[altsehastiin]

Some gentle questions for the boomers beating their chests:

Can you honestly say that it is easier to succeed in the America you have handed your kids than it was in the America your parents handed you?

Do you think it’s easier now to afford a single family house than it is when you were starting out?

Is it easier to afford college now as compared to in the 1970s?

Is international competition a greater or a lesser threat to the American worker now as compared to the 1980s?

...and let’s not even talk about the national debt that the boomers are leaving their kids and grandkids...

[Buckeye McFrog]

Can you honestly say that it is easier to succeed in the America you have handed your kids than it was in the America your parents handed you?

No. Largely thanks to Obama, crony capitalism, ever-expanding government and suffocating regulation. With some blame on Bush and Clinton for crappy trade deals.

Do you think it’s easier now to afford a single family house than it is when you were starting out?

Depends on where and when. I have friends who got married when the prime rate was 18%. Buying a house was absolutely out of the question. And that was before the sub-prime relaxing of the credit requirements. Beyond that are we talking a fixer-upper in a transitioning part of town, or a $600K McMansion in the trendiest suburb? No one can start at the top.

Is it easier to afford college now as compared to in the 1970s?

No. In some ways the 1970's were an outlier. Many state colleges were damned cheap due to heavy state subsidies. My cousins moved to California where it was still free. State budgets exhausted their ability to maintain this as the growth of Federal aid programs was fueling runaway tuition inflation.

Is international competition a greater or a lesser threat to the American worker now as compared to the 1980s?

Greater. Largely the result of technology that allows many jobs to be done as effectively in Mumbai, Shanghai or Reykjavik as they can be done here. That technology would have developed regardless of any other factor. And yes, again, the crappy trade deals.