The Faustian Generation (did boomers sell their souls to the devil?)

MSNBC ^ | July 24, 2006 | Alan Ehrenhalt

[NYer]

My cohort of early baby boomers has been called a lot of names in its nearly six decades of existence—we were the insolent teenagers of the 1950s; the self-centered Yuppies of the 1980s; now we are the aging spendthrifts who will bust the federal budget and bankrupt our children with unreasonable demands for creature comfort in old age.

But maybe it would be more appropriate to think of us as the Faustian generation. We didn't exactly sell our souls to the devil—not collectively, anyway—but as we jog toward senior status, it's hard to escape the sense that we were complicit in our own unique kind of unholy bargain.

Most of us born in the early years after World War II grew up in a world of stability and order: lasting marriages, moms at home, fathers with permanent employment, local merchants who knew us and watched us, neighborhoods where the people next door were ever-present and predictable. The three television networks ran essentially the same programs; the bread and soup and cereal all tasted alike. It was snug; it was also, as we all know, widely perceived as monotonous and a little claustrophobic, as well as unfair to many members of society

"The dull ache will not depart," Faust says in the first part of Goethe's epic, as he laments the cozy tedium of his cloistered life. "I crave excitement, agonizing bliss." That does pretty well as a mantra for the best and brightest of the early baby boomers as they reached mid-adolescence in the early 1960s

[ichabod1]

the generation that espoused the view that we must accept all on equally moral terms, regardless of the deviance of his/her behavior, has bequeathed to us a country and a culture in which such a discussion is illegal in many settings.

It iss a necessary phase... of the socializt revolution. The previous poster wasn't kidding. It was Gramsci-ite socializm, and you can continue to see them at work in the democrat party by their execution of "Critical Theory" in which they never present ideas, only tear down what "is". Also a big shout out to Lenin and Hegel.

[ichabod1]

#1 - You will get every dime you put into Social Security (plus interest) within 5 years of when you start collecting it. After that, it will be all welfare - or will you stop taking other people's money then? Didn't think so.

Where does this notion come from? I've been hearing it a lot lately. Let's see -- 60 months at $1200 a month is = $72000. That's about 10 years contributions, at best. This is a Big Lie.

[Ditto]

Thank you, hippie baby boomers. May you all rot in hell. You did more damage to this country in 30 years than everyone else combined managed to do in the prior 200.

I'd remind you that there were 3 million boomers that served in Vietnam. There were never 3 million hippies even though you would never know that if you get all your information from the MSM.

IMHO, the fall started with "The Great Society" entitlement programs brought to us entirely by the so-called "Greatest Generation".

I'd also ask you when conservatism made it's comeback. It was in 1980 when the boomers finally outnumbered the geezers in the voting booth.

[yellowdoghunter]

My children will never be able to say that I did not give them a loving, stable, two-parent home, with the original parents who actually made the children. They will never be able to say that I didn't take them to church, teach them morals, show them love, put them first.

My children will never be able to say that I was on drugs, shacking up or what-have-you and neglected them in anyway. Just having a stable homelife will put my children two steps ahead of most other children.

[VOA]

Some of us just enjoyed the music of that era because it sounded good,
but others took the message quite seriously and literally.

You nailed that.

[proxy_user]

Well, what do you think makes socialism possible? Why are all these do-gooders able to prop up idle vagrants?

It's wealth, vast unbelievable affluence. Previous generations were unable to do this because everyone was too busy earning a living and trying to get by.

[RinaseaofDs]

I think the author might be saying that the technical marvels have made us more productive, more available to our employers, and more detached from each other.

I can give you a list of things we did as kids that would have neighbors calling CPS today.

I walked over a 1/3rd of a mile to Kindergarten every day. Who in their right minds would risk that today?

[2banana]

Where does this notion come from? I've been hearing it a lot lately. Let's see -- 60 months at $1200 a month is = $72000. That's about 10 years contributions, at best. This is a Big Lie.

Because Social Security started as a 1% tax and has been raised ever since to pay for more and more benefits to buy the votes of seniors. The below numbers are very conservative - as they take in the employers contribution. Divide by 2 for just your own contribution. I can also post much bleaker estimates.

http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/SocialSecurity.html

"Those who retired in the early years of Social Security got huge wealth transfers because they paid taxes for only part of their work lives and because, as the system was being expanded and taxes were being raised, they paid these higher taxes for only a few years. According to a study by the Congressional Research Service, a worker with average earnings who retired at age 65 in 1940 got back the retirement portion of his and his employer's taxes, plus interest, in a mere two or three months. For workers who retired in 1960, the payback period was 1.1 years. For those retiring in 1980, the payback period had increased to 2.8 years.

The picture is much bleaker for future retirees. The expected payback period for today's older workers, those retiring in 2000, is 12.9 years, rising to 18.3 years for workers retiring in 2030. "

[Night Hides Not]

The Boomers have brought us all kinds of wonderful things.....the homosexual revolution, feminism, rampant leftism.

You forgot DISCO!

Us Boomers also won the Cold War. But that little factoid doesn't fit in to the bashers' nice little scenario.

These generational threads are such a bore.

And what are you Canadians contributing?

[telebob]

Just like the article, this thread is so full of generalizations that it is useless.

This world maintains itself through hard work and dedication. There are always more good people than bad and always more people who are willing to carry the burden than those who refuse.

To make a claim that an entire generation (and every member of it) is to blame for the world's ills is just stupid.

When I was young, the shit was up to my neck. Now it's down to my waist. Gotta shit problem? Grab a shovel and dig in.

[sinkspur]

Do you think most black children who grow up in the ghetto are better off now because they can use the same drinking fountain as I?

Nah. I guess they were better off when they were treated like second-class citizens, with separate facilities, discrimination in hiring practices and discrimination in voting.

[webstersII]

"It is not the boomer bankrupting us - it is the greedy senior citizens of the last 30 years that are.

They vote - and they vote for the politician that promises the most for them."

What this article describes is a socialist society. The parents of the Boomers gave us these socialist ideals with their Great Society.

I'm waiting for someone from "The Greatest Generation" to stand up and take responsibility for being such lousy parents.

The Baby Boomers learned these Faustian attitudes from their parents, you know, the ones who are the big-gov't lovers, the ones who want everyone else to take responsibility but deny any for themselves.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[ichabod1]

Exactly. I won't retire until 2020-something, and I'll never see the money I've paid into the system over the years. Never. 15% of my salary goes into the system.

[yellowdoghunter]

You equate having a stable home life with hiring practices? I think we are coming at this from two different angles. But that is not surprising.

Anyway, I think society was much better off when family-values were promoted in the media and in every other form. Somewhere along the way, in the 60's, that all changed.

[Howlin]

Now, Steve, don't try to bring the TRUTH into these Boomer bashing threads.

[DustyMoment]

Good rant. Now let's look at some facts:

#1 - You will get every dime you put into Social Security (plus interest) within 5 years of when you start collecting it. After that, it will be all welfare - or will you stop taking other people's money then? Didn't think so.

Actually, we won't and we have known it since the 60s-70s. Given the so-called "drain" that retiring boomers will put on SS, it is likely that benefits will be substantially cut because the alternative, raising SS withholding, will cause younger generation folks, such as yourself, to tar and feather the politicians who vote to raise the tax, and the boomers expecting to collect it.

#2 - A young person today will never, ever see their money back. They will never break even. You Social Security checks are their Social Security payments today.

Yep, and you can thank LBJ (not a boomer) and his "War on Poverty" for that. It's the same reason that we boomers won't see our money back. Oh, and by the way, since you probably haven't noticed, poverty is still with us - all LBJ did was hand Congress the keys to the vault that ALL our money is kept in.

#3 - Social Security is a TAX. There is not "trust fund" and there are no personal accounts with your name on it. It was originally started to help the the elderly in absolute poverty (and only kicked in after the age of the average lifespan of an American). It was never designed or intended to be a national pension plan.

Wow, you are a plethora of information - most of it wrong. If you go back and actually read the Social Security Act, it was not established to help "the elderly in absolute poverty". That was just a good line that FDR used to sell the plan. SS was a money grab, pure and simple, by FDR and the leftists because they needed money to try to keep the government afloat. Fortunately, WW2 came along to bail them out because, if it hadn't, chances are that the whole US government would have collapsed and crumbled around their heads. And, since you are so wise, please help this befuddled old boomer understand how getting as much as 1.5% return on the money that Uncle Sam has stolen from ALL of us is a good plan? President Bush (another one of those boomers that y'all want to die and rot in hell), proposed a change to SS that would have allowed you control and direct up to 2% of the SS withholding the government confiscates. Y'all didn't go for it. You are aware that, on average, over time, investment in the stock market yields in the neighborhood of 10% per year ROI. Since y'all are so much smarter than boomers, how come you opted to stay with a plan that gives you a whopping 1.5% return? I thought we boomers were the dumb ones.

#4 - Greedy Geezers vote - That is why Social Security has never been cut and why it is expanded year after year. It will literally bankrupt our country - but seniors vote and they want more and more. And the politicians they vote deliver the goods.

The seniors receiving SS today who are getting all of these benes you're complaining about, aren't boomers. They are part of the Greatest Generation. Boomers are approaching retirement age, but the vast majority of us aren't there, yet. And, as I noted previously, I anticipate that Congress will have to sharply curtail SS benefits for the boomers because the labor pool from successive generations who will have to foot the bill, will have to pay a substantially higher SS withholding. Congress has put itself between the Devil and the deep blue sea and, my guess is, when the fiscal reality smacks them between the eyes, they will vote to cut benes. You guys are young enough to still hurt them - all WE can do is squash their feet with our wheelchairs or get in one good whack with a cane. With bursitis, we can't even throw an iPod at them!!

[Howlin]

I'm a boomer, and all I see around me are boomers that have jobs and marriages and mortgages. Just like the generation before us. You must live in a wilder neighborhood than I do.

Exactly. People who are whining about how things aren't the same obviously aren't living around the same types of people I do.

[Howlin]

Remeber that G-d afwal show "30 something" with those horrible Yuppies?

AHAHAHAHA.........you fell for the propaganda!

People in their 30s thought that show SUCKED.