The "Greatest Generation" lived through the Big One and the Great Depression, and they had the gumption and strength to stand up to tyrants and financial calamity and come out better for it. No doubt their intentions were well placed as parents. They didn't want their children to have to face the adversity that they faced. They wanted better lives for them than they had. But, as a practical matter, they spoiled their children, coddled them, raised a generation of materialistic, self-centered, and greedy malcontents who wanted it all right now no matter who they had to step on to get it. They sent them out into the world ill-prepared to handle the types of challenges their parents forged a reputation overcoming. The Baby Boomers made some terrible mistakes along the way that we are all, unfortunately, are left to us to clean up. That is not an indictment on any individuals, but of the generation as a whole. BBs are the product of parents who finally met a challenge that was bigger than they were -- raising children. They were, on balance, far from the greatest generation of parents. Nearly all of the problems we face today are self-inflicted and show few signs of getting fixed until the spoiled children of the Greatest Generation get out of the way. This, of course, is not to say that the Baby Boomers did not have some amazing contributions to the society and the world. Again, these are just my thoughts when I take a few steps back and take in the whole landscape that is heyday of the Baby Boomers.
There's certainly some truth in that, but let's not downplay the role of individual choices here. They inherited more advantages than any American generation previous, and they opted to squander that patrimony on huge suburban homes filled with kitschy crap from department stores, and they consistently elected politicians promising short-term gain at the expense of future generations. That's on them.
What you neglect to say is that the "Greatest Generation" collected social security checks that were to a great extent paid for by the "Baby Boomers" you are so quick to criticize. The Greatest Generation took money out of a system that they had not contributed much to themselves.
Well, yeah. They
built the system.
However, it was the Baby Boomers who paid for their social security checks.
That's how the system works. Later generations pay for previous ones.
So if anyone is getting screwed by the system, it would be the Baby Boomers, who paid for a previous generation's retirement and are threatened with the loss of their own.
Who has threatened SS benefits for Boomers? Any reform proposal that doesn't include
long phase-in periods is dead on arrival; largely because your cohort still votes like a bunch of self-centered jackasses.
They parented the "Greedy Generation" which followed, a generation which thinks only of themselves and not of the well-being of the elderly in their own society.
Are you referring to Generation-X, or the Millennials? Regardless, neither one can hold a candle to the greed of the Boomers.
There are four generations living under my roof currently, and the Millienials (my wife and I) are supporting the other three. Which is how it ought to be (and actually was for most of human history). Those with the financial means support the entire family, and those who can't work or don't earn much find other ways to contribute (by helping raise kids, for instance). Most of my peers
want to get married, to have children and start saving for the future, but the current system-- built upon Boomer greed-- doesn't provide enough economic security for the vast majority of them to do so.
And now we're facing the prospect of having our own SS benefits greatly reduced, while the generation who f*cked us over will get to enjoy the full benefits of a system they've done their level best to bankrupt. As a generation, the Boomers deserve nothing but scorn.
