It's not those kids on your lawn, it's you.
November 6, 2015 6:03 PM Subscribe
If anyone deserves to pay more to shore up the federal safety net, either through higher taxes or lower benefits, it’s boomers — the generation that was born into some of the strongest job growth in the history of America, gobbled up the best parts, and left its children and grandchildren with some bones to pick through and a big bill to pay. Politicians shouldn’t be talking about holding that generation harmless. They should be asking how future workers can claw back some of the spoils that the “Me Generation” hoarded for itself.
Baby boomers are what’s wrong with America’s economy.
This post was deleted for the following reason: I feel like we've done the Boomers: Are They The Worst? thing a number of times and it's not something we do a great job of; another post on that front should probably hold off for something that feels a little less like just a warming-over of the same editorial again. -- cortex
obligatory clarification that not all boomers were born equal. That is, if you came late in the demographic (born at the end of the 1950s, early 1960s), there has been precious little easy pickings available pretty much your whole life. If you were born in 1960 for instance, that likely means you graduated high school directly into this mess ...
Like Gandalf said to whatzizname, you can't choose what the times bring you, you can choose what to do with what you've got.
posted by philip-random at 6:17 PM on November 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
Like Gandalf said to whatzizname, you can't choose what the times bring you, you can choose what to do with what you've got.
posted by philip-random at 6:17 PM on November 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
I've sort of reached the point where I want a browser extension to replace the word "boomer" with something else, like maybe "elephant." Baby elephants are what's wrong with America's economy.
posted by teponaztli at 6:18 PM on November 6, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by teponaztli at 6:18 PM on November 6, 2015 [9 favorites]
Yep, my parents voted Republican and rolled in wealth - they voted for notable Republicans like Jimmy Carter, for instance, or Senator Simon from Illinois, and supported such famous conservative causes as abolishing the death penalty. And the incredible wealth they earned as assistant manager in an office supply store and junior librarian - why, how dare they think they deserve their full social security benefits!
I too, a Gen X-er, have been both Republican and wealthy my entire life - pink collar labor is extraordinarily remunerative, and I've been constantly engaged with such typical Republican pursuits as protesting police brutality and teaching community ed classes. Perhaps I shouldn't get to retire at all - maybe the solution would be to take away my parents' social security so that I could get a second job to support us all.
I mean, if we take away the social security of the undeserving, it's not like the burden of supporting them will fall individually on their children, right? We can take away their benefits and they will just live off the wealth that every single Baby Boomer, from checkout clerk to computer tycoon, has managed to accumulate.
Anyone would think that the Baby Boom generation was exclusively composed of the top 20% of society and that there were no working class boomers, environmentalist boomers, labor organizer boomers, etc.
posted by Frowner at 6:21 PM on November 6, 2015 [15 favorites]
I too, a Gen X-er, have been both Republican and wealthy my entire life - pink collar labor is extraordinarily remunerative, and I've been constantly engaged with such typical Republican pursuits as protesting police brutality and teaching community ed classes. Perhaps I shouldn't get to retire at all - maybe the solution would be to take away my parents' social security so that I could get a second job to support us all.
I mean, if we take away the social security of the undeserving, it's not like the burden of supporting them will fall individually on their children, right? We can take away their benefits and they will just live off the wealth that every single Baby Boomer, from checkout clerk to computer tycoon, has managed to accumulate.
Anyone would think that the Baby Boom generation was exclusively composed of the top 20% of society and that there were no working class boomers, environmentalist boomers, labor organizer boomers, etc.
posted by Frowner at 6:21 PM on November 6, 2015 [15 favorites]
Baby elephants trample snake people
posted by hototogisu at 6:22 PM on November 6, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by hototogisu at 6:22 PM on November 6, 2015 [12 favorites]
This type of article just frosts me so fucking much - when I consider how hard my parents worked, and how hard many of their cohort worked, and I consider how many Boomers I know socially from lefty/political/union stuff who are fucking poor, I just cannot stand smug asshole prognostications from some columnist (himself almost certainly making way, way more than my parents ever did).
It's fake class politics, that's what it is - pretend that all Boomers have the same background and are spoiled and rich and conservative, so that we can conveniently pretend that all Millennials are poor and immiserated - ignore the legions of working class Boomers and the 1%er Millennials, because real class politics, where we judge on wealth and power and not on generation, would blow the goddamn lid off this country.
posted by Frowner at 6:27 PM on November 6, 2015 [29 favorites]
It's fake class politics, that's what it is - pretend that all Boomers have the same background and are spoiled and rich and conservative, so that we can conveniently pretend that all Millennials are poor and immiserated - ignore the legions of working class Boomers and the 1%er Millennials, because real class politics, where we judge on wealth and power and not on generation, would blow the goddamn lid off this country.
posted by Frowner at 6:27 PM on November 6, 2015 [29 favorites]
Yeah I hate generational arguments about economics, or whatever social issue is at stake. This whole article read like it was built around a provocative title, and they even acknowledged, towards the end, that these are ongoing issues not tied to generation. Then why make it about that? If anything it sounded more like an argument against people claiming Social Security and Medicare benefits than anything else, which wouldn't be a huge surprise in the Washington Post. But then it just ended with "they should really vote more progressive," which is great, but - why bring up the generational angle in the first place?
posted by teponaztli at 6:31 PM on November 6, 2015
posted by teponaztli at 6:31 PM on November 6, 2015
I feel like whatever truth there is in this, the idea that the Boomers betrayed their values in pulling the ladder up after them (and are still doing so), is found only at a very zoomed out macro level (i.e. at the same scale as the economic processes involved). Indicting Boomers as individuals is misled, especially since many of them lost out. Boomers turned on their own as much as future generations.
And if history was offset a few decades, and the same economic changes were happening now, I'd think the more recent generations would do the same thing. Just like we'd probably also stay in our jobs, and fail to make room for others to move up, if we literally could not afford to retire.
Yes, houses and tuition were much, much cheaper vs. wages in the 60s, 70s and 80s than they are now, and Boomers can have an irritating blind spot there, but that's hardly the whole story.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:35 PM on November 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
And if history was offset a few decades, and the same economic changes were happening now, I'd think the more recent generations would do the same thing. Just like we'd probably also stay in our jobs, and fail to make room for others to move up, if we literally could not afford to retire.
Yes, houses and tuition were much, much cheaper vs. wages in the 60s, 70s and 80s than they are now, and Boomers can have an irritating blind spot there, but that's hardly the whole story.
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:35 PM on November 6, 2015 [3 favorites]
Which is to say, rather than worrying about whose fault it is that Boomers' economic interests are in many areas opposed to those of younger generations, what can be done about it?
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:39 PM on November 6, 2015
posted by snuffleupagus at 6:39 PM on November 6, 2015
rather than worrying about whose fault it is that Boomers' economic interests are in many areas opposed to those of younger generations, what can be done about it?
socialism
posted by philip-random at 6:47 PM on November 6, 2015 [5 favorites]
socialism
posted by philip-random at 6:47 PM on November 6, 2015 [5 favorites]
Did the boomers, as a generational cohort, work to strip away the society they were bequeathed? I think the answer to that is probably affirmative.
Should we then dismantle social security out of spite? Definitely not. That would be silly and completing the program they participated in.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 6:47 PM on November 6, 2015 [5 favorites]
Should we then dismantle social security out of spite? Definitely not. That would be silly and completing the program they participated in.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 6:47 PM on November 6, 2015 [5 favorites]
There's a lot of dumb stuff in the article, but one thing that hasn't been pointed out yet: "They took control of Washington at the turn of the millennium, and they used it to rack up a lot of federal debt." Our problem isn't excessive debt; it's insufficient spending. Misguided austerity programs, not debt, is what's kept 90% of us down.
posted by zompist at 6:54 PM on November 6, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by zompist at 6:54 PM on November 6, 2015 [5 favorites]
Man, a lot of #notallboomers in this thread.
posted by zabuni at 7:01 PM on November 6, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by zabuni at 7:01 PM on November 6, 2015 [4 favorites]
More like #onlyallboomers
It's not as if the Boomers didn't produce a lot of their own pop cultural handwringing over all this stuff as it was happening in various stages. And still are. It's practically its own genre.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:04 PM on November 6, 2015
It's not as if the Boomers didn't produce a lot of their own pop cultural handwringing over all this stuff as it was happening in various stages. And still are. It's practically its own genre.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:04 PM on November 6, 2015
I've sort of reached the point where I want a browser extension to replace the word "boomer" with something else, like maybe "elephant." Baby elephants are what's wrong with America's economy
Young Republicans certainly aren't helping but it's hard to give them too much blame.
posted by Drinky Die at 7:09 PM on November 6, 2015
Young Republicans certainly aren't helping but it's hard to give them too much blame.
posted by Drinky Die at 7:09 PM on November 6, 2015
Boomer here (1947). Yeah.. No...
Don't blame us for the shape the country is in. Some of us didn't get the good life.
posted by jgaiser at 7:12 PM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Don't blame us for the shape the country is in. Some of us didn't get the good life.
posted by jgaiser at 7:12 PM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Gen X voted Republican just like their parents
Ha. Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha hah ha ha. Hah. Heh. Ha.
Cool story, bro.
The only true thing you can say about Gen X is that it's so diverse and middle-of-the-road, a statement like that falls flat right out of the starting gate.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:16 PM on November 6, 2015
Ha. Ha. Ha ha ha ha ha hah ha ha. Hah. Heh. Ha.
Cool story, bro.
The only true thing you can say about Gen X is that it's so diverse and middle-of-the-road, a statement like that falls flat right out of the starting gate.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:16 PM on November 6, 2015
Boomer here (1947). Yeah.. No...
Don't blame us for the shape the country is in. Some of us didn't get the good life.
No, but at a macro-level a larger percentage of your generational cohort lived 'the good life' than any generation preceding or succeeding you. Nobody is blaming you personally for this situation.
edit: in US history, that is.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 7:22 PM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Don't blame us for the shape the country is in. Some of us didn't get the good life.
No, but at a macro-level a larger percentage of your generational cohort lived 'the good life' than any generation preceding or succeeding you. Nobody is blaming you personally for this situation.
edit: in US history, that is.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 7:22 PM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Eh, just refuse to do tech support for the boomers until they cough up the dough.
No grandkid photos until the crippling school loan debt goes away!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:24 PM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
No grandkid photos until the crippling school loan debt goes away!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:24 PM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
Blather. Gen X voted Republican just like their parents, that is, voted to disassemble the social safety net, cripple unions, deregulate everything possible, and ignore global warming. Now the bill comes due for all of us.
The Green Party convention delegate with whom I marched in an anti-GOP protest in 2004 would like to have a word with you about this assessment. (Me, I'll just watch; he's a tall dude who gets really entertaining to watch when he's mad.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:25 PM on November 6, 2015
The Green Party convention delegate with whom I marched in an anti-GOP protest in 2004 would like to have a word with you about this assessment. (Me, I'll just watch; he's a tall dude who gets really entertaining to watch when he's mad.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:25 PM on November 6, 2015
The United States rode an incredible wave from its founding until about 1970... there was always a shortage of workers, which kept wages high, and gave bargaining power to labor. Women nearly doubled the work force at the same time that automation eliminated many of the lower skilled jobs, a trend that continues and threatens to raise unemployment to 90% in the coming decades...
The need to work a job to earn a living and maintain ones social status is now an unsustainable way, and we have to replace it. Spraying blame everywhere might keep people from thinking deeply about this, but not forever.
posted by MikeWarot at 7:29 PM on November 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
The need to work a job to earn a living and maintain ones social status is now an unsustainable way, and we have to replace it. Spraying blame everywhere might keep people from thinking deeply about this, but not forever.
posted by MikeWarot at 7:29 PM on November 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
I am fed up with all stories about boomers, Gen Xers, Milennials, etc. I simply do not understand how writers can pretend that these media- ( or perhaps marketing-) created stereotypes can be useful. It's lazy and annoying.
posted by Bella Donna at 7:29 PM on November 6, 2015
posted by Bella Donna at 7:29 PM on November 6, 2015
As a mid-boomer (1955) with Greatest Generation (1920-1922) parents, my personal experience is that the whole "entitlement" attitude originated with the "we won WWII, now we get it all" folks... the ladder was already beginning to be pulled away when I graduated college in 1977. But no 'generational analysis' should be made without looking at the demographics of who voted for Reagan vs. Carter (and who DIDN'T vote) in 1980. Without that, it's just a "looking for a generation to blame"
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:31 PM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:31 PM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
I love a good moment of grar about the insufferable and self-indulgent boomers -- but I'm also looking at the realistic possibility of sooner or later supporting one or both of my boomer parents. Their generation may have done some shitty things, but they didn't personally benefit all that much. It's the one percent (and above) who are benefiting, not a bunch of greedy boomers.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:32 PM on November 6, 2015
posted by Dip Flash at 7:32 PM on November 6, 2015
Baby Boomers, otherwise known as the 50's generation - were the one's who first brought America rock and roll, the concept of sex without guilt, government mistrust, make love not war, civil rights the freaking pill, nuclear disarmament and a serious widespread consideration of woman's liberation. You can think me later.
The whole boomers = baddies concept that has become so popular these past 10 years is just another attempt at dividing the middle class (white vs black, citizens by birth vs immigrants, etc) against itself and diverting our attention from the real things destroying America like the military-industrial complex, cancerously growing big business and Big Banks.
The people who fall for such divisiveness and promulgate it are, in my opinion, merely useful idiots.
posted by AGameOfMoans at 7:33 PM on November 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
The whole boomers = baddies concept that has become so popular these past 10 years is just another attempt at dividing the middle class (white vs black, citizens by birth vs immigrants, etc) against itself and diverting our attention from the real things destroying America like the military-industrial complex, cancerously growing big business and Big Banks.
The people who fall for such divisiveness and promulgate it are, in my opinion, merely useful idiots.
posted by AGameOfMoans at 7:33 PM on November 6, 2015 [2 favorites]
Generational thinking is dumb, but so is thinking that a cohort couldn't have voted one way, because you or people you know didn't. Lots of Gen Xers voted to dismantle the social safety net, lots didn't. The year those people were born probably isn't what's determining that either way.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:34 PM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 7:34 PM on November 6, 2015 [1 favorite]
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