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Baby boomers are a very self centered and selfish generation. They'll leave debt that will take generations to pay down, increased the age millennials can re

by adrr 9y ago

Baby boomers are a very self centered and selfish generation. They'll leave debt that will take generations to pay down, increased the age millennials can retire , and bankrupted most of the pension plans. Because of poor financial planning(45% have no retirement savings, 33% have pushed off retirement), they aren't retiring leading to less jobs of millennials. Its very like them to have a NIMBY attitude.

seiferteric 9y ago
I just read on yahoo finance that social security could be drastically cut by 2028-2034 if nothing changes. Like at what point do we simply refuse to pay into the system if were are going to be shafted?
- sjg007 9y ago
  Only if you vote for congressional reps who want to defund it or otherwise take it away.
  - bpodgursky 9y ago
    It's going to get defunded, either now or when it runs out of money. So you can either raise the retirement age now, cut benefits now, or get totally screwed when it runs out of money in a couple decades.
    - mercutio2 9y ago
      Or, you know, pay out of the general budget, which is what will actually happen and everything will be fine. Governments aren’t like households. They get to print their own money, so budgeting freak outs that apply to one don’t really apply to the other.
      - ganoushoreilly 9y ago
        Printing your own money doesn't solve the problem, it brings more along with it.
      - bpodgursky 9y ago
        Can you name one example in history where a government printed its way out of debt without causing inflicting massive harm on the general public?
    - sjg007 9y ago
      Tax receipts will pay 77% of it in the worst case. You could also increase payroll taxes and remove the income limit.
      - rlanday 9y ago
        That's the worst case, huh? You're sure that people aren't going to continue living longer past retirement age, having fewer kids, and entering the workplace later and later since a Master's degree is rapidly becoming the new high school diploma? Also, removing the income limit would be a massive tax hike (12.4 percentage points, split between employee and employer). The taxes already went up this year for sufficiently-high income individuals in that the income limit was raised from $118,500 to $127,200 (a 7.3% increase).
mark212 9y ago
Over 40 isn't baby boomer. The youngest in that generational cohort is 53 or 57. Big difference. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomers
slg 9y ago
Could you imagine how quickly this comment would be flagged if the same thing was said about millennials? Baby boomers are no more or less selfish than every generation that came before them and every generation that will come after them. They are just the ones in control at the moment so everything gets blamed on them.
- ubernostrum 9y ago
  There is a supportable argument to be made that the Depression/WWII generation pushed for many of the policies which, temporarily, drastically improved life for the average American and effectively created the much-lauded "American middle class". And a supportable argument to be made that their children promptly froze, rolled back or outright repealed those policies and gains upon reaching an age when they wielded significant political power. Without arguing about terms like "selfishness", the motivation can be laid on the economic conditions those generations faced. Depression-era Americans grew up in a time of great economic hardship, and so pushed for legal and social safety nets (Social Security, labor unions, etc.). Their children grew up in a time of economic ease, and so had no understanding of or motivation to preserve those things, and saw them as impediments to their further enrichment (if we get rid of the union, my business is more profitable; if we slash entitlement programs, my taxes are lower, etc.). A good parallel is the anti-vaccine movement in the US. The threat of serious vaccine-preventable diseases is fading from living memory, as most parents of young children today have never lived in a situation where such diseases were a realistic consideration. Thus they see no benefit from vaccines, and over-value the rare side effects (and believe, out of fear, charlatans who fabricate claims that vaccines cause problems those parents are familiar with).
  - slg 9y ago
    I agree that environmental factors shape a generation. People react to the world they were raised in. I just think it is silly to ascribe personal traits like "selfishness" to those reactions. I also think you are attributing these actions to the wrong generations. FDR was born in the 1880s, he wasn't part of the depression/WWII generation. However both Reagan and George HW Bush were. We didn't get the first baby boomer president until Clinton in 1993. Countries are usually controlled by people in their 40s-60s. You can't blame the baby boomers for things that starting happening when they were in their 20s and 30s.

by adrr 9y ago

seiferteric 9y ago

I just read on yahoo finance that social security could be drastically cut by 2028-2034 if nothing changes. Like at what point do we simply refuse to pay into the system if were are going to be shafted?

sjg007 9y ago
Only if you vote for congressional reps who want to defund it or otherwise take it away.
- bpodgursky 9y ago
  It's going to get defunded, either now or when it runs out of money. So you can either raise the retirement age now, cut benefits now, or get totally screwed when it runs out of money in a couple decades.
  - mercutio2 9y ago
    Or, you know, pay out of the general budget, which is what will actually happen and everything will be fine. Governments aren’t like households. They get to print their own money, so budgeting freak outs that apply to one don’t really apply to the other.
    - ganoushoreilly 9y ago
      Printing your own money doesn't solve the problem, it brings more along with it.
    - bpodgursky 9y ago
      Can you name one example in history where a government printed its way out of debt without causing inflicting massive harm on the general public?
  - sjg007 9y ago
    Tax receipts will pay 77% of it in the worst case. You could also increase payroll taxes and remove the income limit.
    - rlanday 9y ago
      That's the worst case, huh? You're sure that people aren't going to continue living longer past retirement age, having fewer kids, and entering the workplace later and later since a Master's degree is rapidly becoming the new high school diploma? Also, removing the income limit would be a massive tax hike (12.4 percentage points, split between employee and employer). The taxes already went up this year for sufficiently-high income individuals in that the income limit was raised from $118,500 to $127,200 (a 7.3% increase).

mark212 9y ago

Over 40 isn't baby boomer. The youngest in that generational cohort is 53 or 57. Big difference. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomers https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomers

slg 9y ago

Could you imagine how quickly this comment would be flagged if the same thing was said about millennials? Baby boomers are no more or less selfish than every generation that came before them and every generation that will come after them. They are just the ones in control at the moment so everything gets blamed on them.

ubernostrum 9y ago
There is a supportable argument to be made that the Depression/WWII generation pushed for many of the policies which, temporarily, drastically improved life for the average American and effectively created the much-lauded "American middle class". And a supportable argument to be made that their children promptly froze, rolled back or outright repealed those policies and gains upon reaching an age when they wielded significant political power. Without arguing about terms like "selfishness", the motivation can be laid on the economic conditions those generations faced. Depression-era Americans grew up in a time of great economic hardship, and so pushed for legal and social safety nets (Social Security, labor unions, etc.). Their children grew up in a time of economic ease, and so had no understanding of or motivation to preserve those things, and saw them as impediments to their further enrichment (if we get rid of the union, my business is more profitable; if we slash entitlement programs, my taxes are lower, etc.). A good parallel is the anti-vaccine movement in the US. The threat of serious vaccine-preventable diseases is fading from living memory, as most parents of young children today have never lived in a situation where such diseases were a realistic consideration. Thus they see no benefit from vaccines, and over-value the rare side effects (and believe, out of fear, charlatans who fabricate claims that vaccines cause problems those parents are familiar with).
- slg 9y ago
  I agree that environmental factors shape a generation. People react to the world they were raised in. I just think it is silly to ascribe personal traits like "selfishness" to those reactions. I also think you are attributing these actions to the wrong generations. FDR was born in the 1880s, he wasn't part of the depression/WWII generation. However both Reagan and George HW Bush were. We didn't get the first baby boomer president until Clinton in 1993. Countries are usually controlled by people in their 40s-60s. You can't blame the baby boomers for things that starting happening when they were in their 20s and 30s.