Question For The Next Generation

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   SpanStarposted 12 years ago

   Do you have any views on what you feelings about the Baby Boomer Generation Dying Out Soon To Be Another Chapter In America's History?

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      couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      We won't be gone for another 30 years or so.  The youngest Boomers are only in their late 50s.  No doubt, though, we have already made a huge mark on American culture history, from the late 50s when we completely annihilated the dress code, changed the face of music forever with rock n' roll, made recreational drugs an actual pastime, created the boom of the 80s and the crash of the 90s, fought in 3 wars, and to present day, where our numbers actually influence congressional decisions.  Talking 'bout my generation?  Right on.
      
      Funny - we went from idiot box to boom box to xbox to virtual box to...?

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      DonDWestposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Due to increased life expentency; baby boomers "mass dying" won't exactly be a major culturally shift for my generation. By the time the boomers die; I will be as old as the boomers are now.
      
      Baby boomers dying will affect my children's generation. They will probably do very well due to a large influx of affordable housing.

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         wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Forget it.  I'm going to be cremated.  In my own home - I don't want no punk kid taking it over and ruining it.

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      teamrnposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'd love to answer your question, but did you maybe leave out a verb or a few letters?

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   MikeNVposted 12 years ago

   Apparently they are too busy playing XBox to care.

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      HattieMattieMaeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      ha ha, I think that they are going to change the world even more and make it a better place to live in, and although the baby boomers left their mark, everything will change again and leave a new mark different from the rest.

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      yellowstone8750posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I think you hve generations confused! Check it out.

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   Evan G Rogersposted 12 years ago

   I'm pissed off that they expect me to pay for their hospital bills.

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      couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, pooh.  Or should I say bull-poo.  I pay my own way.  Never left a bill unpaid.  Besides, if you're going to be president, you really should be following in the footsteps of your forefathers and pay everyone's bills.  I'm starting to think maybe I don't want you for president. 

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         Evan G Rogersposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Of course you never left a bill unpaid.
         
         Neither have I. That's the point.
         
         The bills that we pay are going to pay for older people who I've never met. I'd much rather take that money and invest it into my own parents and grandparents.
         
         The government is not my family.
         
         Old people collect medicare and medicaid. Which I'm paying for.
         
         People pay money => that money enters the federal budget => that money goes to pay the people who are old now
         
         It's a ponzi scheme.... actually, it's worse than a ponzi scheme: Ponzi never forced anyone to join.

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            John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            And neither, apparently, are your countrymen!
            
            You'll be quite happy though for your fellow countrymen to die for you just as long as it doesn't cost you.

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               DonDWestposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Evan does have a point though; the baby boomers are by far the wealthiest generation. They own multiple homes while I'm forced to pay overpriced rent (often to a baby boomer). I'm priced out of home ownership. Basically, I arrived at the table to play the game of monopoly far too late. All of the properties are already bought. I'm stuck paying rent and simply collecting pass/go. There's no incentive to work hard in a nation where the average mortgage now costs 11 times the yearly salary of an average income. Don't tell me it will change, it's been like this since the day I came of working age and it's only got worse; and I'm not getting any younger.
               
               It totally disgusts me that a generation of poor renters (of child bearing age) will have to pay for a generation who owns multiple homes. It's so backwards; the people of the age who actually need homes to house their families can't afford it; while those who honestly don't need homes keep buying in droves. And then on top of that the poor young ones have to subsidize the old in their medical expenses as they buy up more and more homes; flipping with no end in sight.
               
               What I would give to be born in 1951 instead of 1981. If I were born in 1951, I could simply earn a pile of money sitting in a house. Why work at all? Old age securities are simply a tax the poor to feed the rich. . . The elderly have never had it any better; they don’t need it.

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                  John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  But not all baby boomers are fat cats, in fact many of the fat cats of today were born after the baby boomer period.
                  
                  You have many baby boomers who are of the Vietnam generation, do they not deserve your support?
                  
                  And as for all baby boomers owning multiple homes, forget it, some of us don't even own one.

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                     DonDWestposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     There are poor people of every generation. Why should the elderly poor have special consideration over the younger poor? The truth of the matter is social security is a generational wealth transfer; it transfers wealth from a generation that is much poorer; to a generation that is much wealthier (relatively speaking of course).
                     
                     If there's one thing in life I wish ton see thrown out the toilet it's political correctness. When I say baby boomers, of course I don't mean every single baby boomer, but when we're talking percentages and taxations here, refering people all under one brush is the only way to communicate.

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                        John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                        I suppose it boils down to the younger poor supposedly being able to work their way out of poverty whilst the elderly poor don't have that facility.

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                           DonDWestposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                           "I suppose it boils down to the younger poor supposedly being able to work their way out of poverty whilst the elderly poor don't have that facility."
                           
                           This upward mobility you speak of is becoming more of a myth each passing day; and it becomes even less of a reality when social security stays in place.

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                              John Holdenposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                              Well, I wasn't really talking about upward mobility, more on the practical level. Young and fit is more able than elderly and decrepit.
                              
                              To blame all the ills of society on one generation is irrational and unthinking, especially when plenty in that generation are suffering as much as anybody else. To blame the baby boomers for living through prosperous times is like blaming survivors for surviving!
                              
                              Don't try to drag everybody down into the hole, try to lift everybody up out of it!

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                  couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

                  OMG, DonDWest -
                  
                  First, if you were born in 1951, you would be a boomer but you wouldn't be eligible to collect anything yet so your poor, young, child bearing juniors would not be paying for anything of yours.
                  
                  Second, I'd love to have even one of those multiple homes you're referring to and I wonder where you live that you're seeing all these 'elderly' who own multiple homes.
                  
                  Third, it's a bit callous to remark that all you child-bearing folks need homes while the boomers don't.  Just throw us under the bus, take whatever we worked for, and then you get to live in a house and be like one of the people you're disrespecting.  Then the next generation can look at you and say "why does he get to have a house and I don't?" 
                  
                  Fourth - I was born in 1951.  I don't own any houses, homes, beachfront property, or even a stinking lot in the swamp.  I drive a 10 year old vehicle which I keep in good shape and it's paid for, by me.  I have $200 in my checking account.  Admittedly, I could have done better but I made my own path.  I didn't take advantage of the boom of the eighties or go to college when I was younger. 
                  
                  Last - Quit you're whining and go to work.

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                     yellowstone8750posted 12 years agoin reply to this

                     Nicely put.

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            couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Evan - Oh, I see where you were coming from.  Ok, I'll still vote for you.

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            Sally's Troveposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Can't wait to hear what your life is like when you are 65 and among the "old people" who paid throughout their lives for a benefit to carry them through the later years.

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            yellowstone8750posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            "The government is not my family," is where consensual apathy thrives.

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   DonDWestposted 12 years ago

   http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financia … RMR800.htm
   
   The difference in household wealth between the young and the old has reached staggering proportions. So why are the young having to pay social security again?

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      couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      What?????

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   yellowstone8750posted 12 years ago

   West...are you suggesting shutting Social Security down? I'd like to see any politician have the backbone to do that.

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      couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I think he's complaining because someone he knows has way more money than he does.  He thinks most folks over a certain age have 'staggering' amounts of money and he wants some of it.  'It's not fair!'

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         yellowstone8750posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Assumptions make fools. I paid into SS for 40 years, they better leave it alone.

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            couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            You are so right about assumptions, yellowstone.  So what do you mean by young having to pay social security AGAIN?  And if you would, on what do you base your Assumption that there is a staggering difference in household wealth?

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               yellowstone8750posted 12 years agoin reply to this

               Read the wealth demographics. The middle class is vanishinig--as WE knew it.

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                  gmwilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  We boomers will be here a VERY LONG time! 
                  

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                     Jean Bakulaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                     I am a baby boomer, and own one home, which my late husband and I worked very hard to buy with no family help, we both had good jobs in our early 20s, and were always independent, always the ones helping everyone else in our families.
                     
                     Each generation has it's great entertainers, but I worry that the 60's and 70's will only be remembered by "Drugs, Sex, and Rock n Roll." It was a time when people felt change in the air, and believed all things could be possible. It was a great time for women's rights, civil rights, creativity, for people accepting others for who they were. It wasn't all stupid protests, but people fighting for what they thought was right, and often winning. We need that amount of enthusiasm and hope again. I hope younger people find it.
                     
                     I also believe the opportunities are there, some people are just not looking hard enough. Right now, everyone is going broke with college bills, but nobody goes to trade schools, so we need more people who know how to fix and build things. Once everyone has a degree, it stops meaning anything in the workplace. I never finished my business degree, but I never stopped trying and kept going to school. But family obligations and health issues got in the way. But I always was the one who took in anyone who needed help. So I did/do the best I can, and can live with the way I lived my life and feel proud. Even though I smoked some pot and got involved in a few protests, it was for what I believed in when I was young. I went on to fight environmental sprawl in my community and those nearby.

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                        Castlepalomaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                        Boomers did start out very interested then greed and me me society set in.
                        
                        The next generation is smarter than our generation. Contrary to what many boomers believe. Hell, my parents thought feelings was too crazy.

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                           Jean Bakulaposted 8 years agoin reply to this

                           I agree, they are smarter, with all we paid to put them through college, only to find everyone else has the same degree and there are so many applicants for each job.
                           
                           Yes, older generations did hold in feelings, I don't think it was mentally or emotionally healthy for them, but they got the work done, no matter what it was. I'm sure the next generation will be fine, they usually are. As Bob Dylan said to parents in The Times They are a Changin'--  Don't criticize if you can't understand, your old role is rapidly aging. Get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand--good advice.
                           
                           I find many college graduates in my son's generation give up on their original goal if they can't find the job they thought they wanted after about 3 yrs. of trying, and often working in that field. But by then they realize what they really wanted and are more mature, and they go on to a different thing, and it's the right choice, and the right work. It just takes them longer. Nobody struggles for years in the same career or job anymore, loyalty doesn't matter. It's not as me, me, me as it used to be though.

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   SpanStarposted 12 years ago

   I really appreciate the contributions made by people here regarding the issues of Baby Boomers. Death could come at any time for tomorrow is not guaranteed to us. It saddens me that our focus is primarily about "Me" it is a valid concern, however I was looking for a more human concern about a generation that battled wars outside the country and social injustice within the country in an effort to make life a little bit better for those coming after them.
   
   So many wonderful people in the entertainment industry, industrial industry, social industry in so many avenues did what they could to try and restructure a rigid and bias system so that we all might feel a little better about being free. A lot of music that I've heard play today seems to be modifications of music created in the past. My focus however is not about things it is more about some of the emotional contributions which will be lost and which will be passed on.
   
   I will miss the past generation because for so many strides that have been made and given to our society. I will also miss the future as to the wonders and the astounding development that has yet to be seen. I will miss seeing how human evolution develops or plays out.
   
   Life What a Wonderful Journey!

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      couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Nice.  It's like the boomers who miss the 'greatest generation' of WWII.  In is wise to revere our elders and remember the good things they left behind, learn from their mistakes, and try to make the world a better place for the generations coming up. 
      
      I can understand someone complaining when they're 20 yrs old.  It's tough out there.  Very tougn.  Tougher than I had it when I was 20.  But when someone hits their 30s it's time to figure out a plan.

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   Justsilvieposted 12 years ago

   I plan to live to be 100... Long enough to watch the newest generation blame the ones who blame the boomers for all the worlds ills now.

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      couturepopcafeposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      

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