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It's cute that they call it a fleecing, as if millenials could really have done anything about this. Sadly (I guess...) I suspect the generation responsible fo

It's cute that they call it a fleecing, as if millenials could really have done anything about this. Sadly (I guess...) I suspect the generation responsible for all of this is going to end up paying some unexpected prices when the time comes as they age out of power and have to look to millenials for care.

snikeris 8y ago
No, the millenials will be paying for the older generation's retirement and healthcare via Social Security and Medicare.
- pm90 8y ago
  Not unless the GOP gets its way and privatizes both.
  - Bahamut 8y ago
    Then we'll just be paying it out of pocket.
    - doytch 8y ago
      Eh. If that happened, then at least I'd only be paying for myself out of pocket and not also the older generation that saw fit to have their cake, eat it, and leave the bill for the next generation. (Not that I actually believe there should be a privatised healthcare system.)
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago
  > millenials will be paying for the older generation's retirement and healthcare via Social Security and Medicare My guess is younger generations, once better politically ensconced, will flip the script on boomers by funding broad social benefits out of social security and Medicare. (For example, by reducing Medicare benefits while making them available to all age groups.)
  - treespace8 8y ago
    This won’t happen until the boomers numbers are much smaller then the milliennials. The boomers will be a unified block all voting for social security and health care for the elderly. Everyone else will be split around various special interests. So maybe in 20 years?
    - JumpCrisscross 8y ago
      > Everyone else will be split around various special interests I think you’re overestimating the probability of this factor. Twenty years isn’t a bad estimate, but I’d guess closer to 10.
    - rnernento 8y ago
      I think you're underestimating the fact that the boomers will be a bunch of sick old people literally relying on millenials to take care of them in nursing homes.
lucozade 8y ago
> It's cute that they call it a fleecing Not sure it's cute but it's definitely odd. Fleecing implies that something was taken from millennials. > have to look to millenials for care Are you implying that millenials are more selfish than previous generations? Do you have a basis for that assertion?
SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
> I suspect the generation responsible for all of this is going to end up paying some unexpected prices when the time comes as they age out of power and have to look to millenials for care. Are they going to age out? It seems as though politicians are staying politicians as long as possible - I feel like they last dying gasps of that generation will be clinging to power with shaky palms all the way into the grave. There's new blood, absolutely, but look who is still running the houses. "Cold dead hands" comes to mind.
- rnernento 8y ago
  I don't just mean political power, physical power counts too.
jmull 8y ago
That's a good point. However, the narrative of "blame the boomers" is a con. Blow this off if you want, but just realize that unless you're a russian bot or an ally of the American oligarchs you're working against your own self interests. The con is blame the problems of one group on another group to separate them and get them fighting each other. This distracts everyone from the real causes of the problems. It's the same as blaming the brown people, which is pretty popular right now too. (Not a coincidence: in both cases the groups have a hard time understanding each other and it's very easy to identify the other group.) Another big one is getting people to identify as Ds and Rs and letting them blame and fight each other. (They are somewhat harder to identify, but the red hats help.) It's important for millennials to understand this because without addressing the actual problem you are not going to end up with an actual working solution. You'll go after boomers and still see no improvements. No doubt the people benefitting from the con will say you simply need to go after them harder. Guess what? That other group of people aren't actually demons and anyone demonizing them is bs'ing you, whether wittingly or not. That's not to say boomers haven't benefited from the current system -- they have (generally). But their main advantage there is that they vote. (I don't know the full solution to that, but one thing is we have to make voting easier.) I think the main problem is the massive money in politics. The people with money have always used it to influence politics in order to get more money. But they seem to have basically won outright at this point, with firm control of congress and the supreme court. The executive is mostly under control. The guy at the top is a wild-card but can be managed and is incompetent in any case. Anyway, I wish I had a lot of answers but I don't. Just keep your eyes open and don't fall for the con. That's probably not enough to ensure a good outcome, but if you don't it's enough to ensure a bad outcome.
- echelon 8y ago
  > I don't know the full solution to that, but one thing is we have to make voting easier. I wholeheartedly agree. We need absolutely zero friction to onboard younger generations. What does this look like to you? Do we provide an app where people can input their social security, driver's license, or other ID number? How do we keep it from being abused if this information was stolen by a third party? Ideally we could have something as simple as download -> vote -> submit. And also provide a website version that doesn't even need to be downloaded. How do we get something like this approved? What states would be the most likely to go for this?

snikeris 8y ago

No, the millenials will be paying for the older generation's retirement and healthcare via Social Security and Medicare.

pm90 8y ago
Not unless the GOP gets its way and privatizes both.
- Bahamut 8y ago
  Then we'll just be paying it out of pocket.
  - doytch 8y ago
    Eh. If that happened, then at least I'd only be paying for myself out of pocket and not also the older generation that saw fit to have their cake, eat it, and leave the bill for the next generation. (Not that I actually believe there should be a privatised healthcare system.)
JumpCrisscross 8y ago
> millenials will be paying for the older generation's retirement and healthcare via Social Security and Medicare My guess is younger generations, once better politically ensconced, will flip the script on boomers by funding broad social benefits out of social security and Medicare. (For example, by reducing Medicare benefits while making them available to all age groups.)
- treespace8 8y ago
  This won’t happen until the boomers numbers are much smaller then the milliennials. The boomers will be a unified block all voting for social security and health care for the elderly. Everyone else will be split around various special interests. So maybe in 20 years?
  - JumpCrisscross 8y ago
    > Everyone else will be split around various special interests I think you’re overestimating the probability of this factor. Twenty years isn’t a bad estimate, but I’d guess closer to 10.
  - rnernento 8y ago
    I think you're underestimating the fact that the boomers will be a bunch of sick old people literally relying on millenials to take care of them in nursing homes.

lucozade 8y ago

> It's cute that they call it a fleecing Not sure it's cute but it's definitely odd. Fleecing implies that something was taken from millennials. > have to look to millenials for care Are you implying that millenials are more selfish than previous generations? Do you have a basis for that assertion?

SketchySeaBeast 8y ago

> I suspect the generation responsible for all of this is going to end up paying some unexpected prices when the time comes as they age out of power and have to look to millenials for care. Are they going to age out? It seems as though politicians are staying politicians as long as possible - I feel like they last dying gasps of that generation will be clinging to power with shaky palms all the way into the grave. There's new blood, absolutely, but look who is still running the houses. "Cold dead hands" comes to mind.

rnernento 8y ago
I don't just mean political power, physical power counts too.

jmull 8y ago

That's a good point. However, the narrative of "blame the boomers" is a con. Blow this off if you want, but just realize that unless you're a russian bot or an ally of the American oligarchs you're working against your own self interests. The con is blame the problems of one group on another group to separate them and get them fighting each other. This distracts everyone from the real causes of the problems. It's the same as blaming the brown people, which is pretty popular right now too. (Not a coincidence: in both cases the groups have a hard time understanding each other and it's very easy to identify the other group.) Another big one is getting people to identify as Ds and Rs and letting them blame and fight each other. (They are somewhat harder to identify, but the red hats help.) It's important for millennials to understand this because without addressing the actual problem you are not going to end up with an actual working solution. You'll go after boomers and still see no improvements. No doubt the people benefitting from the con will say you simply need to go after them harder. Guess what? That other group of people aren't actually demons and anyone demonizing them is bs'ing you, whether wittingly or not. That's not to say boomers haven't benefited from the current system -- they have (generally). But their main advantage there is that they vote. (I don't know the full solution to that, but one thing is we have to make voting easier.) I think the main problem is the massive money in politics. The people with money have always used it to influence politics in order to get more money. But they seem to have basically won outright at this point, with firm control of congress and the supreme court. The executive is mostly under control. The guy at the top is a wild-card but can be managed and is incompetent in any case. Anyway, I wish I had a lot of answers but I don't. Just keep your eyes open and don't fall for the con. That's probably not enough to ensure a good outcome, but if you don't it's enough to ensure a bad outcome.

echelon 8y ago
> I don't know the full solution to that, but one thing is we have to make voting easier. I wholeheartedly agree. We need absolutely zero friction to onboard younger generations. What does this look like to you? Do we provide an app where people can input their social security, driver's license, or other ID number? How do we keep it from being abused if this information was stolen by a third party? Ideally we could have something as simple as download -> vote -> submit. And also provide a website version that doesn't even need to be downloaded. How do we get something like this approved? What states would be the most likely to go for this?