Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
When the boomers "die off", I suspect America will morph into a country like most of the countries in Western Europe: slow growth, high unemployment, decreased innovation, big government. the younger generation prefers the utopian dream of democratic socialism to America's uniqueness in the world. when the boomers are gone, the younger generation will embrace democratic socialism, what they naively think they want.
If this is the case, then we should work on automating high paid positions and end the gravy train for many at the top. This would actually be easier since most sit at their desk doing mental work rather than troubleshooting issues as techs on the production line.
We could also nationalize the companies since they no longer serve a useful purpose for employing workers.
So the most highly paid sit at desks doing mental work? How do? Nationize companies? Mind boggling....
All the boomers I've met have great work ethic, it seems to be the thing boomers are known for more than anything.
It seems like each generation after them got lazier....
Meh, when we were growing up the depression era "greatest generation" were telling us we were the laziest deadbeats to ever come down the pike. Long haired, sloppy dressing, dope smoking bums who listened to loud noise and called it music........
Without immigrants to replace workers, Medicare and ss will collapse.
Boomers aren't just happy enough to bankrupt it, they want to screw everyone else going forward.
They really are the most selfish generation
I'm older than my wife by 9-years, so I'll go first. I've set up the NRA trust for a whopping donation.
When she dies, most will go to animal-welfare charities, with no inheritances to relatives.
No money left to the State for freeloaders.
B. S. Please stop the generational bashing. As a Boomer, I paid my way through college and supporting myself by working a 40 hour week in a paper mill. I was so tired that I often fell asleep in class. My husband and I have always worked for others and ourselves and have probably more than repaid in taxes (sales, income, property, gas, utilities, etc.) than we ever reaped the benefits from.
Yes, tuition was cheaper then but when we bought a home, the interest was 10%. Now, that we are retired, savings interests rates are negligible.
Do you think that we want to make life less enjoyable for our children? Blame the oligarchs or the investor class but do not blame us. We are struggling as much as you are.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GABESTA535
Even if interest was 10%, housing prices were WAY cheaper, especially in the major metropolitan areas where all the jobs are. The issue no politicians are talking about is high housing costs in the major metropolitan areas where all the good jobs are.
In August of 1982, when we bought our first home, interest rates as you can see were 16.27% + 2.3 points, that is 19%. And housing prices were never cheap in Denver, not since we've been in the housing market, anyway.
Quote:
Originally Posted by danielj72
We gen Xrs have every bit the work ethic the boomers had. In fact we had tougher economic conditions to deal with then they did. Don’t mix us Gen Xrs up with the millennials who come after. I believe that is who you are really talking about.
Baloney! Here is a compilation of posts I have made over they years here on CD about the economic conditions from the early 70s through the 00s.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt
So basically you have nothing.
I don't know where you get that idea. We older Boomers started working when the "Greatest Generation" (1910-1924) and the Silents (1925-1945) were still working. In 1971, when most of us Boomers born in the 1940s were new in our careers, Nixon imposed wage and price controls. Then came the oil embargo of 1973. All this time, the war in Vietnam was ongoing. The draft finally ended in 1973, so males born 1955 and later weren't affected. And so on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt
Snort! I believe you're thinking of "The Greatest Generation", not their Boomer kids. I'm an older Boomer. Just as I was getting established in the job market, Nixon threw on wage and price controls in 1971. Then came the "stagflation" of the 70s. The oil embargo and energy crisis of 1973 happened shortly thereafter. Rising mortgage interest rates occurred in the late 70s/early 80s, just as many Boomers were starting to buy their first houses. There was the early 80s recession, the oil bust of the late 1980s, which severely affected Denver. 401Ks replaced pensions for people in the private sector. The early 2000s saw another recession, and then the biggie in 2008 came just as some of us were in the latter days of our careers. I know people who were laid off back then who have never worked again. Etc, etc, etc.
Oh, give me a break! Yes, the Great Recession was the worst economy since the Great Depression. However, it's over, finally!
I graduated from college in 1970. In 1971, Nixon imposed wage and price controls. We dealt with practically out of control inflation back then, and for years thereafter, d/t the VietNam war. And oh yeah, that! Until 1973, there was a military draft for males. Then, in the early 80s, when we were ready to buy our first house, interest rates on mortgages were in the 18% area, again due to inflation. What are they now? As of yesterday, from 3.25% for a 15 year fixed mortgage, to 4.01% for a 30 year fixed. Yeah, we all had it easy. Current Mortgage Interest Rates | Bankrate.com Primary Mortgage Market Survey Archives - 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgages - Freddie Mac
You know, I'm sorry so many young adults had to deal with the Great Recession. Both of my kids graduated from college in 2009, one from professional (physical therapy) school and one from undergrad. The older one was one of few in her class to get a full time PT job, and that was because she was willing to move from Denver. Many of her friends put together several part time jobs. The younger one worked in a day care center for two years, with her Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology degree. But that's life.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt
^^ I do not watch FOX News, sorry to disappoint. My husband had a low draft number; he had to choose grad school based on who would give him a teaching assistantship.
I just did a wage comparison with 1970 and nursing wages are about double now, adjiusted for inflation. Engineering salaries are about the same. The millennials that I know are working in professional job, including my daughter who worked in day care for two years.
Someone born in 1960 is 55 years old; has another 12-15 years in the workforce and a life expectancy of another 25.3 years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt
But maybe it does, if the other generations started working at an average age of say, 20 instead of 25 or so.
Bull! The oldest Boomers were born in 1946. They were 24 in 1970. Read this about the economy of the 1970s. 1970s - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "The 1970s were perhaps the worst decade of most industrialized countries' economic performance since the Great Depression. . . . From 1970-1979, however, the average rate was 7.06%, and topped out at 13.29% in December 1979.[5] This period is also known for "stagflation", a phenomenon in which inflation and unemployment steadily increased. It led to double-digit interest rates that rose to unprecedented levels (above 12% per year). The prime rate hit 21.5 in December 1980, the highest in history."
There is a section in that link about the oil crisis of the 1970s as well.
I mentioned Nixon's wage and price controls of 1971. There was gasoline rationing, and long lines at gas stations. By the early 80s, the manufacturing economy went bust; the oldest Boomers were 34 and the youngest were 16. I remember visiting my hometown, a nice suburb of Pittsburgh in 1982. The headline in the Sunday Beaver County Times was the location of various food banks and who qualified for them. (Some were run by unions for their members.) My mom pointed out the houses in our neighborhood that had been for sale for years, their owners either long dead or long moved away to places like Florida and North Carolina in search of jobs, any jobs. Mortgage rates reached a peak in the early 80s as well, just as the older Boomers were starting to buy homes.
The 'Greatest Generation' and the 'Silent Generation' were mostly in charge as manufacturing left for overseas and government debt increased.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt
Please elaborate on what sacrifices YOU have made for your country. Thanks.
B#1: I think most Boomers encountered recession at some point early in their careers. The oldest Boomers turned 18 in 1964, started graduating from college in ~ 1968.
Dec. 1969-11 month recession
August 1971, Nixon imposes wage and price controls d/t rampant inflation. Was supposed to be 90 days, ended up being 1000 days of various measures.
Nov. 1973-March 1975-16 month recession
Jan.-July 1980-6 month recession
July 1981-Nov. 1982-16 month recession
Youngest boomers just graduating from HS.
In addition, the steel industry collapsed in Pittsburgh in the early 1980s. In the fall of 1982, DH and I made a visit to my parents in the Pittsburgh area. The headline in the SUNDAY PAPER (Beaver County Times) was about where the food banks around the county were located and who could use them. Some were only for members of certain unions, etc.)
B#2: I seriously do not believe it is the norm for most boomers to be drowning in debt and on the brink of foreclosure. I'll check your link, but I think you grossly misinterpreted the information. NONE of the Boomers I know are in that situation, and I don't want to hear the usual excuse that my friends must be exceptions to the link.
B#3: Boomers risked police brutality to try to end the Viet Nam war. Gimme a break!
B#4: Again, "How to Lie With Statistics"
B#5: If you bought a house in 1989, you still have 6 years to go on a mortgage. Don't forget that in the early 80s, interest rates were up around 18%. Some people bought a "starter" home in the early 80s b/c it was all they could afford, what with the crazy interest rates. Then they bought a move-up home later. It is not at all unusual to buy a second house in one's 30s-40s. If one gets a job transfer, one has to buy another house as well.
B#6: I don't know what point you're trying to make here, but my parents bought their first house in 1951.
Have now read to post #80. If I'm being repetitious, I apologize.
I don't think you've talked to a lot of Boomers then.
Kathryn gave a good answer, but I'm going to add a bit.
I graduated from college in 1970. In 1971, Pres. Nixon imposed wage and price controls. There was a recession in the early 70s. There was an "energy crisis" in about 1973 that increased the price of all oil-based products, e.g. gasoline, electricity, etc. There was the moral morass of Watergate. And so on. As in Texas, Colorado was in deep s*** in the 80s when the oil industry here collapsed. Back in my hometown of Pittsburgh, the steel industry collapsed. Mortgage interest rates were at about 18% in 1982, when we bought our first house.
Please document. I have looked this stuff up in the past. Food and clothing are much cheaper, in constant dollars, than they were in the 70s. Re: clothing, we didn't have all these "made in Bangladesh" clothes we have today. I already explained about gas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katarina Witt
Here are some posts of mine from previous discussions of this issue, edited for relevancy to this thread.
To the person who said wages haven't increased since 1973, that's a crock of compost! In 1973, I was making about $4/hr. Now, a nurse with a few years experience makes at least $25/hr, usually more.
Its not going to be pretty. Many boomers benefited from their parents accumulated wealth, which they inherited. But the boomers dont appear to be willing or able to do the same for their children. They seem to be spending it on themselves or their children or grandchildren. Might be pretty tough sledding for those generations after the boomers.
Its not going to be pretty. Many boomers benefited from their parents accumulated wealth, which they inherited. But the boomers dont appear to be willing or able to do the same for their children. They seem to be spending it on themselves or their children or grandchildren. Might be pretty tough sledding for those generations after the boomers.
There is no data to support any of what you said...just rambling inaccurate statements....carry on
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
