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.

[general_re]

Excuse me, sir, but a lot of us "shiftless GenX'ers" are hard-working citizens who take our liberty seriously...

Don't even stress about that kind of static, my friend. Living well is the best revenge, and if that fails, we get to pick out their nursing homes ;)

[GrandMoM]

Nothing against boomers, but I would suggest that the "protest" generation make sure that their pensions and retirement savings are in good shape

Don't worry, many of us raised you X'ers and knew ful well we needed to be self reliant.

[Semaphore Heathcliffe]

My boomer parents - who are currently watching their not-insignificant savings vanish down the Dow memory hole - have many boomer friends who are just now thinking it might be time to set aside a little for retirement. It's unreal. They lived through the most stable, prosperous time in American history, probably world history, and they have NOTHING to show for it.

[jayef]

Yeahhhhh!!! Get some, baby!!!!

[jayef]

Here we go again with the logical fallacies. You know seven gen Xers who just happen to represent the whole population. Wow! And where were you educated sir?

[jayef]

Most of the Gen Xers I know are starting their own businesses about now.

[jayef]

See, I can do it too.

[kansan]

I wish I could say the same about my parents. I don't think they we're exposed to any investor education until the late 80s. I have no doubt that I will be supporting them, which I'm glad to do. They deserve it. I just hope I don't have to support too many others their age. I'd have to send my kids to public school in that case.

[kansan]

Nothing to show for it except the highest credit card debt to net worth ratio in history. Realistically, retirement won't be an option for most of our parents, even with social security. I hope Wal-Mart stays prosperous, because there will be a lot of folks looking for jobs as greeters.

[Arthalion]

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

Mmm, sure. My dope smoking, hippy, left wing socialist-Democrat, boomer parents are SUCH a great example of your generation. What? They don't represent all Boomers? Oh.

As someone else here said, living well is the best revenge. I'm an X'er, have lots of money I EARNED myself, NEVER took government handouts, and I even paid my own way through college. I've voted conservative since I was 18, haven't been unemployed more than a few months since I was 15, and am raising my own children with the morals that my parents seem to have forgotten about. Wow, what a shiftless, lazy, uninspired loser I am.

Did I mention that my parent's don't like me either?

[rmmcdaniell]

With term limits, the old tradition of freshmen lawmakers having to sit down and shut up just doesn't exist anymore," says Rep. Joe Hune, R-Fowlerville, who at 22 is the youngest member of the Legislature. He's one of 11 lawmakers in their 20s -- up from two last year.

He should have gotten a real job (private sector) first. Come back and do your service in 10-20 years.

[Arthalion]

He should have gotten a real job (private sector) first. Come back and do your service in 10-20 years.

Why? He's young, dedicated, conservative, and isn't yet corrupted by the power of government. Sure, he may be a little green, but that's what the more experienced members of his party are there for.

[GrandMoM]

I wish I could say the same about my parents. I don't think they we're exposed to any investor education until the late 80s.

....do you know why? They believed the American Dream that the BS government feed them, which was "all the money they put into the SSI they were going to get back" for retirement, their GOLDEN YEARS and of course they couldn't have known that that same government would allow the drug industry to rape them with the inflated cost of perscription drugs.

I have no doubt that I will be supporting them, which I'm glad to do. I am not even at retirement age, but I know plenty who are and belive me most of these people are living day to day. of course you won't know it, because they are to proud to let the very kids they supported for years know they have needs now.

They deserve it. Yes they do! Unlike some on this thread would have you believe, these were hard working people, who had very few vacations and invested any extra money into their kids, some of which are like the ungreatful x'ers on this thread.

[GrandMoM]

....with an attitude like that ,who would, could,or should???

[american spirit]

I hope it never comes to the scenario you describe but as a taxpaying boomer over the last 30 years I know I've paid a hell of a lot more to Social Security than many of it's current receipients and if I want to some day draw benefits then I damn well deserve it.....not that I really expect anything to be there.

[glory]

Agree there--I am part of this generation(33) and hubby is right on the cusp(41). I have to say most of my peers and many of his are all very conservative, even if they have not identified themselves as such. Hell, even some of the artsy fartsy types I have met in this same generation have been much more conservative for that "type" that is generally much more liberal(the arts).

[glory]

You've got that right my friend!

[glory]

I'm sorry to chuckle out loud, but, well tell that to my boomer mother who has been living with us for the past year. It is us who realized that we have to be self sufficient because our self-centered parents could care less if they suck us dry. Oh, and, no, my parents did not overextend themselves in anyway to establish me. When things got tough, they showed me the door and kept their money in their wallets...funny how as they approach old age, they expect different from me.
And my husband just got laid off, do you think ole mom who works two jobs to buy herself pretty things has offered yet to help out if it is needed? She pays squat to live here and she has offered squat to help out in a difficult time. So please, sing me more of the songs of how self-reliant boomers are and how lazy my generation is. If it wasn't for my husband and I, mom would still be shacking up with some other looser boomer--sad, but true and do I wish it was different.
I have met a few exceptions to this, but generally most boomers I have ever met have been incessently self-centered and arrogant. If that doesn't represent your generation, then I have met the outspoken minority who gives you all a bad name.

[Little Bill]

You are a couple of years older than my son, when I go out preaching among the heathen, I am always suprised, in a good way, about how people your age see the issues.

Many of the Mass FReepers, that I know, are in you and your Husbands age group, funny when you remember that this is a slave state.

[glory]

Count me in--found a hobby while I'm staying home with my kids, was praised for the things I made, and am gradually making the move to profiting off of those things. LOVING IT!