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
colma, thanks for the “juanito”. i had read that the ss fund was full of IOU’s. i cited the movie dumb and dumber above in reference to that. i added the question and answer above simply because Mr Stucky blew my theory out of the water with a citation from likethedew.com i was seeing everything so clearly until he stuck his hand in said water.
Juan:
There really isn’t much of a problem between Mils and boomers, but that may be short lived.
If anything, in many ways, the aging boomer and the younger adults are closer (which brings up the “they raised us” argument….) but the more the elders… and yes, it is the elders attacking in society as whole…. the more they pontificate, belittle and grasp, the more severe the reaction will be.
The bullshit being churned by society is similar to history, but on steroids.
Baby Boomers don’t really have to worry too much about the younger coming for them financially or otherwise. They have their own cohort to worry about in that department.
Certainly, no boomer should count on sympathy from the younger if the bullshitting doesn’t cease.
Bank on this.
President Obama refers to Canada’s Prime Minister as a “large lump”. It’s getting nasty in the hood.
http://www.thelapine.ca/obama-calls-harper-large-lump
@admin 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.
Yes, we boomers (survivors) hid in college to avoid the war that Kennedy was killed trying to pull out of. But then, after our escapes, we got jobs and payed off our student loans. The defaults came much later! Check with GenX or one of those other ones about that whole default thing.
I’m just grateful that none of you haters brought out the two boomer presidents, Bill Blow Job Clinton and the clear choice of Florida, GW Bush. If somebody had linked us with them it would have been very difficult to defend.
The reason Student Loans cannot be discharged in Bankruptcy is because there is no Collateral to Repo. You can’t Repo what somebody has embedded in their Brain. when you pruchase Education, you buy Knowledge, and that has no physical element that can be repoed by the bank like a McMansion or Cat.
It is an uncollateralized loan, but made legally different from Credit Card loan which places the onus of loss on the Bank if the borrower cannot repay, places it instead on the borrower. There is NO RISK to the Bank in a student Loan, it is entirely backed by Da Federal Goobermint, and then Da goobermint holds the student liable for the debt in perpetuity. Its the most perfect loan possible for the Banksters, they can’t lose, and the worst for the student, they cannot win. Debt slavery, in a Nutshell.
RE
RE
Colma
I thought I would see this morning proof that I was a deluded fat fuck. lol
Instead, I see charts and explanations. Much better than BBES!!
Hey, I believe the world ends tomorrow. And then a couple days later we celebrate Jeebus’ birthday.
So, before my fat ass is ripped to shreds by some nutsack Aztec god, or my soul is Raptured to the Great Beyond, I’d like to take this moment to wish you a Merry Christmas. Let us smok ’em peace pipe this season!
StuchenBoomer
It’s your town now , booger eaters.
GREG BROWN
“Your Town Now”
I used to go out quite a lot,
Chase to chase and shot to shot.
I’m all done with that somehow,
And it’s your town now.
These days the mighty eagle sings,
Of money and material things,
And the almighty Dow,
And it’s your town now,
Your town now,
It’s-
From the mountains to the plains
All the towns are wrapped in chains,
And the little that the law allows,
And it’s your town now,
It’s your town now,
It’s-
Where are the young bands gonna play?
Where’re the old beatniks gonna stay,
And not before some corporation bow?
And it’s your town now,
It’s your town now,
It’s-
So be careful everyone,
Cops can get careless with their guns.
And then they slip off somehow,
And it’s your town now,
It’s your town now,
It’s-
You young ones it’s up to you
To fight the fight and I hope you do,
Oh I see in your eyes that you know how
And it’s your town now
Your town now.
Don’t let ’em take the whole damn deal,
Don’t give up on what you really feel.
Ah, the small and local must survive somehow,
If it’s gonna be your town now.
Is it gonna be your town now?
Is it gonna be your town now?
Is it gonna be?
SAH !!!!!!!!!!! Dammit, where are you??
I want you to realize … SERIOUSLY speaking ….. that YOUR boomer posts were a SIGNIFICANT motivation for my writing the article.
P.S. (She must be on vacation.)
P.S.S. I should be mindful of the proverb, “Be careful what you wish for.”
flash
I have this feeling you are going to PAY for that remark … dearly. I gotta go stock up on some popcorn. (Are you a masochist?)
@Stucky –
“I’ll put the ball in your court. We NEED a Totally Different Way … a Ron Paul Revolution, or something similar. Where are the young people?”
Truer words were never said.
Stuck- Are you a masochist?
LOL…just calling it like I see it. Zara used to be a female until he wasn’t.
IMO SAH writes and thinks like a man….if it quacks like a duck.
ha! that’s alice kutcher, the millenial that plays a boomer on that 70’s show. he can’t suppress the smugness that betrays his generation. where is the angst?
anon was I.
BTW, todays minnies fighting over shoes remind me of US boomers fighting over our Converse All-Stars and ragged Levis.
Unruly crowds waiting for shoes pepper sprayed
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) -Tempers flared during an early morning shoe sale at the Madison Square Mall, forcing security officers to call in the Huntsville Police.
At least eight patrol cars responded to the Hibbetts Sports store to help control a disturbance that erupted among a crowd of 75 people.
Those people had been waiting for hours for the release of the new Air Jordan 11 Bred shoes.
They sell for $180.
Police had to use pepper spray on the crowd to calm them down, then helped those who were sprayed to clean it off their skin and out of their eyes.
Officer say there was no fight, but the customers refused to comply with store rules and policies and security officers felt they needed assistance from police officers to get things under control.
@flash – It doesn’t mention which demographic was purchasing those shoes.
I bet it was boomer aged asians.
Admin.
Pretty thin skinned. Anyone questions your omnipotence and it’s right to the insults.
All you did was repeat your prior assertion and mix it with some condescending remarks.
Proof Man. You can have your own opinion but not your own facts. How can you possibly know
what cuts will be made to S.S. and Medicare in the future. Without knowing that your assertions
are total bullshit.
Sorry my young punk but…. WRONG AGAIN! The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection ACT of 2005 disallowed the discharge of private student loans thru bankruptcy. This was slipped into the bill at the last minute at the request of the banking industry.
You might want to cut back on reading your press clippings.
Zack M
You AARP loving old farts will never vote for anyone who will cut your free shit. You’re part of the Grey hair free shit army. Obama and his minions are in control and have no plans to cut your entitlements. You free shitters keep voting for politicians who will protect your free shit. You blather on about phantom cuts when the demographics and the amount of money are set in stone. That’s called facts you dumbass. Thanks for letting everyone witness the mind of a dumbass Boomer.
You actually think the non-discharge of student loan debt started in 2005????? Again you prove to be a dumbass. It started in 1976. Research and fact checking aren’t strong points for you greedy bastards.
Stick the press clippings up your old Boomer ass.
Since I know Boomer Zack is incapable of doing any research, here are the fucking facts. Now he will make a Boomer argument that he meant something else.
Student Loan Bankruptcy Exception
The US Bankruptcy Code at 11 USC 523(a)(8) provides an exception to bankruptcy discharge for education loans. This page provides a history of the legislative language in this section of the US Bankruptcy Code.
Student loans were dischargeable in bankruptcy prior to 1976. With the introduction of the US Bankruptcy Code (11 USC 101 et seq) in 1978, the ability to discharge education loans was limited. Subsequent changes in the law have further narrowed the dischargeability of education debt.
The exception to discharge for private student loans evolved over time. Prior to 1984, only private student loans made by a “nonprofit institution of higher education” were excepted from discharge. This was intended to protect the National Defense Student Loan Program (NDSL), the predecessor to the Perkins Loan Program. Those loans were made by colleges using a revolving loan fund created using matching federal contributions. The Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judgeship Act of 1984 made private student loans from all nonprofit lenders excepted from discharge, not just colleges, by striking the words “of higher education”. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 expanded this to include all “qualified education loans”, regardless of whether a nonprofit institution was involved in making the loans.
Timeline
The following timeline illustrates the date of major changes in the treatment of student loans under the US Bankruptcy Code and related changes to other legislation:
2011: President Obama issues an executive order making the new version of income-based repayment available to borrowers two years earlier. To be eligible, borrowers may not have any loans from before 2008 and must have at least one loan in 2012 or a later year.
2010: The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-152, 3/30/2010) created a new version of income-based repayment. The new version cuts the monthly payment by a third, to 10% of discretionary income, and forgives the remaining debt after 20 years in repayment instead of 25 years. The new version is effective for new borrowers as of July 1, 2014. Borrowers with previous federal student loans as of June 30, 2014, are not eligible for the improved income-based repayment terms.
2007: The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-84, 9/27/2007) added income-based repayment as an option within both the FFEL and Direct Loan programs. This repayment plan bases monthly loan payments on 15% of discretionary income, with discretionary income defined as the amount by which adjusted gross income exceeds 150% of the poverty line. After 25 years in repayment, the remaining amount owed is forgiven. This yields a lower monthly payment than the income-contingent repayment plan. The use of 150% of the poverty line as a threshold aligns the repayment plan with standards for bankruptcy fee waivers.
2006: The wage garnishment amount was increased from 10% to 15% by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-171, 2/8/2006).
2005: The US Supreme Court upholds the government’s ability to collect defaulted student loans by offsetting Social Security disability and retirement benefits without a statute of limitations. See Lockhart v US (04-881, December 2005).
2005: An amendment enacted by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-8, 10/17/2005) added an exception to discharge for qualified education loans, which includes most private student loans. Before this amendment only private student loans made under a “program funded in whole or in part by a governmental unit or nonprofit institution” were excepted from discharge. However, most private student loans included a nonprofit organization as the guarantor, and the courts have interpreted such loans as excepted from discharge.
2001: US Department of Education begins offsetting up to 15% of Social Security disability and retirement benefits to repay defaulted federal education loans.
1998: The Higher Education Amendments of 1998 (P.L. 105-244, 10/7/1998) struck the requirement that allowed education loans to be discharged after 7 years in repayment.
1996: Social Security benefit payments may be offset to repay defaulted federal education loans (Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, P.L. 104-134, 4/26/1996).
1993: The Higher Education Amendments of 1992 (P.L. 102-325, 7/23/1992) amended the Higher Education Act of 1965 to add income-contingent repayment as an option within the Direct Loan program. This repayment plan bases monthly loan payments on 20% of discretionary income, with discretionary income defined as the amount by which adjusted gross income exceeds 100% of the poverty line. After 25 years in repayment, the remaining amount owed is forgiven. The US Department of Education may require defaulted borrowers to repay their loans under income-contingent repayment. The availability of income-contingent repayment blocks most undue hardship petitions concerning federal student loans. (Parent PLUS loans are not eligible for income-contingent repayment.)
1991: An amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1965 made by the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-164, 11/15/1991) allows the federal government to garnish up to 10% of disposable pay of defaulted borrowers.
1991: The Higher Education Technical Amendments of 1991 (P.L. 102-26, 4/9/1991) eliminated the statute of limitations and the defense of laches on federal education loans. Previously there was a six year limit.
1990: An amendment changed the time period required before a loan could be discharged from 5 years to 7 years. (Crime Control Act of 1990, P.L. 101-647, 11/29/1990)
1984: The Bankruptcy Amendments and Federal Judgeship Act of 1984 (P.L. 98-353, 7/10/1984) changed the language excepting loans from a “nonprofit institution of higher education” by striking the words “of higher education”. This opened the door for private student loans to be excepted from discharge.
1979: An amendment (P.L. 96-56, 8/14/1979) excluded periods during which the repayment obligation was suspended, such as deferments and forbearances, from the 5 year period before an education loan could be discharged. The amendment also clarified the “to a governmental unit, or a nonprofit institution of higher education” language to indicate that government loans included those insured or guaranteed by a governmental unit and not just those made by a governmental unit, and that loans to a nonprofit institution of higher education were loans “made under any program funded in whole or in part by a governmental unit or a nonprofit institution of higher education”.
1978: Initial enactment of the exception to discharge for education loans made by the government or colleges and universities. Loans were dischargeable if they had been in repayment for 5 years or represented undue hardship.
1976: A regulation precluded the discharge of education loans made by the government or a non-profit college or university during the first 5 years of repayment. Previously education loans were dischargeable in bankruptcy without any exceptions
Anyone want to show voting as actual numbers rather than percentages?
Who exactly did you greybushes vote for?
Again, while we all know that, in their twighlight years, most boomers on tbp aren’t to blame, why is it they blame younger generations for current and past largesse?
It couldn’t possibly be a chronic sense of narcicism and reactionary temperment now could it….
Carry on, Boomers, two more finals and we can really get into your specious theories.
Zack M:
I think Admin was talking about government backed/subsidized loans, not the rat trap loans morons take out for doodle colleges and biscuit-making universities.
You may have just stomped on a proverbial bag of burning shit with that foolish comment, champ.
In the “shit is fucked up and shit” department …
Look up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a man, it’s a woman, it’s a WTF!!
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[img
Okaaaay … 50 years old … 6’6″ …. was a man …. got an operation called ‘kutchyacokoff” … now a woman … attends Mission College …. plays on woman’s basketball team … goes by the name, SAH.
.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/transgender-college-hoops-player-head-high-article-1.1220117
Barring extreme genetic conditions, the state of a persons chromosomes should decide their gender, not their feelings.
XY = boy, end of story
flash – that was a very good Larry Martines article you posted.
Like I said above, we’ve all been HAD/CONNED/DUPED, but we didn’t even know it at the time! The ONLY reason people are starting to wake up is because of the access to the Internet.
People are beginning to put things together; they’re beginning to THINK.
TPTB will be working on this too. They’ll want to get rid of the Internet, just like they want to get guns out of the hands of people who might upset their stranglehold on the power structure. Don’t let them do it!
I contend that if the Internet hadn’t come along when it did, we’d all just be following along in lockstep because we’d never have had people like Jim, Charles Hugh Smith, et cetera. We’d feel something was terribly wrong, but wouldn’t have been able to put our finger on it. The ability to get together to hash it out, to read differing opinions, has made all the difference.
A lot of the greatest books, the ones that are opening up people’s minds, were written by the Boomer generation. The Internet itself came about during the Boomer generation. The younger generations now have the benefit of this condensed and informative re-writing of history.
Do not fight your brother! Fight against the people who hold the reins.
i got a student loan in ’75. i paid it off in the mid ’80’s, i can send you a copy of the receipt. that loan follows you around forever, i got a good rate though. and it wasn’t for thousands of dollars like student loans are now. it was for $500.
Grey hair free shit army – love it. Unless you are totally dead and buried, you will find that someone has something against you because of your gender, sexual preference, race, upbringing, musical preference or the toys you got for xmas.
flash – you post one good article, and then your “stupid” escapes. “IMO SAH writes and thinks like a man….if it quacks like a duck.” Not even close, but I’ll let her defend herself.
What if you’ve got a Jessica Simpson body and you’re pretty, and no guy ever looks at your intelligence? Oh, they might think it’s cute, a nice little benefit, but that’s not what they’re really looking at. Whenever you try to assert your opinions, you’re told, “You’re too pretty to worry about things like that.” Everybody wants to dress you up or post a boob picture of you on the Internet. You begin to live up to people’s expectations, and you dumb yourself down. If you try to assert yourself, you’re called a “bitch”.
Some of us really are intelligent, and, no, we don’t have to be a guy to do it.
Admin.
Take a deep breath and check your meds. If you were not so hysterical and actually read my original post you would realize that all I was asking for was a return of some of the $225,000 I have paid into S.S., not free shit. If you think the entitlements are set in stone you truly are delusional.
You really paint with a broad brush. You know nothing about me but immediately jump to conclusions
and start hurling insults. I do not belong to AARP, have not voted in the 4 year auction for 12 years, and don’t want any of your free shit.
You must be just having a bad day. I have enjoyed reading your articles and have learned a lot from them. Todays juvenile tirades are embarrassing and I hope an aberration.
Zack M
You evidently haven’t been around here long and are probably too thin skinned to stay around. If you are in your 60’s you will get every freaking dime that you paid in plus the money being paid in by the Millenials.
I don’t give a crap about you. I love it when an asshole hurls insults and then gets insulted when I kick them in the balls.
I notice you ignored the DATA and HARD FACTS about student loans. Only a weasel Boomer would not acknowledge they were 100% wrong.
I don’t have bad days. I just deal with morons as they should be dealt with. Welcome to TBP.
Zack.
SS taxes are taxes nonetheless, you can’t ask to have them back. You can apply for benefits. If someone wants to call that “mooching” well, americans love politics and semantics is a huge part of it.
Zack
SS is paid out from current income. That means that for the government to give you your fair share, they have to take it from the younger generations, and so on ad infinitum.
It is a massive scale Ponzi scheme, and what you are telling us all is that you realize “shit is fucked up and shit” however you do not care. You still want whats yours. And you are welling to take that money from the younger generations at gunpoint.
FWIW, I understand your frustrations, and where you are coming from. The problem is that you do not understand one single key concept here: That to fix this clusterfuck of a problem is going to cause pain.
The current system is unsustainable, and with only 1.25 workers for every 1 person living off the system, or employed by the system.
That means when we start to right this ship, a LOT of people are going to feel slighted by a system that was never fair, and never did what it was purported to do.
Freedom my friend, thats all we are asking for here.
Some of those post Viet nam era loan defaults were Silents, The oldest boomers were, what, about 30-ish in 1976…
I was just starting one of my many sophomore years of college at that time myself, hadn’t taken on any debt yet. I did eventually, between ’81 and ’85, take on student loans..but I paid them back,with interest that would be considered high by today’s standards. Just sayin’
ThePessimisticChemist says:
“to fix this clusterfuck of a problem is going to cause pain”.
You got that right, just a question of when. I think it’s safe to say we know who will be doing most of the suffering.
so it turns out this post is about the war between us, boomers vs millenials. curiouser and curiouser. a few years ago i wondered how young people would be able to afford houses that had increased in price 3 or 4 times what i had paid. we found out soon enough when prices came crashing down.
there is only so much propping up social security anyone can do before it all comes crashing down. i suspect that is the intent, milk it for all it’s worth then when it’s tapped out, drop it and blame it on the boomers.
“SS taxes are taxes nonetheless, you can’t ask to have them back.” —- juan
BADA BOOM! BADA BING!!! “Tell him what he won, Johnny!”
That’s the WHOLE fuckin’ nut right there. Quick summary of my post at 3:34PM;
———————–
Supreme Court Case, 1960, Fleming v. Nestor. Supremes therefore established the principle that entitlement to Social Security benefits “IS NOT A CONTRACTUAL RIGHT.”
———————–
Until yesterday, I did NOT know this. Therein is the misunderstanding by still 95%, at least, of us boomers. You can blame us if you’d like, but I say the gub’mint is the prime culprit here.
The gub’mint says it’s an ENTITLEMENT. It is not! The gub’mint says it’s a BENEFIT. It is not! The gub’mint even fools us in that it is RESERVED for us in a special account called ‘FICA”. It is not!! Fuck fuck fuckity fuck! IT IS JUST ANOTHER GODDAMN TAX. And as Juan said, you can’t ask for it back. We’ve been lied to and misled about what is was from the very beginning by the thieving lying sack-‘o-shit politicians.
Stucky
One of my older co-workers was telling me that there is a provision in the SS Act that states something like this: If the SS account balance goes in the RED the payouts can be automatically reduced by 25%.
Ever heard of such a thing?
The best part of this generational discussion is the amount of “fucked up” that has been passed down to each successive generation. I’m tough on the older generation, particularly the Boomers as a whole, but it’s also obvious the Millennials are mostly fucked as well. Aren’t we also called the Echo Boomers by some? The issue is only interesting to me because I loath any situation where people have undo influence over my dreams (does this mean I hate life?). Millennials/Echo Boomers aren’t exactly the standard bearers for individual liberty outside of the canned talking points such as gay rights and reproductive freedom. Groupthink is a common occurrence within the ranks.
TPC –
I think we’re close in age and we are both in the sciences. Your posts are enjoyable and generally well thought out with only slight hints of brow beating. In what part of the country are you currently being tortured by your inlaws?
Spaceman
Haven’t heard of that. Here’s a quick google result regarding reduced benefits.
—————————————
Can my Social Security benefits be reduced or terminated?
Yes. Benefits may be terminated if you leave the United States for more than six months; you are deported; you remarry; or you are convicted of certain crimes, such as treason and espionage. Convicted felons cannot receive benefits while in prison. Disability benefits can be terminated when the recipient recovers, or if the recipient refuses to accept rehabilitation efforts
http://public.findlaw.com/abaflg/flg-16-3b-2.html
—–
Also, Government Pension Offset
—–
Also, Windfall Elimination Provision
Some minnies truly get it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0cufaIFRp0
“In what part of the country are you currently being tortured by your inlaws?”
NW Missouri
Mmmmm so cold here. Makes coffee even more enjoyable.
I read these as “dischargeable” with caveats – but still dischargeable – until 1998.
IMO it’s just another nail in the debt-slavery coffin. Intentional, planned and enacted by a group wishing to destroy the middle class and return to a feudalistic two-tiered society. It’s amazing how nicely it’s timed with the deliberate off-shoring of the GDP.
===================================
1. 1976: A regulation precluded the discharge of education loans made by the government or a non-profit college or university during the first 5 years of repayment. Previously education loans were dischargeable in bankruptcy without any exceptions
1. 1990: An amendment changed the time period required before a loan could be discharged from 5 years to 7 years. (Crime Control Act of 1990, P.L. 101-647, 11/29/1990)
1. 1998: The Higher Education Amendments of 1998 (P.L. 105-244, 10/7/1998) struck the requirement that allowed education loans to be discharged after 7 years in repayment.
The question was when did the restrictions on student loans begin and why. The restrictions began in 1976 because Boomers were defaulting on the student loans they had taken out while avoiding the draft.
Great article StuchenBoomer. Thanks for posting it. I rarely bitch about Boomers and when I do it is largely in jest. My parents are late Silents and I’m an early X’er. My life story almost echos yours perfectly. As I read your story, I found myself agreeing with nine sentences for every one sentence I disagreed with.
The ONLY fault I can find with my parents is in them not teaching me more about money. Money was always a taboo subject when I was growing up and nearly all questions about my parents finances were met with “it’s none of your business”. Fair enough, but they missed a great opportunity to pass on what little they knew of the subject. My father was a career, enlisted Air Force man and mom was the stay at home variety. There always seemed to be enough money in my eyes but rarely any extra. Even in retrospect, that still appears to be the case. Dad was wise enough to teach us that debt was to be avoided whenever possible. Each of my brothers and I tested that advice during our own lives and found that he was absolutely correct.
Although I don’t remember any specific instances, a great thing my parents taught us was that life is tough and it’s tougher if you are stupid. They insisted that we do well in school and were very involved in our schooling. Being a nomadic military family, the quality of our public education varied quite a bit but mom and dad did everything they could to smooth out the low points by being involved in our extracurricular lives. They took interest in everything we had interests in. I was a very inquisitive little shit and there was very little I did not take an interest in. I was also very observant and quick to pick up on subtleties. They channeled my interests, which today would be labeled ADHD, by getting me and themselves involved in Scouting, shooting, hunting, fishing, building models, chemistry, astronomy, wood working, geology, cooking, gardening, church, (they were raised Catholic but never pushed it on us) charity, history, and a thousand more subjects and activities. They wanted us kids to go to college but I think we made the correct decision to pass. I too got my ass beat regularly, mostly for being insolent but I was never, ever abused.
My parents began laying down the law with us kids when we were infants. Some of my first and oldest memories are of the many rules we were expected to follow. Those rules never wavered from day to day, year to year or even over the nearly two decades it took to raise us. Even as adults, when we return for a visit, many of the rules still apply. My parents expected a lot from us because they invested a lot! The most important lesson they taught us was that, not only is life not fair, it is not meant to ever be fair. Had they thought of it, I could easily imagine my parents saying that “life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are gonna get”. The remedy for this was to ALWAYS look out for number one because NO ONE would ever look out for you like you will. They managed to instill this without making us into a bunch of selfish assholes. As an extension of our own natural interests, we found ourselves giving our toys away to charity, visiting orphans, visiting old folks homes, assisting elderly neighbors and participating in things like the March of Dimes Walkathon. However, I do still view myself as very selfish but I feel absolutely comfortable with that.
Another lesson they taught that is more to my point is to forget about “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda”. In many ways that is what the blame game is about. Whether we are talking about entitled Boomers or lazy Millennials or Criminal Bankers, accessing blame is largely a waste of time and is very detrimental because sheople get hung up on who or what to blame instead of being observant and taking advantage of opportunities that occur even in fucked up situations. Most of us here are preppers in one way or another but we spend considerable time bitching about or assigning blame. Perhaps it is simply cathartic for us to play the blame game in light of immense size of the problems we face but many here seem to be genuinely bitter about many things including Boomers. I say fuck that…….get on with making lemonade out of lemons. I try to learn as much as I can from as many people and situations as possible and then use that knowledge to make my life better.
I_S
TPC –
It sounds very flat. Since you are a coffee drinker have you any knowledge about the levels of mycotoxins found in a lot of coffee? Coffee tends to really screw me up, used to think it was the bean but I’m starting to believe it is mycotoxin. Don’t know to much about it atm. I’m a Tennessean that wonders around. Currently I’m in the crazy Bay Area because I like the atmosphere and there are loads of start ups doing great research and product development. The opportunities for the “green gold rush” are also wide, especially if you have a green thumb, since it seems this is one of the only growth industries one can be a part of with a minimal investment.
Olga-
Wow, what you have said really speaks volumes. You have encapsulated the entirety of the problem in one sentence. Bravo and thanks for that! It really has given me pause on some positions of mine.
Peace to you all.
Things Boomers need to hear in their old age:
“ I’m not buying you a new Rascal Scooter. You think money grows on trees?”
“You’re not going out dressed like that, are you? What will your grandchildren think?”
“I slave all day to pay for your Social Security and Medicare!”
“You don’t know what it’s like being a latch key kid. WE had it rough.”
“Kids in China have jobs, because you sent the jobs there, dammit.”
“You see all the debt we have? You did this to us.”
“Turn off the damn lights in your McMansion. 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!”
Some things never change, and I have opted out of posting because I’m not going to interrupt your hypocritical self-congratulatory Boomerfest, as the depths of crazy have been amusing to watch. What I got out of reading Stucky’s piece and the comments is this: 1. Boomers aren’t to blame for anything they did in their youth – it was their Parents fault and the fault of the elder generations who were in power 2. Boomers aren’t to blame for anything they’ve done as adults or any of the problems experienced by the current youth, because we can’t blame our parents nor the elder generation who is in power.
This was my favorite though “Imagine you have just one older sibling, and your parents referred to him/her as “The Greatest Kid”. It just might fuck you up!” Yeah, Gen Xers have no idea what that would be like at all…
That’s all. Resume to jerking each other off, Boomers. Please, continue with your own self-absorbtion and delusions of non-culpability and greatness… The rest of us are going to quietly wait for the next 25 +/- years it go by. When you’re all finally off this planet, Colma and I can collaborate on a book to explain to younger generations who never had the pleasure of knowing you exactly why their lives are shit. There is still hope for the youth, although Boomers have stacked the deck to ensure the failure of the future, our lives haven’t played out yet – we still have a chance. On the other hand, Boomers actions and choices are done and can be judged: Guilty.
I am not saying that people were not defaulting or abusing the system. (Although I do question the extent of the abuse and necessity of the solution versus other potential fixes)
I am having difficulty with the idea that the number of individuals taking on college debt to *avoid Viet Nam* – the original claim – were so incredibly numerous, had accumulated such massive loans and were defaulting to such an extreme that by 1998 – 20+ years after the war was over – Congress was obliged to come to the banks’ rescue.
Boomers – perhaps
Draft-dodgers – seems a bit implausible.
Okay – it’s time to get my hair done – I need to look good for the “Embrace the Doom” bonfire tomorrow night!
backwardsevolution, I’m sorry you weren’t born with the equipment to be a man.Try being a woman instead. They’re as valuable to a stable and civilized society as as men, just in different ways.
SAH , sorry boomers fucked up your life so bad. It must be a bitch to be you..carrying around all the vitriolic bile must get awfully burdensome…care to talk?
Maybe if you could just get your balls back , snowflake ,you could man up and face the harsh reality that life’s a bitch and then you die, or you continue on into oblivion whining about the raw deal you got and how those you deem responsible should pay a price.
Here’ s hoping you get your pound of flesh ,before it turns to an ounce of dust.
Flash: You’re a retard.
SAH: Great breakdown. I saw that list in the piece and, unlike many I didn’t say “Oh, he’s not the typical boomer”…. Holy shit THAT WAS THE BIGGEST BOOMER SOB EVER. No less, we shall certainly collaborate on a book together and hopefully, it will be before these fucking clowns, as Reverse “Pretend You’re Retarded” Engineer would say, go to the Great Beyond.
Stucky: Your parents KNEW better! You call that list MATERIALISM? LOLOLOLOLOLOL
It’s almost the opposite. It’s good sense. It’s absolutely sane. It’s what’s been missing for over 40 years now. The whole idea reeks of “abused child” syndrome. It’s like Xers with their star wars collections…. deprived of Lando by their hippie parents so they pay $50 as soon as they get a job…. Only far far worse.
Far far worse.
“Boomers aren’t to blame for anything they did in their youth” —- SAH
NEVER said that. Read for comprehension.
.
“it was their Parents fault and the fault of the elder generations who were in power” — SAH
NEVER said that. Read for comprehension.
.
“Boomers aren’t to blame for anything they’ve done as adults or any of the problems experienced by the current youth …blah blah yada yada”
NEVER said that. Read for comprehension. But thanks for playing.
.
“Resume to jerking each other off, Boomers.” —- SAH
Just when I thought we were kinda getting along … oh well … I gotta say it anyway.
You are seriously fucked up in the head. Really, seriously, truly … you are mentally ill. Two things no one will ever know about you; 1) the real reason for your anti boomer freakouts, 2) if your anger prevents you from getting orgasms.
Don’t misunderstand me, your derangement has NOTHING to do with your views on Boomers. If you want to remain ignorant, then remain ignorant, what the hell do I care? As I mentioned, I didn’t post the article for Haters. Haters gonna hate, they’re incapable of learning.
It has everything to do with your vile and irrational anger. You couldn’t just be decent in your disagreement, like several here have been.. Nooooo. We’re all self congratulating masturbators. Nice. Really, get some help from a shrink. Check yourself into a Mental Ward before you turn into the next Adam Lanza. Yeah, you ARE that fucked up. But thanks for playing.
Or, turn you life over to Jeebus.
God Bless, May He Have Mercy On Your Soul
Coma, let get this straight, do the minnies begat the next generation of boomers or do they pump out some silents?
I’ll admit it….Asstrology is hard.
Don’t worry about astrology, flash, work on your tranny fetish.
LOL
I’ll be back.
Colma
I tried to make peace with you. You just keep piling on. Oh, well. You choose to remain a small minded man. I thought you were better than that.
Must be lonely here for you … no one else agreeing with your vile bile. Oh, wait! You have SAH … you two can congratulate each other how correct each of you are … “nice job Colma!” … “nice llist SAH!!” …. hahaha …. we get to witness live this mental masturbation … maybe you two can take the next step and get a room.
It must really really piss you off … all the positive comments here ……… and that the negative comments weren’t negative enough. Just pisses you both off. Your eyes red? Nostrils flaring? Heart beating faster right now? Banging real hard on the keyboard? What a sad sad day for you two … that people here don’t hate boomers as much as you want them too. hahahaha. Get that “Sticky” label out SAH. Post pics of Randy cuming Colma. Do it! The world waits to see more of your ummm intelligence.