I'm so, so, so sorry: A Baby Boomer apologizes on behalf of his generation

[martybegan]

I'm so, so, so sorry: A Baby Boomer apologizes on behalf of his generation

While I don't agree with all his points, he does try to spread the blame across party lines. He also ignores Radical Islam as a big problem, but all in all, it's a good read.

As a Gen X'er, I think my generation will take most of the blame 20-30 years from now for letting the boomers get away with their plans. We were the next generation, and we were too cynical to do anything about it.

Plus the boomers will be dead, and the Millenials and the next two generations will need someone to blame

So let’s review the bidding. My generation has spent its inheritance, beggared its kids, spiked the nation’s education infrastructure, and is at risk of substituting one type of racism for another in the interest of ending racism. On one side of the political ledger we’ve gifted the country Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Chris Christie and Rick Perry (today’s secretary of energy, for those of you without a scorecard). On the other, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid (he’s retired but he still deserves honorable mention), Blago (same although in prison) and Maxine Waters. And things are no better in the Old World.

 

[TNHarley]

The older generations fucked up everything.
They voted for trash.
Didnt raise their kids good. Then they want to talk about their kids.
Mine and the younger will probably be worse.. maybe not but it isnt looking good.. lol

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

I'm so, so, so sorry: A Baby Boomer apologizes on behalf of his generation

While I don't agree with all his points, he does try to spread the blame across party lines. He also ignores Radical Islam as a big problem, but all in all, it's a good read.

As a Gen X'er, I think my generation will take most of the blame 20-30 years from now for letting the boomers get away with their plans. We were the next generation, and we were too cynical to do anything about it.

Plus the boomers will be dead, and the Millenials and the next two generations will need someone to blame

So let’s review the bidding. My generation has spent its inheritance, beggared its kids, spiked the nation’s education infrastructure, and is at risk of substituting one type of racism for another in the interest of ending racism. On one side of the political ledger we’ve gifted the country Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Chris Christie and Rick Perry (today’s secretary of energy, for those of you without a scorecard). On the other, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid (he’s retired but he still deserves honorable mention), Blago (same although in prison) and Maxine Waters. And things are no better in the Old World.

In accounting terms, we have a negative net worth.

Wow!

He's really, really bad at accounting.

 

[martybegan]

I'm so, so, so sorry: A Baby Boomer apologizes on behalf of his generation

While I don't agree with all his points, he does try to spread the blame across party lines. He also ignores Radical Islam as a big problem, but all in all, it's a good read.

As a Gen X'er, I think my generation will take most of the blame 20-30 years from now for letting the boomers get away with their plans. We were the next generation, and we were too cynical to do anything about it.

Plus the boomers will be dead, and the Millenials and the next two generations will need someone to blame

So let’s review the bidding. My generation has spent its inheritance, beggared its kids, spiked the nation’s education infrastructure, and is at risk of substituting one type of racism for another in the interest of ending racism. On one side of the political ledger we’ve gifted the country Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Chris Christie and Rick Perry (today’s secretary of energy, for those of you without a scorecard). On the other, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid (he’s retired but he still deserves honorable mention), Blago (same although in prison) and Maxine Waters. And things are no better in the Old World.

In accounting terms, we have a negative net worth.

Wow!

He's really, really bad at accounting.

His technical terms may be off, but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

I'm so, so, so sorry: A Baby Boomer apologizes on behalf of his generation

While I don't agree with all his points, he does try to spread the blame across party lines. He also ignores Radical Islam as a big problem, but all in all, it's a good read.

As a Gen X'er, I think my generation will take most of the blame 20-30 years from now for letting the boomers get away with their plans. We were the next generation, and we were too cynical to do anything about it.

Plus the boomers will be dead, and the Millenials and the next two generations will need someone to blame

So let’s review the bidding. My generation has spent its inheritance, beggared its kids, spiked the nation’s education infrastructure, and is at risk of substituting one type of racism for another in the interest of ending racism. On one side of the political ledger we’ve gifted the country Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Chris Christie and Rick Perry (today’s secretary of energy, for those of you without a scorecard). On the other, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid (he’s retired but he still deserves honorable mention), Blago (same although in prison) and Maxine Waters. And things are no better in the Old World.

In accounting terms, we have a negative net worth.

Wow!

He's really, really bad at accounting.

His technical terms may be off, but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true.

but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true

You shouldn't repeat his silly error.

Saying we "owe" retirees $100 trillion ($200 trillion, $900 trillion, pick a number), doesn't "use up" that money.

If my kid gives me an IOU of $1 million, it doesn't change the net worth of my family, just as writing an IOU
to myself doesn't change my net worth.

 

[martybegan]

I'm so, so, so sorry: A Baby Boomer apologizes on behalf of his generation

While I don't agree with all his points, he does try to spread the blame across party lines. He also ignores Radical Islam as a big problem, but all in all, it's a good read.

As a Gen X'er, I think my generation will take most of the blame 20-30 years from now for letting the boomers get away with their plans. We were the next generation, and we were too cynical to do anything about it.

Plus the boomers will be dead, and the Millenials and the next two generations will need someone to blame

So let’s review the bidding. My generation has spent its inheritance, beggared its kids, spiked the nation’s education infrastructure, and is at risk of substituting one type of racism for another in the interest of ending racism. On one side of the political ledger we’ve gifted the country Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Chris Christie and Rick Perry (today’s secretary of energy, for those of you without a scorecard). On the other, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid (he’s retired but he still deserves honorable mention), Blago (same although in prison) and Maxine Waters. And things are no better in the Old World.

In accounting terms, we have a negative net worth.

Wow!

He's really, really bad at accounting.

His technical terms may be off, but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true.

but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true

You shouldn't repeat his silly error.

Saying we "owe" retirees $100 trillion ($200 trillion, $900 trillion, pick a number), doesn't "use up" that money.

If my kid gives me an IOU of $1 million, it doesn't change the net worth of my family, just as writing an IOU
to myself doesn't change my net worth.

If the law mandates that money owed cannot be altered in any way, then you have to count it in some manner as a required outlay.

Several States have constitutional provisions that prevent any changes to established retirement benefits. In NY they are locked in the second a person is hired, which leads to the whole "tier" system as the governments try to prevent future spending.

If your pension fund dies out, and you have to pay pensions out of the general fund, and those payments are constitutionally mandated, they come first, and all other spending sucks hind tit.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

I'm so, so, so sorry: A Baby Boomer apologizes on behalf of his generation

While I don't agree with all his points, he does try to spread the blame across party lines. He also ignores Radical Islam as a big problem, but all in all, it's a good read.

As a Gen X'er, I think my generation will take most of the blame 20-30 years from now for letting the boomers get away with their plans. We were the next generation, and we were too cynical to do anything about it.

Plus the boomers will be dead, and the Millenials and the next two generations will need someone to blame

So let’s review the bidding. My generation has spent its inheritance, beggared its kids, spiked the nation’s education infrastructure, and is at risk of substituting one type of racism for another in the interest of ending racism. On one side of the political ledger we’ve gifted the country Donald Trump, George W. Bush, Chris Christie and Rick Perry (today’s secretary of energy, for those of you without a scorecard). On the other, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid (he’s retired but he still deserves honorable mention), Blago (same although in prison) and Maxine Waters. And things are no better in the Old World.

In accounting terms, we have a negative net worth.

Wow!

He's really, really bad at accounting.

His technical terms may be off, but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true.

but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true

You shouldn't repeat his silly error.

Saying we "owe" retirees $100 trillion ($200 trillion, $900 trillion, pick a number), doesn't "use up" that money.

If my kid gives me an IOU of $1 million, it doesn't change the net worth of my family, just as writing an IOU
to myself doesn't change my net worth.

If the law mandates that money owed cannot be altered in any way, then you have to count it in some manner as a required outlay.

Several States have constitutional provisions that prevent any changes to established retirement benefits. In NY they are locked in the second a person is hired, which leads to the whole "tier" system as the governments try to prevent future spending.

If your pension fund dies out, and you have to pay pensions out of the general fund, and those payments are constitutionally mandated, they come first, and all other spending sucks hind tit.

If the law mandates that money owed cannot be altered in any way, then you have to count it in some manner as a required outlay.

Accounting......if it's an expense for one, it's income for another.
No change in net worth.

Several States have constitutional provisions that prevent any changes to established retirement benefits.

Tell me about it.....that's Illinois.

 

[DGS49]

It's all very simple when viewed from 10,000 feet.

The "Greatest Generation" had its faults, certainly, but its biggest failure was to raise a generation that (largely) had everything handed to it, and had an overwhelming and false sense of its own importance and wisdom. This following generation, of course - my generation - is now called the Boomers.*

We Boomers ruined Academe, from K to Post-Doc, by populating it with - sorry to say - an "army of socialist wimmin and draft dodgers" who had never actually had a job, but were convinced that they were the wisest generation in human history. Never has any generation been so full of shit.

And we raised a generation that grew up with the mantra, "there are no wrong answers," and thus believed in both nothing and everything. A generation that was never actually allowed to "play," being ferried around from school to one sort of practice or coaching or training or something else, until finally being sent off to college. We Boomers tacitly allowed college to become nothing more than an extension of irresponsible adolescence, and made sure that the rigors of that experience never got in the way of our darlings having fun. And now we wonder why they are still living under our roofs, either literally or figuratively, at 40 fucking years of age.

Fortunately for humanity, there are always those who go through life doing the things they are supposed to do, not looking to others to solve their problems, working hard at being creative, productive, responsible, and reliable, even when the rest of their generation has devolved into total self-absorption. And nobody ever writes about them in the newspapers, interviews them on TV, or gives them awards for being good, responsible people, so we may not even be aware of their existence. But they are driving the bus, and like it or not, they elected Donald Trump as our 45th President.
______________
* It is with some irony that I speak objectively about the Boomers, but being poor myself, I had to go into the Army, put myself through college and law school, and have had to put up with my spoiled, worthless contemporaries' conduct throughout my life.

 

[martybegan]

I'm so, so, so sorry: A Baby Boomer apologizes on behalf of his generation

While I don't agree with all his points, he does try to spread the blame across party lines. He also ignores Radical Islam as a big problem, but all in all, it's a good read.

As a Gen X'er, I think my generation will take most of the blame 20-30 years from now for letting the boomers get away with their plans. We were the next generation, and we were too cynical to do anything about it.

Plus the boomers will be dead, and the Millenials and the next two generations will need someone to blame

In accounting terms, we have a negative net worth.

Wow!

He's really, really bad at accounting.

His technical terms may be off, but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true.

but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true

You shouldn't repeat his silly error.

Saying we "owe" retirees $100 trillion ($200 trillion, $900 trillion, pick a number), doesn't "use up" that money.

If my kid gives me an IOU of $1 million, it doesn't change the net worth of my family, just as writing an IOU
to myself doesn't change my net worth.

If the law mandates that money owed cannot be altered in any way, then you have to count it in some manner as a required outlay.

Several States have constitutional provisions that prevent any changes to established retirement benefits. In NY they are locked in the second a person is hired, which leads to the whole "tier" system as the governments try to prevent future spending.

If your pension fund dies out, and you have to pay pensions out of the general fund, and those payments are constitutionally mandated, they come first, and all other spending sucks hind tit.

If the law mandates that money owed cannot be altered in any way, then you have to count it in some manner as a required outlay.

Accounting......if it's an expense for one, it's income for another.
No change in net worth.

Several States have constitutional provisions that prevent any changes to established retirement benefits.

Tell me about it.....that's Illinois.

I understand being a stickler for proper terms (as an Engineer I get that way when it comes to applied science and technology).

I'm not an accountant, but I get the gist of what you are talking about.

However the general sentiment of "the future is boned financially, and that boning isn't going to be easy to get out of" from the article still stands.

 

[martybegan]

It's all very simple when viewed from 10,000 feet.

The "Greatest Generation" had its faults, certainly, but its biggest failure was to raise a generation that (largely) had everything handed to it, and had an overwhelming and false sense of its own importance and wisdom. This following generation, of course - my generation - is now called the Boomers.*

We Boomers ruined Academe, from K to Post-Doc, by populating it with - sorry to say - an "army of socialist wimmin and draft dodgers" who had never actually had a job, but were convinced that they were the wisest generation in human history. Never has any generation been so full of shit.

And we raised a generation that grew up with the mantra, "there are no wrong answers," and thus believed in both nothing and everything. A generation that was never actually allowed to "play," being ferried around from school to one sort of practice or coaching or training or something else, until finally being sent off to college. We Boomers tacitly allowed college to become nothing more than an extension of irresponsible adolescence, and made sure that the rigors of that experience never got in the way of our darlings having fun. And now we wonder why they are still living under our roofs, either literally or figuratively, at 40 fucking years of age.

Fortunately for humanity, there are always those who go through life doing the things they are supposed to do, not looking to others to solve their problems, working hard at being creative, productive, responsible, and reliable, even when the rest of their generation has devolved into total self-absorption. And nobody ever writes about them in the newspapers, interviews them on TV, or gives them awards for being good, responsible people, so we may not even be aware of their existence. But they are driving the bus, and like it or not, they elected Donald Trump as our 45th President.
______________
* It is with some irony that I speak objectively about the Boomers, but being poor myself, I had to go into the Army, put myself through college and law school, and have had to put up with my spoiled, worthless contemporaries' conduct throughout my life.

I think the whole "structured childhood" thing started with Gen X, but really took hold with the Millenials. Generations aren't fixed, and there are plenty of boomer parents who have millenials as children.

I was born in 1975, late GenX, and I played outside plenty. Computers weren't the way they are now, and video games were in the arcade or through your Atari/Coleco/Nintentdo.

less stuff to do inside compared to say the 90's or 2000's

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

In accounting terms, we have a negative net worth.

Wow!

He's really, really bad at accounting.

His technical terms may be off, but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true.

but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true

You shouldn't repeat his silly error.

Saying we "owe" retirees $100 trillion ($200 trillion, $900 trillion, pick a number), doesn't "use up" that money.

If my kid gives me an IOU of $1 million, it doesn't change the net worth of my family, just as writing an IOU
to myself doesn't change my net worth.

If the law mandates that money owed cannot be altered in any way, then you have to count it in some manner as a required outlay.

Several States have constitutional provisions that prevent any changes to established retirement benefits. In NY they are locked in the second a person is hired, which leads to the whole "tier" system as the governments try to prevent future spending.

If your pension fund dies out, and you have to pay pensions out of the general fund, and those payments are constitutionally mandated, they come first, and all other spending sucks hind tit.

If the law mandates that money owed cannot be altered in any way, then you have to count it in some manner as a required outlay.

Accounting......if it's an expense for one, it's income for another.
No change in net worth.

Several States have constitutional provisions that prevent any changes to established retirement benefits.

Tell me about it.....that's Illinois.

I understand being a stickler for proper terms (as an Engineer I get that way when it comes to applied science and technology).

I'm not an accountant, but I get the gist of what you are talking about.

However the general sentiment of "the future is boned financially, and that boning isn't going to be easy to get out of" from the article still stands.

To be precise, some of us who are on the hook for these promises are boned.
That boning will continue until the boned vote to cut the benefits of those who boned us.
Those cuts in benefits will also have zero impact on the nation's net worth.

 

[martybegan]

His technical terms may be off, but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true.

but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true

You shouldn't repeat his silly error.

Saying we "owe" retirees $100 trillion ($200 trillion, $900 trillion, pick a number), doesn't "use up" that money.

If my kid gives me an IOU of $1 million, it doesn't change the net worth of my family, just as writing an IOU
to myself doesn't change my net worth.

If the law mandates that money owed cannot be altered in any way, then you have to count it in some manner as a required outlay.

Several States have constitutional provisions that prevent any changes to established retirement benefits. In NY they are locked in the second a person is hired, which leads to the whole "tier" system as the governments try to prevent future spending.

If your pension fund dies out, and you have to pay pensions out of the general fund, and those payments are constitutionally mandated, they come first, and all other spending sucks hind tit.

If the law mandates that money owed cannot be altered in any way, then you have to count it in some manner as a required outlay.

Accounting......if it's an expense for one, it's income for another.
No change in net worth.

Several States have constitutional provisions that prevent any changes to established retirement benefits.

Tell me about it.....that's Illinois.

I understand being a stickler for proper terms (as an Engineer I get that way when it comes to applied science and technology).

I'm not an accountant, but I get the gist of what you are talking about.

However the general sentiment of "the future is boned financially, and that boning isn't going to be easy to get out of" from the article still stands.

To be precise, some of us who are on the hook for these promises are boned.
That boning will continue until the boned vote to cut the benefits of those who boned us.
Those cuts in benefits will also have zero impact on the nation's net worth.

Some of that fixing will require changes to State Constitutions.

 

[Mr Natural]

We Boomers had the best of everything.

It's almost as if the entire purpose of the human experiment here on planet earth was to make sure that those born between 1946 and 1964 were well taken care of. Almost as if we were God's children.

Don't you worry, we'll be gone soon enough and you can start over.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

but the concept he is laying out, that our debt combined with unfunded liabilities are higher than the anticipated future worth of the country is troubling if true

You shouldn't repeat his silly error.

Saying we "owe" retirees $100 trillion ($200 trillion, $900 trillion, pick a number), doesn't "use up" that money.

If my kid gives me an IOU of $1 million, it doesn't change the net worth of my family, just as writing an IOU
to myself doesn't change my net worth.

If the law mandates that money owed cannot be altered in any way, then you have to count it in some manner as a required outlay.

Several States have constitutional provisions that prevent any changes to established retirement benefits. In NY they are locked in the second a person is hired, which leads to the whole "tier" system as the governments try to prevent future spending.

If your pension fund dies out, and you have to pay pensions out of the general fund, and those payments are constitutionally mandated, they come first, and all other spending sucks hind tit.

If the law mandates that money owed cannot be altered in any way, then you have to count it in some manner as a required outlay.

Accounting......if it's an expense for one, it's income for another.
No change in net worth.

Several States have constitutional provisions that prevent any changes to established retirement benefits.

Tell me about it.....that's Illinois.

I understand being a stickler for proper terms (as an Engineer I get that way when it comes to applied science and technology).

I'm not an accountant, but I get the gist of what you are talking about.

However the general sentiment of "the future is boned financially, and that boning isn't going to be easy to get out of" from the article still stands.

To be precise, some of us who are on the hook for these promises are boned.
That boning will continue until the boned vote to cut the benefits of those who boned us.
Those cuts in benefits will also have zero impact on the nation's net worth.

Some of that fixing will require changes to State Constitutions.

Yup.
That which can't be paid, won't be paid.
If, here in Illinois, they raise taxes high enough to pay for the ridiculous public pensions,
the taxpayers will simply leave.

 

[Pilot1]

I caught the end of the Boom, but saw my predecessors, and contemporaries show how selfish, self centered, and politically and socially destructive they can be. The protester, Hippie generation created the Hate America first mentality the Left currently embraces. It is totally unfounded in reality, but was an over reaction to Vietnam. Now we have to live with it.

 

[Mr Natural]

I caught the end of the Boom, but saw my predecessors, and contemporaries show how selfish, self centered, and politically and socially destructive they can be. The protester, Hippie generation created the Hate America first mentality the Left currently embraces. It is totally unfounded in reality, but was an over reaction to Vietnam. Now we have to live with it.

Being forced into involuntary servitude with a good chance of dying or being maimed for an meaningless unnecessary cause is hardly an over reaction.

 

[DGS49]

The Vietnam War destroyed the culture, and Cassius Clay - playing the fool and imitating professional wrestler, "Gorgeous George" - made it cool for Black athletes to be insufferable braggarts.

We may never recover.

 

[Claudette]

I was born in 1952 and believe me I never had anything handed to me. Everything I've got I worked my ass off for as did my brothers and sisters.

So blaming shit on the boomers is crap.

 

[DigitalDrifter]

It figures he's a professor.