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Inequality started to get bad around 1980 or so. That's when my generation ("boomers", we're called, or maybe the "worst generation" to compare us to the WWII

Inequality started to get bad around 1980 or so. That's when my generation ("boomers", we're called, or maybe the "worst generation" to compare us to the WWII "greatest generation") decided that taxation was theft and younger people should suck it up and pay through the nose for their own college and housing. We've been successful. We've grabbed all the cookies. Some of those cookies could have gone for education, for infrastructure, and other things. Some of them could have gone into urban development to make sure the growing population had decent living quarters. Some of them could have gone into paying for sensible oversight of pharma, finance, and other vital business. But no. Those cookies are mine, MINE I tell you! And you can't have any. And by the way, no new apartment buildings in MY neighborhood. We're too special to have any riffraff who can't afford to pay most of a megabuck for a place to live. <irony><snark /></irony>

finnh 8y ago
I agree, but there's plenty of blame to go around ... In particular, I think the "greatest generation" also bears heavy responsibility as they, after all, filled out the ranks of the AARP during the 80s.
zackmorris 8y ago
I'm kind of in the same boat, Gen X born 1977. I grew up under Reagan, thinking he was "the president" because he looked and sounded like "the president". But over time I learned (mostly from my parents) that most of what Reagan was selling was a bill of goods. The "greed is good" mantra of the 80s didn't accelerate progress, it stifled it. In reality, the major public works that formed the American infrastructure we take for granted today were built when my grandparents' generation was in its prime, starting with the end of the Great Depression in the late 30s and ending sometime around the late 60s when it became fearful of the counterculture and began trying to outlaw all of the alternate routes to enlightenment (sex, drugs and rock & roll). The 70s was a battle of philosophies between the Archie Bunkers of the world and disillusioned youth that had good reason to no longer trust authority (the Vietnam war). My generation had great stuff in the 80s like Star Wars and Nintendo, but it also got saddled with just awful stuff like AIDS and the war on drugs. So we grew up naive and sheltered (what I imagine the 1950s to have been like) until the hedonistic days of the late 90s when some of the best of us were lost to excess. Then we lost the 2000s to the dot bomb, the global war on terror and finally the housing bubble. I don't feel like Gen X really got a foothold until Obama's election. So we've generally had little or no say in politics or our economic situation our entire lives. Gen X may very well be one of the most disenfranchised and lost generations in modern history. AAAnnnddd that's why I think the economy stinks. The best and brightest minds of my generation got snowed under by ADHD drugs and work in tech now, making money for rich people. The ones that know what's going on get mocked by the pretty people - the Paul Ryans of the world, the modern day snake oil salesmen. The populist wave washing over the world right now might be seen as a total accident if one doesn't have the context I've described above. There's a relentless, untiring machine of sexism/racism/classism that seduces the unwary with colorful notions like trickle down economics, which don't stand up to scrutiny. And unfortunately I see a lot of "the government is the enemy" propaganda popping up on Hacker News because of its indentured servitude to the wealthy and their libertarian talking points. If you want to fix the economy, it's so trivial as to almost be a joke. Just do the opposite of everything we've done since 1980. Raise taxes on the rich, publicly fund healthcare and education, empower the disenfranchised. When you remove the terror from people's lives, they'll work in harmony together and we could have things back on track in 5 or 10 years. Europe's doing it. Australia has an $18 minimum wage. And since none of this is likely to happen in the US, ask yourself who stands to profit in a culture of angst. Which slippery officials do marginalized people elect, which extractionary industries profit, which people/plants/animals are tread over by multinational corporations too big for any government to control? If you grok that, then you have a glimpse into the indignation of Gen X.
nickthemagicman 8y ago
I don't know why you're blaming your generation specifically. All ages and walks of life believe this. It's called Conservatism/Libertarianism. The don't believe that if you live in a society you should have to contribute towards the betterment of society through taxes.
randomdata 8y ago
> Inequality started to get bad around 1980 or so. Do you mean returned to being bad? Inequality was much greater leading up to the great depression. The great depression wiped out a lot of the inequality that had existed. Once that had passed, and the economy restored to a more stable state, the inequality naturally came back. By all accounts, 2008 probably should have been another depression that would have helped wipe out that inequality again. But it seems not even those on the losing end of that inequality are comfortable with living through the conditions that the equalization process results in, and thus we, as a society, took steps to maintain the status quo.

finnh 8y ago

I agree, but there's plenty of blame to go around ... In particular, I think the "greatest generation" also bears heavy responsibility as they, after all, filled out the ranks of the AARP during the 80s.

zackmorris 8y ago

I'm kind of in the same boat, Gen X born 1977. I grew up under Reagan, thinking he was "the president" because he looked and sounded like "the president". But over time I learned (mostly from my parents) that most of what Reagan was selling was a bill of goods. The "greed is good" mantra of the 80s didn't accelerate progress, it stifled it. In reality, the major public works that formed the American infrastructure we take for granted today were built when my grandparents' generation was in its prime, starting with the end of the Great Depression in the late 30s and ending sometime around the late 60s when it became fearful of the counterculture and began trying to outlaw all of the alternate routes to enlightenment (sex, drugs and rock & roll). The 70s was a battle of philosophies between the Archie Bunkers of the world and disillusioned youth that had good reason to no longer trust authority (the Vietnam war). My generation had great stuff in the 80s like Star Wars and Nintendo, but it also got saddled with just awful stuff like AIDS and the war on drugs. So we grew up naive and sheltered (what I imagine the 1950s to have been like) until the hedonistic days of the late 90s when some of the best of us were lost to excess. Then we lost the 2000s to the dot bomb, the global war on terror and finally the housing bubble. I don't feel like Gen X really got a foothold until Obama's election. So we've generally had little or no say in politics or our economic situation our entire lives. Gen X may very well be one of the most disenfranchised and lost generations in modern history. AAAnnnddd that's why I think the economy stinks. The best and brightest minds of my generation got snowed under by ADHD drugs and work in tech now, making money for rich people. The ones that know what's going on get mocked by the pretty people - the Paul Ryans of the world, the modern day snake oil salesmen. The populist wave washing over the world right now might be seen as a total accident if one doesn't have the context I've described above. There's a relentless, untiring machine of sexism/racism/classism that seduces the unwary with colorful notions like trickle down economics, which don't stand up to scrutiny. And unfortunately I see a lot of "the government is the enemy" propaganda popping up on Hacker News because of its indentured servitude to the wealthy and their libertarian talking points. If you want to fix the economy, it's so trivial as to almost be a joke. Just do the opposite of everything we've done since 1980. Raise taxes on the rich, publicly fund healthcare and education, empower the disenfranchised. When you remove the terror from people's lives, they'll work in harmony together and we could have things back on track in 5 or 10 years. Europe's doing it. Australia has an $18 minimum wage. And since none of this is likely to happen in the US, ask yourself who stands to profit in a culture of angst. Which slippery officials do marginalized people elect, which extractionary industries profit, which people/plants/animals are tread over by multinational corporations too big for any government to control? If you grok that, then you have a glimpse into the indignation of Gen X.

nickthemagicman 8y ago

I don't know why you're blaming your generation specifically. All ages and walks of life believe this. It's called Conservatism/Libertarianism. The don't believe that if you live in a society you should have to contribute towards the betterment of society through taxes.

randomdata 8y ago

> Inequality started to get bad around 1980 or so. Do you mean returned to being bad? Inequality was much greater leading up to the great depression. The great depression wiped out a lot of the inequality that had existed. Once that had passed, and the economy restored to a more stable state, the inequality naturally came back. By all accounts, 2008 probably should have been another depression that would have helped wipe out that inequality again. But it seems not even those on the losing end of that inequality are comfortable with living through the conditions that the equalization process results in, and thus we, as a society, took steps to maintain the status quo.