Posted on 07/30/2011 10:32:57 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
Baby boomers -- those born between 1946 and 1964 -- have been described as "the pig in the python" and the "sandwich generation."
They lived well, grew up in relative abundance and, some say, expected their Social Security, health care and government support to be there as they grew old.
Now, as the future of the country's economy is up in the air, is this group of 80 million aging Americans -- many of whom are sprinting toward retirement age -- the ones to blame for the nation's shaky economic system?
(snip)
Thomas Firey, a senior editor at the conservative Cato Institute and member of generation X, said it's unclear as to what's going to happen to Social Security.
"Under current law, what's supposed to happen is once the trust fund runs dry, the benefits are to be cut by roughly 25% to bring it back into balance. Each year's income will equalize the outflow," said Frey..."But no one expects that to happen. (So) are we going to raise taxes on current workers? Are we going to get rid of the tax?"
But criticizing baby boomers is not necessarily a politically wise thing to do, especially when it comes to their voting behavior.
(snip)
Jerry Shereshewsky, the self-described "chief grown-up" at the firm GrownUpMarketing, is a baby boomer. The 65-year-old said it's not his generation group to blame, it's Congress'.
"It was not a secret that this largest cohort in American history was going to get older every year," he said. "The fact that Congress has not done a very good job of keeping up with what is really happening in the world: life expectancy, better medical care. You give people a lot of cake and ice cream, they're going to eat it."
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.cnn.com ...
Poverty won...
Same logic as voting for BO because he's black.
Granny, Congress was held by DEMOCRATS basically from 1935 to 1980. The Socialist march has never stopped.
A major problem is the rapid increase in the spread between the highly paid and the lowly paid in the past 30 or 40 year. At the beginning of that period big corporation CEOs were earning about 40 times what their low level workers were paid. In the run-up to the 2007 bust, that ratio had grown from 40 to 1 all the way to from 400 to 1,000 to 1. Somehow I doubt that CEOs became 10 to 25 TIMES more valuable in the past 30 years. Of course all the people at the upper levels beneath the CEOs have been similarly elevated.
Today I read that the head of Ford Motors is being paid $58 million this year. Ford is about to enter negotiations with the United Auto Workers. They will be fighting over salaries of from $50 to $58,000. Thus Ford’s CEO will be earning around 1,000 times what his line workers will get. Do you think maybe they are pixxed as hexx about that and will drive a hard bargain, while the poor Ford execs cry in their champaign that, “well we just tried so hard to get Ford profitable again, we deserve to be obscenely rich.”
I am a small stockholder of GE, which before the crash was selling at $50 per share. I was outraged to see from my annual reports, that while the stock was tanking to $5/share and eventually rose to around $20/share where it has stagnated for the past 4 years, the top 7 executives were all paid from $11 to $22 million, and did not take any salary reduction at all. We stock holders have to raise bloody heck at this outrageous, unmerited greed. Google “Forbes CEO Compensation to see how overpaid your favorite CEO is, or how much your favorite industry is paying. For those worried about Obamacare, check out the drug and medical supplies companies.
I started as a tomato picker. Where did you start?
That, Eyedigress, is a point that is forgotten. Glad you pointed it out.
Actually NOBODY got to vote on the first commie president who created the great society (and all of its programs) since he got in office through default when the Federal Reserve murdered off JFK and then abscounded after his first term. But then Generation X & Y elected the second commie president. WHO’D A THOUGHT IT? You boom box babies and your blame games are a scream!
Your scree-name holds a special place in my heart. My aunt Berdie from Oregon had some special love for the flora and fauna.
Ever heard of voting for the office of Vice President?
Sorry to hear about your stock and I agree with you. My husband works very hard and actually about 5 years ago he had to take about a 30% pay cut it was a shock but we were okay although I missed the extra cash then he was laid off and got another job at even less money. He got a raise this year of a whopping $30.00 a month it wasn’t even enough to make up for the increase in our utilities.
Please explain.
Exactly. When the moonbats start spouting off about drug control just point them to their savior FDR.
I can’t blame the greatest generation so much, because they were promised programs that would remain solvent, without being fiscally irresponsible.
But I do think anybody, who has been voting since the debt hit a trillion, who was not taking fiscal issues seriously enough who is at fault.
You hit the nail on the head!
You imaginary alternative is non-existent.
It was the so called “greatest generation” that set up this socialist trap for us to fall in to. We of course went along with it because it was “status quo”. As far as those that continue voting for the bankruptcy option that is part and parcel of their “love”, yes we bought into it by a solid majority. I blame the past generation, I blame our generation, and I hope the generation we spawned have enough sense to end it all with compassion and wisdom. As it is, we are all (*&^ed.
Nope, I voted for JFK, not LBJ. We already knew LBJ was a commie. That’s why after our favorite son created his commie great society, WE basically kicked the commies out of our state, and started running it on our own, as far away from the feds as possible and still are today.
Yet the X & Y generations voted in Clinton and Obamajaad. GO FIGURE!
What you say maybe true...or not.
What is largely forgotten is..up until the last ten years or so people relied on the MSM for their info. There was no 24 hour coverage on C-Span, no Rush, no Levin..etc.
If you watched the MSM today or read the newspapers ONLY...think of what lack of information you might have. That was all that was available for years.
The Tea Partiers are for the most part not young. It’s us geezers that are the engines of that movement. And...no...it isn’t because it suddenly affects us. It’s because we finally have information.
Gore lost because he lost his own state. The shit that you peddle here is tiresome. I have never taken a dime from Sam but he sure as hell has taken alot from me. I am a boomer and I would call you outside in a heartbeat. I am watching my Nation fall and your MTV generation ain’t helping.
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