Vox: How the baby boomers — not millennials — screwed America

[Virginiá]

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/20/16772670/baby-boomers-millennials-congress-debt

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Yup, that's right, I'm going there.

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

Baby Boomers destroyed the ice caps and the housing market, but hey! Those damn millennials, am I right?

[junior chįmp]

Worst generation in America's collective 400 year history

When they were teens....they didn't want to go to Vietnam so they got rid of the draft
When they were adults....they cut income taxes for themselves
When they hit mid age....they cut capital gains for themselves
Now that they are hitting elderhood....they got rid of the estate tax for themselves

Truly a bunch of selfish, self serving pricks

[Suburbia]

Yes, the baby boomer generation destroyed America in a sense with debt, deficits, etc.

Millennials will destroy America with the entitlement attitude and the safe space crap. No one cares about your feelings.

[Virginiá]

Yes, the baby boomer generation destroyed America in a sense with debt, deficits, etc.

Millennials will destroy America with the entitlement attitude and the safe space crap. No one cares about your feelings.

Speaking of feelings, the article actually addresses that by pointing out how Boomers are basically the Feelings Generation:

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[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

Yes, the baby boomer generation destroyed America in a sense with debt, deficits, etc.

Millennials will destroy America with the entitlement attitude and the safe space crap. No one cares about your feelings.

Oh great, I found Ben Shapiro's Atlas account.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Didn’t read the article. We already knew this.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Didn’t read the article. We already knew this.

Yeah, and we know that millennials will be even worse when they get older.

[Suburbia]

Yes, the baby boomer generation destroyed America in a sense with debt, deficits, etc.

Millennials will destroy America with the entitlement attitude and the safe space crap. No one cares about your feelings.

Oh great, I found Ben Shapiro's Atlas account.

I'm not Shapiro. I find him a bit too smug. However, no one cares about feelings. No one cares about fragility, or microaggressions. The world is a rough place.

[Sumner 1868]

WHEUES MU FUREE KKKOLLUGE U BOOMERZ???/?//?/?/?/!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

Didn’t read the article. We already knew this.

[Virginiá]

Didn’t read the article. We already knew this.

Yeah, and we know that millennials will be even worse when they get older.

Thoroughly disagree. Not all generations share the same values. I'm sure Millennials will have their own sucky attributes, but different from Boomers. Not every generation is individualist like the boomers.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Didn’t read the article. We already knew this.

Yeah, and we know that millennials will be even worse when they get older.

Thoroughly disagree. Not all generations share the same values. I'm sure Millennials will have their own sucky attributes, but different from Boomers. Not every generation is individualist like the boomers.

I am mostly opposed to the millennials aesthetically and, to a smaller extent, culturally. Back in my day, instead of wearing “jeggings” or posting pictures of ourselves wearing practically nothing, we walked uphill both ways to the steel mill smoking Marlboro Reds and LIKED it. Remember when this Country used to make things? At least we still have Good Will Hunting.

[Unapologetic Chinaperson]

Dang, this is really triggering bronz. I think we need to delete this thread in order to make Atlas a safe space again.

Didn’t read the article. We already knew this.

Yeah, and we know that millennials will be even worse when they get older.

Thoroughly disagree. Not all generations share the same values. I'm sure Millennials will have their own sucky attributes, but different from Boomers. Not every generation is individualist like the boomers.

I am mostly opposed to the millennials aesthetically and, to a smaller extent, culturally. Back in my day, instead of wearing “jeggings” or posting pictures of ourselves wearing practically nothing, we walked uphill both ways to the steel mill smoking Marlboro Reds and LIKED it. Remember when this Country used to make things? At least we still have Good Will Hunting.

If there's one thing that millennials are known for, it's self-deprecation.

[Suburbia]

Dang, this is really triggering bronz. I think we need to delete this thread in order to make Atlas a safe space again.

Didn’t read the article. We already knew this.

Yeah, and we know that millennials will be even worse when they get older.

Thoroughly disagree. Not all generations share the same values. I'm sure Millennials will have their own sucky attributes, but different from Boomers. Not every generation is individualist like the boomers.

I am mostly opposed to the millennials aesthetically and, to a smaller extent, culturally. Back in my day, instead of wearing “jeggings” or posting pictures of ourselves wearing practically nothing, we walked uphill both ways to the steel mill smoking Marlboro Reds and LIKED it. Remember when this Country used to make things? At least we still have Good Will Hunting.

If there's one thing that millennials are known for, it's self-deprecation.

I'm not a baby boomer. Every generation has problems. Baby boomers created the deficit, but millennials feel they are entitled to everything. You have to work for what you want.

[Person Man]

Dang, this is really triggering bronz. I think we need to delete this thread in order to make Atlas a safe space again.

Didn’t read the article. We already knew this.

Yeah, and we know that millennials will be even worse when they get older.

Thoroughly disagree. Not all generations share the same values. I'm sure Millennials will have their own sucky attributes, but different from Boomers. Not every generation is individualist like the boomers.

I am mostly opposed to the millennials aesthetically and, to a smaller extent, culturally. Back in my day, instead of wearing “jeggings” or posting pictures of ourselves wearing practically nothing, we walked uphill both ways to the steel mill smoking Marlboro Reds and LIKED it. Remember when this Country used to make things? At least we still have Good Will Hunting.

If there's one thing that millennials are known for, it's self-deprecation.

I'm not a baby boomer. Every generation has problems. Baby boomers created the deficit, but millennials feel they are entitled to everything. You have to work for what you want.

But a lot of kids are asking "why do we have to do twice the work for half the benefits than if we were born in 1955 or even 1965 instead of 1985 or 1995?"

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Dang, this is really triggering bronz. I think we need to delete this thread in order to make Atlas a safe space again.

Didn’t read the article. We already knew this.

Yeah, and we know that millennials will be even worse when they get older.

Thoroughly disagree. Not all generations share the same values. I'm sure Millennials will have their own sucky attributes, but different from Boomers. Not every generation is individualist like the boomers.

I am mostly opposed to the millennials aesthetically and, to a smaller extent, culturally. Back in my day, instead of wearing “jeggings” or posting pictures of ourselves wearing practically nothing, we walked uphill both ways to the steel mill smoking Marlboro Reds and LIKED it. Remember when this Country used to make things? At least we still have Good Will Hunting.

If there's one thing that millennials are known for, it's self-deprecation.

Well yes, we’ve come of age in the postmodern era, after all.

[Virginiá]

Either way, I think it's a legitimate question for a Millennial right now to ask why the elder generation(s) have destroyed the future for younger generations? That doesn't have to a partisan question, either.

[Mr. Smith]

WHEUES MU FUREE KKKOLLUGE U BOOMERZ???/?//?/?/?/!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111

Which generation was it that insisted everyone go to college and demand that be the criteria for getting hired for most jobs in the first place again? Wasn't the GIs or Silents, that's for sure.

[Deblano]

WHEUES MU FUREE KKKOLLUGE U BOOMERZ???/?//?/?/?/!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111

[Bacon King]

I actually own Bruce Gibney's book A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America and it's a very qood read.

They were raised to be selfish and feel entitled to everythinq. They qrew up in an era of plenty because their parents had carefully saved their resources in the aftermath of the qreat depression. But now, they've burned throuqh the savinqs from their parent's qeneration, all the resources of our own qeneration, they've used virtually all of our qeneration's resources before we even came of aqe, and now they're takinq out so much debt that even their qrandchildren won't have anythinq to their name either. They've done more to destroy our country than any enemy, foreiqn or domestic.

[Bacon King]

WHEUES MU FUREE KKKOLLUGE U BOOMERZ???/?//?/?/?/!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111

instead of beinq qiven "furee kkkoluuqe" I would have happily settled for the boomer qeneration beinq "responsible with money instead of triplinq the national debt relative to our qdp," "actually payinq for infrastructure maintenance instead of leavinq $4 trillion worth of backloqqed repairs for us to deal with," and perhaps also "leavinq the environment in a survivable state and not fillinq the ocean full of plastic or fillinq the atmosphere to the brim with qreenhouse qasses"

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

I think this article ties in well with this article I came across a couple weeks ago.  One big difference between boomers and millennials is that we are the generation of downsizing, not the one that's always been obsessed with the endless pursuit of owning more, controlling more, and spending more than they can afford.  (I do believe that millennials need to stop the fetishization for living in urban areas, which I believe weakens individual autonomy and contributes to the problem of oversocialization... but that's a rant for another day.)  But it's quite a stretch to assume that all these awful Boomer habits will continue into the next generation.  Millennials may be more in debt, but we are already more financially responsible than our generational predecessors.

BK is completely right here.

[JA]

I actually own Bruce Gibney's book A Generation of Sociopaths: How the Baby Boomers Betrayed America and it's a very qood read.

They were raised to be selfish and feel entitled to everythinq. They qrew up in an era of plenty because their parents had carefully saved their resources in the aftermath of the qreat depression. But now, they've burned throuqh the savinqs from their parent's qeneration, all the resources of our own qeneration, they've used virtually all of our qeneration's resources before we even came of aqe, and now they're takinq out so much debt that even their qrandchildren won't have anythinq to their name either. They've done more to destroy our country than any enemy, foreiqn or domestic.

How absurd. Not only is generational theory extremely questionable at best, the notion that we can paint a group of tens of millions of incredibly diverse people born over a period of ~20 years with such a broad brush is incredibly ignorant. Have you not seen the rate of poverty for seniors? It’s not exactly 0%. Many are struggling to get by. There are incredible amounts of poverty, wealth inequality, and shared experiences of despair suffered by millions of baby boomers. The notion that they were all inculcated in one particular culture of selfishness and entitlement simply doesn’t align with reality either. Not only were there critical regional cultural differences, but also racial, ethnic, religious, and, most importantly, class-based ones as well.

For example, despite serving in the armed forces and fighting in WWII and Korea like everyone else, African American soldiers were denied the benefits provided to White soldiers that enabled them to relocate to the suburbs where jobs were flowing out to and send their children (the baby boomers) to universities. The counterculture movement was merely a vocal minority; those from families without the luxury of sending their children to university were never allotted the opportunity to avoid the draft due to college enrollment. Working class young people were shipped off to war in disproportionate numbers. Working class young people didn’t enter the emergent professional-managerial class like their more privileged peers. And they didn’t benefit from the subsequent transformation of our economy into a post-industrial one.

If you want to point fingers, point them at the folks who deserve it. The ones who worked tirelessly to crush the labor movement, transfer emphasis to shareholders, fought for tax cuts and deregulation, helped cultivate the Christian Right’s “prosperity gospel,” labored tirelessly to unchain capital so that wealth inequality could grow rapidly, and shifted the center of politics towards discussions about privatization, “globalization,” and the unquestionable superiority of free market capitalism. The only people who stood to gain from that were and are the wealthy. The fact that the wealthy are disproportionately Baby Boomers is attributable to both their age (which allowed them more time to accrue wealth) and the particularly favorable economic situation in which they came of age (a brief period of favorable conditions for the working and middle classes that was eventually widdled away by the greed of the upper class).

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

On another note: if Democrats want to win on idpol, then emphasizing this is a good way to drive more young people to the polls.

If only most members of Congress weren't so old.