Posted on 08/14/2025 9:30:23 AM PDT by Heartlander
Yes, that’s true. When we watched MASH on tv, it seemed like it was a glimpse into Vietnam for some of us, but it was supposedly taking place during the Korean War. Vietnam was very present in my life growing up.
Compared to what young people face today with social media, I think it's fair to say... "we didn't even know who the Jones were". It's a brave new world.
I'm also a Late Boomer. I think we need a different category. OG 'Boomers' had a far different experience. I was married and 26 when I tried to by my first home. Mortgage rates were close to 20%! All I could afford was a 30+ yr old, frame home that was barely 1200 Ft2. For that, my house note was ~ $600 a month.
Meanwhile, my bosses were paying $400 a month for newer houses that were 3000+ Ft2, custom built, all brick... financed at rates as low as 3%. I certainly didn't feel any "privilege".
The article starts with an interesting chart. But I think he draws the wrong conclusions. LESS 30 yr old are married at all now.. far less. That lowers the pool of potentials.
The ones who are married, aren't yet earning enough to buy a home because prices have been driven up so much? Why? Mainly because of the lack of supply. Zoning restrictions, increasing regulation, and destruction of the purchasing power of our money. Decades of inflation have put younger people behind more than any because they lack real assets that protect one from inflation.
People will adapt. Younger kids today eat out less, drink less, buy used things more. They are adjusting their lifestyles to fit their actual situation. The BEST thing we could do for them is: STOP monetary devaluation.
I was just telling my kids this the other day: What the “kids” seem not to realize is the degree of competition for EVERYTHING in the boomer and Gen X groups. The schools were packed. Colleges were packed. The job market was stuffed to overflowing.
Yes, if you could get ahead of the pack, it was great. But for a kid born in 1960, it was like fighting for scraps my entire life.
Competition is a great thing. But you need to learn to compete.
I don’t recall the 70s as being a picnic
“””” in 1950, over half of 30-year-olds were married homeowners. By 2025, some analysts project that number as low as 13%.””””
So what was it in 1980 to 1990 which would be the range for most boomers?
About 10 million boomers served in the military.
Couldn't the same thing be said about the "boomers" of the 1880s who thrived during Reconstruction, only to see their children have to adapt to the changes in goverment from the 1913 Constitutional amendments, followed by their grandchildren suffering through the Great Depression?
-PJ
In 1950, 36% of American homes lacked full plumbing, outhouses were common, which flies in the face of perceptions of 1950 America.
In 1950 the average family income was $3,300.
My brother used to say, if you don't own a house by 30 you're a loser.
My first mortgage in the 1980s had a percentage rate in the teens. I think the upper teens.
There were more hours of MASH episodes than actual hours in the Korean war.
The oldest possible "boomer" was 15 years old in 1960.
And generational stereotyping is for idiots.
BUT ...
The explosive growth of government enabled by income taxation and instigated by the fascist policies of Franklin Roosevelt is now clearly unsustainable.
$3300 in “1950 dollars” translates to $43,870.72 in “2025 dollars”.
“”””The oldest possible “boomer” was 15 years old in 1960.””””
That would be 14 wouldn’t it?
bump for later
Last I looked, the people who think named “generations” mean something count the “baby boom” as starting in 1945. But I don’t really care ... If it started in 1946 then yes, 14 ... which just reinforces the point. What 30 year old people had in 1950 has nothing to do with so-called “boomers”. This article is largely crap.
Yep. This is all about the Communist continuing to divide the united. Or should I say, the once united. They've done a remarkable job!
And, in my mind, the key word to the whole article is found in this phrase. And that key word is "married".
There were 251 episodes of MASH. Almost all were half-hour episodes. If you played them all, one right after another, they'd be finished in less than a week. The Korean War lasted more than three years.
Ah, fine catch. The show went on for more years than the war lasted.
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