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Thanks for ****ty, second rate country we'll inherit! You did an amazing job managing & squandering the most prosperous time America has ever experienced, and in the process stealing from future generations
If the over 50 set is to blame its for raising kids who are still spoiled self-centered unrealistic kids at 30.
Thanks for ****ty, second rate country we'll inherit! You did an amazing job managing & squandering the most prosperous time America has ever experienced, and in the process stealing from future generations
You tell 'em! And while we're at it.... To anyone over the age of 200 from Great Britain, thanks for the ****ty second rate country we'll inherit! You did an amazing job managing & squandering the most prosperous time America has ever experienced (especially you Ben Franklin) and in the process stealing from Native Americans, the French, and future generations.
The only mistake Boomers have made is spoiling their kids.
This is true. My parents certainly spoiled me. But then they both grew up during the depression and wanted their kids to get the things they never had. But then, we didn't have three cars, a huge tv, multiple electronics and the like either. And my dad saved for his cars and bought them with cash. So while we were spoiled, we were not drowned.
And not all boomers have drowned their kids. Not all boomers ever lived up to that magical social standing that mom and dad had either. A lot of us never got to where we could buy whatever the kids wanted. But some of us did and have given as was given to us. And look what that has wrought....
I know of a number of friends with kids from 18 to the mid 20's who are broke and have no clue what to do now the money has stopped rolling in. Just like their parents these kids will have to learn the lesson the very hard way. If they are smart they'll remember that over reverting.
But its our society too. We have one which pushes things, buying, newness and bigness and fun. Even if mom and dad didn't get to share in the fun, the kids grew up in this atmosphere. A huge rock and hard place awaits them as they get out of mom and dad's world. For that has always been an image rather than the reality. The suits in the fancy offices who wanted everyone to buy at excess and the bankers who gave out free credit cards could afford it. A generation of kids has gotten snookered into believing that the toys are more important than real life.
So don't blame anyone but yourself if you find you bought an illusion. That is up to you.
My fear is that politicians will still find ways to load up on debt for a while longer. We will "only" be around 100% of GDP by 2012. If we really leverage our position and use a few dirty tricks to hype up our own bond issues, I bet we could float around 200 to 220% of GDP worth of debt before buyers stop biting altogether.
You're right about that possibly being an issue. Japan was able to do it (and look at their multi-decade recession due to their inability to let the market rid itself of toxins and capital being used inadequately). The one difference with us though, is Japans financing of their bonds came almost entirely from their own citizens (and they still have one of the highest savings rates in the world). Almost all of the US's bond financing is coming from overseas, and we have one of the worst savings rates in the world. So now the gov't has to convince those from overseas to buy into a country that they don't need to succeed. If American citizens had the capital to finance the debt, then they would because we wouldn't want our country 1. Defaulting on our debt or 2. creating hyperinflation to prevent a default on our debt.
We already know inflation will be here sometime in the near future but how much depends entirely on how much the gov't is or isn't willing to cut on spending (or increase revenues/taxes). It's possible it will be like the 70's or it's possible it will be multiple times worse...only time will tell based on what Washington does. If you don't believe me on inflation coming then take it from Warren Buffett: "We are currently bearish on all currencies" - Warren Buffett at his 2010 Shareholder meeting.
Whatever altitude you reach in life is a reflection of your attitude, take care.
LOL. I used to see that poster at the department I went to college during undergrad. NASA poster..." your attitude determines your altitude". Funny thing about that " attitude-centric" success mantra garbage is that the Space shuttle program is now shut down, leaving a generation of children and young adults with a dead dream and no heros. How about that for an irony........'cause nobody busts their hump for 10 years to get the braggin' rights at being the guy who designed the 415th screw on the automated mini-rover that lands on planet who-gives-a-f%ck, people do remember buzz Aldrin though....
Just to expand a little more on the pun behind the saying; the saying not only uses the rhyme between the words attitude and altitude, but also makes a reference to the instrument used in aircraft/spacecraft to indicate the aircraft's attitude in pitch and roll; the "attitude indicator" or "artificial horizon". The short and skinny of it is that we use negative and positive angle indications on the attitude indicator to measure the magnitude of said pitch. Positive angles indicate the nose-up regime, negative values reflect nose-down. The idea thrown by the pun is that a "positive" angle results in a climb, which everything else being equal increases your "altitude".
What the stupid saying fails to warn the dupes who believe such garbage is that a "positive attitude" can kill you just as easy as a "negative attitude". There is such a thing as stalling, at which point attempting to increase the pitch in hopes of retaining altitude actually aggravates your rate of fall. The same can be said about life. A gratuitous positive outlook on life can lead you to become "optimism-biased", at which point you might as well walk around with a revolver and a bullet in one chamber, your odds of winning or dying are about as certain as that.
Here's a better one from the book of the grounded. "If you try and fail, don't give up. Try again.....and if you fail, then quit, don't be an idiot." But universities wouldn't get as many incoming freshmen (read rent) with the "your odds of becoming the astronaut we pay to speak to you on opening day are not good at all" approach to the truth.
Attitude determines your altitude is as much an entitlement-based philosophy as blaming your lousy parents for screwing up the country is. People still fail every single day in this country and clicking their heels ain't helping them one iota. So as one who understands the internal joke behind the saying and the community from which it originated, spare me.
He does have a point, we really can't blame teenagers for a $13 trillion debt.
It's a misuse of common sense to blame any one generation as the OP did since the condition of todays economy is a collection of bad presidents as well as weak (read paid for) congress and an apathetic citzenry.
In other words.......It's ALL of our fault.
That said, the OP posted a bad rant that got to much attention IMO.
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