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If you calculate the future value of your monthly investment in social
security ($375/month, including both your and your employer’s contributions) at a meager 1% interest rate compounded monthly, after 40 years of working you'd have more than $1.3+ million dollars saved! This is your personal investment.
If you saved $375/month for 40 years at 1% you'd end up with $221,000. But that would be in today's dollars, in 40 years that $221,000 is going to be worth considerable less.
The government didn't take the boomers social security money, instead the boomers spent it by giving themselves tax breaks and other benefits over 2~3 decades.
Then I guess we did a better job of taking care of our parents than this generation is at taking care of us.
The younger generations simply are not in power right now, though. Of the 434 current members of the House of Representatives, 89 (20.5%) are "Generation X'ers" (born after 1964), and only one (0.23%) is a "Millennial" (born 1982 or later).
Of the Senate's 100 members, there are zero Millennials and nine Gen X'ers.
They simply don't have power. To the extent that anything happens in the next several years, it will be at the hands of the Baby Boomers.
Then I guess we did a better job of taking care of our parents than this generation is at taking care of us. We also paid off a war debt, etc., etc., etc. And we were paying into a pool until some of the presidents decided to dip into the till. You can check back and see which ones did this. I think everybody that is a baby boomer has been robbed by the government.
We more than paid for our parents. I think the real problem is all the abortions have caused the population to be too low for this generation to pay its way the way we did.
What is the saying? You can be sure your sins will find you out. I guess nobody thought all those murdered babies would some day have an affect on our economy.
If we have an unemployment rate of 7.8% with the current population, I'm kind of wondering where the jobs would be for the larger population, if it existed, to "pay its way" ?
The boomers have been a 100% wrecking crew for this country.
A. Wrecking the country financially. What did this country start out with in 1964 or 66 when the boomers turned 18? A AAA sterling credit rating. Lower debt vs GDP. We use to run budget surpluses (hard to imagine now).
B. Education has been completely degraded and has wilted on their watch.
The explosion of for profit schools in the last 10-15 years is shameful and is an egregious handicap on younger generations. Anyone that tells you anything else is fooling themselves. It's no substitute for a solid highschool education and solid vocational training.
How have those baby boomer education administrators, bureaucrats, college presidents done? Not too bad.
C. Health, they've completely failed. The junk food. All the sugar, processed food. Who has the sugar lobby influenced? The corporatization of junk food (i.e. McDonalds!!!). Who has McDonalds been steered by in the last 20 years? Probably not a millennial or gen x'er.
D. Social Security, Medicare. Ponzi schemes....house of cards. Whatever you want to call it. Pacify little Johnny and Suzy in k-12 with self esteem....martin luther king, group work....team building. But then basically loot the country and give their kids the bill.
***A more responsible generation would have started seeing the writing on the wall years ago, 20 years ago.
-Admit, you're getting older!! Hard to do. It's not 1969 anymore and you're not at woodstock. Shock, maybe start raising the retirement age and realize a few years isn't that big of a sacrifice.
-Give younger generations more breaks and incentives. But that's going to eat into their golden retirement plan!! Can't do that.
Look how housing has changed since the 50's and zoning laws. Why was housing so cheap and plentiful then, but expensive now? Where's the cheap new housing for this generation?
I say False. If anything, Baby Boomers have spoiled their children too much though.
I grew up with 2 T-shirts, a pair af tennis shoes, a pair of blue jeans, and 1 set of church clothes and that was all I owned. If I wanted something, I had to go earn it and buy it and that included my college education which I paid for while I worked full-time. A soon as I turned 15, I went to work after school and haven't stopped since.
My 3 kids have had cars bought for them (by me), their entire college education paid for by me and had so many luxuries that were not even something I could have considered as a child.
My kids and their generation futures will be guided by their own and the generation initiative...BOTTOM LINE.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hitman619
How much was your college education?
I work a full time job(almost 50k a year)and i'm going to need loans to finish my degree
I laugh at all you baby boomers that think,just because you bought your kids everything they would some how be better off than you
Honestly, it would be really hard for my kids to be better off than me but I've worked over 70 hours/week for years so I wouldn't want that for them unless they want it...but my 27 yoa son already making over $200/K per year has a chance.
My college education was inexpensive but the minimum wage at the time was $1.60/hr if I remember correctly. I took a job in sales and worked full time and over 80/hours per week in the summer to make sure I had money and owed nothing when I graduated from college.
Good luck to you and my advice is that you are going to struggle to be happy in life if you remain bitter.
This subject has been debated ad infinitum, but yes, the Baby Boomers will get a big chunk of the blame for whatever happens in the near-term, and the reasons are simple:
-the average age of a US House member is 56
-the average age of a US Senate member is 63
-the President is 51
-most Fortune 500 CEOs are Baby Boomers
Basically, Baby Boomers are holding the reins of power almost across the board. So, yes, they will take the blame if things go sour, or if they fail to improve. With power comes certain expectations, and if you can't live up to them, you tend to be remembered poorly. Simple as that.
Last I heard anyone over 18 is eligible to vote so it's rather disingenuous to blame just one generation for the people in power. And unless the media is wrong, the youth vote was largely responsible for electing the President both times. If they're not happy with his performance, they have no one to blame but themselves.
Yes, boomers destroyed the country, but not necessarily in the ways described here.
Boomers invented and propagated:
- Chicken McNuggets
- Supersized everything
- Wal-Mart and the "need" to buy more and more for less and less
- RoundUp Ready crops
- iPhones, texting and GPS
- Cartoons that promote empty consumerism
- ESPN
- Viagra
And a litany of other crap that changed what society perceives as valuable and important, and often not for the better.
We created a generation that is increasingly incapable of doing things previous generations could without technological assistance. Like simply reading a map. Yes, there are things that people can do now with technology that they couldn't before. But that doesn't pass for knowledge and experience. Or even productivity.
We created increased obesity, diabetes, food allergies and students who can't get by without Ritalin. All of which we're already paying for in spades - and those costs will get higher and higher in the coming years.
We created the idea that brands = status, which is about the stupidest thing in the world. Money being spent on labels that could be invested in more productive pursuits. Not to mention all the stupid products that came about because we, as advertisers and marketers, created a false need for said crap.
Another point about comparing this generation's student loans and job opportunities vs. previous generations is missing one key component - previous generations didn't need to pay for TV and internet. One was free, the other didn't exist. Now they're viewed as necessary utilities, adding well over $100/month to a personal budget already squeezed by increasing food/energy costs. It's a whole new category of expense.
I could go on. Point is, it's not just about Medicare, Medicaid or SS (the latter of which was a great concept and still would be if it wasn't raided for general fund expenses by our elected representatives). It's that expectations of what makes an acceptable lifestyle are very different today. People of all generations are guilty of lack of planning and not taking care of themselves, whether physically or financially. And for personally determining what is a 'necessary' expense and what is a 'luxury'. The latter is too often deemed the former.
And a key point brought up earlier about the Depression Era folks deserves repeating - yes, they took assistance when they needed it. But they didn't make it a lifestyle. They got off as soon as they could. That's how a safety net is supposed to work.
Even with all that said, well more than half of the under-30s I know will probably do as well or better than their parents. Smart people who work for a goal and live within their means generally come out ahead regardless of generation.
This I have noticed a lot lately. All generations eating up China made products. I have new found respect for Ford auto. They are making new sturdy reliable cars built to last.
Thread fail.
This is the Economics Forum. Garbage like this belongs over in the P&OC Forum. Now, do you intend to post any facts to support your ridiculous fantastical claims or not?
Quote:
Originally Posted by hartford_renter
True the baby boomers are stealing but not nearly as much as the poor.
And you have facts to back up your lies? Yes or No?
Quote:
Originally Posted by hartford_renter
Think about it all the debt is from social security Medicare and welfare which go overwhelmingly to the poor. We get rid of this wealth distribution and we can save this country.
Again, do you have any facts?
The only part of the public debt related to Social Security is what the government reimbursed to the Social Security Administration out of the General Fund due to Obama's idiotic FICA tax rebate. That's a fact, so you lose.
The only part of the public debt related to Medicare is payments out of the General Fund resulting from the fact that the Silent Generation refused to either increase the HI (Medicare) Tax, or refused to make cuts in Medicare or both, as the Medicare Trustees have repeatedly requested and suggested for the last 18 years. You lose again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by matzoman
I disagree. I think for a entire generation it will be close to impossible for NOT ALL but MANY of them to move on. The American middle to upper middle class lifestyle that they grew accustumed to will no longer be achievable even with a four year degree and a 40 hour workweek. Tell me, what is the next step for all of these people?
Re-evaluate your priorities. Do you want a cell-phone, or a residence in which to keep it? Choose wisely.
Maybe you can buy an X-Box and live in the box or something.
Quote:
Originally Posted by matzoman
Good post. Can genX or Y really relate to people culturally from the great depression? The contrast is so extreme!
Boomers are post-Great Depression. You can tell time, can't you?
Quote:
Originally Posted by user_id
As for the boomers, yes, their collective action certainly "ate their children future". For ~3 decades the boomers consistently increased their entitlements, lowered their taxes while cutting programs for younger generations and forcing tax increases on younger generations. So younger generations are now expected to pay more taxes, get less in return.....while they walk with all the entitlement programs they promised themselves.
That is complete bull-****. The FICA/SECA tax rate has neither increased nor decreased since 1990, and the HI (Medicare) Tax Rate has neither increased nor decreased since 1987, and you cannot prove otherwise.
The Silent Generation took a 520% FICA tax rate increase.
The Boomers and Tweeners took a 71% FICA tax rate increase.
How big of a FICA tax increase has Generation X-Box and Generation Y-Work been hit?
0%.
If any of you have facts to prove otherwise, let's see them.
Booming...
I was thinking this the other day. I - a baby boomer - have kids. Fortunately they are doing pretty good.. But with the climate nowadays with the USA leaning toward liberals, and with so many people on entitlements (47%?), I wonder if it had to do with the way the Baby Boomers brought up the kids of this generation.
First, my generation was the one to revolt against traditions and conservatism. Pot and rock music were rebellious against the norm. We hated anyone over 30. now, many of these baby boomers are now living a conservative lifestyle, have families, are lawyers, etc... but still perhaps we instilled the values of our generation to our kids, and now we are reaping what we sowed. Our attittude then went to our kids, and this may be why this generation is the way it is.
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