My general (and intense) hatred and loathing of the baby boomer generation is no secret. It is also well-founded as it is the baby boomer generation that has been in control of the country's finances, politics, economics and corporate leadership. It is not debatable who's been at the helm of the country and its institutions for the past 30 years and, therefore, whose fault the current condition of the country is. And since their generation is near the end of its life cycle, the baby boomer generation legacy is more or less set in stone. They WILL go down in the history books as the generation that destroyed the United States.
Naturally, I don't believe the baby boomers deserve one red cent of social security, medicare, medicaid or any of the other plethora of various government programs they voted themselves in. They are the only generation (at least to my knowledge) in the history of the world that not only squandered the economic production of their parents (via inheritance), but also all of the economic production of their own lives AND were so voracious in their squandering, they needed to mortgage the economic production of their children.
Of course, when a baby boomer runs into me and they're shocked I find their generational theft disagreeable, they always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS say,
"But I paid into the system!"
To which I quickly and factually respond,
"And you also voted into the morons who pissed all your contributions away on all those social programs you so love. You got the benefit of 30 years of Keynesian deficit spending stimulus. YOU ALREADY GOT YOUR MONEY BACK IN SPADES!"
But the argument then stops because usually the baby boomer I'm talking to has never looked at a federal budget in his entire adult life.
However, before we all jump on the baby boomer generation (and don't worry, history will be INCREDIBLY harsh on them) we have to look at our own generational selves in the mirror. Specifically, whether we deserve all these programs or not.
Of course, the question is moot and academic. I don't think there will be any money to be paid out in the first place, but let's just say there was. Do our generations really deserve all the unicorns, puppies, hope, and change the government says we're entitled to? I say no and here is the reason why.
Gen X and Gen Y are doing the EXACT same thing as their baby boomer predecessors did. They are spending more money than they make. They expect other people to take care of themselves. They are entitled WAY more than the baby boomers ever were. And (most importantly) THEY VOTED IN DROVES FOR BARACK OBAMA and thus THE MORTGAGING OF THEIR OWN FUTURES.
Much as I loathe the baby boomers, the successive generations, mine included, are worse. Despite BLATANT and OBVIOUS financial problems our generations faced, we lacked the adult maturity (let alone simple 2nd grade mathematics) to turn this country around. And while the baby boomers have been voting more and more conservative, it is the younger generations through galactic stupidity, ignorance and selfishness that merely nailed a couple more nails in the US-coffin and thus our own futures.
Like I said, I doubt there will even be any money for Gen Y, Gen X and any future generations to make good on all those socialist entitlement goodies we promised ourselves. But before we start blaming previous generation's for our current problems, we should start blaming ourselves for making our future problems worse.
Oh, and when you're 55 and about to retire, please don't tell future generations,
"But I paid into the system!"
This post sponsored by "Enjoy the Decline!"
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