Stand by for plenty of boomer-trashing.
Lot of us boomers took our retirement up front.
If there was a greater generational canard ever promoted I don't know what it is; the "greatest" voted themselves unlimited retirement and health care they never had to pay for and the boomers get the blame.
No, I'm a "greatest", not a boomer.
I am a late boomer closer to genX really than boomer. On thing I’ve been confused about, I keep seeing retirement savings gone? If it was savings where did it go? I can see investments being evaporated in the markets but those are risky always but why do they keep calling those “savings”?
Some of us figured out early that retirement was a scam. We have a government that controls the value of our money and investment advisors who line their own pockets. If we do retire, we live on a fixed income and watch the government devalue our money. No thanks. Being a retired person with nothing productive to do doesn’t look like fun either.
This whole problem will be solved when the Supreme Court finds in the Constitution that society has a right to choose to abort the elderly if they become inconvenient.
Not this crap again! (Where is the Freeper who has that picture?)
Boomers are funding all the goodies for greedy geezers, many of whom are rich, who want all their expenses paid by the taxpayers. Anybody see John Stossel interview the group of wealthy retirees asking them if they thought it fair that other people are paying their bills? One woman said, “Well, life is not fair.” Some of them go to see their doctors just to visit and talk, and we get the shaft. Boomers are not going to be able to retire, and there will be no SS or Medicare, at least not the generous system that exists today. The politicians will probably raise the retirement age to 95, and then say they fixed everything.
If Boomers were not being taxed to death, perhaps they could save something. And I hope the AARP disappears!
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.
Early Boomer here. Not all of us failed to prepare. My wife retires tomorrow at 53. I’m 60 and semi-retired. Wife is going to do a little contract work and we are looking forward to leaving the rat race and going Galt. We have lived somewhat below our means for 30 years to get to this point. No pensions or govt PERAs, we did it on our own by investing in real estate, private equity, 401ks and SEPs.
Things wouldn’t be so bad if:
*People didn’t insist on participating in every single trendy thing from material goods to the latest health craze. I wonder how much medical costs have gone up since each and every single child has been diagnosed with the latest trendy set of multiple disorders because they don’t behave like social showpieces for the self esteem of the parents.
*People got solid jobs rather than constantly pursuing flimsy careers in the arts. All very well and good, but let art be something you do on the side.
*If people go to college knowing what they want to do rather than paying almost hundreds of thousands on ‘figuring out’ what they want to do and switching degree programs on whim.
*We start putting requirements on people who want welfare after having a kid out of wedlock. Certain standards.
*If you pay into the system, you get a certain percentage placed into your bank account. You pay into it, you should get a part of it.
*If you volunteer, the hours you put in are recorded and you recieve the points towards a college/university scholarship. It also goes on your academic transcript and is taken into consideration during admittance screenings.
*Make limits in regards to how much a student can take out in loans. Arrange so that colleges can only accept so much money from student loan sources.
*Create ‘debt notices’ in the paper so that way no one gets away with getting loans to pay for other loans. Send the notices to banks. Publicly humiliate people who don’t pay their credit card debt in time.
*Actually start executing death row inmates sooner than ten to thirteen years later. Have delinquents watch executions to set them straight.
*Sentencing people in proportion to the crimes they commit. No more three years and parole for felons who break any federal law. Make an example of famous people; sentence them to harsher laws.
*Garnish wages for unpaid loan/credit card debts. They do it for men who don’t pay child support, why not for those with outstanding loans(q)
*If anyone participates in diplomatic activities at odds with government policy, confiscate their estates and yank their passports, arresting them upon return to the country.
*If any private citizen engages in any unofficial diplomatic activites outside of government approval, charge them with treason and order extradition.
Does anyone else have any other ideas, that’s all I can think of for now.
My Grandfather, a VERY wise man, once told me, "Never retire. When you retire you die."
I'll be taking that advice to heart.
Just as a side statement, my grandfather ran his own business till he was 92. He died at 93.
Observations: Whereas, when I was growing up we were lucky to go on a vacation that involved hotels once in 5 years (in other words, we usually went camping), the typical young family of the 1980s had to go in style. Also, whereas, my mom (a Silent Gen person) had a percolator, and, well after that, a normal coffee maker, the typical “Thirty Something” wannabe had to have that espresso machine. As far as housing, I grew up in a very small bungalow with maybe 1300 square feet, followed by a modest rancher with maybe 1800 square, guess who the first customers of “big box” McMansionish cookie cutter specials with open ceilings, etc, were? As for child rearing - day care, spoilt with too many toys and gadgets, the best of everything, cram schools, blah, blah, blah.
Go for the second or third mortgage to fund all this excess if need be.
Is it any wonder they are now 60 something (or nearly there) with nothing?