Posted on 11/05/2007 7:32:06 AM PST by American Quilter
O rend thy garments, America! Heap ashes upon thy head. We, the generation of generations--triumphant in our multitudes, invincible, indomitable, insufferable--have come into our inheritance. Hereby we claim our birthright. Give us all your money.
The pittance that is a current Social Security payment was intended to maintain the doddering retirees of yore in their accustomed condition of thin gruel and single-car garages. Such chump change will hardly suffice for today's vigorous sexagenarians intent on (among other things) vigorous sex, in places like Paris, St. Bart's, and Phuket.
How can present Social Security allotments be expected to fund our sky-diving, bungee-jumping, hang gliding and white-water rafting, our skiing, golf and scuba excursions, our photo safaris to Africa, bike tours of Tuscany and sojourns at Indian ashrams, our tennis clinics, spa treatments, gym memberships and personal fitness training, our luxury cruises to the Galapagos and Antarctica, the vacation homes in Hilton Head and Vail, the lap pools, Jacuzzis, and clay courts being built thereat and the his and hers Harley Davidsons?
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
Yes. I forgot to add public education. I was busy learning about the evil McCarthy and multi-culture to waste time on learning how to spell mores.
“It wasn’t the baby boomers who put us on the train to hell. It was the so called greatest generation. They’re the ones who voted for the pie in the sky crook politicians that started the whole New Deal-Great Society-cradle to grave socialistic Ponzi scheme that is getting ready to crash.”
I’m not sure the guys who were 17 and 18 in 1941 and grizzled veterans by 1945 did any voting in 1932 or 1936.
I think your focus on that point ought to be on the generation prior to the ‘greatest generation.’
Join the crowd. I'm 35 and will never see a dime of all the money that has been confiscated from me. I think they should institute means testing, Grandma and Grandpa who have $4.5 million in the bank really don't need the monthly check do they??? So if I can pay in for decades and not see a dime, then they can pay in for decades and not see a dime either. Fair is fair. You won't see one salty tear in my eye if they start denying benefits to rich boomers.
“I’m not sure the guys who were 17 and 18 in 1941 and grizzled veterans by 1945 did any voting in 1932 or 1936”
But they did create the 60s and the great society, the immigration law of 1965, Vietnam etc.
We didn’t start reining them in until about the mid 70s, since then we have even started rolling back some of their destructive politics, especially since the early 90s.
As the old dinosaurs have retired, we have been retaking our gun rights, slowing up affirmative action, building resistance to the 1965 immigration bill, even the old feminism of their generation has been weakened.
“They have become a very grasping and self-centered generation since then (there are notable exceptions of course), and, as someone mentioned earlier, gave birth to the worst generation.”
They did raise the worst generation, I’ll give you that. But I think they were the greatest generation. They survived the depression, they won WWII, carried on the idustrial revolution making America the most productive country in the world and were the ones who got us to the moon.
The greatest generation subscribed to the melting pot, and developed a public school system that was very good. The ideals, goals, and philosophy of the “greatest generation” were top shelf. Look at the media from the time, the things expressed in movies. Things that they tried to teach their kids.
But, they do have one large failure. They tried to give their kids too much. Tough love was not commonly known or practiced. They gave us the boomers, but they did make America. The greatest generation subscribed to the melting pot, and developed a public school system that was very good.
“I think they should institute means testing, Grandma and Grandpa who have $4.5 million in the bank really don’t need the monthly check do they??? “
Yep, that’s how they’ll present it. And then you’ll find out that if your retirement income is over $30k you make too much and you’ll be denied any of your money back. I’m 50 and not likely to get any of my money back, and I’ve been paying a long time. And a lot of money.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
actually, 1944 is part of the Silent Generation.
I’m already stockpiling canned cat food for my retirement. China Mart has a special every month about a week before Social Security checks come out.
“The greatest generation subscribed to the melting pot, and developed a public school system that was very good.”
You need to start looking at the historical timelines, those were the things that they were destroying.
Is that what it used to be called? I've been trying to remember. That does sound familiar--silent as in not constantly obsessing about themselves and articulating every self-absorbed thought they ever had. Not finding themselves endlessly fascinating.
Ew!
“You need to start looking at the historical timelines, those were the things that they were destroying.”
I lived it. I am from the tail end of the boomers. In school the melting pot was still taught as being a good thing. Bommers moved into “the establishment” in the late 60s early 70s. That’s when things started to go to downhill.
The greatest generation fought in WWII, meaning they were at least 17 by 1945. There is a whole generation of people born before the end of the war but too late to serve in the war (1928 to 1945 - lets call them tweeners) who have been demanding and getting these entitlements for quite some time. Frankly, Boomers and their children will be left holding the bills. I was born in 1947 and have planned my life to expect nothing from these bogus, ponzi scheme, entitlement programs.
Wrong.
SS worked reasonably well for those before us boomers (OK, I'm on the leading edge) but it's hardly significant today. Remember that the same period, 1946 'till maybe '96, included pension plans, medical plans, and such - which are going away for us just as they are for you. Difference is that you'll have more time for those 401s to grow and you know fairly early that you need to look out for yourselves.
Frankly, I'm a lot more interested in what happens to Medicare and the various schemes involving that than I am with SS. Besides, if SS went away a whole lot of welfare royalty would have to scale back on their life style.
PS: Please don't send money, I'm doing OK.
They have a tendency to get lumped wither with boomers or the next generation
http://www.fourthturning.com/html/silent_generation.html
so I’m blaming them for everything. It gets all the X’rs off my back.
“The boomers gave us self indulgence, me first, multicultural, anti American, self loathing. All in one nasty package.”
Actually it was only a subset of the “Boomers” that gave “us” this package. Of course the all too human trait of blaming someone else allows for painting with a broad brush and doesn’t require any of that pesky and painful brain-work that seems to challenge the IPOD generations so.
There I go painting with a broad brush again.
Good post. I agree with there being a good defense for “that” generation. I don’t care what you call them. The culture of their America was a patriotic one. It was one of sacrifice, hard work, strong values, etc. They indeed were “drafted” into WWII. At home, their fellow citizens supported, promoted, sacrificed to win a world war. They accepted the sacrifice and remained a proud bunch.
True also, they may have given too much. But their intentions with the “small” subsidies they gave the country were meant for their children, the next generation, the baby boomers. It was never intended to be what it is today.
The BB generation gave us anti-american liberalism (not just liberalism). They gave us activism. They gave us environmental anarchy. They gave us feminism. They gave us the ACLU, NAACP, Green Peace, etc.
If their defense, they also gave us some social justice like civil rights. They pushed technology and put a man on the moon. Bill Gates started Microsoft.
There are pros and cons. But the most damaging legacy left by BB will be the values and cultural shift we have been left with. Two income families, low birth rates in to pursuit of wealth, etc.
It is encouraging to note, however, Gen-X may be turning some of this around. More stay at home parents, more private education, more conservative voters, more pro-military, etc. It is not all good as the divorce rate seems to still be high and single moms has not made a turn. There is some signs that Gen-X is more self reliant, ambitious, and values based than our parents. They are certainly saving more than their parents and financially planning better. I attribute the financial planning to the failings and teachings of our parents in the BB generation.
(Flame away)
“There I go painting with a broad brush again.”
Yeah, and it looks like you aren’t even painting what you intend to paint.
It seems you want to chaistize me for generalizing, and cast me in the iPOD generation?
Ok, first off, I’m at the end of the boomer generation. (Swing and a miss).
Secondly, I said something to the effect that I was a boomer who didn’t drink the kool-aid. An acknowledgement that not all boomers are the same. For those who can reason, that means that I’m making a generalization, one that I realize has many exceptions, (me being one of them).
(Swing and a miss... strike two).
You have one to work with.
“Bommers moved into “the establishment” in the late 60s early 70s. That’s when things started to go to downhill.”
In 1968 the very oldest boomer would first vote, the youngest boomer would be only 4 years old.
What you watched when America started going downhill was the result of the previous legislation from the previous generations like the WWII set.
The homeless came from JFK’s last piece of legislation he signed, the melting pot ended with the civil rights laws, affirmative action, 1965 immigration law, the incompetent use of boomer soldiers in Vietnam.
The NEA destroyed education, the family was destroyed by the Feminists.
Look at the worst of all the movements and legislation and you won’t find the legacy of the boomers but instead the legacy of the GGs and their parents.
The radical left of the first half of the 1900s had successes but they didn’t really gain power until the “greatest generation” came of age to finally implement their radical theories.
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