Oh, it's simple, the Boomers got their $10k college education and their $60k home then decided to pull up the ladders and rip up the roots of the American dream by putting in charge the worst people they could find, such as Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump.
You’ve got your generations merged. “Greatest” Generation begat Reagan. Boomers got LBJ. I think Gen X is responsible for Trump,
Never mind. LBJ was before Reagan. But boomers ended Vietnam War while Greatest Gen voted for Reagan.
"Our parents who had just survived a traumatizing World War and a Great Depression, raised us saying, "you deserve everything." And we believed it."
They had to wait for gas that one time and it broke them.
LOL, please don't make yourself look foolish by talking about things you know nothing about and didn't experience. EVERY generation has had its nightmares, including Boomers. I get you're angry, I am too. Furious. But put your blame where it belongs. Boomers didn't do this to you, Billionaires did.
As someone who doesn't follow my own advice either, both can be true.
I live by my advice. While it's true some billionaires are/were Boomers, many are/were not. And though older Boomers did have some strokes of good luck, they also lived through a lot of bad, like growing up with racism/sexism, being drafted to Vietnam at 18, AIDS, and a few market crashes.
Neverending war? Racism? Sexism? Deadly disease outbreaks and market crashes.....wow, how did you ever survive those? Try speedrunning 'em all without those legs up the Boomers as a whole are out to deny everyone else.
Focus your anger where it belongs, not on an entire generation. It's playing into the hands of conservatives and, yes, billionaires who'd rather you attack and blame old people than them.
You've no idea what racism/sexism were like for early Boomers--lynchings, rapes, abuse, AIDS was horrific. And of those who got legs-up, many didn't benefit long term. I'm 65, ill health, can't work, live in a 220 sq. ft. studio, SS is $1230, and when my 401K empties, suicide. Stop the envy and hate
What envy? I hope things improve for you.
Sorry, I just hit a wall being beat on from all sides. Young people hate on me for being a Boomer who had live easy, black women hate on me for being a white woman, since conservative white women voted for Trump, making me guilty by association, and MAGA hates on me for being a dangerous liberal.
They won't, but thanks. Envy of Boomers. Blame of Boomers. It helps no one.
Try living thru the farm crisis in the early 1980s like I did with mortgage rates of 15-20%. people have no clue.
You mean when farmers received a $4 billion mortgage bailout from Reagan and then he permanently changed how farm mortgages were done to protect farmers even further? Yeah I feel real sorry for you. You'll have to dry your tears with all the subsidy money.
Suburbanites were Reagan's biggest fans then. The farmers were very on the left where I am from. Further left than I was at the time. That why in MN we called it the DFL party. F for Farmer.
what a nice anecdote. you seem quite selective on what you do and don't think is relevant from that era. mentioning mortgage rates but forgetting how high interest was on savings accounts, mentioning the farm crisis but forgetting the multi billion dollar bail out and safeguards enacted.
"By 1980, the farm vote had turned almost solid Red." "Reagan received 62% of the farm vote." Did you forget Carter's cut to subsidies, his embargoes, soil unpopular conservation policies? perhaps you should not rely on anecdotal evidence & personal, bias memory.
Here is 1988. Dukakis won big in many farm counties. Carter won my home farm township 2:1 in 1980. The farm world is not all the same. My ancestors were active in the leftie Farmer Labor Party in the 1930s. fDR wasn’t left enough. FL ran Minnesota in the 1930s
In the 1980 election the farm crisis wasn't in full swing yet.
Yup, as an Iowan have nooo idea about any of that. What was your savings account getting back then?
Iowa farmers going bankrupt literally had no money in savings back in 1981. Many farmers were dems then. 12% bank savings rate shows this math: of $0.00 x 0.12 = $0.00
So your saving account was getting 6x my premium checking and 4x of my "high yield" account are, got it. Back in '67 Time had it right when they labeled Boomers "The Inheritors", and it's been 45 years of making sure nobody else could inherit that either. Glad you turned left, most did not.
and then yall refinanced when the yield curve returned to normal. save your bitching for someone who’s not a complete fucking moron.
But why would you want that for your children or grandchildren? I lived through that too.
We don't.
Some people don't, mainly Democrats.
Not all of us could afford the 10k education or the 60k home while making 2.25hr so now we rent at outrageous rates, line up at the food bank and cannot afford the admission to the pool exercise class shown above. Every generation has its so called winners and losers....your generation will too.
Well…”The Boomers” have also been showing up at anti-Trump protests in numbers higher than any other demographic. It’s not a monolith, though you’re not wrong about the economics.
And all that money won’t even get passed on to their kids, it’ll just get vaccuumed up by private equity via healthcare & eldercare costs.
And you think Boomers voted for an expensive old age?
Looking at the results of their voting habits, yes, they did exactly that.
you paint with a mighty broad brush
Throw Nixon in there; he's Ground Zero for this Constitutional crisis.
Thanks for linking an article I have to pay for to see.
what utter bullshit I'm a boomer, worked to put myself through college, had a student loan, and sure as fuck never once voted for a fucking republican, much less Reagan, either Bush, or Trump. Just more people trying to blame someone else when the people they SHOULD blame are the rich & politicians
So you're the, OK Boomer
Ha, good one
This gets all the entendres.
No, we're the boomers who brought you the womens rights movement, the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement, technological innovation as well as a lot of great art and music. medium.com/@lbergelt/th...
Spot on
Cool, so then this article isn't talking about you and you shouldn't get mad over it.
OP doesn't know about inflation, cost of living, cost of medical care, etc. etc. My adult years, beginning in the 80's, mortgage rates hit 16%. It wasn't all gravy and whipped cream.
Me too! I put myself through school by working & a paid off loan. I’ve fought for women’s rights & voted Democratic my whole life. Many of us did, all my family & most of my friends. Please don’t lump us all into the same basket!
This is exactly what Trump et al wants: to create more hate & division among the American people/masses. The corporate billionaires have pushed America to this place holding down wages & controlling prices, plus buying politicians that supported their agenda. Look at CEO salary growth vs minimum pay
If it’s not talking about you don’t take offense
True💓 But it is frustrating to be lumped in with what I consider to be bad groups of people. Also we need to not fall into the trap of treating groups as being monolithic.
hit dog hollers
go ahead, fall into the trap...those in power WANT us to be at each other's throats, blaming one another so we AREN'T at THEIR throats. You want to blame boomers or anyone else for the issues in your life, great. But those issues are caused by the rich owning our political system. Period.
Um, how many of the rich are Boomers?
In 1980, the Boomers were young. Reagan and Carter split the youth vote. However, Reagan won voters born in 1950 and earlier by double digits. ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-v...
We’re losing the subsequent generation to trumpism. Baby boomers are still likely believers in government. We know what good governance looks like. Everyone in the past forty years have been subjected to Republican demonizing everything public and collective: unions, states, schools, whatever.
Yep, Boomers are an easy target but left/liberal Gen Xers flatter themselves too much. Their generation loves the WWE shitshow.
They grew up on Jerry Springer, I grew up with Phil Donahue. Our Tv shows were MASH and Room 222, they grew up with “greed is good” and reality shows. It’s not their fault, it’s republicans. Always I’m focusing on the enemy. Not any voters.
Stop whining like maga and get to work fixing it.
Drama and hyperbole. I am a ‘boomer’. My college education cost WAY more than $10k. And I loaned myself to the hilt to pay for it (not even my parents helped). Took 10 years to pay off the loans. And you are not even close on the price of my first house, which I am still paying off.
My experience? If they HAD gotten the college education, they would have developed the critical thinking skills to recognize snake oil salesman, and we wouldn’t be in this mess.
It’s not as simple as that. Come on.
You know, as a boomer, when I was younger, all these articles wrote about how the “greatest generation” had all the money. And like kids today, we came of age during the worst recession since the Depression. We inherited from our parents just like gen X will from us. It’s a cycle.
The steward generation, defined by convenience, took the avenue of least resistance from the word go. If it was put in front of them and had the personality of jangling keys, of course it had their vote.
how do Clinton, Obama, and Biden get left off this list 🙃
Clinton left with surplus and both Obama and Biden ended their terms with stronger economies than they started with.
ah you're right, none of those three deregulated banks so they could gamble with our money, then when the banks lost our money and lied about it none of those three gave them a bunch of the rest of our money and let them keep gambling, just three peerless leaders those guys are
They’re not the worst though. They could have been way better.
Boomers were too young to have lifted up Reagan. Don’t blame everything on us.
Too young? The earliest boomers (born 1946+ onwards could absolutely vote in the 70s and 80s)
Of course. I did.
This baby-boomer has always voted Democrat.
I know we already hate Boomers, but we really should hate them even more.
Wow, way to stigmatize an entire generation and basically accuse boomers of ruining everything for future generations. Not only is this grossly unfair, it also puts all of us in a one sided political bucket..
Skill issue
Yeah, must be tough to hear your entire generation stigmatized for the behavior of a small %. I wouldn’t know! Signed, A Millennial
Been going on for centuries. Maybe everyone should stop generalizing. It accomplishes very little.
Interesting how effective Russian divide & conquer efforts are. The younglings forget how the boomers (50% or so) were protesting against the draft & Viet Nam war, supporting civil rights for minorities (POC's, LGBT's, Women), the environment. I'm to the point of throwing batteries into the trash.
I hear you. And agree 💯%
If I had a Trumper offspring, he'd be written out of the will in favor of saving the endangered three legged frog or something. Fellow/sister boomers, take note of your offsprings' politics and rewrite your wills accordingly.
Yeah but then they decided that what they fought for was far enough and any other civil advance was too much.
You're wrong. We're in the fight. You just don't see us because anyone over 40 is invisible to you because you are blinded by Russian divide and conquer tactics. But hey, I'll throw a few more lithium batteries in the landfill headed trash in your name and for your children's benefit. Why bother?
Don’t take it so personally. I didn’t launch into a ‘not all men’ tirade when women chose the bear.
Those they voted for since, have negated a ton of those civil/human rights & environmental gains. 🙁 I’m GenX - its hard to acknowledge a majority of my generation voted Trump (twice). But I’m not about to absolve my generation of the consequences of it simply because *I* didn’t vote that way.
Let's just be real. A majority of WHITE PEOPLE, especially WHITE MEN of all ages voted for this. Stop blaming boomers. And, by the way, look at photos. We oldsters are still out there. But to anyone under 50, we're invisible. It's a YOU problem.
Invisible? Try being Genx, lol! Boomers have been calling the political shots for years, hardly invisible. My parents are both boomers, smh. But yes, speak extra condescendingly in response when someone *respectfully* pushes back on something you say. That’ll help. 😏
Your generation is also called the ME Generation aka I got mine and screw the rest of us. If I can accept the problems that My Gen X generation has foisted on this work, so can you.
What? I’m to accept something that had nothing to do with me personally? Simply because of the timeline I was born in? No exceptions. Labels are stupid no matter what generation. GTFOH…
You aren't your generation, nor am I, but I can admit GenX is more filled with nasty reactionaries even though I am not one. Let me guess, you also think the vast majority of the US thought the Kent State shootings were a bad thing in 1970?
I am labeled a boomer, I am retired, I have always voted democrat and I have voted for the minimum wage to be increased every chance I get. Labels are simply ways for people to easily vilify one another.
retired? what an unbelievable privilege. I literally cannot imagine.
Well you should, because you will probably be retired someday. It may not be the retirement you hoped for wished for or wanted, but you will be retired someday
No I’ll probably have to work until I die
You mean something more like retired as in *forced retirement* because we can no longer physically or mentally work anymore.
Most of us not of retirement age don’t think we will ever retire, or see a dime we’ve paid into social security/medicare. The future viability math of both is pretty bleak - especially with the current administration.
In a cyberpunk sense probably
Yeah pretty much
See this here is part of the problem, because for the last 40 years Democrats have also been pushing for this reduction of the social safety net and reallocation of finance to only benefit those who already have money. But boomers didn’t pay attention or didn’t care and didn’t discipline Democrats
We would be in an entirely different world if the Democratic project since the 80s was focused on undo-ing Reaganism. Clinton’s welfare reform plan should have seen him disgrace, same for Obama bailing out the banks in 2008 without creating any new safeguards or punishing any bad actors. Shameful.
I don’t disagree with you but that wasn’t my point. We should try and not label with such broad strokes which just makes it easier to vilify groups of people. We can also only vote for what we have available to vote on. I pick a democrat policy and person over a republican every time.
I think this mentality is what led us to where we are now and I can’t wait until we get rid of it and actually fight for good things instead of constantly compromising our values. Have a nice day.
Hmmm, what would you suggest. Not voting is not an option.
Aggressive primaries for D pols who don't hold the line for justice and human rights or who don't act in the interests of non-wealthy citizens. Re-establish boundaries within the party to bring its goals back to what they were in the New Deal and Civil Rights era. We had political dominance then.
I genuinely see the takeover of what was supposed to be the "left" party by politicians who are wealthy and business-connected as the first step to where we are today and we won't be able to walk it back until we start there.
Like the label "rich?" I am a Boomer and I am aware that many of my boomer friends have a lot of money and very nice houses that are unaffordable for younger generations. Something is broken.
It'll be a shame when the next epidemic hits people 70 and above at disproportionate rates.
Bingo! G. O. P. —> Greedy Old People.
📌
Wait a fucking minute. Almost every presidential contest is close. Half of the votes are Democratic. Except for Reagan's second term, where he got 58% of the vote, the margins are quite small. So it's just not thoughtful to say Boomers bad, they chose awful leaders.
They made sure they were the most special babies and always would be
$10K? Try free.
Weird. My college education definitely wasn't free
Yeah? How much did it cost you, where and when?
Cuz I went in the age of federal student loans so if you are bitching about like $2500 for tuition room and board them I really don’t want to hear about it, and/or you went to private school or aren’t a boomer. You’re getting muted either way.
Well, then I suppose you'll be muting me. Whatever shall I do?
I mean, if you're muting me either way, it really doesn't matter what I say, does it?
Seems to be an extreme reaction however, to me simply stating that my education wasn't free. You might want to look into getting some help for that
The age demographic that was most responsible for handing all of us over to Trump and ProjeKKKt 2025 was the Xers. I’m 52 by the way and I make no excuses for these fools.
Nonsense.
Look it up.
Its true… white GenX men and women. 😞
True, but the Boomers absolutely started the downhill slide with their enthusiastic embrace of Reagan and the neoliberal fantasy.
Even economists fell for trickle down economics at the time. It didn’t work so those Boomers also voted in Clinton and Obama.
Who, while better on social issues, were still part of the neoliberal project. Anybody telling Boomers they had to sacrifice *anything* lost big…even when it came to the literal future of the planet. 😕 Not that GenX has turned out much better, it just took us longer. 🫠
When Elon threw in with Trump, one of the first things he said that was that if Trump was elected, people would have to undergo hardship. The Xers voted for it anyhow.
Unfortunately few outside of the politically obsessed even heard that, let alone believed it. All the typical Republican voter heard was ‘MAGA…for me and not them’.
When I was in high school, they still thought the next ice age was coming. The first computer model of the Earth’s climate wasn’t built until 1967 because computers weren’t a thing. And it wasn’t till 1988 that climate issues hit the headlines (I was 33!). Then followed years of debate.
So climate took a back seat to the pressing issues of civil rights, polluted lakes/rivers, the imminent threat of nuclear war, holes in the ozone layer caused by CFCs, women’s rights, etc. Boomers fought hard on the issues of their day. We didn’t have the predictive capabilities that exist today.
That’s fair and nobody expects prescience. But every Boomer I know can reminisce about how there was more snow when they were kids one minute and flat out deny that global warming is happening the next.
Maybe that’s just your area. Where I live, we’re all rabid environmentalists. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Beach cleanups and anti-logging. The q whole nine yards. Of course, Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964, so we are not only huge in numbers but diverse in ages.
But some of the Boomers...There. I fixed it for you.
Reagan was peek stupid boomer decision. We are where we are now because of that disaster.
The truth about America is it’s not a country, but a loose coalition of exploitative interests
Sorry, but I am not one those who "ripped up the roots of the American dream." I fucking worked my ass off to be able, as a single mother of three, to put food on the table and clothes on my kids. Your generalization is destructive and I resent it. To group all Boomers as Republicans is stupid.
bsky.app/profile/twit...
So those over 75 have even less inflation adjusted money now? Wow. 180k in 1989 is 480k today adjusted for inflation.
Pretty sure those are inflation adjust $.
*adjusted*
That needs to be pointed out if that is true.
Not to mention electing politicians who were intellectually disingenuous and refused to make hard choices. How quickly they went from "tax and spend liberals will destroy this country" to "deficits don't matter" gave me whiplash. They started the trend of never holding pols accountable.
My Dad was a civil servant for 47 years (Mom mostly stay at home with a few years at IBM) with three kids draining their savings at every turn and with stick-to-itiveness are LOADED in their late 70s. At least I think he voted for Carter, but only once.
Our parents' generation also had 8-11% rates in their savings accounts during their prime years. "Savings" was a thing-- plain old bank accounts, not the Wall Street Casino. Earn it. Save it. It grew. I'd suggest that Dems call for bringing back the Glass-Steagall Act, but... LOL 😂🤷♂️
Old-timers bemoan the days of "12-17% mortgages"... but often conveniently forget that they had 8-14% savings accounts with which to save the money for that house. Rates need to go UP, not Down!
People freaking out about mortgage rates going up all the way to six percent. The horror!
I had to buy houses with that rate but I still don't want anyone else to have to.
I’d happily pay that rate… for a $20,000 house.
Still better than paying rent, which is the equivalent of setting money on fire. You can't get around housing costs, so better to put those costs to work for you instead of against.
That is unrealistic. In my area, teachers, etc. can't afford to rent or buy. Too many houses are snapped up at ridiculous prices for Air B&Bs or houses rented by the room to college kids (ie. their parents). I truly don't know how my grandkids are going to buy a house without generational wealth.
IMO a "Flipper Tax" would do wonders. If you buy a house, and re-sell in less than three years? Extra 20% tax on that sale. (Those funds then get diverted to subsidize new/lower-cost housing). Flippers have been the main problem, at least here in MA. Fucking Parasites, the lot of them.
Why don't you pass some laws about that? Oh, right, it wouldn't pass. It also hurts military people and others moved around by their companies. Besides, no one wants lower-cost housing in their neighborhood.
Real Estate is also undertaxed, in general. We overtax income, undertax land, and (apparently) don't tax so-called "equity" at all. (And "equity" is where most of the Big Wealth is hiding).
With a much lower income to match. Do you do maths much?
Hell yes I do math. In my area, a teacher starts well under $50,000 and you just try to find a decent house - or any house - for $200,000! The average house is almost $500,000 here
"Do you know wtf INFLATION is?" Min Wage in 1975 (just to pick a year) was $2.10. That's $12-13/hr in today's money. REAL money (before Reagan financialized everything). A HS diploma guy working at GM, earning $17K/year was RICH, by today's standards.
That’s kind of my point. Maybe my sarcasm isn’t best sometime. I remember cars advertised for 2500$ in 1975 or thereabouts. Our farm mortgage was 15% in 1981.
BS. Try living thru the farm crisis like I did. 15-18% mortgage rates, falling incomes and NO cash is the bank. you had no money to earn high savings interest!!
I remember that, too. Bailed out by Reagan in the mid-80s (they literally made special rules within the Bankruptcy Laws for farmers). Because most farmers were (and still are) Republican. You're saying you'd reject the chance to have an 11% savings account? Seriously? WTF is your problem?
It's amazing what 47 years of retirement savings can do.
I thought we had cleaned them out but those selfish old fogeys had been squirreling it away.
Pensions are incredible things no one is allowed to have anymore.
lol. Boomers in the replies sound really defensive about being blanketed in a perfectly apt generalization. Worse still, talking about voting for Clinton or Obama as if that makes the defense stronger, even though they represented the betrayal of liberalism and the rise of neoliberalism.
🤣 I’m sure as hell not running interference for my fellow GenX who screwed us all equally. Off with their heads, I say. 😈
blaming your grandparents for the housing market is just idiocy, the housing market is unaffordable because govts let equity bros buy up homes and foreign people sink their money into vacant properties. the 30something year olds that paid 250k over value seemed fine with the costs
Yeah, but my boomer parents (and their friends and relatives) didn’t object to any of that because anything that drives up *their* property values is good. 🙄
Well think for a moment. My niece and her husband bought a home 3 years ago. She’s 36. What would happen to this non-Boomer if the value of their house dropped? If they couldn’t sell because the sale wouldn’t cover the mortgage they owe? Their investment just became a debt.
They can’t borrow against equity to replace the roof, or fix a drainage problem. Who wants their investment to lose money? Do you? Are you in favour of having your savings depleted?
On the other hand, if housing prices are stable or grow, they spend the money on upkeep and improvements. That creates jobs and increases GDP. And, at the end of their lives, they downsize and spend the money on their own care and helping their kids.
That’s the same argument that’s used to prevent minorities from moving into ‘white’ neighborhoods. It may be accurate, but it only helps those who already live there while making things worse for everybody else.
It was. Still is sadly. But that doesn’t change the reality. No one makes an investment hoping it won’t pay off. But it’s why we can’t ignore racism, ageism, income inequality, rental prices, etc. It all matters if we want a world where everyone has a shot at a decent life.
They are Boomers now, but weren't when they voted in Reagan. And if you look at polls in the US, there is still an alarming number of young people that are MAGA nutters.
What do you think "boomer" means
I'm pretty sure those of us that are boomers now we're also Boomers then since the term Boomers applies to people born in a specific time period. I'm pretty sure our birth date didn't change as we got older
All of this. 🎯
Hello? Lots of boomers never voted Conservative. You make it sound like they all had some evil plan to destroy the world. They voted in Kennedy, Carter, Clinton and Obama. They voted for equal pay, equal rights, and had no idea what would happen to the economy down the road.
They certainly did not vote to have their adult children living at home in their 30s. What you see isn’t a result of a generation. It’s the age old problems of big money in government, corporate greed, the rise of Christian right, and the rise of individualism.
The great majority of ppl over age 75 are not Boomers.
I mean, this has been obvious for a few decades now.
And in perfect fashion, very little of their wealth will go to their kids when they pass, as it’s eaten up by the health care system they created and inflation they voted for.
It cost about 4K a year in 1974 … State School in Ohio.. Inflation calculator says that is $26,000 I delivered pizzas through out the 4 years of college… Sure didn’t seem easy or cheap at the time. Pizza man !!!
What was your salary?
However hard you may have worked to keep above water you do understand that it is completely impossible now? A full-time delivery driver has no way to pay for college outside of a scholarship, gift from someone wealthier, or taking a loan that will depress their earnings for the rest of their life.
Working at Dominos was hardly salary, I worked 20 to 30 hr a week. That paid for food only… I think I made 3.50 an hour… plus some for gas … 5%. The 4k included off campus rent with two roommates in a 2 bedroom apartment. I worked summer, 5 bucks an hour carrying hod for brick layers.
🎯😡
George H W Bush and Clinton should be included too (yes Clinton sucked, not as bad as Reagan or Bush, but sucked nonetheless).
REPUBLICANS, gave tax breaks to the rich by borrowing from Soc Sec, broke up unions, took away pensions, refused adequate funding for K12 and higher education, made healthcare unaffordable, and allowed banks to gamble with mortgages to wreck the economy. Lots of BOOMERS voted for Kamala.
And every Boomer I personally know seal clapped the whole damn time.
The Boomers I know are teachers, nurses, firefighters, small business owners, principals…they were not clapping when threatened to lose their unions, or benefits, or pensions in the 2009 collapse. Or low interest college loans for their kids, or losing Social Security they paid into for 40 years.
and then their penny pinching parents died and they inherited even MORE property and capital
As someone on the trailing edge of what some consider a “boomer,” let me assure you that I have very little money at all.
I'm a middle-of-the-road boomer, and it's the same for me. What a stupid article. Are they saying WE did this to our children? Talk to the @GOP.
Are these Boomers in the room with you? 🙄
Ok boomer.
Yep and proud of it.
We know.
The most aided generation in US history is also the most selfish and harmful. For now, anyway.
Boomers literally don't give a fuck about the generations below them. If they did they would leave Congress and other elected roles.
Boomer voting habits are not the worst - that would be my GenXers. But I agree with you because 1. Boomer politicians will not retire. 2. Neither party has prioritized affordable housing, college, and healthcare to help the lives of younger generations. People are fed up.
The generation that sold the future, twice.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=g33-...
You're addressing the Republican Boomers, of course. Take a look at the millions of progressive Boomers out protesting and filling the Indivisible groups.
We don't have any money
Not me!
I’m a boomer. College degree cost me $40,000 and my first house was $75000 with an interest rate of 10%. I made $4.35/hr and with 4 kids we lived paycheck to paycheck. My silent gen parents had 3 jobs to make ends meet
📌
Yep blame Americans, assholes. We know who is doing this shit. It’s called republicans.
I also blame the young generation who voted for Nader, and any other vote that has been made because "there's no DIFFERENCE between Dems and GOP". Remember that ??
You should blame the Republicans who put the Supreme Court justices in charge who let Florida steal the election for Bush.
*cough* the electoral college would like a word *cough*
and now they won’t even fuckin’ retire
I am labeled a boomer, I am retired, I have always voted democrat and I have voted for the minimum wage to be increased every chance I get. Labels are simply ways for people to easily vilify one another.
I SO want this not to be true, but the evidence .... I remember seeing a cartoon showing a room filled with paunchy, balding men in tuxedos and thin, aging women in black evening dress, all holding martinis. The caption: "Woodstock Reunion."
NOT this boomer!
I’m a late boomer. College cost less for me since I commuted & had scholarships. My house cost more double. I never voted for any Republican. I certainly NEVER asked for the disaster currently going on at the federal level. If the USA gets out of this mess, I hope nobody votes Republican ever again.
That, and they refuse to die or retire…
Sorry for refusing to die, but my daughter is 23 & I’d like to stick around a bit longer to be in her life. I protested Vietnam as a kid (with my socialist Dem parents). I’ve always supported social justice. I’m not retiring & I’m not dying (yet). Let’s not forget who are enemies are. They’re MAGA.
I’m certain you are a good person through and through. But in terms of wealth transfer between generations, and pulling up the ladder, MAGA ain’t the problem. Again, I’m speaking broadly, not taking shots at you, an individual I know nothing about.
Wealth transfer has always favored White folks. So we could be talking about institutionalized racism, which wasn’t invented by Boomers. I’m sure you’re a good person, too, & welcome to whatever opinion you hold. And welcome to express your thoughts & opinions. Mine is, I hope Mamdani wins NYC!
On that we can certainly agree! As well as on the fact that the Boomers didn’t come up with the system from they benefitted. But they (again, I speak broadly) didn’t break them or adapt for those that followed either. Also, I have some personal, familial, Boomer related trauma, that colors my view
I’m sorry about your trauma. That is hard. You have my compassion. I wish more of my generation had been more enlightened. I was fortunate on many fronts. I’m an outlier, a White (privileged) Latina from a well-educated, progressive family. I was also a victim of multiple traumas. Pls take care.
How are Boomers “pulling up the ladder”? Were the generation that hoped to give kids a university education, who had kids living at home into their 30s, who fought for equal pay for women, who supported our gay sons and daughters, and still use our good fortune to help our kids and grandkids.
I already died once. I refuse to do it again
Blaming Boomers for the young people who didn't vote.
Nailed it
The fastest growing group facing poverty and homelessness are seniors.
I don’t have enough time nor space to tell you why I have so much in life but let me just tell you it starts with the letters “WORK” 58 years of unbroken SS contributions as a blue collar welder! Punks today cry and whine about a days fucking work! PLEASE!!!
DT should prove the point, but it seems that the lesson is that selfish policy has an enormous inherent advantage in democratic politics. The flimsiest wrapper (trickle down) is all you need. IMO, the antidote is a sense of responsibility, and therefore shame, but good luck building that back.
It recalls the old Sinclair quote about trying to convince someone of something they're incented not to believe. Changing those incentives might be too big a lift for any society, and I'm not sure any generation would have fared better under similar circumstances.
Boomers did not single-handedly give those men the WH. Both my parents and in-laws fought in/lived through WWII, and also voted in the Reagan and Dubya elections. Both my husband and I voted against them. Kids near us are voting Trump. Stop trying to demonize a single generation. It’s lazy & wrong.
But I've been told it is because Dems haven't been sufficiently Demish for all of the progressives to get off their butts and vote. See, maybe Boomers have just been waiting for 50 years, through 2 terms of Reagan, 2 of GWB and 2 of Trump for the Goldilocks-correct candidate.
And let's put this data into the mix, shall we? 60% of Trump voters were 50 and older in 2024, down from 65% in 2016. Voters under 50 made up 40% of Trump’s coalition in 2024, up from 35% in 2016. www.pewresearch.org/politics/202...
I grew up in the rural Midwest when boomer farmers went under fast due mortgage rates 15-20% during the farm crisis. I knew boomer farmers who were foreclosed on. Yeah great times. For crise sakes. Come on. Every generation had a crisis.
Don't forget fixed benefit pensions, social security, medicare, etc. so they could enjoy a 20+ year retirement. Couldn't claw those out of their cold dead hands, but they certainly don't give a shit if they all expire for everybody else.
fixed benefit pensions went away in the early 80's.
A whole lot of military people and our congress are sucking on the government teat.
My mom still has hers - and a lot of her teacher friends went maga. Dad died a couple years ago - but mom still gets his -construction went hard MAGA My buddy is a firefighter - great pension. They all went MAGA. I think it's something like 15% of private employers and nearly all government jobs
My father was MAGA. Mother was liberal, but when faced with various health issues and having to share waiting rooms with diverse peoples, her true colors were revealed. My brothers are MAGA. I am not. I have no children, my "got mine" won't go to the MAGA next gen in hurricane alley. Waste of money.
My dad was so frustrated with his union brethern in his final years. Couldn't believe how hard they shifted MAGA after all they went through in the 60's to get decent pay and retirement. At the end of the day, he would say, vote your damn job! They didn't listen.
Both mom and dad stayed away from MAGA, but most of their peers did not.
The Boomers? Every single one of us?