Posted on 02/19/2026 5:30:12 PM PST by jcon40
The elderly are physically and financially healthier than ever. So why do their needs keep taking priority over younger generations?
Demographics, rising profits and soaring asset values have together wrought a quiet transformation in the American economy. Much of it is now in the hands of the elderly.
As of the third quarter of last year, people 70 and over controlled roughly 39% of all equities and mutual funds owned by households, compared with 22% in 2007, according to Federal Reserve data. Their share of net worth—assets minus debts—
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
>> And if you think you are headed to an eternal paradise, what’s the concern?
Where are *you* headed?
>> The only thing they do well is blame others for their shortcomings.
The “new guys” are pretty darn good at working things that have screens, too...
Not sure about that, once the widow's (widower's) penalty kicks in. With my mom's passing, my dad's FOUR taxes are going up nearly 50% (Fed tax, state tax, loss of $6,000 BBB senior exemption, higher Medicare costs) combined with lower standard deduction and higher single-person tax tables.
A big hit is the increasing fully taxable RMD for successful IRA investments that should have been put in Roth IRAs rather than traditional IRAs. Oh well...
I'm assuming that you're not referring to the WW2 vets who came home and went to work, because they definitely "earned it" from a greatful nation.
So you must be referring to their children, and their children's children.
To the extent that the descendants "earned" anything, it was a work ethic that they learned from their parents and grandparents; a sense of familial duty to be the "breadwinner" --the income earner -- for their own family, and accepting that the burden that comes with that is paying into a system that makes elderly life easier for their parents and grandparents; and instilling on their own children the same sense of family and obligation that one day, they will get a job, support a family, and also pay into the system that will ease the burdens of their parents and grandparents.
-PJ
‘ You try dealing with these doctors who think old people should shove off.’
You think I’m a young person or don’t have parents or in laws?
Technically I only have one left, but still.
Right. I sure as hell ain’t one of them….
We are going to lose Free Republic unless we pick up the donation rate.
Many of the people here do not realize that donation only websites like FR are exempt from many of the copyright and Free Speech legal restrictions that for profit and subscription and ad supported websites have to deal with.
From memory...
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My sincere thank you to all those who give what they can, so I can spend a couple hours each day reading Free Republic.
That wouldnt do much unless they were deleted tomorrow.
The boomers have reached the mortality cliff. Those that die and leave something to their children tomorrow might be able to pass on some wealth. The fact is that for most their money is locked up in real estate, in particular their own homes.
The boomers bought up everything and just sat on it. The number of homes and building just sitting empty for years around here is insane and getting to be a public health concern. Some day they will do something with it and...
Some day has come and gone. There is no future generation coming to buy. They arent there in shear numbers, the ones that are there cant afford them. Trump has cancelled the intended 3rd world replacement population.
Unless boomers downsize tomorrow they will lose most everything. The laws of economics will take over. A glut of houses will cause the children to sell the homes except there are far too many homes and small business properties so the buildings wont move. The prices will crash as there isnt enough demand for the product.
The ones that do manage to dump their houses on some fool tomorrow are most likely going to have assisted living and nursing homes drain them of what they have left in the next couple of years.
The likely soon to be stock market crash will eat whatever they have in there.
The kids youre worried about missed today and tomorrow is too late to bother.
No.
I’m referring to the dozens of government programs that created the greatest economy the world has ever seen.
Because that’s exactly what they mean.
L
Incorrect, but so is everything else in your rant.
And you can tell who will be leading the blood thirsty crowd fairly easily.
I echo your perception of elderly. I’m almost 72, and I certainly don’t feel “elderly”. Once I reach 80 (God willing), I will re-asses.
lol
doesn’t understand the power of compounding interest.
This crap started under Clinton. Some woman named Teresa something or other suggested “nationalizing” 401ks in order to “protect” us rubes from ourselves.
She was at some think tank IIRC.
Why she wasn’t hounded out of her office and driven naked into the wilderness is beyond me.
L
Also, “kill the old people and take all their stuff” sounds a bit like socialism and social engineering, via euthanasia.
“Because the Boomers, the largest generation in American history, are now mostly over 65. It’s just the numbers”
They’re not that much better off, when you look at the median. Also, they’re lumping multiple generations in at the ‘over 65’ grouping.
https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/smart-money/average-net-worth-by-age
Go hide under your bed.
Pathetic Boomer.
Ditto.
Married 52 years. We paid a shxt ton in taxes but we also invested and are living quite well.
37 years and ditto.
As for the greatest generation they deserve nothing but respect and everything we could possibly give them, because without them you’d be speaking German if your family lifeline wasn’t terminated.
There you go mouthing Marxist media memes as if they were true. Let's see, just who was it who coined the term, "Greatest Generation"? Why that would be that conservative icon, Dan Rather! /s And you aligned with him? It was the Greatest GenerationTM that did more to advance socialism than any before or since (hence the MSM plaudits, sirrah). We'd have been better off without Roosevelt's welfare state and the Depression would have ended sooner without all that spending. But no, they voted for the CCC WPA boondoggles wholesale, and more.
It wasn't "the Greatest Generation" that made the bomb but the one before it. With it, the Germans would have left us alone after conquering Europe. Had we not armed the Russians, they would have lost with the German Army fighting beyond the Urals. Had the Soviets lost, we wouldn't have had that very costly Cold War. We very possibly might have been better off not provoking Japan with the oil blockade and Tojo would have precluded Mao. So it's not as simple or as rosy as what you've been conditioned to believe.
My GG dad never went to war and neither did my wife's father. Dad collected SS for 28 years and hardly paid a farthing for it during his parents' retirements because medical care has advanced so far since. Our generation was the first to face that medically driven demographic reality, why the system is now unaffordable for the kids working now. We need at least means testing, raising the retirement age, and breaking off SSI "disability" ("crazy mone") back to the States.
These writers CLEARLY don’t know what they’re talking about.
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