Posted on 09/14/2004 10:06:03 AM PDT by qam1
Whoa! What's happening?
Why are people turning on us?
We're the Baby Boomers, you know.
The Mighty Boomers.
We invented everything from money to music to sex, did we not? Nothing good ever happened until we came along.
Now people are turning on us.
We Baby Boomers are being made to feel . . . guilty.
Ridiculous, isn't it?
People have tried to make us feel guilty before. They said we consumed too much. Or we were too shallow. Or we only thought about ourselves.
Excuuuuse me.
Who should we think about? Somebody else?
All that was just jealousy. Even Tom Brokaw came along and said the World War II generation was "the greatest." Jealousy. Pure jealousy.
Sure, they saved the world.
Did they ever throw a party like Woodstock?
(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...
It's human nature to be more considerate of a person than a big impersonal institution such as the government which is perceived as having plenty of money. An old lady might say to her children, "Keep your money, you need it more because you have growing children." She may give them money. When it comes to the government (or another big institution such as an insurance company), though, her attitude changes. It's "Gimme gimme." She also paid into the system and reckons that she is entitled to endless benefits, even if what she paid was a pittance compared to the benefits. On top of that, she considered herself entitled by virtue of being old.
Pvt. Ryan (of Saving Private Ryan fame) would vote for Adolf Hitler in order to "protect" his Social Security and Medicare.
Lol, are you drinking coffee? :)
BTW, I agree, and the very legitimate 'intolerance' part is what is so alien to boomers.
Hey, why not? It's been pointed out for years that every good reason for abortion is an equally good reason for euthanasia. What goes around comes around.
That's possible -- euthanasia is (or was) supposed to be purely voluntary in Holland, but people are pressured to do away with themselves and sick or handicapped children are disposed of. Health care may be rationed and those beyond a certain age will be denied life-saving treatment -- this is the situation in Canada and Britain.
I don't think that involuntary euthanasia will be legal in this country (religious sentiment is too strong) but many may be discreetly dispatched (either actively or passively left to die) -- even now, nursing homes are full of people with few, if any visitors. Who will miss them? Who cares?
Pro-lifers will be caught between their beliefs and balance sheets. They will suggest that Social Security cease to be a check, but changed to payment-in-kind. Social Security villages would be set up on abandoned government installations, and indigent Baby Boomers would be fed, clothed and housed at government expense, but no money would change hands. US Geriatric Hospitals, merged with the VA Hospitals, would take care of their medical care and be a substitute for Medicare, which would be abolished due to its high costs.
It think that likely. Actually, a century ago, the indigent elderly might go to a government institution to be looked after.
It will take another generation before family ties can be estabished on a basis of trust without the elderly fearing that younger family members will drop them off at the government-run suicide parlor to get their money.
Family members have an obligation to look after one another: parent to child, spouse to spouse, child to parent. Each person also has an obligation to look after him or herself.
(*kicking cup under desk whilst rubbing grounds into carpet*)
Coffee? *Moi?* Never touch the stuff except on days that end in "Y".
Not so unlikely as the population more and more loses their soul.
I eschewed the proffered charms and now I am semi-retired and undugged-upon. The proferred charms are now married to someone else in one case and who-knows-where in the other two.
Darlin, we don't have enough money left to "help the situation." As I said, we've paid and paid and paid. Many of us will never get to retire in the first place. If we don't have a "right" after paying in for 50 years, who does?
Actually, in a non-sustainable pyramid scheme, nobody has a "right" to anything.
When the pyramid-shaped house of cards collapses, everyone after that point will be left holding the bag. That comes under the "Life Aint Fair Clause".
Both the American and the European welfare states were designed with the assumption of at least a steady population of productive taxpayers. However, the Baby Boom generation produced less children and 40% of all Americans pay little or no taxes. It will be literally impossible for tax-paying members of Generations X and Generation Y to support the welfare state once Baby Boomers retire and demand that the U.S. Government to finance their retirement.
I was born in 1954 and I am planning my retirement with the assumption that I will not recieve a single dollar from Social Security.
Oh?
Put massively parallel computing power into a $2500 notebook? How about that?
Hybrid cars?
Windmill farms?
Undersea mining?
A cure for cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease and overweight?
Amend the Constitution to affirm the Second Amendment, shackle judicial review, and defund the Left?
There are a couple of possibilities.
"Of course, if the Baby Boomers got what they wanted (socialism)"
You are mistaken if you think the Clintons and their kind represent our generation.
They never did. They were always the minority. They were lionized by the press, but always a minority.
Our generation served in the military, raised families, helped put new technology together, helped end the cold war.
We voted for Nixon in a landslide, voted for Reagan in a landslide.
You are letting the media re-write history if you think otherwise.
Sounds like too many viewings of The Omega Man and Soylent Green.
Your European example has a flaw when applied to the States: Europe has embraced a model of expedience over rights that comprehends all the facets of man-to-government relations implied by the claims of socialism. We haven't, and the ideological claims of inherently authoritative governments and their theoreticians have no traction here. We spit on their cradle-to-grave ideology and their value of universal supinity before a sovereign government that leaves them defenseless against the euthanasts. When was the last time a European government impeached a political kingpin for insulting the People? America's done it twice in the last 30 years.
Zing! ;)
The 'Rats have eaten all the cheese on that one, they got their 60-year incumbency and Third Rail. I'm sure they're ahead of the curve still, and have their foam pointy-fingers all ready to go for the collapse-and-recrimination phase. They are so looking forward to putting all of us conservatives on trial for something.
I was born in 1954 and I am planning my retirement with the assumption that I will not recieve a single dollar from Social Security.
Ditto, good assumption. I never look long at the forms Social Security sends me telling me how much I'm going to get. I'm surprised they don't send it to me, stapled to a Motor Voter application with the "Democratic" box already checked.
My retirement is what I saved, invested in, and took from my 401(k)'s, plus what I received from the sale of inherited family property that was homesteaded in 1862. I doubt Social Security will add much value to that -- certainly nothing like what they took from me, when those dollars were bigger and could have earned so much more in an IRA , 401(k), or "wraparound" variable annuity of the kind Congress made illegal in 1981 because it would have attracted too much savings HELLO!!!.
When I think about Bob Dole and everything he's done to screw over people's ability to save and invest, I'd like to know why he isn't on a Soylent Green early-out list.
I'm sure that there are plenty of Freepers that can attest to the fact that keeping a house in good order is harder work than what most people do in a workplace.
See that's just it : this assumption that Generation Reagan has no heros is born, AGAIN, of Boomer arrogance. All our lives we have been told that there is no such thing as heros, and then when we pick one, we are told a) we have no right to claim him AND/OR b) we're fools for not picking a Boomer hero.
Well, here's this : Bush 43 is a hero, and I consider him Generation Y's hero. He stood forth as a leader after one of the most frightening events in our country's history. And you know what? Bush is following in Reagan's footsteps.
I wish you would clarify yourself on your views about my generation. The one thing that Generation Reagan is known for is NOT conforming to what the Boomers expected.
You are of course correct. Boomers came of age in the "information age". TV told us what to think. It wasnt till the internet that we got a chance to voice our true opinions.
I hope this thread fires back up. I am suprised that more boomers are not defending our times. There has been many bad things done in our time but that holds true for all gens.
I suppose the latest gens are gonna blame the boomers for how decadent they are. Its not the boomers marching for gay marriage. Our culture is going downhill. It will take some doing to turn things around.
The FEDS need to lose power and it needs to be returned to the states like the constitution demanded. I suppose boomers are to be blamed for that as well.
For sure, throw l or two kids in the mix, and you've got regular 'big dig' to deal with every day.
Um, why did you post that to me? You posted it to my reply that called BS on a boomer that claimed they would only see 1% of what they put into the system. I to am one of the persons that has already capped my "potential" (notice quotes) for benefits received from SS but I still get to pay in a large portion of my property (earnings) for the next 25 years.
I to am one of the persons that is planning for retirement without any SS benefits (not counting on a pension either).
Many boomers planned the same way, but many so called "conservative" boomers want theirs now! They didn't actively defeat socialism in the USofA, they now want to ensure it is not defeated, then they get mad when we want to force its defeat. Conservatism is great, as long is it isn't inconvenient!
"How can these people post during the middle of a workday? Who is supporting them? Are they living at home? Are their parents supporting them? Or, are they at work, using their bosses computer, time, etc."
I'll step up to the plate. I post from work, using my boss's time and computer, etc. However, I am salary, put in well beyond 40 hours and am of the generation that receives their pay based on actual performance, not time. My boss has specific expectations, if I am meeting those then it is no problem to be posting on FR!
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