Will Millennials leave US to avoid becoming the 'chump' generation? (the Republicrat legacy!)

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | 2010-03-10

[rabscuttle385]

If Millennials realize they're going to have to pay the fiscal price for baby boomers' sins, they might choose to leave the US for more financially friendly locations.

BY TIM KANE

What if they had a fiscal crisis, and nobody came? What if the chump generation figures out the Ponzi scheme? Bob Samuelson thinks the fallout will be political:

... As baby boomers retire, higher federal spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid may boost Millennials' taxes and squeeze other government programs. It will be harder to start and raise families.

Millennials [ages 30 and younger] could become the chump generation. They could suffer for their elders' economic sins, particularly the failure to confront the predictable costs of baby boomers' retirement.

Samuelson asks the question in a political context, and that's how most analysts interpret the looming fiscal crisis, as if young voters will punish fiscally irresponsible representatives in Washington. My alternative theory focuses on the context of immigration. Already you may have heard about the millions of illegals who departed the U.S. when the Great Recession dried up job opportunities. A lot of crass nativists might think "Good Riddance!" but I wonder what they'll say when their own children seek greener pastures abroad in 10 or 20 years?

[jpsb]

"Let me put it to you this way, I’m learning Polish."

Love the Poles, brave people, and they have to be sitting between Germany and Russia. Not a very secure neighborhood in a world without the USA.

[Eagle of Liberty]

Read post 85,89,98, 126 and 106

It is called COMPREHENSION. I did not write that Boomers STARTED these Govt programs or, as another post stated, STARTED some of the uber-leftwing groups. What I said was that the Boomers run them NOW and have run them for at least the past 20 years. During these 20 years, demonstrative proof has been presented to BOTH parties that many Govt programs, along with Private programs such as Pensions, needed significant reforms and those reforms did not happen.

You can continue to blame the lawmakers from the 30s, but that does not change the FACT that the past few decades of politicians dropped the ball on reforming or repealing those programs from the 30s.

[ansel12]

I have already responded to your points in other posts, I just don’t see the sense in repeating them.

So boomers didn’t fix those long existing programs in the last 20 years, I agree, nobody did before and they probably won’t in the near future either, at least they gave us back our gun rights, and we win wars now.

[Eagle of Liberty]

nobody did before and they probably won’t in the near future either

That's a very "kick the can" answer. Let's hope you are wrong so that me and my kids do not have to watch America go broke.

[ansel12]

It isn’t a kick the can answer, how did a single generation become the only answer to fixing things like SS, what is this hang up about pretending that generations of people are like a membership club?

If you want some change then go out and win the votes of people that are over 18 and not dead yet, that is an almost 100 year range of living, American voters.

[Eagle of Liberty]

If you want some change then go out and win the votes of people that are over 18 and not dead yet, that is an almost 100 year range of living, American voters.

Already planning my entrance into public service.

And it is not a hang up. Why does it offend you so that MANY people of a certain age range, i.e. the range called the Baby Boomer Generation, are now running the Fed Gov and have done little to fix the glaring problems staring them straight in the face?

And while one generation should not be responsible for fixing all programs like SS, ONE GENERATION was certainly screaming loudly when our last President was trying to give a CHOICE to younger Americans to get out SS.

[ansel12]

Because as soon as some people started learning enough American history to realize that other generations brought America to it’s knees (not the boomers), then suddenly the burden of fixing everything shifts to the boomers, be happy with your restored gun rights and winning wars for a while.

What was the breakdown of SS reform support during the Bush administration?

[Gen-X-Dad]

Responsibility, accountability, the need to obey the law and perserve society may represent common sense on this board but are considered antiquated by the high speed twittering, facebooking, video gaming, texting, hyper-multi-tasking twenty-somethings.

This is hard to explain to older generations, but today’s kids just don’t care about precedent. They live in the instantaneous moment. Once they are in charge in mass, they will rapidly reform our society. If you tell them it will cost them half of their paycheck to take care of old people, they will simply refuse to pay and dare you to arrest them or they will get rid of the need to pay by eliminating the program. The best I can do to help you understand this attitude is to look at what has happened to the music (and soon to be movie) industry because of illegal file sharing. Their attitude is you can’t arrest all of us so screw it as society will eventually change the laws to conform to making their life easier and better.

Whether they are left, right, or center politically doesn’t really matter as it is ingrained into their generation that rapid constant change is good and not to be feared. Cause and effect, long term consequences, and critical thinking are not the driving factor for their decision making. That is my best shot at explaining this view based upon my personal observations and my conversations with my son about his peer group in college.

[ansel12]

If you tell them it will cost them half of their paycheck to take care of old people, they will simply refuse to pay and dare you to arrest them or they will get rid of the need to pay by eliminating the program.

LOL, yeah, that will happen, suddenly tax collection and politics and elections won't mean anything, because Obama's most solid voting block doesn't want to participate.

[Gen-X-Dad]

Laws and governments only work when the masses buy into it. If every American refused to pay their taxes tomorrow, the system would crash. That is why most Americans don’t mind paying some taxes (preferably their fair share). We understand cause and effect and long term consequences. The upcoming generation has the attitude “if we break it, we will fix it, no big deal”. That is as long as they will think about it before moving on to something else. Even now, most of the Obama kids have wandered off to something else, he was simply the fad of the moment.

Somewhere in all of this is a good science fiction novel on the impact off technology on a mass population turning them into stimulus junkies to the point where Rome burns while they surf the net.

[Eagle of Liberty]

What was the breakdown of SS reform support during the Bush administration?

Is this a rhetorical question or do you want me to provide links? Breakdown began almost immediately with Republicans in Congress. Soon after, AARP started sounding the alarm bells of "Those Damn Republicans are trying to steal your retirement, just like we told you they would!" I can continue if you would like.

then suddenly the burden of fixing everything shifts to the boomers

That's fine. Thank you for the won wars and the gun rights. WE will take it from here and work to dismantle the NEW DEAL and the GREAT SOCIETY.

[ansel12]

You said “ONE GENERATION was certainly screaming loudly when our last President was trying to give a CHOICE to younger Americans to get out SS”, I assumed you had something to back that up, I do know that 66% of the 18-29 year olds voted for Obama, so I don’t think that they were leading the charge to listen to the GOP on SS.

[Eagle of Liberty]

You said “ONE GENERATION was certainly screaming loudly when our last President was trying to give a CHOICE to younger Americans to get out SS”, I assumed you had something to back that up, I do know that 66% of the 18-29 year olds voted for Obama, so I don’t think that they were leading the charge to listen to the GOP on SS.

Yep and I posted it in my last post. The AARP. Unless you know something that I don't about what age you have to be to join. And by YOUNGER, I meant under 50.

I do know that 66% of the 18-29 year olds voted for Obama

Well, I think you may mean 66% of the 50% that actually voted. So, out of approx 41 million, Obama got about 14 million. But, many of those are more concerned with what they are going to have for lunch than how they are going to retire. What I would like to see is a percentage statistic on approval for privatized SS in the 30-50 age range.

A good review of the current SS options:

Social Security versus Private Retirement Accounts: A Historical Analysis

[Eagle of Liberty]

Here is another link from 1997 from the Cato Institute IN FAVOR of privatization:

Social Security versus Private Retirement Accounts: A Historical Analysis

And yet another link from the Cato Institute:

Clinton Wanted Social Security Privatized

So, basically, MANY Americans have been FOR privatization, but for some reason, the Powers that Were in Congress just didn't want to give BUSH credit for getting it done.....That is what it boils down to. And since CONGRESS are the lawmakers:

Membership of the 110th Congress: A Profile

The average age of Members of both houses at the convening of the 110th Congress was 57.0 years; of Representatives, 55.9 years; and of Senators, 61.7 years.

[ansel12]

That is correct 66% of the 18-29 year old vote went to Obama.

AARP is a membership group that includes people of at least a half century’s worth of inclusion that choose to join, I don’t know how much the membership that joins for things like insurance rates knows or supports the political activities of AARP.

In 2005 (Bush year) some boomers would have been members of AARP since boomers ranged in age of 41 to 59, of course members in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s would not have been boomers.

If the republicans try to run on a platform of fixing SS in 2012, I’m sure that they will get more support from boomers, and boomers like Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh in that election, than from the average voter under age 32.

[LibertarianInExile]

“Boomers have been trying to change SS for the better. If you are old enough, then you remember the truly leftist radicalism of pre boomer generations.”

BWA HA HA HA HA HA!

[coughs] [clears throat]

BWA HA HA HA HA HA!

I hope you were joking, because that was really, really funny.

[ansel12]

Do you think the fight to change SS was stronger in the 1930s, or the 1940s, the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, or would you say that it is a very modern movement that only got off the ground when the boomers started moving into government and power in the last 20 or so years.

Twenty years ago boomers were the generation that ranged from age 26 to age 44, even then, not exactly running the world, but at least they were starting to get into the ranks of the leaders, and becoming politically powerful.

That was about the time that we started winning our gun rights back wasn’t it?

[Eagle of Liberty]

That was about the time that we started winning our gun rights back wasn’t it?

Once again, I will thank you for winning back the gun rights.

Back now to SS. I would definitely say that it is a modern movement since the payouts first began in 1940 and didn't get legs until the 50s and 60s. And you could say that boomers like Clinton and Bush got the reform movement off the ground, but you could also say that MANY OTHER boomers have derailed monumental reform legislation during the past two decades instead of fixing the program.

I strongly believe that you would not even have Americans discussing SS privatization if Congress would have left that money alone instead of spending it. The problem came about because our lawmakers in their infinite wisdom decided that placing the surpluses into securities is a good thing. Basically, what they decided was not that a separate fund would be set up with tangible assets, but that a fund would be set up using all of our money to involuntarily buy Government Bonds. So in essence what the SS system is is a ponzi scheme to collect a bit more working revenue.

Now, I don't care which generation fixes it. The generation before the boomers weren't going to fix it because they were still going along with the charade. The boomer generation is currently holding the power torch and they don't seem too interested in doing anything other than increasing taxes, lowering benefits or increasing the retirement age. So, whichever way you cut it, SOME generation is going to have to substantially reform this monster or my children's generation is going to PAY DEARLY for the decades of Government inaction.

[Eagle of Liberty]

You know what? I will even correct my complete argument. I will place most of the blame on the boomers’ predecessors.....THE PRE-BOOMER GENERATION!!!

[Eagle of Liberty]

In 2005 (Bush year) some boomers would have been members of AARP since boomers ranged in age of 41 to 59, of course members in their 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s would not have been boomers.

If the republicans try to run on a platform of fixing SS in 2012, I’m sure that they will get more support from boomers, and boomers like Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh in that election, than from the average voter under age 32.

And one final thing....please do not take any of my posts as aiming at the everyday American voter. The blame I place is on those with the decision power, those in Congress and those at the lead of many national organizations.

I think that if one thing has been made perfectly clear over this past decade is that Washington really has no care of listening to our solutions, even when we scream loudly at them.