Gen X assumes state power

Detroit News ^ | 1-26-03 | Mark Hornbeck

[Dan from Michigan]

Baby Boomers may still rule the Michigan Legislature, but a record influx of brash Generation Xers is about to muscle in on their turf.

The new House and Senate, molded in large part by constitutional term limits, features 40 members who are 20- or 30-something -- a group sociologists characterize as hard-nosed, fiercely pragmatic, unsentimental, impatient, results-oriented and unlikely to see government as the answer to people's problems.

[Thebaddog]

If these dopes are true genX'ers, it will be fun to watch. That generation is all air and nothing behind it.

[SerfsUp]

"That's what the state does is provide services,"

Thomas Jefferson couldn't have said it better. < /sarcasm >

[AdamSelene235]

If these dopes are true genX'ers, it will be fun to watch. That generation is all air and nothing behind it.

It would be hard to do worse than the baby boomers.

[Dan from Michigan]

X'ers - Chris Ward, Joe Hune(I know both of them), etc.
Boomers - Bill Klinton, Jennifer Granholm.

We X'ers have to clean up the mess.

[Little Bill]

My kid is a Gen-Xer, hates Rats almost as much as I do, along with many of his pals. Started when I did his taxes for his first real job, started listing to Rush and it was all down hill after that, I don't like Rush.

[pabianice]

They'll huddle in the months ahead with their elders and first-year Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who at 43 is on the Gen X-Boomer cusp,

Bzzzttt! Wrong answer. At 43, she was born in 1959, during the Boomer years (1946 - 1964).

[apackof2]

and unlikely to see government as the answer to people's problems.

This is good

you're likely to see a more distinctive libertarian streak

This is very bad

[Ajnin]

The Boomers are the ones that F'ed up our immigration policy and allowed a massive wave of illegal alien criminals to enter our nation. The X-men and women are going to have to fix it.

[Kay Ludlow]

At 43, she was born in 1959, during the Boomer years

True, but as someone the same age, I'd say that the late boomers have more in common with the x-er's than with the early boomers.

When we went to college, a part time job paid for books, not tuition and living expenses.

There was little advancement at our first jobs, because people 5 years older than us had gotten all the promotions and were nowhere near retirement.

Our first mortgage was at 11% variable rate interest.

The marketing world revolved around the older kids, not us.

We weren't the oldest children, doted on by our parents - we were the younger children, who they kept forgetting to pick up.

Not that it was all bad, after all there was a lot of anonymity associated with it. We got a lot of new school facilities, as they reacted to the boom after 10 years. We don't remember putting colored transparencies on the TV to get color.

As a younger boomer, I've never liked being painted with the same brush as the leading edge boomers, who are epitomized by Bill Clinton...

[Thebaddog]

I'll get out of the way and then you can show me how the fundamental boring stuff is done right. I've employed seven genex kids in the last three years and two are left. They just can't get the boring stuff right and it hurts my business regularly.

Your generation has been badly served by educations that don't stress the fundamentals. I had to wake one of the kids up to point him at the calculator accessory in his computer to add strings of figures correctly the third time.

[Glenn]

Sooner or later they are all owned by the same lobbyists. I don't expect any radical changes unless they have the brass it takes to reform the political system.

[GrandMoM]

BUMP

[dirtboy]

The new House and Senate, molded in large part by constitutional term limits, features 40 members who are 20- or 30-something -- a group sociologists characterize as hard-nosed, fiercely pragmatic, unsentimental, impatient, results-oriented and unlikely to see government as the answer to people's problems.

And the problem with that is?

[GrandMoM]

PING-Your imput please!

[Grampa Dave]

If they are conservative GenXers, they will do a good job.

If they are socialist GenXers, they will be no different from the socialist boomers who dragged us into the mess we are in.

My older son's conservative GENX friends are great young people.

[GrandMoM]

Your generation has been badly served by educations that don't stress the fundamentals. I had to wake one of the kids up to point him at the calculator accessory in his computer to add strings of figures correctly the third time. ....most of the x'ers we have hired have no loyalty and insist on doing things there own way. Needless to say, they don't last long with my husband who had his own business for 35 years.

[patton]

I was born in 62.

My experience is characterized by events like the restucturing of the Social Security system to move retirement eligablity to age 70. This will keep the system solvent, until 2032 - when it will be bankrupt.

That will be the year I turn 70.

[kansan]

Nothing against boomers, but I would suggest that the "protest" generation make sure that their pensions and retirement savings are in good shape. I doubt they are. I recall in the early 90s when many companies moved to 401k plans from defined benefit pensions that boat sales went through the roof as the boomers took the cash from their retirement and spent it. Then, the grasshoppers tried to make up for their lack of savings through tech stocks.

Of course many of my cohort are lazy slackers as with any generation, but those who know how to work have more potential than any of our ancestors. I guess we'll see when the boomers come hat in hand asking for us to pay for their retirement.