Reply to Why do people think Boomers had it so good?

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Why do people think Boomers had it so good?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's a hard insight issue and the tricky part is that it's impossible to know if the comparison is fair because not enough time has passed.

[b]Yes Boomers dealt with Vietnam, [/b]stagflation, and much more restrictive banking policies that made home ownership more challenging. However that turned around and Boomers then enjoyed perhaps the single most prosperous two decades in the US during their prime earning years. The homes the bought in the early 80s with 12% interest rates and that they had to scrimp and save for to qualify at all, doubled, then ,tripled, then quadrupled in value. Their salaries also increased by multiples. The stock market exploded and they wound up on the ground floor of that rocket.

So yes, in 1982, boomers as a generation were struggling. But in 2024 they are not. They have immense wealth, plus social security is still solvent and medicare is actually functioning better than ever thanks to work on prescription drug prices and supplemental plans. They made it.

Millennials have different challenges. Yes mortgage rates are lower and the rules around mortgages are looser (though not quite as loose as they used to be and that's a good thing). Millennials have more debt starting out thanks to education costs, and unlike boomers they have zero faith their own children will be able to self-fund college. The economy is stronger but the job market is more competitive thanks to globalization and American workers must compete with more highly qualified workers.

Maybe it will all work out like it did for boomers. I hope so! One challenge millennials face is that they continue to lack political power as the political landscape remains dominated by Boomers with a continued focus on Boomer concerns. Key millennial issues (cost of college and cost of housing) still lack consensus and addressing them has been an uphill battle.

To top it off, when millennials advocate for policies that would relieve these key pressures, they are called entitled and whiny and told "hey boomers had high mortgage rates and it was hard to even qualify." But this ignores the fact that *those circumstances changed because they were bad.* Policies shifted to make it easier to buy a home and boomers profited wildly from it. The reason mortgage rules were relaxed and rates brought down over time was not dome gift to millennials. These were policies intended to help boomers. And they did.[/quote]

This made me chuckle. Sure, they dealt with the ravages of war but it's NBD. Such a millennial post.

My dad is a Boomer. Served during the Vietnam era. I don't think he'd shrug it off so lightly. My grandfather was greatest generation and served in WW2. He came back deaf and a changed man. I don't think younger generations quite understand the long-lasting effects that these wars had on these generations - particularly those that served, which constituted a huge portion of the population.

Millennials only focus on how much money they believe Boomers have now - in their retirement. And no, they're not looking at struggling boomers in middle-America but their own white, wealthy parents. My darling millennials - your worldview is skewed. Of course white, wealthy boomers have money now after 50 years of savings. You, too, will have more money after investing for 50 years. This is basic math.

But lucky you that you will likely never have to serve in war as every generation before you, and you have significantly more physical, food, and political security than any prior time in history. I know that they don't believe that but just open a history book to any random year in the 19th/20th century and do a side-by-side. Plus, most of what I hear complaints about are not buying a 3500 sq ft house. Ok. Check avg housing size in 1950 and then get back to me. [/quote]

Imagine thinking Vietnam was the last war.  Who do you think went to Iraq? Afghanistan?  Those silly millennials who have only known peace, I guess.[/quote]

Vietnam was the last war to have a draft. Being drafted for a war and electing to pursue a military career are two very different paths. Plus, 1 out of 10 servicemen in Vietnam died. There were nearly 60K US deaths with only 4K in Iraq. You cannot compare the two, or their impact on the general public.

Back to millennials not understanding basic US civics. [/quote]

Plus, Iraq War was 2003 to 2011. That's GenX[/quote]

Millennials were born between 1986-2011.

Someone born in 1986 was 17 years old in 2003, and 25 in 2011.   There were definitely millennials in Iraq.

Also, US service members were dying in Afghanistan as recently as 2021-even Gen Z were killed.[/quote]

Do you honestly believe that there were more deaths in Iraq than Vietnam? It's mind-boggling to me that millennials are trying to argue that Iraq was more impactful on the population at large, or more deadly. Or that it was a millennial war instead of a GenX or even Boomer war. Millenials have serious main character syndrome and I'm not sure how they get out of it. A book maybe?[/quote]

Do you really not know how to read?  It's mind-boggling that you would quote my post and then just make something up.   I never said there were "more deaths."  
I'm Gen X, not Millennial, and so is my husband who did two tours of Iraq.   Many of the people he served with over there were (yes, WERE) Millennials.   
[/quote]

Which is still irrelevant to the point at hand. Vietnam was a more impactful war - hands down - on society, national psyche, and by way of total death count. Iraq War, while terrible, did not have the same impact. [b]Did Millenials serve? sure, I guess the older ones.[/b] But it did not impact the generation in the same way. One of the many reasons being that the generation was not up in arms over being drafted - against their will - for 1 in 10 to return dead.

You are arguing a totally unrelated point that - per your argument - really has no relevance to the issue at hand. [/quote]

And the younger ones.
And Gen Z

Your argument about the draft is irrelevant to the point at hand.   Millennials HAVE served and still do.  
Your argument really has no relevance. [/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