Reply to Baby boomers ruined America

Forum Index » Political Discussion

Reply to "Baby boomers ruined America"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Gen Xer here. [b]I don't hate the Boomers[/b]. But I do think that with the invariable cuts to come, they are going to need to share the pain. You can't just raise the retirement age, Medicare age, etc for younger generations. Boomers will need to suck it up with the rest of us.

Younger Boomers did lose a lot in the downturn, and I'm sure some of their retirements are delayed as a result. But the costs are higher for GenX and Y now than when the Boomers were younger - housing, college, gas, childcare, not to mention the coming costs for caring for elderly Boomer parents. The Boomers need to have some empathy for this - the average middle class X or Y-er can't save or build wealth the same way they did. We may never be able to.[/quote]

I really think you do hate the boomers.

You are suggesting that a 70 year old woman/man who worked all their life, mind you without the additional benefit of IRAs and 457s,  take a cut in their retirement benefits.  These people put their money into a system with a promise of a certain payment upon retirement.  They relied on that information and most planned accordingly.  Now here you come along with all your youth and years of productivity in front of you suggesting that we should take from the elderly to make your life richer.  Gag.  [/quote]

I'm not the PP you are responding to, but your post sounds far more hateful than his/hers.  She says they need to "share the pain."  that in no way means "we should take from the elderly to make [her] life richer."

If you're the same Boomer who keeps posting, you are the one with the hate.  And you are exactly the type of Boomer that makes people hate Boomers.
There was never a promise of "a certain payment" upon retirement.  In fact, when Social Security was created, it wasn't expected that it would have to pay out for as many years as most retirees are getting payments these days.  The life expectancy has increased, but Social Security hasn't been adjusted to reflect that.  The result is that actually, there are plenty of people, both Boomers and the generation before them, who are going to receive far more in SS benefits than they ever paid in and far more than Social Security, in its creation, was expected to pay out.

That's partly because Social Security was never supposed to replace a defined benefit pension.   I would add, that it's the wealthy Boomers and their parents who have eliminated pensions in the private sector (and are not calling for elimination of pensions in the public sector).   I would add that a 70 year old (in your example) likely had/has a pension.  And if it's a woman, she's probably getting her husband's pension.

We can continue to squabble and have generation wars.  But instead we should deal with reality and try to go forward.  There has to be a better way.  
[/quote]

I am the PP s/he was responding to. Gag away. I am currently supporting my 70 year old mother financially, so I'm giving rather than taking, at least on a personal level, and it is making me poorer - significantly so. Anecdotes aside, I am talking at a national level. The Boomer generation is very large. Gen X is much smaller, Millenials a bit bigger, thankfully. That doesn't change the fact that supporting the Boomers and dealing with the national debt will be crushing. We may have longer lifespans, we may not. US life expectancy fell in most counties recently. Yes, we could work longer - if we can find anyone that will hire us or keep us employed at 60 and beyond. Ask any 60 year old Boomer how easy it is to find a job and pay for health insurance if they are laid off. What makes you think it would be any different for subsequent generations? So yes, on a national level, Boomers will need to share the pain, at least those that can afford to do so. There are ways to do it, scale it towards rich retirees contributing more perhaps, or receiving less in payouts. There was never a guarantee of a payment that maintains a certain lifestyle. Social Security was created to prevent the elderly from living in abject poverty. I think Medicare/health reform is more crucial, because no elderly person should become impoverished by their medical bills. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics