Posted on 11/14/2011 9:11:04 AM PST by Publius804
Talkin about my generation: the Who song once expressed the hope and self confidence of the Baby Boomers as they reached biological if not emotional maturity. It was an attack on the older generation, a defense of the young, but it includes an ominous refrain: Hope I die before I get old. Already, perhaps, the shadow of generational failure hung over the twenty something Boomers. Those shadows have darkened considerably as the Boomer sun moves past the meridian and an unmistakable air of twilight infiltrates into the declining hours of the long Boomer day.
Talking about our generation is not going to be as much fun for the Boomers as it was in those long distant days of infinite promise. My generation has some real accomplishments under its belt, especially in the worlds of science and technology. And we made important progress in making American society a more open place for people and groups who were once excluded. In every field of American life, there are Boomers who have made and are making important, selfless contributions: in hospitals, in classrooms, in government, in business, in the military. You name it and we are there.
But at the level of public policy and moral leadership, as a generation we have largely failed. The Boomer Progressive Establishment in particular has been a huge disappointment to itself and to the country. The political class slumbered as the entitlement and pension crisis grew to ominous dimensions. Boomer financial leadership was selfish and shortsighted, by and large. Boomer CEOs accelerated the trend toward unlimited greed among corporate elites, and Boomer members of corporate boards sit by and let it happen.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.the-american-interest.com ...
Your suspensions about withholding are well founded.
The debates show that the lawmakers understood that using withholding would make it much, much easier to impose taxes.
The lesson from the world of retail was that customers will spend more money if they can make small regular payments rather one large lump sum. And if the money can be collected before they get their hands on it it’s even easier.
I think Ronald Reagan had proposed to do away with State withholding when he was Governor, because he wanted Californians to be more aware of how much money was being taken from them in taxes.
No assumptions required, truthy. Your thinking isn’t hard to follow, it’s just confused.
Boomers are 1946-64, therefore the oldest boomer is 65.
Silly, it is your thinking that has been revealed to be unable to discern.
Undiagnosed assumptions are more apparent to those who not the ones blinded by them.
Yeah, right, you’ve got me. I didn’t think you would figure it out but there’s no fooling you.
Go ahead and pat yourself on the back, you must need the ego boost. ;)
No, it’s just a matter of admitting the wisdom of Uncle Remus. When Br’er Rabbit spars with the tar baby he ends up tired and covered with tar. The tar baby doesn’t get tired and is quite pleased with itself.
Well, aren’t you the full of himself know it all.
Of course I don’t get tired with the likes of you.
You’re too easy to lure into the patch, because your ego is more important to you.
“The youngest boomers could not even vote for Reagan the first time he ran.”
If you’re going to engage on generational topics, you ought to know what generations came when. The oldest Boomers were born in the early to mid 40s. If you were born in 1945, you had plenty of time to age into an 18 year old or even 21 year old voter in California in 1966. And that isn’t even taking to account that you probably erred again by not even knowing Reagan was running for governor of Calfornia in his first election.
And btw, the Boomers damn sure did give us LBJ, because their rampant idiocy helped give us FJK. And no, I didn’t get those first two letters backwards. Finally, while I can’t find any polls that show the majority of Boomers did or didn’t vote for McGovern, they sure turned out to vote in ‘72 and stopped voting in droves after he lost. I’d love to see where you find polls showing Boomers were generally against McGovern, because I really, really doubt that.
Well the patch is a different story actually. You don’t try to lure someone into the briar patch, you try to get Br’er Fox to throw you into it before he gets the chance to eat you.
Thanks for the ping.
“Boomers are 1946-64, therefore the oldest boomer is 65.”
That depends on whose definition you use. The authors who have written probably the most successful books on the topic of generational differences are Strauss and Howe, and they define the Boomer group as the cohort born from 1943 to 1960, who were too young to have any personal memory of World War II, but old enough to remember the postwar American High. I think that’s a fairer assessment, especially when you look at charts that show when the babies started coming.
A. The Census Bureau ID boomers as those born 1946-1964.
B. In federal elections, the voting age was 21 until 1971.
C. LBJ was elected in 1964. The youngest voters then were born in 1943. McGovern ran in 1972. The youngest voters there were born in 1954. Most boomers were still kids, at home, living with parents. They couldn't vote. Most were 8-17 years old. The youngest boomers couldn't vote for Governor or President Reagan until 1984. Boomers born from November 62-64 could not vote in 1980.
“And then came the ultimate evil: Disco.”
What, you don’t like great classical music like this? It’s only slightly worse than getting a root canal. I know, I’ve tried both.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb2_eo9lBCY&feature=related
“A. The Census Bureau ID boomers as those born 1946-1964.”
The government definition isn’t indicative of the actual boom, which began in 1939. But I’ll even give you a later date that others find acceptable, which is what I went by—1943. That’s the Strauss and Howe definition I mention upthread.
“B. In federal elections, the voting age was 21 until 1971.”
That doesn’t change the fact that the youngest Boomer by MY definition and that of many others was 21 in 1966, meaning that contrary to your assertion some Boomers certainly were able to vote for Reagan during his major national run for the White House in 1968.
“C. LBJ was elected in 1964. The youngest voters then were born in 1943.”
The youngest voters then were born in 1946. Check your state laws—there wasn’t a federal law on voting age then.
“McGovern ran in 1972. The youngest voters there were born in 1954. Most boomers were still kids, at home, living with parents. Most boomers were still kids, at home, living with parents. They couldn’t vote. Most were 8-17 years old.”
The height of the boom was in its first years. The 18-24 demographic participated at a rate similar to the rest of the voting population in 1972. But that’s all distraction anyway. As I pointed out, you certainly can’t back up an assertion that the majority of Boomers somehow were anti-McGovern. There aren’t any polls to show that.
I wasn’t old enough to vote, never mind not being a citizen yet, but I do remember the McGovern “excitement”. The teachers at my HS were all a twitter over the “youth” vote that DID NOT materialize.
What would be more relevant is the age and voting when the boomers actually bothered to vote in big enough numbers to matter. They did not go out and vote for McGovern, as much as the libs wished they would. It seems to me for a long time, and might still be, is the elderly vote has always out voted all the other categories... and they hold the blame.
Small minds bother about small facts, and miss the forest for the trees.
Silly boy, it is people like you who have allowed this country to be destoryed from the inside.
Meanwhile, our grandchildren are at risk of falling for the same swindles as our grandparents might have.
Yep, it’s my fault the country is being destroyed. You’re a sharp one, don’t let anyone tell you differently.
...what in the world were people thinking in the ‘70s....
There is one good piece of work that came out of that evil dancing craze and it’s Whit Stillman’s movie “The Last Days of Disco”. Amazingly, the music in that movie doesn’t make you want to hurl heavy objects at the screen.
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