I know the risk in making this statement, but today's mess is the doing of much of the boomer generation, but it is the making of the very "greatest generation" that everyone misses so much.
So the generation that arose in depression and fought WW2 wanted to settle back in have something to enjoy..."and who could blame them?"
OK, but what's missing is that they also insisted that none of that would ever happen to their own kids..."and who could blame them?"
I'm just old enough to remember mixing some lard like substance with red dye to make butter substitute (margarine). I remember letters from uncles who'd gone for a soldier, and from their comrades and officers. I also remember how toys suddenly became available after the war (originally MIJ), and then just kept on getting more and more available after that.
There was Doctor Spock, housing booms, production capacity and manpower eager to be kept busy and, following the GI Bill, a college education became a perceived necessity...and the UN was going to make war obsolete. There was new stuff to buy, money suddenly available to buy that stuff, and years of added adolescence in which to enjoy it.
"Baby boomers" arose from the perfectly justified desire of their parents that they would have access and opportunities that mommy and daddy had not had.
It's not too surprising that those kids (alternatively "the 60's generation") accepted it and failed to see any down side...at least no down side until about 2008 or so.
Don't overlook the fact that a large segment of the boomer generation IS going to be hit hard by today's economic cause and effect...and they never saw it coming.
Disclaimer: I'm too old to be a boomer and thought I was too old to be drafted for Vietnam (wrong!) so think that I can speak as a fair witness to those times.
The only thing I would add is that the Baby Boomers really should have seen these bad times coming. They were warned. Reagan told them, both Bushes told them. Many others. But the vocal, radical Boomers spewed hatred at anyone stupid enough to question their grand vision of a Utopian future. There is an undeniable aspect of arrogance among certain elements of the Baby Boomer generation.
I my opinion, the current rampant partisanship in American politics comes largely from this arrogance. It's not the root cause of all our problems, but it has made it harder for us to find solutions to the problems we have all inherited.
See post 87, in 1990 the boomers ranged in age from 26 to 44, they hadn’t been running much before then, 30 something is not really the age of a nation’s leaders.
When you read post 87, it reminds you of just how hard at work the pre boomers were during the most destructive period in American history, 1930 to 1975. In 1975, a 55 year old Senator would have been born in 1920.