pension afterwards. You put in your time, you played by the rules and you'd be fine.
So, why not sweeten the system, make it work for all? Social Security seemed like a great answer to those who hadn't been given a pension, but things were changing. Europe and Japan bounced back on the Economic sector, and the massive trade surplus the US had for decades began to shrink. The generation fought amongst itself on how far to go with the cold war. Personally, it seemed like Vietnam split them for good.
Suddenly, we have us and them. Quickly, how to make the system work for us, with intermediary items on how to work for both. So, like any good procrastinator, they decided to stop worrying about the economics of things and did truly make huge progress in other social areas and innovations....but with the system still broken, the distribution began to change. Social norms fell, single income families fell and amongst the collapse of economic norms, Corporate America was able to get two workers for the price of one. Families, now separated in individual suburbia, now had less wiggle room in which to maintain a standard of living and were faced with faster innovation than their prior generations had been, obsoleting entire career lines.
Nobody wants to be the naive one, the one who missed the party, and as the neighbors start eyeing each other with envy, a sense of...what's in it for me took hold in a more profound way. Actually caring for more unfortunate types was relieved by government programs and taxes.
Enter Reagan, and the decision to step on the gas in regards to debt. By raising the stakes high enough to drive off the Soviet Union, the stakes were also raised on the microeconomic climate for businesses. Industries needed to consolidate in order to survive. Fewer players in any given market meant consolidation of jobs and industries...and eventually specializations.
Now, many boomers are left simply with their last hopes of the system caring for them. Social Security and Medicare and Pensions. Generation X was the first to assume the entire programs would be gone entirely by the time they stood to benefit and couldn't understand how the large working population expected the smaller working population to care for the elders and pay their debts at the same time. The manager gap is now being felt as there are simply fewer people of the right age to lead. Millennials at least seem more inclined to want to believe in a system. Figure out how to make it work, but with expectations that are much lower. At the same time, they don't want to plug into the low end of a broken system, as opposed to make a new system. They may do it.
They could be the revivial generation of the country, but there's nobody after the boomers that would think that working summers and attending state would get them a degree, that a pension or even long term job will be awaiting them or that the government will get itself fixed. That's why the younger generations look at the older one with disdain sometimes. A simple...you had it all and let it fall apart. It's too simple of a view of course. The world changed. Hopefully the older generations will not elect old guard idiots and give us half a chance at fixing the country going forward, not backwards. That would truly be the best gift.
Not to mention that, if the boomers had more kids that they wanted to do better by than their parents did for them, they would have less retirement funds available for themselves.
It all gets back to the fact that boomers may have spent too much on their children and did not hold back enough for themselves.
That is very true
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