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I strongly agree that the baby boomer generation will not be looked on well by history as this generation: -Took massive debt to pay for entitlements that will

by joelx 7y ago

I strongly agree that the baby boomer generation will not be looked on well by history as this generation: -Took massive debt to pay for entitlements that will eventually have to be paid for by their grandchildren. -Elected politicians based not on competence but on relatives (Bush, Clinton), or on easily disproved false pretenses (Trump). -Encouraged and allowed the growth of special interest industries that damaged the country (patent lawyers, AMA increasing healthcare costs, etc). This destroyed free markets. -Fought massively expensive foreign wars with their kids and grandkids without end goals and strictly limited troops rules of engagement with misguided morality. -Destroyed legitimate political debate in favor of simply screaming that your side is right and endlessly saying "what about Hillary" or "what about Trump" instead of engaging on issues.

rdtwo 7y ago
I don’t understand how it’s possible to generationally take “...massive debt to pay for entitlements that will eventually have to be paid for by their grandchildren” The debt is there but really it’s a wealth redistribution/accounting problem. Someone owns the other side of the debt, and considers it an asset so in aggregate it’s a net zero. The problem really is that debt that can’t be paid won’t so are we really just looking at some sort of large scale accounting trick where someone is more wealthy than they actually are.
- joelx 7y ago
  If we don't pay the national debt, the US economy would suffer enormously. Eventually people would lose trust in the US dollar itself causing hyperinflation which leads to the worst disasters in modern history.
  - howard941 7y ago
    That won't happen unless idiots run the Treasury because it's easily rolled over into new bond issues. The worst of the lies are the ones justifying needlessly painful austerity that get trotted out every couple of months equating sovereign debt with household debt. And a little bit more (not hyper) inflation instead of this disinflation we're stuck in would be very helpful to debtors.
  - rdtwo 7y ago
    The point is that in aggregate the entire generation probably both owns and owes the same debt. Redistribution is clearly happening between groups and country but the entire pool sums up to near zero
richliss 7y ago
Just wait... if scientists figure out how to live much longer lives (but at a great financial cost) you can guarantee boomers will spend the money and live as long as they can rather than passing on any kind of inheritance. I've explicitly warned the boomer parents of people we know that their kids won't be paying for their care in old age but you still hear about them having cashed out their pension early, spent the inheritance that they were given etc. to travel around the world multiple times, have botox etc. They honestly think when the time comes to it they will be ok - they won't and unlike in previous generations, their kids and grandchildren won't feel guilty about granny and grandpa eating dogfood in a cold apartment in the bad part of town.

by joelx 7y ago

rdtwo 7y ago

I don’t understand how it’s possible to generationally take “...massive debt to pay for entitlements that will eventually have to be paid for by their grandchildren” The debt is there but really it’s a wealth redistribution/accounting problem. Someone owns the other side of the debt, and considers it an asset so in aggregate it’s a net zero. The problem really is that debt that can’t be paid won’t so are we really just looking at some sort of large scale accounting trick where someone is more wealthy than they actually are.

joelx 7y ago
If we don't pay the national debt, the US economy would suffer enormously. Eventually people would lose trust in the US dollar itself causing hyperinflation which leads to the worst disasters in modern history.
- howard941 7y ago
  That won't happen unless idiots run the Treasury because it's easily rolled over into new bond issues. The worst of the lies are the ones justifying needlessly painful austerity that get trotted out every couple of months equating sovereign debt with household debt. And a little bit more (not hyper) inflation instead of this disinflation we're stuck in would be very helpful to debtors.
- rdtwo 7y ago
  The point is that in aggregate the entire generation probably both owns and owes the same debt. Redistribution is clearly happening between groups and country but the entire pool sums up to near zero

richliss 7y ago

Just wait... if scientists figure out how to live much longer lives (but at a great financial cost) you can guarantee boomers will spend the money and live as long as they can rather than passing on any kind of inheritance. I've explicitly warned the boomer parents of people we know that their kids won't be paying for their care in old age but you still hear about them having cashed out their pension early, spent the inheritance that they were given etc. to travel around the world multiple times, have botox etc. They honestly think when the time comes to it they will be ok - they won't and unlike in previous generations, their kids and grandchildren won't feel guilty about granny and grandpa eating dogfood in a cold apartment in the bad part of town.