I won’t be posting a Quinn-like masterpiece with lots of graphs and statistics. First, I don’t have that ability. Second, I am not a statistic. I am a person … so this will be a personal story with anecdotes about my achy-breaky Boomer life. Mostly, I just want to address the following question;
“ARE BOOMERS RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERYTHING WRONG IN AMERICA TODAY?”
First, let me whine a little. A number of folks here (you know who you are, lol) answer that question with an emphatic “YES!!”. I find it incredulous that otherwise very smart folks can say such things. I don’t know if it’s said just for effect to “piss off” Boomers such as myself, or if you can really attribute this country’s Great Malaise to such a simple theory. It is also rather dismaying that whenever ANYTHING positive is said about the Boomer generation, then that person is accused of being in “denial” or an “apologist”. It’s almost as if the quest for knowledge ceases when it comes to Boomers … a really surprising turn of events considering the large number of INTJs here.
Others will say we Boomers shouldn’t take it “personally” — which, really, is like calling a black person “nigger”, and then exclaiming, “Oh! Please don’t take that personally”. Tough to do! Accuse me of whatever you wish. I simply cannot wrap my tiny mind around the Broad Brush Approach — lumping an entire generation of 76 million people as the cause of Everything Evil is not wise, helpful, applicable, or even possible, imho. You might as well say, “Humans caused all our evils” … which would also be equally correct, and equally useless since the classification is too enormous. But if one is looking for an Easy Unified Theory of Everything Wrong With America … “Boomers Did It” … well, have at it.
I cannot identify with the rich Boomers, because I am not rich. I cannot identify with the rich Greatest Generation , because I am not rich. I cannot identify with the rich of any generation, because I am not rich. Without advocating a class-warfare approach, I must maintain that a far greater divide in America is along Class — not, age. The mega-rich, the mega-powerful, the ultra-elite — yeah, the 1% — as George Carlin says, THEY are your owners! Redirect your anger accordingly.
I am NOT against the younger generation. I love ‘em. I feel I have more in common with my emotionally troubled son than with most Boomers in my life. Unlike what happens to many old farts, he at least he still questions everything, still wonders what this crazy life is all about, still wonders how he “fits in”. Just like I did when I was his age, and actually, still do to some extent. \\end:whining//
STUCKY CONSIDERS HIS PAST WHILE AT A CHRISTMAS CONCERT
A couple Sundays ago I went to my Dad’s Christmas concert. He sings for The Plainfield Gesang & Turn Verein, a German-American heritage club that was founded in 1886. There were about 200 people in attendance. I would say that 90% of demographics were Boomers such as myself and our parents, The Greatest Generation.
I not only listened to the music, but as I watched my dad singing so proudly, and as I glanced at my mom who always gets weepy at this event, my mind also grew nostalgic, as it is prone to do at such holiday occasions.
It is only in the past few years that I have seen my parents as “whole” persons. What I mean by that is that their whole existence on this planet, as far as I was concerned for most of my life, only started around when I was 5 years old … my earliest memories of them. That means about 30 years of their lives — while they did start to tell me bits and pieces once I turned 17 and thereafter — well, for all intents and purposes it simply didn’t exist. What a damn shame, to my own detriment, that I didn’t even care about the great fountain of experience and knowledge I so easily dismissed. The major event that shaped my parent’s lives was WWII. With apologies to all those here who know this story, I shall very briefly summarize it for those who don’t, for context.
My dad was a German living in Romania. One day, when dad was a teenager, the German Army came sweeping into his village, yanked him from his home, told him he was in the German Army, sent him to the Russian front, where he was captured, spent time in a Russian prison camp, and upon release was not allowed to return to Romania and never saw his family again, but was instead sent to England to work in the coal mines for several years – a form of ‘reparation’, before he made his way to a refugee camp in Austria.
My mother was a German living in Yugoslavia. One day, when she was a teenager, the Russian Army came sweeping into her village. They shot a lot of older German men – the young ones were all off to war — on the spot. Virtually all the women in the village were promptly sent to a Russian gulag, where she was raped, saw her mom raped and then murdered in front of her eyes. After the war ended only she and her brother remained alive, they were not allowed to return to their village, and they walked to a refugee camp in Austria.
I don’t relay these events for pity. Screw that. They are just one of millions of German families who suffered in WWII … just as millions of Americans have suffered in WWII, with only the details changing. I just have a story to tell, and my parent’s story is a huge part of my story. Of course I can’t speak for 76 million of us except in a general sense. For example, I graduated from a high school of about 2,000 and I feel comfortable in saying we all share the Same Boomer Story, generally speaking.
THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING BOOMERISM
The point is these are the people who raised my fat Boomer ass … which they did not do in a vacuum, independent of things that shaped their lives. The picture in your mind’s eye of a “Boomer” is quite incomplete if you forget, or misunderstand, our Greatest Generation parents.
So, I’m watching my mother as she watches the concert, I put my hand around her shoulder as I see her eyes well up with tears. What is she thinking? What pains are still so real to her today .. that I can’t help her with? I start thinking about my own 59 years of living … how crystal clear certain events of my own teenage years still are … as if they happened yesterday. And then a feel a certain shame that it took me so long to see my parents as whole persons. I suddenly feel despondent that I so despised several aspects of my upbringing that I couldn’t wait to join the military, even in the midst of the Vietnam war, just to get the fuck out from under my parent’s thumb. Before taking a look at how the Greatest Generation raised us, let’s quickly take a look at another key to understanding Boomers; the world in which we lived
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY ??
The Gay 20’s really weren’t all that gay, just as the world Boomers inherited wasn’t only the fun, Hippie, pot-smokin’, LSD trippin’, rock’n-roll groovin’, free love image that is remembered today. Two big events and a ton of smaller ones helped turn our once pure souls to the Dark Side.
First Big Event: Da Bomb. Russia. Nukes. Commie bastards. Ka-BAM! All gone. Nuclear winter. Dead. Why??? Nuke drills!! Little Boomer children hiding under desks for protection. Little Boomer children watching gub’mint movies showing homes blasted to smithereens. Little desk hiding Boomers not stupid, “We gonna die under this desk!!” Was I forever traumatized – some prepubescent PTSD – by these drills? No. Did it affect my perception of what the world was about and that just maybe it made no sense at all and that the grownups were idiots and that since tomorrow may never come so I might as well live just for today … even though I was just a kid at the time? You better believe it.
Second Big Event. Vietnam. Dirty, nasty, disgusting, vile war that killed 60,000 of us and maimed hundreds of thousands more. What was it good for? Absolutely nothing. Did it affect my perception of what the world was about and that just maybe it made no sense at all and that the grownups were idiots and that since tomorrow may never come so I might as well live just for today? You better believe it.
Not to mention in no particular order; civil rights ….. riots …. . corrupt government openly lying ….. a disgraced president ….. dead soldiers faces broadcast on TV every night ….. Kent State ….. double-digit unemployment ……. Midnight Cowboy ….. 25% interest rate for a home loan ….. gas lines ….. shitty cars that exploded ….. S&L crisis ….. Bay of Pigs ….. nukes in Cuba!! …. Abortion …. JFK ….. and, MLK …. Jimmie Hendrix and Janis Joplin …. Gloria Steinem and woman’s rights ….. no more prayer in school ….. the Ayatollah ….. Supreme Court turns activist all over the place …… Korea ….. school integration ……………….
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Did we shape the times, or did the times shape us? I think it’s the latter. Simple math.
The first Boomers were born in 1946. How old are the people-in-charge, the leaders, the CEOs, the 535 politicians that rule our lives … i.e., the people who actually make things happen? Let’s be conservative and say that it’s 30 years old. So, the first Boomers with power to affect the status quo arrive on the scene only in 1975. I would say Boomers took the helms of power around daddy Bush’s presidency in 1989 – when the first Boomers were 43 years old.
The “ME Generation” —- A MISNOMER
We are … and you may add the adjective “most” to many of these descriptions; selfish, self-indulgent, unwilling to sacrifice, politically correct, drug addicted, material minded, entitled, liberal or commie shits, bad parents, lazy, humans to ever walk the earth. And to top it all off we invented Afro’s and disco (actually, two legitimate reasons to hate us). Amazingly, we accomplished all this because of the year in which we were born. And because of our sin of ‘The Year Of Our Birth’, you can go to literally hundreds of blogs other than here and find the admonishment that Boomers should “just die already”. The implication being, that once this happens, pretty much everything will return to bliss, prosperity, and overall happiness. I read that we Boomers only cared about only three things; 1) Me, 2) Me, and 3) Me. Just like the “love of money” is the root of evil, our preoccupation with “Me” is the root cause underlying our evilness.
BUT — the ME-Generation was raised by the Greatest Generation.
How would YOU like to be born following that moniker? Imagine you have just one older sibling, and your parents referred to him/her as “The Greatest Kid”. It just might fuck you up! Lol Boomer babies didn’t drop out the shoot and at the moment of birth become The Most Selfish Bastards ever. We did not raise ourselves. Somewhere along the line, some person(s) and some event(s) helped us along into becoming selfish pricks. Cause leads to effect, nature abhors a vacuum.
What do you THINK you know about The Greatest Generation?
Unless you’re a Boomer, what you think you know about the Greatest Generation is likely inaccurate. The people you know as grandparents are NOT the same people who raised us. Some kind of Weird Assed Transformation took place from the time we were born to the people you know. Maybe it has to do with the aging process – whereby one becomes more introspective, soft hearted, and most importantly – accepting of Things As They Are … not, What They Should Be, a mantra us Boomer kids heard a million times if we heard it once. Maybe it was the realization that their own Materialism was a big mistake … and trust me on this, in many ways they were much more materialistic than their boomer children. Maybe they didn’t ‘change’, maybe they just ‘adapted’ – but, the Metamorphosis into A New Life Form –one that is NOW loved and revered — is and was spectacular.
Let’s take a look at what Boomer kids heard growing up
“ I’m not buying you a new pair of Converse sneakers. You think money grows on trees?”
“You’re not going out dressed like that, are you? What will the neighbors think?”
“I slave all day to put food on the table, so you damn well better eat all of it!”
“You don’t know what hardship is all about. WE had it rough.”
“Kids in China are starving. Learn some gratitude, dammit.”
“You see all the stuff we have?. We did all this for you.”
“Turn off the damn lights. You think electricity is free?”
“You don’t know the meaning of sacrifice.”
“Cut your hair! At least look respectable.”
“You don’t know how lucky you are.”
“At least you could show some respect.”
“You don’t know the value of things.”
“Why don’t you appreciate anything?”
“Quit acting like a bum!” KaPow!! (We boomer kids got wacked …. A LOT)
If you don’t see a significant amount of materialism in those statements then, I’m sorry, you’re just not being perceptive enough. Materialism is largely a state of mind. Bertrand Russel said, ——- “It is the preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else that prevents us from living freely and nobly.”
HANGING ONTO WHAT YOU GOT LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT
It’s not about how much stuff you own. It’s about the stuff you own that eventually owns you. A middle aged man attempts to reclaim his youth and buys a vintage Harley, just like the one in Easy Rider. He owns the bike. Before you know it he’s spending all weekend polishing every nut and bolt. Then he decides it needs some restoration, and he spends a few grand doing that. Then he spends more and more time away from his family and with his fellow enthusiasts, riding around town, showing off like a peacock. Then one day his teenage son accidently puts a small scratch on the fender. He hurls a string of expletives at his son for committing this unforgiveable sin. The bike now owns HIM.
Although I lacked nothing growing up, my pre-boomer angst was fueled by the ever present possibility that all the blessings bestowed on me could be lost at any time. From scarcity we came, and to scarcity we could return. This pretty much fulfills Bertrand Russels’s materialism “preoccupation” criteria. Our stuff, meager as it might be, owned us. The resultant activity of the scarcity meme, in terms of materialism, is that my Greatest Generation dad worked his ass off to make sure scarcity would never rear its ugly head. This is admirable and not to be condemned. Don’t you, and I, do the very same thing for our children?
But, it did have unintended consequences. Growing up I couldn’t help but feeling that material gain was more important than anything else. Our parents did work their fingers to the bone. But by the time they dragged their tired asses through the door, they were too tired to hug us. They were too tired to have any really meaningful conversations, especially about sex. “Children should be seen, and not heard.” , I swear was God’s eternal truth scripted somewhere in the Gospels. So, we spent a great deal of our time out of our parents’ sight. That was great for both of us … far less arguments.
We even had our own special place to play in the house. The basement. We sure as hell never romped around the main level, especially the living room; “Don’t sit there! That’s GOOD furniture!!”. Our little boomer minds duly noted; ‘furniture more important than us’. Watch reruns of ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ and Marie’s living room to see the hilarious abortions our parents resorted in order to “save” the good furniture; they covered everything in plastic! Lol All of us immediately identified with the advice Dustin Hoffman received in The Graduate; “Plastics, my boy. Plastics.” Eventually we got the last laugh when all that plastic shit turned a putrid shade of yellow, and the cushions smelled like skunk ass when the plastic was removed. Meanwhile, we were banished to the basement where we could destroy nothing of real value.
FROM DEPRIVATION TO EXCESS TO REBELLION
One of the most common reactions to deprivation is excess. For example, people who have faced starvation will often, once circumstances have changed, become gluttons. This was our parents’ response.
Then, as time passes, a typical reaction to excess is rebellion. This was our response. For example, on a grand scale a Colonist eventually rebels against the excesses of his British masters, and dumps tea in the bay. On an individual scale, children (of any era) eventually rebel against their parents’ excessive rules by doing the exact opposite. The goal of the Rebel, whether a nation or a child, is always to starve the master of their power.
This dynamic plays out predictably well in the Greatest Generation / Boomer relationship. The Greatest Generation faced deprivations in spades; from the Great Depression to Dust Bowls to World War II. The end of the Big War ushers in the greatest economic boom in American history, or something like that. Remembering their deprivations the Greatest Generation becomes as materialistic as any in recent memory. Some of you folks err when you compare that materialism back then with what we have today. You look at countless graphs, data, GDPs, debt, one financial ratio after another … compare the two eras … and somehow conclude that the Greatest Generation were ‘savers’. The “numbers” don’t look so bad back then only because the whole shebang was just getting started. Some shit just takes time to get stinky.
What was this great economic post-war boom about? Was it not the beginning of Consumerism? What do you think this is all about; … getting that little starter house, then upgrading to the bigger house with the nice white picket fence, movin’ on up to a good neighborhood, getting that fifty cent promotion, replacing a literal ice-BOX with a real refrigerator, getting a nice big Dee-troit car or two, the explosion of corporate TV shows like the Colgate Comedy Hour … if not consumer fueled materialism? Excess folks, excess.
“Oh Yeah? Well …. fuck you!!”
The Boomer children, mostly neglected as daddy –and soon, mommy – pursued the Good Life (FOR us, naturally) reacted in a way that shouldn’t be a surprise …. we rebelled against our oppressor for their real or imagined sins. Only we did with much greater aplomb than ever before ; we didn’t fuck around, we were all in.
They had short-haired geeky musicians, we had long-haired hip rockers. They had booze, we had drugs. They had rules – lots of them —, we had none. Free Love, baby! If it feels good, do it. Love the one you’re with. They worked hard, we went to Woodstock. They had a lifeless church, we had the Jesus Movement. They followed the call of Madison Avenue, our hearts hung out at Haight and Ashbury. They liked Ike, we preferred Dylan. They wore penny loafers, we had sandals and a bandana (and other ridicules articles of clothing). And so it went at every turn; right or wrong, a repudiation of ALL that came before. So people look back on this crazy-assed behavior and label us the “ME” generation. I’ll grant you that there is some truth to that. But, it falls far short of what was really going on. It wasn’t “me, me, me” as much as it was; “fuck you, fuck you, and fuck you”.
BTW, isn’t that EXACTLY what the younger generations are saying about us Boomers; “Fuck You!”? History rhyming yet again. Solomon correctly wrote; “Vanity of vanities, there is nothing new under the sun.” I don’t know what dumbass mistakes this younger generation will make — I sometimes feel they think they’ll make none, the first Perfect Generation — but trust me on this one thing oh Young Ones, you too will blow it … and your offspring will mock you as well.
BOOMERS NEVER EARNED ANYTHING — EVERYTHING WAS HANDED TO THEM
Nothing quite baffles me like this accusation. I shake my head wondering exactly what was given to me. I started out getting a fifty-cent allowance, back when fifty cents could still get me into the movies (double feature plus cartoons, a soda, and a popcorn and get a nickel back). It wasn’t “free” either … it came attached to doing chores. Mow the lawn, take out the garbage, do the dishes when asked, and keep my room clean. This our parents called “learning responsibility”. All for 2 bits … good thing we weren’t Unionized.
But for real money to get real stuff — like those Converse sneakers — we had to work. So, I got my first job at around 13 selling subscriptions of the town newspaper door to door on Saturdays. I got a dollar per new subscription. Some Saturdays I’d rack up 20 plus bucks and back then that was living large. My first real job was in high school. I worked in a lasagna factory, stirring lasagna in a huge vat of boiling water … for $1.35 an hour. And I never stopped working since. We worked hard all our lives. My friends all did likewise. So. Pardon me if I am offended at being called “selfish, greedy, and entitled” as I refuse to accept that label.
Speaking of “entitled”, perhaps this is what people mean; all those juicy gub’mint entitlement programs, especially SS and Medicare. First of all, social security was NOT created by the Boomer generation. So, solly. Try the generation before us. Medicare was NOT created by Boomers either. Sure it was enacted in 1965. The oldest of the Boomer generation would have been born in 1943 … making that Boomer just 22 years old in 1965. The voting age was still 21. Please don’t tell me Medicare was voted into being because of then 22 year old Boomers!
I know people just hate it when us old farts “expect” to collect on SS. Can you walk in my shoes for a moment? Let’s say you paid $50,000 into some account set up by the gub’ment. It is money you earned by the sweat of your brow. You didn’t ask the gob’ment to do this for you. They took it by force and promised to give it back to you later. Much later. That “much later” is now here, and some people want to tell us, “Hey, you can’t have the money. The gub’ment spent it and you can’t have it.” We used to have a word for this: Theft. Look, I can understand that I may not be able to collect SS forever until I die. But, can I at least get MY $50,000 dollars back?? You don’t even have to pay any interest, if that makes it better.
I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SINS OF MY BRETHREN
I won’t cover any of the other Entitlements / Social Programs. All I can tell you I voted Republican most of my life, and I cannot ever recall voting based on getting free shit. Foreign policy, wars, and character where my usual hot buttons. I don’t know how other Boomers voted. I don’t care.
I don’t care because I don’t believe in the idea of Collective Guilt. Google that term and the first page will show articles on “German collective guilt over Nazis”, so this is a topic I personally know something about. It is a heinous principle first found in the Old Testament that — “The sin of the fathers He punishes on the children to the third and fourth generation.” A monstrous mockery of justice!! Collective guilt refuses to acknowledge the INDIVIDUAL. Evil regimes and their dictators (Stalin, Mao, Marx, etc.) love collective guilt as they collectivize individuals as “the populace” or “the masses” or “the workers” and then enslave or execute them as it suits their purposes. That’s why I have often said here that the demonization of Boomers may one day logically lead to Death Chambers for us old farts.
You, dear reader, don’t believe in collective guilt either. Do you find yourself guilty of the crime of slavery? No. Do you find yourself guilty for the genocide of Native Americans ? No. Do you find yourself guilty for Mai Lai? No. Do you find me guilty for Buchenwald? No. So why do you throw all Boomers in the Collective guilty pot? It is said ‘people get the government they deserve’. If that’s true then I should find YOU guilty for the current mess we’re in. But, don’t worry, I won’t because that entire argument is specious. Here’s one way we should follow in the footsteps of the Greatest Generation; they didn’t blame their own parents for their youthful excesses of the ’20’s which then led to the financial ruin of the Great Depression . They just pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and made the best of a bad situation. So should we.
“YOU MADE PROMISES TO US ………. AND YOU LIED!!”
Another common theme amongst disgruntled Utes are the broken promises we Boomers made. When I went to the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in NYC I saw more than a few Utes displaying posters about Education … “$60,000 in Student Loans and No Job”, and several variations thereof, including demands to forgive the debt. For change of pace I will number my responses.
1)— Guess what kids? Your generation isn’t the only one that was lied too. We were lied too, also. So, welcome to the real world.
2)— Guess who told us that education was the path to a better life? That’s right, our Greatest Generation parents. We just passed what we learned in OUR youth, onto you. By and large that’s how parenting works. Again, welcome to the real world.
3)— Our parents valued education because they were mostly blue-collar workers toiling away in factories (remember those?). They saw first-hand that the “higher-ups”, the folks in the office, the guys in white-collars made significantly more loot than they did. So, putting two and two together they came up with the brilliant conclusion that education pays. And that’s why I got my ass kicked whenever I brought home a bad Report Card. The first question at the dinner table was, “Did you wash your hands?”. The second and usually last question was “Did you do your homework?” Study, study, study was drilled into our mush brains until the cows came home. It is really no more complicated than that.
4)— What’s wrong with furthering your education anyway? Did we commit some Mortal Sin in telling you to study? Don’t you know that we “pushed” this Horrible Thought on you for a reason? Don’t you know that with knowledge you’ll learn how to think and analyze. Don’t you know the value of using logic and rational thought, and how that will benefit you throughout your life? Don’t you know we wanted to give you a foundation that would allow you to filter through all the bullshit the world tries to feed you? Apparently, not.
5)— Regarding not paying back your loan. Where did you learn that from? Certainly not from us Boomers when you were young! Again, we taught you what was taught to us. And here’s one thing I can guaran-damn-tee you our parents showed us; paying one’s bills was a Badge of Honor. It wasn’t God, country, and apple pie. It was Pay Your Bills, God, country, and apple pie. My parents would sacrifice a meal in order to pay a bill. We taught you to do the same when you were little.
Here’s what Boomers and the Greatest Generation did wrong.
6) We monetized “value” when talking about “the value of an education”. Did the Greek philosophers value education to make more money? No. Did the great men of the Renaissance era value education to make more money? No. Did our Founding Fathers value education to make more money? No. The “value” of an education is more than exploiting it for financial gain (see #4 above). But, clearly, modern America is all about the Almighty Dollar. So, I went to college pretty much in order to make better money. And I told my kids to go to college to make better money. Guilty as charged. Money, it’s a gas. I suppose what pisses off Utes is that Boomers were actually able to get jobs when they graduated, while they can’t. Which leads me to my final point.
7) Tough shit!! And please don’t tell me us Boomers “guaranteed” you a good job upon getting an education. First of all if you actually believed such a statement you need to recalibrate your Bullshit Detector. They never has been and never will be any guarantees in life, except death, taxes, and obese fat women pictures from our own beloved AWD. Secondly, it’s a lie from hell. Our Greatest Generation parents were keenly aware of the possibility of losing it all … again.
They even coined a unique phrase to drill home the concept of no guarantees; –“you never know”. For example, “Put down that stick! You could poke your sister’s eye out, YOU NEVER KNOW!” (In my childhood there were apparently about 845 ways to poke out my sister’s eye.) Or, “Put on clean underwear before we drive to church. We might have an accident, YOU NEVER KNOW!”. Or, “No, we’re not joining the community swimming pool. We need to save every penny, YOU NEVER KNOW when we’ll need it.”.
Lastly, Utes also blame Boomers that they can’t get married, they have to live with their parents, will never be able to start a family, buy a house, etc. etc. It all boils down to “life isn’t fair”. Well! 1) we Boomers used that phrase on our own parents a million times. Please come up with something new. 2) In what fairy-tale are you living where ‘fairness’ is the rule of the land? 3) Stop emulating Gordon Gecko. Try, Tim the Toolman. 4) My parents taught me this and I pass it along to you. Perhaps the Ten Best Words Of Advice you will ever hear; “Life isn’t fair. Get over it. DO something about it.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
In closing, let me say that I’m not trying to change the real Boomer Haters. It was downright depressing doing some research for this article. I don’t know exactly how widespread this hatred is, but what is out there is savage, vicious, and said with such ferocity that I wonder when, not if, the loathing for my generation turns into violence against us. Every revolution has at least one scapegoat. The “Boomers Suck” meme is paving the way towards acceptance of our destruction, should it go that far. How does one change such a person’s opinion?? But, there are folks out there who have yet to decide if they shout hate/blame Boomers for everything. I hope this article reaches those.
I also hope this does not come across as either making excuses or rationalization. It’s just my story, and I assume it’s similar to millions of others in my age group unfortunate enough to be labeled a Boomer. All I tried to do is tell it as it is … yes, as I see it with my Boomer-tainted goggles … and in the telling I know I barely scratched the surface.
One thing I know is they we are ALL in this together. When I see a homeless man in NYC, he may be a Boomer … or, very well be a more recent generation. I often drop a few dollar bills, but I don’t first verify his age, because I don’t see a GenX or Boomer … I see only a homeless person, a human being who is worthy of compassion because I realize “there but for the grace of God go I”.
I think it’s a fact that most of us Boomers have seen our savings, our assets, our net worth dwindle before our eyes and most of us are not well off. I think it’s a fact that most Boomers still work, and probably will need to work —- either until we die or the ravages of age incapacitate us. And if we are incapacitated … and if the timing is such that all the Free Shit is no longer available … then don’t worry about killing us, as I believe many will commit suicide.
Lastly, I am fully aware I have my own biases, and as we discussed in another thread from last week, “total honesty” in the trillion plus connections organized by our highly fallible brains may not even be possible . Not only might I “not know” the truth, it is conceivable “I don’t even know that I don’t know”. In other words, yeah, I could be full of shit. (If so, I’m sure you will inform me thereof. Lol ) But, I doubt it.
Peace
Herr StuchenBoomer
Stucky: this was as well written as any post published on TBP. Shallow grumpy-butts blame everyone else for their problems and shortcomings(and you two know exactly who you are). Like you, I apologize for nothing in this life.
Stucky – enjoyed your story very much. Thank you for writing it. “Well, it’s all right, riding around in the breeze. Well, it’s all right, if you live the life you please.”
How many are living the life they please?
Here’s a song for you, Stucky. Dylan, Harrison, Orbison, Petty. It’s got some good advice for others too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwqhdRs4jyA
Your mom and dad, they did the best job they could with what they knew. I know you understand this now.
This was informative, stucky, so thank you. I’ve been critical of boomers in posts that got some ‘thumbs up’ on this site before, and this does temper my views somewhat.
One interesting point is that I can relate to your upbringing more than I can relate to that of my fellow millenials in many ways. Both of my parents experienced real hardships and traumas in their youth and had to work *very* hard for their eventual middle class success. I was raised very strictly early in my life and your list of things boomers heard growing up is about 90% familiar to me from my childhood. Maybe this is why I’ve always been an outlier among my peers in terms of rebelliousness and emotional intensity (with the non-optional good education I received keeping me from ending up in jail or dead from drug addiction in a ditch like most intense males nowadays).
While I’m definitely not a ‘hardcore boomer-hater,’ I am very critical at times and would like to briefly clarify what drives me to communicate stuff like that over the internet. First, criticism of boomers should not be interpreted as giving a pass to bad behavior of other human beings, or as a replacement for other analysis based on class, monetary policy, etc etc. Furthermore, my frustration with my own millennial generation is AT LEAST equal to what I feel toward boomers. And believe me, living and working in NYC and Boston metro area since around 2005, I’ve personally called out or clowned on SO MANY of my peers for their ridiculous groupthink, lame addiction to superficial consumer tech, lack of depth in any area of life, laziness, entitlement, etc. etc…
But the bottom line for me is that the boomers are generally in power now, setting the tone culturally, and regardless of WHY they are how they are… THEY’RE HORRIBLE! I’ve had so, so many bad experiences with this age/cultural group over my 30 years that there is truly no going back. I’m just being honest here, not pretending this is ‘right’ or ‘fair’. When I first started looking into fourth turning and generational analysis of history, all it really did was explain to me why that giant cluster of people I already hated with all my soul existed, and give it a name so I could talk about it.
On your theme of “Life isn’t fair. Get over it. DO something about it.”
If this dog-eat dog advice is the best you can offer the next generation, then expect them to vote you under the bus the second they can and let you wither away in some kind of section 8 nightmare out of sight out of mind. If the world is a twisted, bad place where you have to look out for number 1, which seems to be a popular boomer view, then fine: we’ll just screw you guys every way we can for our own personal gain. I wonder if those same ‘life isn’t fair’ boomer parents will stick to that worldview when the shit really starts hitting the fan and their fat, weak asses and useless paper assets really get a chance to shine.
Sorry your guys had a fucked up childhood.. but you done passed the fucked-up on to your offspring. “You guys are gonna fuck up too, lol, just wait and see” is not a send-off to be proud of..
“Almost as laughable as Stucky calling me “Rage and hate filled”. Much like the typical Boomer, Stuchy projects his own issues.” ———- Colma
No doubt I hate a lot of shit, and it enrages me. That’s well documented. But, I’m in good company with … well, with just about EVERYONE here. But, here’s the deal champ, I’m talking about GENERATIONS!!! (Do you always have difficulty understanding Context?)
Anyway, let’s play a game. It’s called, “Who hates more?”. The rules are simple.
1)– Colma finds every instance where Stucky says angry, hateful things about any non-Boomer generation. Find all instances where Stucky blames them, wishes them ill or dead, tells them to eat shit, says they are worthless fucks, and so on.
2)– Stucky finds every instance where Colma says angry, hateful things about only Boomers. Find all instances where Colma blames them, wishes them ill or dead, tells them to eat shit, says they are worthless fucks, and so on.
You don’t really want to go there, do you? You won’t find any instances about my “hate and rage”. Why? Because I do not hate any Generations. You, otoh, would be torched and embarrassed. It’ll be easy to come up with another 5k word post hanging you with YOUR words only … because you can’t control yourself when you see the word ‘Boomer”.
Everyone here has been pretty damn decent. Calamity didn’t agree with me at all, but did so in a constructive way. Spaceman was so pissed he couldn’t even read the article, but he was pissed in a constructive way.
Then YOU show up with your typical “eat shit” comment. Then YOU shit on contributors and call them “blubbering brats”. So, who is the hater? Pretty soon you’ll try to get under my skin with Sticky-this or Stuchen-that. Save yourself the effort, you can’t piss me off. I know who and what you are.
And we are doing precisely what the elite want – fighting amongst each other for the spoils, blaming each other.
Time to step way, way, way back; get up in the clouds. Now have a look down, and take it all in. Throughout all of history there has been an elite (monarchy/dictators) who have used terror, force, propaganda, manipulation, lies – you get the picture.
We have been had!!!!! All of us, my parents, grandparents, and on down the line. We settled, believed and got HAD. That’s what’s happened. There was never really anything in it for any of us; we just thought there was.
Don’t blame each other. Let’s work together to change it so that this never ever occurs again. We have democracy? Yeah, right, not even close.
Change it!
Lol Stuch! YES! Let’s play!
You might not want to do that, after all, why did you change your name??
Oh, that’s right….
You definitely don’t want to go there, because you’ll lose. Big time. So please, let’s play.
Because you’re a big, rage filled sociopathic, racist, deluded and two-faced prick and it wouldn’t take long to prove it. Not only that, but you’ll break down far faster than many think. You’re unstable, and that’s a fact.
Game on, fat man?
backwardsevolution
Good lord … do I ever love the Traveling Wilbury’s!! Thank you.
Colma
I’ll just bet it gets under your skin that so many people enjoyed the article. Eh? Admit it boy. lol
The game was a rhetorical device to make people think about your accusation. The regulars here KNOW that I don’t hate young people. The regulars here KNOW that you absolutely hate Boomers. These are two facts. I have nothing to prove. You have everything to prove .. that’s why you’re so eager to play … and with such MACHISMO!!
“ … you’re a BIG, RAGE FILLED SOCIOPATHIC, RACIST, DELUDED AND TWO-FACED PRICK UNSTABLE FAT MAN …” ———– Colma Rising
You see, I don’t even have to play the “Who hates more game”. You just hung yourself with a couple sentences.
GAME, SET, MATCH. You lose.
This is getting good.
you read this website long enough, you’ll be a bitter person soon enough. there was that old boomer who could turn a phrase better than huck finn’s daddy, i miss him sometimes, when i read posters desperately searching for insults. as it is i count only four here 1. big, fat 2. two-faced, unstable 3. rage filled, rascist 4. deluded, sociopath
not even february and you are getting valentines, stucky
“I do not hate generations”….
-Stuchy
This is going to be good. I can’t wait to get to the laptop…..
You may as well start early, StuchenBOOMER. Narrowing the contest to “Generational Hatred” is not in the cards. So solly…. I try to feel bad for you, but it is clear:
You’re manic episode will land you in the pillow house….. again.
You might have to stay up late, Administrator.
“On your theme of “Life isn’t fair. Get over it. DO something about it.” If this dog-eat dog advice is the best you can offer the next generation …..” Anonymous
First, nice post.
What advice would you give to someone who is unhappy and complains about their bad fortune in life? Boomer parents were people of few words … especially the men who came back from the war. “When I say jump you don’t ask “why” you ask “how high”! “ Yessir!” Maybe Utes today need to be more mollycoddled.
.
“Yes, things really are tough, I agree. But we need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves … whenever you’re ready, of course. Then we can make an Action Plan. We’ll do some self-analysis so we can start feeling better about ourselves. We’ll replace negative bad emotions with good happy ones to boost your self esteem. Then we’ll list all the things – action items, you see –we need to do to start prospering in life. We’ll list pros and cons for each action item, categorize them, decide which date it will be completed, and also prioritize them. You know the old saying … if you fail to plan, plan to fail. Then we’ll join a networking group, one with actual human beings … let’s get your name out there buster! Then we’ll go do some social internet networking. Let’s try to get 1000 people to friend you, and then you ask them to tell 3 of their friends to friend you and so on and before you know it 100,000 people will know you’re looking for a job. We’ll start going to church and ask Jeebus or some other higher power to grant you the keys to the universe. They belong to you. You’re made of stardust, dontchya know! We’ll buy that cool book The Secret, and maybe we can just speak your job into existence. We’re not leaving any stone unturned, boy! You feeling better yet? No?? OK, how ‘bout we also get all the Free Shit we can get from your Uncle Sam. You can make like thirty grand a year just on free shit. What else you need?Just tell me. I’m here for ya. I feel your pain. Anything?”
You also mention some dislike for the ‘looking out for number one” point of view. It seems to me that that’s exactly the world we live in. Do you see a different world?
I actually enjoyed the article, though. Kinda like a nostalgic documentary that when it’s over, you can’t help but shake your head because you know the film maker’s a basket case.
Hey Admin: Say the word and I’ll go easy later. I know he’s an old-schooler and I don’t want to shake cages too much.
Well, I do, but you know: No Wholes Barred and all.
I don’t hate any generational group, there are good and bad, statist and anarchist, in all of them.
I’ve decided to reserve my hate for the following:
ANY dumb ass, conformist, silent, non-participating, lazy, greedy, criminal, sociopathic, beholden, captured, American citizen.
Those people went to the polls and RE-FUCKING-ELECTED the EXACT same people that were fucking us over.
Those citizens screamed for more.
So, I’ll keep it simple, I’m calling these idiots DACS, for short. They are Dumb-Ass-Conformist-Sheep, and their group has consisted of Silents, Greatest, Boomers, X’ers, Millenials, etc, and so forth.
DACS are the ones demanding more laws. DACS are the ones refusing to hold their officials accountable. DACS are ageless, genderless and not politically-affiliated.
We can point fingers and blame welfare moms, single parent households, union teachers, Boomers, whomever. Doesn’t change a freaking thing.
It isn’t one isolated group of people, it is DACS from EVERY walk of life, EVERY socioeconomic group, EVERY religion, EVERY generation, EVERY political bent.
DACS are fucking us up, not boomers, not silents, not X’ers. But, what do I know.
Beautifully done Stuck. Kudos.
Stucky Wrote:
“…we invented Afro’s…”
um, whatcha mean ‘we’, kimosabe?
very nice article. as i have been known to criticize my fellow boomer generation, one point i want to state in response to your essay.
our parents, the greatest generation if you want to call them that, are not to be blamed for the ills of our BB generation. not one bit.
first, the generational parental behavior of that cohort is determined by conditions. to whatever extent they ‘spoiled’ our generation, they did so because they could. all parents want to provide a safe, pleasant, even luxurious childhood for their offspring. the parents of silents did not have this option; it was the depression.
our parents lived in an era of plenty. they shared it with their kids. this historic fact, i think, is much more important in why boomers were ‘spoiled’ than any values differences between one generation of parents and another.
to cite a personal anecdote, during most of my teenaged years, money was tight because we were moving up the ‘ol socioeconomic ladder. the mortgage for a modest house in a great neighborhood with great schools and no crime consumed a huge portion of my folks’ take home pay. my sister and i were not spoiled, because there was nothing left over with which to spoil.
by my late teen/early adult years, my folks had better cash flow (those years of double-digit inflation in the 70s weren’t all bad; there was significant inflation of wages as well). my parents, with their same individual and generational values, bought me some damn nice things. i was spoiled as an 18yo because my folks could; when i was 12, they couldn’t.
boomer parents spoiled because they could; silents parents didn’t spoil because it was the depression. can’t blame the parents for that.
another point, as many other have pointed out, stuck you are not a typical boomer. that not taking it personally when someone says ‘all boomers suck’–maybe i can help you on that. wait, i can’t. i still take those ‘n-words’ personally when they get dropped.
(except by quinn–i know he is secretly a n***er lover)
Colma
You’ve never stated a clear reason why boomers ‘eat shit’, now is your chance, and the only thing you are bent on doing is being a dick. I do understand your handicap; I bring brains to the debate and you come unarmed. But if you spent half as much time cultivating your mind as you do growing your pecs and fondling yourself you actually become smarter than a fifth grader.
Write what you will, I am done with you. Really. Christmas is almost here. Baby Jeebus is in the crib a few feet from me. He told me to stop flinging shit, but rather bring tidings of great joy to the peeps.
howard
It was very hard to write that story without it coming across that I was placing blame. I tried, but I may have failed. I used to blame my folks for my travails. I stopped that quite some time ago. They did the best they could.
stucky, I think we’re in agreement for the most part. On top of what we’re discussing, I think there’s an additional issue of poor communication between boomers and millenials, which is definitely more of an emergent problem than anything that can be easily blamed on a single group.
some of this is just context. If the 30-year old, cynical, questioning, out-there, weed-smoking version of these boomers was delivering this “get real, take responsibility” message it would be one thing.. but the 60-ish year old, overweight, high net worth (relative to younger gens) overly self-serious people that *many* boomers have become can’t deliver this advice without it seeming overbearing and ungenerous.
as for the dog eat dog world – yes, that dynamic is always in play for every animal on this planet, but consensus-based cooperation and voluntary, supportive peer groups are more effective and higher forms of socialization. It seems backward to get to such a high level of technology and societal organization, yet defy out basic evolutionary(or god-given) nature as social beings – acting within our highly complex society with the basic strategy of a much more primitive animal. As our over-financialized, too-warlike global economy starts to falter, many millennials’ initial impulse is to protest to the effect that we could do more if we organized in a more fair, cooperative way (see occupy). While the boomers’ response was mixed, their general attitude seems to be ‘hey we tried that, it doesn’t work.’ I’d probably say the same thing in their shoes.. but in context, again, it becomes frustrating. Smarter millennials know that DOG EAT DOG DOESN’T WORK EITHER!! 1980s-present was a BUBBLE. all that coke-fueled corporate aggression was a SHAM!! furthermore, boomers as a group are a huge entrenched interest, and will be perceived as supporting the status quo for their own benefit as deteriorating economic conditions have taken out those lower than them on the totem pole disproportionately… many factors combining to set these generations against one another.
Stuck
Sorry it took me until now to read your article, but I was busy drinking last night and recovering today.
Fantastic story. Your life story captures all of the generational theory at a personal level that Strauss & Howe capture at a generational level. We are formed by events, our space in history, the generational time frame we share, and the generations on all sides of us. You’ve lived three quarters of a generational saeculum. No generation is all good or all bad. But, like it or not, when a cohort of 76 million moves in a certain direction it will change the course of history.
The Boomer generation was always going to revolt against their Greatest Generation parents. That was a given. This is one of the reasons the frugal debt averse GI generation created a free spending, low saving, debt loving Boomer generation. Millions of Boomers like yourself may have lived frugally, but the majority did not. The numbers do not lie.
You noted that Boomers did not start SS or Medicare. That is true. But you also noted that Boomers took the reins of government and corporate America around 1989. That was 23 years ago. The Boomer Generation is still controlling the reins of power today. The national debt in 1989 was $2.8 trillion and unfunded liabilities were manageable. The Boomer generation has to bear a large part of the responsibility for what has happened since 1989.
You also mentioned student loan debt and Boomers paying. Not entirely accurate. The reason that student loans cannot be written off in a personal bankruptcy is because hundreds of thousands of Boomers hid in college to avoid Vietnam and when the war was over defaulted on their student loans. Congress responded by making student loan debt non-dischargeable.
You also mention that Boomers should be able to get back what they paid into SS and Medicare. The facts are that Boomers will get two times as much as they paid into SS and three times as much as they paid into Medicare on average. Boomers will not be the losers. The younger generations will be the losers.
I don’t hate Boomers. As a generation I wish they were better at math. And as a generation currently leading the country, I wish they had more courage. The individual Boomers who frequent this site are not the Boomers who I have a problem with. Those Boomers would never come to this site. They are out leasing a new BMW and believe we have a housing recovery.
But to reiterate. Absolutely great story, on par with your Occupy Wall Street article.
Peace to all TBP Boomers.
anon
I agree we pretty much agree. +1 on the “poor communication” issues.
I meant the ‘”get over it advice” in only the nicest way. You may know my beloved Ms Freud is a psychologist, mostly family issues. She buys 2 boxes of tissues per week ….. men and women, crying, crying, woe is me, my life sucks, what can I do …. I mean that IS the gist of it.
She’s been reading this thread and she agrees with me. (haha!!) Seriously, she said that’s pretty much what family counseling comes down to; 1– realize you are not the only person with these problems, 2 –go ahead and cry, 3– at some point you must stop crying, 4 — now let’s do something to help you move on. Simple, eh? But people don’t get it …. and she makes good money trying to help people get it … some do, most don’t.
Great observations in your dog-eat-dog paragraph. Great to know that “smarter millennials” realize what a bullshit way that is to live. I hope like hell they can figure out a better way … we Boomers certainly didn’t. Maybe then my two kids and three grandkids will actually have a nice future.
I’m really not up to getting into a brawl about boomers. I appreciate your efforts, Stuck, and do not wish to denigrate your work. My views are well known.
Did boomers result in the massive increase in debt? (living selfishly beyond one’s means)
Did boomers result in the massive increase in divorce? (women’s rights)
Did boomers result in the war on drugs? (and massive increase in incarceration)
Did boomers result in welfare state, the dissolution of the family, out of wedlock births, and more than $16 trillion spent on poverty?
I don’t know, but the dates and facts speak for themselves.
[img
[/img]
[img
[/img]
[img
[/img]
[img
[/img]
[img
[/img]
[img
[/img]
It’s nice to know there are a few constants you can depend on in life. Colma was a Jackass when I left TBP, and he’s still a Jackass.
Anyhow Stuck, you mind if I cross post this artcile on the Diner?
RE
The reason that student loans cannot be written off in a personal bankruptcy is because hundreds of thousands of Boomers hid in college to avoid Vietnam and when the war was over defaulted on their student loans. Congress responded by making student loan debt non-dischargeable.
==================================
I’m not saying this is not the reason student debt became non-dischargeable but my memory of that time is not the best and I’d like to see a bit of back-up.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_08/the_nondischargeability_of_stu039480.php
Admin
Wow. Thanks. I was actually thinking you hated the article so much that you decided better to not comment. Yea, I’m that insecure. lol
“The Boomer generation has to bear a large part of the responsibility for what has happened since 1989”
I cannot argue with that. No, not at all. Thanks for taking the time to point out some other inaccuracies. Great stuff.
“I don’t hate Boomers”
[/img]
[img
Boomers on SS and Medicare will kill us from above. 100 million on welfare, and 30 million government employee parasites will destroy us from below.
RE
No, I don’t mind. It would be an honor.
Hey, when shit gets tough like it’s starting to right now, we all need to bitch and moan a little. Thanks for reading and responding, and let’s hope that hardship brings out our more human qualities regardless of our position in life.
One thing is for sure, as Stuck is evidence, Boomers have great stories to tell.
[img
[/img]
Thanks, AWD.
Let me just address one of your charts; Nixon’s War on Drugs, 1971.
I don’t understand the point. Boomers are responsible for the failure of the policy? Or, it being enacted?
Anyway, the oldest boomer was just 25 in 1971. Boomers loved drugs!! (Well, not me but more than just a few.)
Rampant drug use caused Nixon’s war on drugs. Drugs had been around for a decade already (beatniks, minorities). but not rampant drug use among rich kids. Drug use trickled up to Republican parent’s kids, and the government stepped in.
I would say that public ignorance and the fear of drugs (aggravated by the media and politicians eager to use the cause to garner votes) “caused” Nixon’s war on drugs.
I only mention this because I want to point out that from the outset, the so-called war on drugs was waged more for political reasons than medical reasons.
I’ll publish it tomorrow on the Diner then. [img
[/img]
RE
http://doomsteaddiner.org
it ain’t insecurity, stucky, it’s pride of authorship. even an FU is preferable to nothing at all because it means someone actually took the time to read your post.
Stucky said:
howard
It was very hard to write that story without it coming across that I was placing blame. I tried, but I may have failed. I used to blame my folks for my travails. I stopped that quite some time ago. They did the best they could.
___________
no, no. the opposite.
i got the impression you were defending our parents’ generation from blame. part of the BBES oeuvre holds their parenting to be part of the problem
i thought you were defending them from such ideas. i meant to say they need no defense, because they were not at fault.
sorry for the confusion.
Rampant drug use caused Nixon’s war on drugs. Drugs had been around for a decade already (beatniks, minorities).
i am continually surprised at the history written here because it doesn’t jive with my own recollection.antiwar protesters made a shambles of the johnson administration.nixon ran on a law and order platform, appealing to the hardhats who opposed war protesters. it was actually the hippies, middle class white kids who ran away from home rather than face the draft, who took drugs mainstream. a lot of GI’s came back from the war with a serious drug habit. nixon sought to quell war protesters by initiating the war on drugs, a government assault on antiwar activists. it came to a head at kent state when the army opened fire on their own populace.
The Boomers are just starting to collect the S. S. and Medicare that they have paid into for 40 years. The Greatest Generation paid very little into these programs and have been collecting for 30 years, My father retired in 1982 and has been collecting benefits and going to the doctor once a week for 30 years. I have paid $225,000 into S. S. and at 62 am now being told that I am exploiting the system and my benefits must be cut. I have not been to the doctor in 3 years because I have no health insurance.
The Boomers have paid for the benefits of the “Greatest Generation” and now we are called greedy because we want some of our money back. There is only one generation that has gotten a free ride.
Boomers, the destroyer of worlds.
The labeling of generations is almost like saying each is a different species of animal, whereas human nature really doesn’t change much from one generation to the next regardless of how you define each generation. Each generation gets away with whatever it can.
Are the people who lived during world events responsible for those events? Certainly. But if one rants against a particular generation it seems to imply that the ranter thinks other generations were/are better. I don’t think so. ALL GENERATIONS ARE PRETTY STUPID.. It’s the nature of humans. After all, the current generation is largely responsible for eight years of Obama.
My fucking god. My boomer father in law is drunk of his ass (par for the course, this is a 5 day a week thing) and bitching about how he’s going to quit his job.
He’s a maintenance man, and we live in a town where blue collar jobs are hard to come by.
What happened that caused this? He hates his boss. Thats it. He has a performance eval tomorrow and rather than write out some goals and get the $5K check for it, he’s thinking about quitting just because he hates dealing with this stuff anymore.
He is a typical boomer. Cries and whines all the fucking time about his hard knock life. LIterally, its a daily occurrence. Same set of stories and situations.
Die hard democrat too, the only reason Obama has failed is because of Bush.
Fuck I need this house buying process to finish. I hate having to put up with this shit on a daily basis.
Nixon asked for money from Congress to “wage a new, all-out offensive [for a] GLOBAL war on the drug menace.”
————————————————————- –
“Conclusion: One of the curious inversions in the cultural history of the War on Drugs is that apologists tend to attribute Nixon’s decision to a response to the behavior of masses while critics tend to attribute it to a response to the behavior of elites.
Nixon became a drug warrior, say the apologists, because of the threats of violent crime committed by heroin addicted Vietnam veterans and the breakdown of order caused by youth on drugs.
Nixon became a drug warrior, say critics, because he was frightened by the challenge posed by proponents of LSD in the Counterculture, because the association with crime could be cynically exploited to win popular support, and because he was attracted by the prospect of a national government with greater coercive power.
Although these no doubt form the context in which the Nixon made his drug policy decisions, the best explanation lies in his troubled psyche.”
————————————————————- –
To read the rest of the article …. and learn about Nixon’s “troubled psyche” such as his love-affair with “law and order” issues …. see below
http://likethedew.com/2011/03/26/nixon%E2%80%99s-war-on-drugs-decision-2/
Admin.
Two points on your comments:
You mention that the Boomers will get back twice what they paid into Social Security. That is a nice concept but it presupposes that future benefits will never be cut or capped. Highly unlikely.
Cheap shot stating that hundreds of thousands students hid out in college to avoid Vietnam. Would you have volunteered to be drafted for that noble cause? The reason that student loans cannot be dismissed in bankruptcy has nothing to do with the Vietnam era loan performance. The bank lobby got this passed because they could!
Zack M.
It’s not a concept old man. The Boomers will extract twice as much in SS benefits as they paid in and 3 times as much in Medicare. I know you old bitter men hate facts and are absolutely horrible at math, so keep believing your false storyline if it lets you sleep at night. You don’t give a fuck about younger generations as long as you get yours. Make sure you pay your dues to AARP.
Not a cheap shot. Facts. The law was passed in 1976. The Vietnam War wound down between 1973 and 1975. Boomers were defaulting on their student loans and Congress reacted.
Great job Stucky !
Stucky,
I read your article and actually like about 3/4 of it. It is good to get a view of the early years of boomers. It follows in line with the fourth turning theory of the roles of the generations. Until the end you had me feeling quite empathic with the boomer generation. Then as per usual with boomers, you kept talking.
“The problem isn’t the problem. It’s your attitude to the problem” -Jack Sparrow.
Yeah, I just quoted a Disney movie. It puts my perspective on your dissection of my comment. Its not that boomers have wronged the following generations and gave them an uncertain future. Its their attitude towards it. I do get the sense that most boomers do seeing the errors they made in their lives.
The part that lead me to believe in a lack of compassion is the condescending attitude they have about it. This “life isn’t fair” way towards other people is what creates this animosity. We were all wronged by the very same people, with the same monetary and political policies, and the same irresponsibility to the future of our country. The boomers aren’t leading the millennials during the fourth turning crisis. They aren’t making the world better place for the future. Instead they are telling the younger ones “Permanent damage there. Good luck, that’s my handy work”.
The boomers aren’t coming to the bargaining table with everybody else. What I believe is the boomers biggest offense is that they turned in to a bunch of pussies. Your generation came together once to fight in what they believe, but you aren’t doing it now. Instead most boomers are docile in their actions. They are the biggest voting block and have the most power in the country as a collective, but they aren’t doing anything to change the direction of the country. The boomers really need to stop investing their energy into foreign wars, keeping entitlements going, and the status quo.
They need to start demanding the end of the wars. Demanding these corrupt bankers do prison time. Demand ending the TSA, NDAA, patriot act, and every law passed the violates our constitution. Demand a sound currency and monetary system. Demand all the things that are wrong in the country be fixed. They know how to instill fear in government by the people. They need to start leading.
Good Lord, the SAH lazy asses are still pouting.
We are slaves
We cant get a job
You arent voting the way I want you to.
These baboons are proud of the fact they are loners, anti-social, and judgemental.
Why arent these people out protesting the wars?
Because they are too busy taking creep shots with their smart phones while bitching about their sad introverted lives.
Of the many, many, many reasons I find BBES is, as AWD and Administrator have touched upon is the massive amount of personal and government debt incurred with no real way to pay it off.
[img
[/img]
Since Baby Boomers have taken the helm, we can clearly see erratic government activity, with surpluses coming from the addition of the SS trust to the general fund.
[img
[/img]
So, Boomers often say, “that wasn’t me!!!”…. well, it’s kinda the opposite of the fallacy of composition. It’s the fallacy of “Me No, THEY did”. Apply the statement to the national debt. You got it, through steroidal government spending in your prime earning years, lax monetary policy in your prime years and you won’t pay the tab.
We get comments from folks like Govrunamok: “Durkah-durky do, the current generation elected ‘bama” which is common from many boomers…. roughly half, ignoring the facts that A) The Baby Boomer voting block elected Clinton, Bush II and Obama. B) How in the hell can you blame younger people for the ills of YOUR country?
I don’t care how you slice it, how did YOU vote in your first pres election? I voted for Clinton. Why? Two words, champs: Bob Dole. Scary to a teenager then, just like McCain was scary to teenagers in ’08…. who ignored the younger Republicans in the primaries to nominate some vulture fund up-do over THE choice of the young, Ron Paul?
NOTE: NOBODY SAID “STUCKY DID!” or “KILL BILL DID!” or “FLASH DID!”
No, but in aggregate the Baby Boomers did. Note: Personally, you fools STILL like to blame younger people with your “Lazy, Ipad, wantn’ free shit democrat votin'” for the ills of the world. And wonder why BBES is uttered?
We get the comment “Quit whining and DO SOMETHING”. That is a classic. Part of doing something is identifying and ridiculing an aggregate situation. That includes identifying massive debt, seeing where, when, why it was accumulated and NOT LISTENING TO THE BULLSHIT JOHNNY-COME-LATELY-VIOLINS.
“What do you have against old people?” Nothing. What do the comments listed over and over say? As long as your a Baby Boomer hating older people is ok? Hating young people is? This shit definitely transcends the norm. Think about it.
“Quit Whining”
Oh shut the fuck up. You all whine all fucking day on this blog…. in magnitudes more than this post could encompass. Seriously….
Bill: I do more in a day than you ever did, fruitcake.
Quit your whining, enjoy your retirement.
First Big Event: Da Bomb. Russia. Nukes. Commie bastards. Ka-BAM! All gone. Nuclear winter. Dead. Why??? Nuke drills!! Little Boomer children hiding under desks for protection. Little Boomer children watching gub’mint movies showing homes blasted to smithereens.
-Stuchy
My first event: Russians, Iranians, nukes….. GO JOE!!!!
Current Generation’s big event: 9-11, planes in buildings, wild-eyed parents everywhere terror terror mushroom-clouds, go kill haji!!!
“Second Big Event. Vietnam. Dirty, nasty, disgusting, vile war that killed 60,000 of us and maimed hundreds of thousands more. What was it good for? Absolutely nothing.”
See above.
Q1. Which political party took Social Security from the independent trust fund and put it into the general fund so that Congress could spend it?
A1: There has never been any change in the way the Social Security program is financed or the way that Social Security payroll taxes are used by the federal government. The Social Security Trust Fund was created in 1939 as part of the Amendments enacted in that year. From its inception, the Trust Fund has always worked the same way. The Social Security Trust Fund has never been “put into the general fund of the government.”
Sorry, Juanito, it was “borrowed from”.
The “Surplus” existed via these borrowed funds and there was a deficit run for every year he was in office.
Clinton borrowed:
$152.3B from Social Security
$30.9B from Civil Service Retirement Fund
$18.5B from Federal Supplementary Medical insurance Trust Fund
$15.0B from Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund
$9.0B from the Federal Unemployment Trust Fund
$8.2B from Military Retirement Fund
$3.8B from Transportation Trust Funds
$1.8B from Employee Life Insurance & Retirement fund
$7.0B from others
These “Borrowed” funds were repaid with “Borrowed funds”.
Accounting gimmicks not welcome…. so sorry.
Going by the CBO, from the onset of the Boomer presidency it would seem that volatility in the deficit from peak to trough was $1174B between 1999 and 2003. That’s pretty huge, even by the numbers we’re accustomed to these days.
Yessiree. It was those damned Millennials voting for Obama.
i confess that i have not been keeping up with the current point of view. boomers are bad? i’m sorry but my mainstream media mentality thought wall st caused the global economic meltdown. it never occured to me that i am the culprit. but i get it now, we boomers schemed to extend our lives by eating healthy and getting plastic surgery and gamblig in the stock market. we knew the time would come when we could no longer work but we figured we would turn the reins over to a grateful generation after us. no dice, they want us to die voluntarily like our predecessors or they will slice our collective throats in our sleep. this kind of stuff happens when delusional people get the idea that “they” are taking something that is “mine”. somehow the funds in the social security trust fund now belong entirely to the millenials whether they have actually put anything into it yet or not. watch your back millenials, the generation after you will have you for dinner.