Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am trying to figure out what makes the Boomers so selfish. They helped end quite a bit of discrimination, not all but tons. The things the Boomers had to put up with at the beginning of their careers would make the Gen-Xers and Millenials insane. Woman being required to quit when they married or got pregnant. Women earning 50% for the same job (Gen-Xers and Millenials complain about it at 80%). Smoking every where. Discrimination was allowed at all levels gender and race. No women in the US Senate. Technology has changed tremendously...

I don't think all Boomers are selfish. But there is a huge percentage of them who did a really crappy job. Made decent money, but didn't save any of it for their children's college (spent it in consumer goods instead), didn't save for retirement, get angry when social security cutbacks are discussed, things like that. Mostly a money thing from what I see - just didn't have the traits of their hardworking/savings parents.

Boomers cover a huge age range. I am on the younger end - have fully funded my children's college education, have saved ferociously for retirement and pay no attention to social security other than paying in the max each year. I have a similar savings profile to my parents so paid for my college and are doing just fine in retirement, I will acknowledge that my grandparents saved everything. The lived like paupers while amassing huge savings. Honestly that has had an influence on me - I don't want to live like a pauper just to pass it on to my kids. I would rather enjoy life a little bit - travel, etc.

GAO just issued a report that 1/3 of the federal workforce will be retirement eligible in 2017. OPM has for years raised the issue about a the inevitable loss of high level employees in waves as boomers retire. Faced with this problem, have the boomers who are in the SES developed training programs to get people ready to take over the positions that will be vacated by boomers? No. Instead, they have implemented policies like "retired annuitants" which allow people to retire and then get rehired to do the same job while collecting their retirement benefits. The new policy that will be implemented is phased retirement, which will allow folks to still hold full time equivalent spots as they reduce their hours over a period of years until they finally leave (the idea here is that they will share the position with someone while mentoring him/her).

When boomer discuss changed to social security benefits, it is interesting that the changes always take place sufficiently in the future that it will have little impact on boomers but a significant one on those to follow. When I was in 10th grade (1984) my history teacher told our class that unless something was done, the boomers would exhaust the social security system for the reasons with which we are all familiar. If my history teacher saw this problem in 1984, shouldn't the boomers have noticed the problem as well and taken some form of remedial action? Why should they? The people who will suffer are not them.

It is these me first policies that have made many people think that members of the baby boomer generation think of themselves first and last.

They were given a gift and used it to benefit themselves at the expense of future generations. Boomers were labeled the "Me Generation" when most of Gen X was in elemtary school. As a member of Gen X I have has to make a living through two economic busy periods, the early 1990's and the most recent downturn. Both the result of policies and laws implemented by boomer politicians, that in the short term benefited this large voting block.

I don't hate the boomers, but at the same time I don't understand how many of that generation can be so blind as to the negative effect they have had while glowing in any positive influences they may have had.

Anonymous wrote:The boomers had to compete to get ahead because there were lots of them. Future generations were coddled and expect to have everything handed to them on a platter without making much of an effort. The only thing they should fault themselves for is not making their wimpy, whiny children tougher.

+1million

Anonymous wrote:I don't hate all boomers. My parents are lovely people who have done everything for me and my sibling. I also think as a whole that they did some great things with regard to civil rights, paving the way for women's equality, acceptance of the queer community, and abolishing the draft.

Just a segment of boomers have royally screwed over the economy, which has left us millennials in a pretty rough place in terms of the future. Since the '70s, the income distribution has gotten more and more screwed up, due to terrible greed. Under the boomer's watch, social security and medicare are under risk of becoming insolvent, pensions have disappeared for 401Ks, we've started two wars, the price of higher education has been jacked up, wages have become stagnant, housing prices have soared, and tax breaks have been given to the wealthy. Also, some of the older boomers still have some of the negatives of the greatest generation--homophobia, racism, sexism and a bizarre desire to dictate women's sexual agency, and unproductive American jingoism. I also think boomers tend to be materialistic. Boomers can't seem to understand why owning a home is something to feel so ambivalent about, because of differences in the economy, and don't seem to grasp how powerful sharing resources and access can be.

This happened not under a boomer, but under the leadership of the greatest generation. Ronald Wilson Reagan and his peeps started this trickle down bullcrap. They also borrowed money from the SS fund that has never been repaid.

Anonymous wrote:The boomers had to compete to get ahead because there were lots of them. Future generations were coddled and expect to have everything handed to them on a platter without making much of an effort. The only thing they should fault themselves for is not making their wimpy, whiny children tougher.

Not for nothing, but I sort of agree with this. And why does everyone who's younger say that everyone "sucks"? Charming language.

The boomers had to compete to get ahead because there were lots of them. Future generations were coddled and expect to have everything handed to them on a platter without making much of an effort. The only thing they should fault themselves for is not making their wimpy, whiny children tougher.

Anonymous wrote:I am trying to figure out what makes the Boomers so selfish. They helped end quite a bit of discrimination, not all but tons. The things the Boomers had to put up with at the beginning of their careers would make the Gen-Xers and Millenials insane. Woman being required to quit when they married or got pregnant. Women earning 50% for the same job (Gen-Xers and Millenials complain about it at 80%). Smoking every where. Discrimination was allowed at all levels gender and race. No women in the US Senate. Technology has changed tremendously...

I don't think all Boomers are selfish. But there is a huge percentage of them who did a really crappy job. Made decent money, but didn't save any of it for their children's college (spent it in consumer goods instead), didn't save for retirement, get angry when social security cutbacks are discussed, things like that. Mostly a money thing from what I see - just didn't have the traits of their hardworking/savings parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't hate all boomers. My parents are lovely people who have done everything for me and my sibling. I also think as a whole that they did some great things with regard to civil rights, paving the way for women's equality, acceptance of the queer community, and abolishing the draft.

Just a segment of boomers have royally screwed over the economy, which has left us millennials in a pretty rough place in terms of the future. Since the '70s, the income distribution has gotten more and more screwed up, due to terrible greed. Under the boomer's watch, social security and medicare are under risk of becoming insolvent, pensions have disappeared for 401Ks, we've started two wars, the price of higher education has been jacked up, wages have become stagnant, housing prices have soared, and tax breaks have been given to the wealthy. Also, some of the older boomers still have some of the negatives of the greatest generation--homophobia, racism, sexism and a bizarre desire to dictate women's sexual agency, and unproductive American jingoism. I also think boomers tend to be materialistic. Boomers can't seem to understand why owning a home is something to feel so ambivalent about, because of differences in the economy, and don't seem to grasp how powerful sharing resources and access can be.

You can thank the Republicans for this.

All the boomers who voted for Johnson then turned around and voted for Reagan.

http://www.amazon.com/Why-Baby-Boomers-Suck-Offense/dp/1600200427

Anonymous wrote:I don't hate all boomers. My parents are lovely people who have done everything for me and my sibling. I also think as a whole that they did some great things with regard to civil rights, paving the way for women's equality, acceptance of the queer community, and abolishing the draft.

Just a segment of boomers have royally screwed over the economy, which has left us millennials in a pretty rough place in terms of the future. Since the '70s, the income distribution has gotten more and more screwed up, due to terrible greed. Under the boomer's watch, social security and medicare are under risk of becoming insolvent, pensions have disappeared for 401Ks, we've started two wars, the price of higher education has been jacked up, wages have become stagnant, housing prices have soared, and tax breaks have been given to the wealthy. Also, some of the older boomers still have some of the negatives of the greatest generation--homophobia, racism, sexism and a bizarre desire to dictate women's sexual agency, and unproductive American jingoism. I also think boomers tend to be materialistic. Boomers can't seem to understand why owning a home is something to feel so ambivalent about, because of differences in the economy, and don't seem to grasp how powerful sharing resources and access can be.

You can thank the Republicans for this.

I don't hate all boomers. My parents are lovely people who have done everything for me and my sibling. I also think as a whole that they did some great things with regard to civil rights, paving the way for women's equality, acceptance of the queer community, and abolishing the draft.

Just a segment of boomers have royally screwed over the economy, which has left us millennials in a pretty rough place in terms of the future. Since the '70s, the income distribution has gotten more and more screwed up, due to terrible greed. Under the boomer's watch, social security and medicare are under risk of becoming insolvent, pensions have disappeared for 401Ks, we've started two wars, the price of higher education has been jacked up, wages have become stagnant, housing prices have soared, and tax breaks have been given to the wealthy. Also, some of the older boomers still have some of the negatives of the greatest generation--homophobia, racism, sexism and a bizarre desire to dictate women's sexual agency, and unproductive American jingoism. I also think boomers tend to be materialistic. Boomers can't seem to understand why owning a home is something to feel so ambivalent about, because of differences in the economy, and don't seem to grasp how powerful sharing resources and access can be.

younger dcumers hate everyone

I am trying to figure out what makes the Boomers so selfish. They helped end quite a bit of discrimination, not all but tons. The things the Boomers had to put up with at the beginning of their careers would make the Gen-Xers and Millenials insane. Woman being required to quit when they married or got pregnant. Women earning 50% for the same job (Gen-Xers and Millenials complain about it at 80%). Smoking every where. Discrimination was allowed at all levels gender and race. No women in the US Senate. Technology has changed tremendously...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because we now have as adults the first generation not actually raised by their own parents but in daycare and we get to see how they feel about that, and them.

I'm just going to save this comment and start posting it everywhere I see this BS.

1. The childcare studies and parenting studies show that working parents actually spend more time, not less time, interacting with their children. They are doing more actual parenting than nonworking parents of previous generations.

2. Kids in childcare don't demonstrate any serious increases in behavior problems over the long term.

Yes, and toilet water is the cleanest water in the house. Sounds like it'd be the opposite, right, but no.....