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"I'm old, gimme gimme gimme!!"
Posted on 06/24/2006 11:14:12 AM PDT by Incorrigible
Bwaaaaahaaaahaaaaaa!! Excellent.
Signed, another early wave Boomer who retired at 50 about six years ago.
Though not at anywhere near the rate we currently enjoy (thank you Ronald Reagan, not). The Boomers have paid a much smaller average percentage of their income over their lives than GenX and younger. Hell, the tax rate has almost doubled in my lifetime and I am not even a Boomer.
When Boomers started working, the tax rate was a few percent. Geezer taxes are now on par with the most expensive State tax loads in the US, and the younger generations have no opportunity to slink into retirement anytime soon.
That's not necessarily something to be proud of - unless you're fighting liberals, of course. ;)
By 'geezer', I mean anyone old enough that they expect to collect Social Security. If you are under 40, you will never see more than a fraction of the Social Security taxes taken. Older folks will get theirs and much more. Even the dimmest bulb can do the math.
Tell it to the "Greatest Generation" that are the ones that actually broke the piggy bank. All the big spending items,
Social Security, Medicare, Federal Pensions, were in place long before we Boomers had any say in the matter. I've been paying SS and Medicare through the nose for more then 30 years so cry me a river.
MuHaHaHa! When I push Liberal buttons (ie, some of my extended family), it's like fireworks!
Me and another guy are no longer invited to the same family gatherings! They alternate!
You have to remember that Gen-Xers as a whole have been dumped on by their parents. This is why many feel no responsibility for their parents (ie divorce, mutliple marriages, mom working outside of the home etc.), some would say that the boomers that lived this sort of lifestyle are reaping what the sewed in their children. JMO. Please note however I will step up and take care of my mother although she sucked as a mom.
"There's a commercial that's been running recently. Some dad talking to his daughter about him and her mother making plans for long-term health care (a wise decision). But, the daughter responds by saying, "That's good. Mike's parents (her husband) didn't have a plan and now it's on us."
Yeah, isn't that annoying. My wife's folks are lucky. They have no problem with the health care side, between her Dad's insurance and Medicare. They're OK, financially, at least for the forseeable future.
But...that's not the whole thing. Her Dad has had a couple of strokes...not completely debilitating, but he can't really walk unassisted any longer. He is also just about blind from macular degeneration. He has a permanent urinary catheter.
Had he gone into a nursing home two years ago, as the doctors recommended, he'd be dead now. His wife is only 77, and healthy, so she does most of his care, and their insurance handles health aides coming in for a couple hours a day.
Since my wife and I are here, we take care of getting him to and from doctor appointments. I built a ramp to help get him to and from the car, and I drive him and help him in and out of offices and the like.
My wife spends about half the day over there, with her laptop, so she can work. That helps a lot, and her mom can get out and shop, etc.
I'm the cook in our family, and I just cook for four for evening meals. Sometimes, we take them over and her mom and dad eat them by themselves. Other nights, I go over there and prepare meals for all of us and we sit around and watch TV until it's her dad's bedtime, then we help get him into bed, and my wife and I head home.
We're on call all the time, and there's always one of us who is able to dash over there, if necessary. That happens once a week or so.
We bought a house just 5 minutes away, so it's not hard. I take care of the normal household repairs and the like, but they live in a condo, so all the other stuff is taken care of.
It's a lot of work, but they're our parents. They changed our diapers, cleaned up our vomit, and saw us through our adolescence. For Pete's sake, we can help them through their waning years, I'd think.
My parents are still alive, too, and living in California. My sister and brother live in the same town there, so they're handling this stuff on their end.
It's what family values mean. This Gen-X whining is really, really annoying.
Used to have a 'BOSS' who ALWAYS said he was losing money...Asked how he stayed in business, said "I had a big pile to begin with." Me? Just hoping the 'pile' don't run out too soon. Kids are taken care of...got a good head start from Mom and Dad but they have a long way to go- but are both doing very well...Better than Mom and Dad ever did.
They picked the right genes!...LOL :^)
"They conveniently fail to mention the millions killed by abortion that have lessened the number of workers who could now be paying into the system.
"
Indeed. And it was the Gen-Xers who were the first to take wide advantage of easily available abortions, too, wasn't it? Can't have those little brats cutting in on their personal spending, doncha know.
From 'Soylent Green':
Gilbert: You know I won't understand them if I live to be a hundred.
State Security Chief Donovan: You won't.
I'll give you that. Even FDR didn't have much confidence in the longevity of a government run retirement program.
The problem is that Baby Boomers had affective influence over Congress in the 70's and 80's and control ever since. Nothing has been done to facilitate the retirement of their fellow Boomers (though I'm fairly certain the Congressmen will do alright!).
boo hoo. The incessant crying and whining by Gen Xers is just breaking my heart. The older generations paid a much higher tax rate for a good portion of their lives and many were working when the 401K plans weren't available. They saved and did without things to make the kids lives better than theirs.
Child.
As for boomers, boomers didn't write the law, paid their money in, and at least those of us late to the 'boom' will get nothing but the shaft.
Just pay me back what I have paid into that ponzi scheme (since I was 14) and I'd be a happy camper--only do it now so I can invest it and make it grow along with the rest.
That is really, really nice, Mineral Man. Good for you!
No way!! Gen Xer's were only 8 years old when Roe v. Wade was decided. And in the Northeast, WWII Generation was legally aborting early Gen Xer's even before that.
Nope, it was the Baby Boomers that really kicked off abortions. Gen X wasn't much better until the 90's. Generation Y thankfully, is aborting even less.
My sister and I are 9 years apart. I was born in '51. She was born in '61. When I was growing up, there was next to none of the above. When I went away to college in 1970, I remember my little sister telling me that our parents seemed to be the only ones who weren't divorced. Most of the above problems began in the mid-sixties - after Betty Friedan and "The Feminine Mystique."
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