The Baby Boomers won't let go of power, and will torture us into their 80s and 90s. I guess while Gen X heats up the can of dog food over the trashcan fire, we can be dressed stylishly.
As a Gen X-er (born 1965) who lives in a run down mobile home without a working furnace or shower (I shower and wash clothes at my son's apartment) I am feeling this post. I work 48 plus hours a week, will have to work to age 70 to take full retirement. That is, if I don't die from stress sooner, or worse, become handicapped by stress related diseases to the point where I can't work. Our world is so, so fucked at this point. This is the horrible dystopian future.
Life for many in Generation X basically sucks. I think I have realized why barely anyone my age lives in this town, I either meet millennials who all live at home, or are the few professionals who snagged a decent job and every woman I meet is over 60 and far richer then me. None of them can afford to live here. I feel sad for you...yes many of are living very hard lives. I am spared the working grind being disabled but it seems people either have their bodies too broken down to work like me--I worked 4-5 jobs and 60-70 hours a week in my 20s or they are working like slaves at often a multitude of very difficult jobs. They have no vacations or retirements to look forward to. My husband works all day at his gig employment and we are still going to food pantries. Isnt that sad? I think the world is totally screwed too. I lost hope of a better economic life a long time ago. :( This week, I barely have food to eat and have the fun of figuring out how to eat for 3-4 days for 2 people on 27 dollars. Well I have some canned vegetables and fruit.
My perception of things is that being a boomer is not a key to automatic success. I was born in 58 and I think the further back the screw up comes in your life the further out of control you life becomes in the end. I have friends that had it all handed to them on a silver platter and they don't see how this reflects on their eventual success. They don't connect nice parents and unconditional love and unlimited resources as a springboard to success. So the flip side to that is they don't think having insane parents is an obstacle that can't be over come with a little can do attitude and elbow grease. They don't know what they don't know because they don't know it. I can't relate to living in a dumpster because I never had to. But I can see how it might have happened to me by varying a few factors from my past. I have spoken of my mother as basically a person that followed me around literally slapping things out of my hand. That was her net effect on my life. Money, college, or any kind of prep work for success was slapped out of my hand before I could benefit from it. They don't think getting what they needed as an asset so they don't really connect at a fundamental level how not getting what you need can make you lose the game before it even starts.
That's true, some boomers ended up poor and by the way side, and I think the earlier too, that trouble happens the harder it can be. I agree about the friends who got it all on the silver platter. I went to a upper middle class high school and all their lives went according to script it seems. Outside of one that ended up in prison and even she managed a decent suburban existence for a time and children, I ended up the worse off financially. They had nice parents, guidance and it occured to me how many dated younger and how the women were having babies at 21, 23, and 24, instead of skulking around Chicago ghettos, trying to dumpster dive. They do see people like us as "slackers" and trust me scary bad health problems don't give us a break either. So its true Boomers with a bad ACE score can be brethern with the Gen Xers. There's others too where the easy ride ended and the job ended or the company killed the retirement and pensions. Yeah your mother slapped things out of your hand. These mothers slap learning, opportunity, love, other people and multiple things out of our hands. Little did I know when mine pulled me out of the way of strangers in stores this would be replicated in my future failures. The strangers got the room, they got the jobs, they got the chance and medical care. They wanted us to fail you see and sabotaged us at every turn. I had the thought the other day there is a reason even my slow and bad in school sister ended up upper middle class, it was PLANNED that way.
I know my story is extreme and I offer it up freely not as a competition, but as an example of how bad parents can be and no one notice or care enough to do anything about it. When my mother was arrested and we geared up for her trial it never crossed anyone's mind that maybe she shouldn't be left alone with her kids when it was over. A dash of that and a pinch of "kids should be seen and not heard" and our fate was sealed.
Still shocks me to this day. Maybe things are better now and kids would be taken from a mother like that now at least during the length of a trial. Not sure how it works. You had too many bystanders who "didn't want to get involved"
As long as the media can continue to ferment some kind of war between the boomers and younger generations it will sell. Just continue to foster stereotypes complete with simplistic "solutions" and people will believe it. Yk, all the boomers "accomplished" was sex, drugs, rock n roll and Woodstock. Never mind the device you're reading right now was created by a boomer. Never mind 58,000 names on a black wall in Washington. Never mind the cities on fire, the multiple assassinations, the economic inequality and continuing cycles of "recessions," never mind the profiteering at the expense of young bodies from the working class and poor in the Vietnam War that played out night after night on TV etc. We were informed by George Wallace, "Segregation then, segregation now, segregation forever" and it wasn't considered "Hate Speech." About the same time some boomers who were trying to ensure that others also had voting rights "disappeared" while others got gassed and beat for peacefully protesting outside the '68 Democratic Convention. There were NO "Trigger Warnings" (GASP!)-we got to see it all. And no one got the vapors: They got off their asses and at least tried to challenge inequities in numbers untold across this country. Apparently that wasn't sexy enough for the media unless they were fringe group radicals or living in communes. This continued until we were heard and as a result the war ended, laws regarding segregation were overturned and equal opportunity laws were enacted-and a President resigned in disgrace. BTW, maybe you all can tell me where are all the protesters are now-we are involved in the longest war since Vietnam? Oh, that's right: What war? Say whatcha want, but we were a tenacious bunch. Because the boomers are a huge demographic bulge, there's going to be more of everything including people behaving badly as a result. Use some common sense. While your attention is being directed by the media "over there" and away from structural economic failures consistent with cycles of boom and bust that have historically marked this economy, you're being inculcated with the belief in simplistic causes and bogeymen "scapegoats." Who better to play the boomer stereotypes and the cause of all that ails than the the Bernie Madoffs and "The Donald." Just keep buying into those stereotypes: The media depends on it and so does every other One Percenter. And BTW, that One Percent includes plenty of younger people from other generations-including Gen X and millennials. Indeed, history repeats itself and the vast majority of people coming up have NO IDEA of this young countrys. Congratulate yourselves and drum beat up on those old boomers who collectively took everything and left nothing for the younger generations but college debt (ahem, have any idea how much these wars are costing daily? What percent of the federal budget is spent on the military?) College IS expensive. Why? Profiteering under the guise of "new programs" including "Gender Studies" and "Leisure Studies" which prepare you for exactly what employment? Add in the cost of remedial courses because so many go to university not knowing how to read, write, add or subtract-even with spell/ grammar check and calculators built right into your "device?" Not buyin' this premise at all. But you're welcome to buy right into the faux paradigm and believing this is such an "obvious cause" of all maladies because the talking heads told you it's true and it makes a convenient sound bite. Scapegoating of "them" is necessary to ensure everything remains the same. *Anything to make sure you don't look in other directions or too far or too deep.* You're welcome. TW
Your premise I am guessing is that these generational warfares are imposed from the powers that be. I don't know about that. I see some of the trends myself. I have lived falling into poverty while watching older people able to have stable lives and work. Many of those older people abused me as this blog exposes. I have seen the attitudes among baby boomers here, that we are losers. These things take a toll on people. It's not just the 1 percent who I have no contact with giving a sniff of the nose in the air.
Where there are some poor boomers and others who died in Vietnam and who have suffered sure there is, but the reality is younger generations are seeing their fortunes and lives decline. I did a whole post on how death rates of Gen X are skyrocketing. I have lived this. A bunch of my friends are DEAD along with my silent generation friends.
What happened to the baby boomers. Where are all those justice warriors and antiwar people? I ask where are they? Where did they go? I ask the same questions too. Did many baby boomers sell out along the way? Why was the 1 percent able to acquire so much power? You may have a point it is not all the doing of the baby boomer generation, but something happened where the old ideals died and new scary ones took over.
Love of freedom turned into the police state and the most freedom loving generation turned into one supporting the most fascism this country has ever seen. Sure there are individuals this does not apply too, who have been victims, laid off from jobs themselves.
Why hasn't Generation X now aging into their 50s not been given a chance at the cultural bat? It's their turn isn't it by now? Why didn't we get jobs that the baby boomers retired from?
Whey are we still hearing about the 60s when it is the 80s turn now isn't it but what happened in the 80s, the freedom lovers, commune dwellers and hippies became yuppies. [Yes I know I am generalizing] but it is scary to us now with greying hair on our head, that culturally one's own generation remains invisible. We have no voice. I am tired of hearing about Vietnam, and the rest. When do people my age get a turn. Why do I still read fiction books that are newly published and its the same old trend, the same old thoughts and people my age, it's like the door got shut on more then just the jobs and hope but even having a voice. Even in size acceptance, I have faced the 60s counter cultural warriors who tell me I should accept things like debasement being the norm for superfat women.
Why did baby boomers[talking generaly] go from being against Vietnam and then become the supporters of perpetual war? I used to war protest with an old hippie, we didn't agree with everything but he was the real deal, he was even friends with a guy famous from the 60s for rabble rousting. I met this guy. But I sure didn't meet too many like him. That was when Bush was president.
The media isn't too nice to millennials or Gen X calling them slackers and entitled to help set up having the rug taken out from underneath them, no jobs. The poorer Gen X and millennials get, who do they blame? Sure I blame the 1 percent and elite, but who allowed them to take so much power? Who gave up their youthful ideas [speaking generally] and SOLD OUT?
Why isn't a 50 something Gen Xer the possible president and we have people who will be older or as old as Ronald Reagan when Reagan used to be the oldest president? I still remember the day I was at that dance festival for the baby boomers. Hey I loved the music too, they had nice lives. I've been poor all my life. Our dreams didn't come true. Sorry if there is some bitterness. Someone let this nation become what it did. I know "blaming a generation" is speaking in generalities and there's many individuals who were not part of it, but something happened on their watch. I am disappointed with the millennials in their acceptance of it all There's a reason Generation X wore black, maybe we knew what was coming.
I will consider your premise the powers that be are doing divide and conquer on generations, and yes there are boomers who have been victims as well, but some of these generational labels are serving as short hand to speak of overall cultural and other trends. I do believe they are right about Gen X dying off, it's being proven by the numbers as I wrote in this article:
My measuring stick is a lot simpler: look at what folks are driving. 99% of the Boomers that I know are cruising around in the latest gleaming battleship-sized cars, which isn't the case for the ones I knew in the Gen X crowd. Their mobiles tend to be on the decade-plus side -- well, if they're fortunate to own one. I know a few who end up being perched on the bus line, because of that factor.
That's not a media hype, at least in my experience -- that reflects some yawning disparities in a nation that's busy patting itself on the back as doing such a wonderful job for everybody.
However, even a casual glance at the demographic data -- which anyone, including the commentator above, can find via the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics -- suggests otherwise. For example, 5.8 million are working part-time right now, because they have no other choice. Offhand, I don't know what the generational split there is -- but I'll bet you, dollars to doughnuts, that a fair portion of the current generation are in that boat, as well as the Gen X crowd.
And don't talk to me about startups, which (by and large) employ miniscule numbers of people, not nearly enough to offset the doldrums that most folks are finding themselves in. So, like it or not, people are getting tired of being told that everything's peachy, when it's plainly not. End of sermon.
And, I, too, am personally tired of the Boomers acting like they've copywritten the drumbeat of history -- it reflects the self-absorption and refusal to get off the stage that characterizes famous uber-Boomers like the Clintons, who (hand on heart) are running again because....well, apparently, because they didn't stuff enough loot into their money bins 20-odd years ago, so they're back to finish the job. God help us all.
As far as Demographics go did you ever see that stat?
People need to stand up for the millennials and they need to start standing up for themselves their lives are being ruined even more then Gen X.
The financial demographics are bringing resentment between the generations, the divisions by the numbers are EXTREME. yes the elite probably set it up that way and there are some poor boomers.
But why was this all allowed to happen? Why are wealthy older boomers paving a way for Clinton to have another go around. Why is Generation X being denied time on the cultural and political stage? Is that the continuation of a scapegoated generation?
I agree God help us all.
It's hard being a "failed Gen Xer. Some could point to my health problems but I see a multitude of others with good health, and the worse part of what they dealt with was the false dreams handed them and judgments from older people who had lives they could not even imagine.
I notice here too the older people are home owners and have nice cars and built up lives while younger and by younger I mean 40 and 50s, they have nothing and even younger 20s and 30s, they aren't even getting the low wage work to give them an adult life. Something is seriously wrong with it all. Whose giving votes to Clinton?
Even with that sex work debate, I am tired of having the worse aspects of the counter culture shoved down my throat, that rhetoric is from the 1960s and told to be politically correct. They threw away the positive ideals and now we are left with the negative ones.
I kind of thought the sex work debate was more the younger feminists not the older ones. Now it's slut walks and you have to be OK with porn. It wasn't that way 30 years ago.
Some of the women I was debating were older then me, they were supportive of the younger ones doing the sex work seeing it as a "freedom". One posted elsewhere where she said she was desperate for money. I found myself thinking, why doesn't someone help her with real work. I have empathy that someone feels pushed into it to survive but wrote during the debate, that no woman should be forced to debase herself out of economic survival and that should be stood against. It is true so called third wave feminism is the feminism that went "sex positive" where they embraced porn. I remember feminist old school days where they protested objectification of women. Now it's slut walks and getting naked. I hate to say it but some of the older ones went with the young ones into the third wave lies. The sexual revolution is kind of hitting the shoals.
Although there are innocent Baby Boomers who are struggling with their narc parents and who have been poor, there are those who are greatly divided from us Generation Xers and Millenials. They lived through good years in America from 1947 to 1973. Those who were born in the late 1940s to early 1950s remember good years and when Americans were prosperous the longest. They lived through it the longest of all generations in American history. They lived through and enjoyed the benefits of old economy and stable jobs for for 50 to 60 years before the Great Recession began in December of 2007. I remember hearing from people who were born in the 1910s to 1930s that they raised their children to have better lives than they did when they were children to young adults. Most of them were there during the Great Depression and the Second World War. After the war ended in 1945, Americans began their lives in prosperity. People started having jobs that lasted them for 40 years, and was able to own a home and buy purchase appliances, cars, TV sets, and things that represented American dreams.
After the Second World War, colleges and universities began their liberal admissions policies and accepted more poor, working-class, middle-class, female, and colored students. People talked about American dreams. Then the Vietnam War came into picture and it escalated in the late 1960s. When the war escalated, President Johnson ordered more men to fight and the Armed Forces rejected too many volunteers. The Selective Services System rejected too many poor and working class volunteers and drafted many unwilling college students who did not want to fight in Vietnam. It was a sham because multiple people had evil intentions and plans. These were hard years for Baby Boomers and younger members of the Silent Generations.
Then the troops went home the same year the oil embargo began in 1973. American's prosperity began to ebb slowly over the years but it did not negatively affected all Baby Boomers. Some Baby Boomers did the right thing while the selfish few and narcs changed policies for the worse. The narc Baby Boomers are the ones who caused the Great Recession and created bad job market with bad trade policies and accepting bribes from inhumane corporations and narcs. Jobs these days are not like the jobs our grandparents were able to enjoy for 40-plus years because of the Great Recession, free-trade policies and narcs ruling over us. We need to get them out of high horse. There are narcs from the Silent Generation like my adopted narc mother and narcs from Generation Xers like my so-called school friends who became narc executives, and narc Millenials who have been working while a millions in their age are struggling to get a job. Baby Boomers were composed of many people in the 1960s to the 1990s but they are dying these days. There were many of them but the 1% are the ones who are ruining our lives. (cont)
I agree there are innocent baby boomers. In thinking more about this topic, it's true the elite are producing resentment between generations but more of the older people need to speak out for the young! It is scary to me watching millennial lives be destroyed, and they are ending up POORER then I was and you all certainly have read enough of my stories on here about how bad things got.
Even with those three cousins, living at home with no jobs [the girl has a cashiers job] at ages 30, 29 and 27. I consider that a travesty. They have no life, no development and live like 12 year olds in their parents upstairs. I was in shock that the father has not gotten any jobs at his factory, where he has been for 25 plus years, but as far as I see it their lives are ruined. They will never marry or have children or have careers. When the parents die, they probably will be in the streets. I am NC with them as well. I told my brother and mother too, why doesn't anyone help them get some employment or a start somewhere, you have the connections before I went NC. They are mind slaves to the narcs sadly enough who have done NOTHING for them and to be honest they will be at least the new familial set of scapegoats with me out of the picture for good.
Babyboomers of conscience should point out the younger generations are being destroyed and stand against the policies ruining their lives. They should not be voting selfishly for the likes of Hillary Clinton. I am sure there are some now who speak out now but I hear very few in real life.
Yes they remember the good years. Life was much different. Their good jobs were stable and paid living wages in the days before globalism was allowed to destroy the USA economy and before trickle down theories and other nonsense took hold.continuing...
Many do not understand how younger people live and don't try to realize why Generation X doesn't own homes or lives in poverty or can't get good jobs. We live these differences every day. It's hard because even last week, my husband was doing articles on people who had retirement parties, with jobs they were at for 20-30 years. These were people with suburban lives, success and respect. My husband has said, "I went to college, I worked hard, why couldn't I have a life like one of these guys? It hurts. They have things we can't even imagine. Jobs that allowed them families, good medical care, new cars, and decent lives and respect. That hurts, when he goes to write these articles and he's friendly and the people are nice to him and comes home to no money, and poverty, and we are standing two hours [me in a chair] or by the sidelines sitting in the car when I get tired, hours at a food pantry because there's no money to get food.
I will admit to a degree of bitterness and envy. I fight these sins constantly but I am tired. Very tired. I know it's showing. I have hit that middle aged where you examine your life and for me I have a whole dish of regret and how "did things go so wrong" while I see happier baby boomers who could build a life and have respect. Sometimes I think just having money would be my fastest way to heal. Poverty grinds you down.
In my old town, when we were working class, I had the thoughts someone could be of lower means and happy and I managed it, but there's a point where you start getting chipped away at even if you don't have abusers making it worse, and finally get away from them. Our poverty is growing where the car is nearly falling apart and our clothes are OLD. It SHOWS.
I am considering now, whether to give up our apartment and return to a cheaper room or place or get a roommate but trying to keep needed resources, is very difficult. My husband says if we give up the apartment we will never get a decent one back, but paying rent that is half our income is tough. Many of us have ruined lives. My life was ruined, at least I had some happy years, and we escaped poverty ONCE already to fall back in again. The lack of stability impacts lives in multiple levels. This isnt just us facing it but millions and in American society more and more we are the HIDDEN, even the Atlantic magazine wrote an article called the LONELY POVERTY, and I posted on it. http://fivehundredpoundpeeps.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-lonely-poverty.html
There is a lot of charity where I live, I am glad they offer it, but it chips away at your soul to always be in need and wondering "What you are doing wrong" everyday.
Baby Boomers of conscience who care about what happen to younger people need to realize that for millennials this will be worse. They are not launching. They are not getting lives, or spouses or houses or families. Generation X is suffering enough, we are dying young, this is a proven fact. My husband never got that vein surgery he needed 10 years ago.
The stigma given by some baby boomers to people who did not succeed like us, is IMMENSE> I got a taste of it almost everyday until I separated myself from narcs who were heavy on advice that always cost money, and never had any empathy and told me in a multitude of ways I was a "Bad" person for being disabled and poor. I know a special ingredient of my disability being super fat, and people thinking "Why doesn't she lose weight" also added an immense layer to this stigma. I know other poor Generation Xers, including one friend who was homeless living in a RV on a small plot of land, during warmer parts of the years and couch surfing with another friend, who was rejected by her family and cut off by others. This is destruction of people's souls. It's not just me but many people out there.
If you do not become a "successful" adult in many circles, you become nothing. For years the media has told the country that Generation X is slackers and then millennials are getting the entitled label. Well shouldnt a young person think a job should pay for an apartment? Otherwise why work? Shouldn't we be able to feed ourselves? Why doesn't anyone question this? I see this weird focus on older people almost wanting the younger ones punished. You deserve to be poor! You didn't work hard enough and "It's your fault!"
Some have kind parents but many do not. I see people all over a message board for children of narcissistic parents who are younger and can't get jobs that pay the bills and are going through horrible abuse in their 20s, because they are "mooches", supposedly and other such nonsense and forced to live at home with parents who abuse them everyday for it. It's like society itself is helping the narcissists abuse.
I am a Generation Xer who was born in 1965 so I was a borderline. However, I never had a chance to have a job for 40-plus years, to own a house, to buy appliances, and to raise 3 children. I had to rent a room in somebody's house or apartments until I got my own in 2000. Although I had my own apartment, I could not afford to own a house. My neighbor told me that 40 years ago, fast food workers or minimum wage workers could own a home in a city in Northeast Coast. Today, the cheapest home is $650,000.
Young people today are accused of being narcs but they are having a raw deals in life. For example, they could not put themselves through college and graduate from college without debt, unless they are lucky eough to get full financial aid from their college or have parents who are paying their ways to college. Many young people could not find a job that quickly and are forced to depend on their parents or siblings. Those who have a malignant narc parent are worse off. I know of horror stories that i will not put in here. People in my generation and Baby Boomers were able to escape abuses and poverty when we were young. Now, the whole country is full of hate because of a very bad government and very bad business. The rulers who are responsible for ruining our lives are from Baby Boomers (John Boner, Donald Trump) and Generation Xers (Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz).
On the other hand, the members of Congress these days are Baby Boomers and Generation Xers. A few Millenials got in for the House. The ones who accepted bribery and engaged in corruption are Baby Boomers (John Boner, Donald Trump, Mitt Romney) and Generation Xers (Paul Ryan, Ted Crud). There are too many Baby Boomers and the 1% is the one who need to go away and stop working. They need to stop hoarding money. If they have enough money to retire, they need to retire soon and let younger people start working. The oldest Generation Xers are turning 51 this year. The youngest Baby Boomers are 51 going on 52 so we are still working. The oldest Baby Boomers are turning 70 this year, so they should retire. Hope God will force them too if they get too greedy.
Yes you never had a chance to have a job for 40 years or to own and home or buy appliances or have children. Like you I had to live in a cadre of boarding houses and rental rooms and am hoping now not to be forced back into that life. I am old enough to remember factory workers and people with simple employment owning homes and being able to keep a good car. If you worked full time you could keep some kind of roof over your head and transportation.
The student loan debacle is a crime too. Some of the oldsters say work your way through college and that was possible in their day but with tuition 400% more in cost or more, it is impossible. They are cutting off the hands and feet of the young with joke jobs and student loans and greed.
I escaped poverty via husband getting a decent job, but when those jobs were taken away I was forced back in. Now the younger generation doesn't even have that way out. I agree about the bad politicians ruining our lives. Even those Generation Xers like Paul Ryan and Ted Crud [LOL] are sell-outs who have lived no where near the way of an average Generation Xer but came out of the silver spoon set. I asked my husband how come there's not more jobs as Baby boomers should be all retiring by now, he said many are holding on to their jobs longer and the companies all over are having people retire but not refilling the jobs.
Something has gone very awry with the system. It used to be that older people wanted younger generations to succeed. I am not so sure this is true anymore. Many people look to short term gain and many have been indoctrinated into the world of "success" at all costs, and I tend to think with some that is even at the expense of their children and grandchildren.
As a Gen X-er (born 1965) who lives in a run down mobile home without a working furnace or shower (I shower and wash clothes at my son's apartment) I am feeling this post. I work 48 plus hours a week, will have to work to age 70 to take full retirement. That is, if I don't die from stress sooner, or worse, become handicapped by stress related diseases to the point where I can't work.
ReplyDeleteOur world is so, so fucked at this point. This is the horrible dystopian future.
Life for many in Generation X basically sucks. I think I have realized why barely anyone my age lives in this town, I either meet millennials who all live at home, or are the few professionals who snagged a decent job and every woman I meet is over 60 and far richer then me. None of them can afford to live here. I feel sad for you...yes many of are living very hard lives. I am spared the working grind being disabled but it seems people either have their bodies too broken down to work like me--I worked 4-5 jobs and 60-70 hours a week in my 20s or they are working like slaves at often a multitude of very difficult jobs. They have no vacations or retirements to look forward to. My husband works all day at his gig employment and we are still going to food pantries. Isnt that sad? I think the world is totally screwed too. I lost hope of a better economic life a long time ago. :( This week, I barely have food to eat and have the fun of figuring out how to eat for 3-4 days for 2 people on 27 dollars. Well I have some canned vegetables and fruit.
DeleteMy perception of things is that being a boomer is not a key to automatic success. I was born in 58 and I think the further back the screw up comes in your life the further out of control you life becomes in the end. I have friends that had it all handed to them on a silver platter and they don't see how this reflects on their eventual success. They don't connect nice parents and unconditional love and unlimited resources as a springboard to success. So the flip side to that is they don't think having insane parents is an obstacle that can't be over come with a little can do attitude and elbow grease. They don't know what they don't know because they don't know it. I can't relate to living in a dumpster because I never had to. But I can see how it might have happened to me by varying a few factors from my past. I have spoken of my mother as basically a person that followed me around literally slapping things out of my hand. That was her net effect on my life. Money, college, or any kind of prep work for success was slapped out of my hand before I could benefit from it. They don't think getting what they needed as an asset so they don't really connect at a fundamental level how not getting what you need can make you lose the game before it even starts.
ReplyDeleteThat's true, some boomers ended up poor and by the way side, and I think the earlier too, that trouble happens the harder it can be. I agree about the friends who got it all on the silver platter. I went to a upper middle class high school and all their lives went according to script it seems. Outside of one that ended up in prison and even she managed a decent suburban existence for a time and children, I ended up the worse off financially. They had nice parents, guidance and it occured to me how many dated younger and how the women were having babies at 21, 23, and 24, instead of skulking around Chicago ghettos, trying to dumpster dive. They do see people like us as "slackers" and trust me scary bad health problems don't give us a break either. So its true Boomers with a bad ACE score can be brethern with the Gen Xers. There's others too where the easy ride ended and the job ended or the company killed the retirement and pensions. Yeah your mother slapped things out of your hand. These mothers slap learning, opportunity, love, other people and multiple things out of our hands. Little did I know when mine pulled me out of the way of strangers in stores this would be replicated in my future failures. The strangers got the room, they got the jobs, they got the chance and medical care. They wanted us to fail you see and sabotaged us at every turn. I had the thought the other day there is a reason even my slow and bad in school sister ended up upper middle class, it was PLANNED that way.
DeleteI know my story is extreme and I offer it up freely not as a competition, but as an example of how bad parents can be and no one notice or care enough to do anything about it. When my mother was arrested and we geared up for her trial it never crossed anyone's mind that maybe she shouldn't be left alone with her kids when it was over. A dash of that and a pinch of "kids should be seen and not heard" and our fate was sealed.
ReplyDeleteStill shocks me to this day. Maybe things are better now and kids would be taken from a mother like that now at least during the length of a trial. Not sure how it works. You had too many bystanders who "didn't want to get involved"
DeleteAs long as the media can continue to ferment some kind of war between the boomers and younger generations it will sell. Just continue to foster stereotypes complete with simplistic "solutions" and people will believe it. Yk, all the boomers "accomplished" was sex, drugs, rock n roll and Woodstock. Never mind the device you're reading right now was created by a boomer. Never mind 58,000 names on a black wall in Washington. Never mind the cities on fire, the multiple assassinations, the economic inequality and continuing cycles of "recessions," never mind the profiteering at the expense of young bodies from the working class and poor in the Vietnam War that played out night after night on TV etc. We were informed by George Wallace, "Segregation then, segregation now, segregation forever" and it wasn't considered "Hate Speech." About the same time some boomers who were trying to ensure that others also had voting rights "disappeared" while others got gassed and beat for peacefully protesting outside the '68 Democratic Convention. There were NO "Trigger Warnings" (GASP!)-we got to see it all. And no one got the vapors: They got off their asses and at least tried to challenge inequities in numbers untold across this country. Apparently that wasn't sexy enough for the media unless they were fringe group radicals or living in communes. This continued until we were heard and as a result the war ended, laws regarding segregation were overturned and equal opportunity laws were enacted-and a President resigned in disgrace. BTW, maybe you all can tell me where are all the protesters are now-we are involved in the longest war since Vietnam? Oh, that's right: What war? Say whatcha want, but we were a tenacious bunch. Because the boomers are a huge demographic bulge, there's going to be more of everything including people behaving badly as a result. Use some common sense. While your attention is being directed by the media "over there" and away from structural economic failures consistent with cycles of boom and bust that have historically marked this economy, you're being inculcated with the belief in simplistic causes and bogeymen "scapegoats." Who better to play the boomer stereotypes and the cause of all that ails than the the Bernie Madoffs and "The Donald." Just keep buying into those stereotypes: The media depends on it and so does every other One Percenter. And BTW, that One Percent includes plenty of younger people from other generations-including Gen X and millennials. Indeed, history repeats itself and the vast majority of people coming up have NO IDEA of this young countrys. Congratulate yourselves and drum beat up on those old boomers who collectively took everything and left nothing for the younger generations but college debt (ahem, have any idea how much these wars are costing daily? What percent of the federal budget is spent on the military?) College IS expensive. Why? Profiteering under the guise of "new programs" including "Gender Studies" and "Leisure Studies" which prepare you for exactly what employment? Add in the cost of remedial courses because so many go to university not knowing how to read, write, add or subtract-even with spell/ grammar check and calculators built right into your "device?"
ReplyDeleteNot buyin' this premise at all. But you're welcome to buy right into the faux paradigm and believing this is such an "obvious cause" of all maladies because the talking heads told you it's true and it makes a convenient sound bite. Scapegoating of "them" is necessary to ensure everything remains the same.
*Anything to make sure you don't look in other directions or too far or too deep.*
You're welcome.
TW
Your premise I am guessing is that these generational warfares are imposed from the powers that be. I don't know about that. I see some of the trends myself. I have lived falling into poverty while watching older people able to have stable lives and work. Many of those older people abused me as this blog exposes. I have seen the attitudes among baby boomers here, that we are losers. These things take a toll on people. It's not just the 1 percent who I have no contact with giving a sniff of the nose in the air.
DeleteWhere there are some poor boomers and others who died in Vietnam and who have suffered sure there is, but the reality is younger generations are seeing their fortunes and lives decline. I did a whole post on how death rates of Gen X are skyrocketing. I have lived this. A bunch of my friends are DEAD along with my silent generation friends.
What happened to the baby boomers. Where are all those justice warriors and antiwar people? I ask where are they? Where did they go? I ask the same questions too. Did many baby boomers sell out along the way? Why was the 1 percent able to acquire so much power? You may have a point it is not all the doing of the baby boomer generation, but something happened where the old ideals died and new scary ones took over.
Love of freedom turned into the police state and the most freedom loving generation turned into one supporting the most fascism this country has ever seen. Sure there are individuals this does not apply too, who have been victims, laid off from jobs themselves.
Why hasn't Generation X now aging into their 50s not been given a chance at the cultural bat? It's their turn isn't it by now? Why didn't we get jobs that the baby boomers retired from?
Whey are we still hearing about the 60s when it is the 80s turn now isn't it but what happened in the 80s, the freedom lovers, commune dwellers and hippies became yuppies. [Yes I know I am generalizing] but it is scary to us now with greying hair on our head, that culturally one's own generation remains invisible. We have no voice. I am tired of hearing about Vietnam, and the rest. When do people my age get a turn. Why do I still read fiction books that are newly published and its the same old trend, the same old thoughts and people my age, it's like the door got shut on more then just the jobs and hope but even having a voice. Even in size acceptance, I have faced the 60s counter cultural warriors who tell me I should accept things like debasement being the norm for superfat women.
Why did baby boomers[talking generaly] go from being against Vietnam and then become the supporters of perpetual war? I used to war protest with an old hippie, we didn't agree with everything but he was the real deal, he was even friends with a guy famous from the 60s for rabble rousting. I met this guy. But I sure didn't meet too many like him. That was when Bush was president.
The media isn't too nice to millennials or Gen X calling them slackers and entitled to help set up having the rug taken out from underneath them, no jobs. The poorer Gen X and millennials get, who do they blame? Sure I blame the 1 percent and elite, but who allowed them to take so much power? Who gave up their youthful ideas [speaking generally] and SOLD OUT?
Why isn't a 50 something Gen Xer the possible president and we have people who will be older or as old as Ronald Reagan when Reagan used to be the oldest president? I still remember the day I was at that dance festival for the baby boomers. Hey I loved the music too, they had nice lives. I've been poor all my life. Our dreams didn't come true. Sorry if there is some bitterness. Someone let this nation become what it did. I know "blaming a generation" is speaking in generalities and there's many individuals who were not part of it, but something happened on their watch. I am disappointed with the millennials in their acceptance of it all There's a reason Generation X wore black, maybe we knew what was coming.
I will consider your premise the powers that be are doing divide and conquer on generations, and yes there are boomers who have been victims as well, but some of these generational labels are serving as short hand to speak of overall cultural and other trends. I do believe they are right about Gen X dying off, it's being proven by the numbers as I wrote in this article:
Deletehttp://fivehundredpoundpeeps.blogspot.in/2015/11/generation-x-scapegoat-generation-is.html
My measuring stick is a lot simpler: look at what folks are driving. 99% of the Boomers that I know are cruising around in the latest gleaming battleship-sized cars, which isn't the case for the ones I knew in the Gen X crowd. Their mobiles tend to be on the decade-plus side -- well, if they're fortunate to own one. I know a few who end up being perched on the bus line, because of that factor.
ReplyDeleteThat's not a media hype, at least in my experience -- that reflects some yawning disparities in a nation that's busy patting itself on the back as doing such a wonderful job for everybody.
However, even a casual glance at the demographic data -- which anyone, including the commentator above, can find via the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics -- suggests otherwise. For example, 5.8 million are working part-time right now, because they have no other choice. Offhand, I don't know what the generational split there is -- but I'll bet you, dollars to doughnuts, that a fair portion of the current generation are in that boat, as well as the Gen X crowd.
And don't talk to me about startups, which (by and large) employ miniscule numbers of people, not nearly enough to offset the doldrums that most folks are finding themselves in. So, like it or not, people are getting tired of being told that everything's peachy, when it's plainly not. End of sermon.
And, I, too, am personally tired of the Boomers acting like they've copywritten the drumbeat of history -- it reflects the self-absorption and refusal to get off the stage that characterizes famous uber-Boomers like the Clintons, who (hand on heart) are running again because....well, apparently, because they didn't stuff enough loot into their money bins 20-odd years ago, so they're back to finish the job. God help us all.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/07/news/economy/wealth_gap_age/
DeleteAs far as Demographics go did you ever see that stat?
People need to stand up for the millennials and they need to start standing up for themselves their lives are being ruined even more then Gen X.
The financial demographics are bringing resentment between the generations, the divisions by the numbers are EXTREME. yes the elite probably set it up that way and there are some poor boomers.
But why was this all allowed to happen? Why are wealthy older boomers paving a way for Clinton to have another go around. Why is Generation X being denied time on the cultural and political stage? Is that the continuation of a scapegoated generation?
I agree God help us all.
It's hard being a "failed
Gen Xer. Some could point to my health problems but I see a multitude of others with good health, and the worse part of what they dealt with was the false dreams handed them and judgments from older people who had lives they could not even imagine.
I notice here too the older people are home owners and have nice cars and built up lives while younger and by younger I mean 40 and 50s, they have nothing and even younger 20s and 30s, they aren't even getting the low wage work to give them an adult life. Something is seriously wrong with it all. Whose giving votes to Clinton?
Even with that sex work debate, I am tired of having the worse aspects of the counter culture shoved down my throat, that rhetoric is from the 1960s and told to be politically correct. They threw away the positive ideals and now we are left with the negative ones.
Even size acceptance is controlled by a politically correct stuck in the 1960s boomer mentality.
DeleteI kind of thought the sex work debate was more the younger feminists not the older ones. Now it's slut walks and you have to be OK with porn. It wasn't that way 30 years ago.
ReplyDeleteSome of the women I was debating were older then me, they were supportive of the younger ones doing the sex work seeing it as a "freedom". One posted elsewhere where she said she was desperate for money. I found myself thinking, why doesn't someone help her with real work. I have empathy that someone feels pushed into it to survive but wrote during the debate, that no woman should be forced to debase herself out of economic survival and that should be stood against. It is true so called third wave feminism is the feminism that went "sex positive" where they embraced porn. I remember feminist old school days where they protested objectification of women. Now it's slut walks and getting naked. I hate to say it but some of the older ones went with the young ones into the third wave lies. The sexual revolution is kind of hitting the shoals.
DeleteAlthough there are innocent Baby Boomers who are struggling with their narc parents and who have been poor, there are those who are greatly divided from us Generation Xers and Millenials. They lived through good years in America from 1947 to 1973. Those who were born in the late 1940s to early 1950s remember good years and when Americans were prosperous the longest. They lived through it the longest of all generations in American history. They lived through and enjoyed the benefits of old economy and stable jobs for for 50 to 60 years before the Great Recession began in December of 2007. I remember hearing from people who were born in the 1910s to 1930s that they raised their children to have better lives than they did when they were children to young adults. Most of them were there during the Great Depression and the Second World War. After the war ended in 1945, Americans began their lives in prosperity. People started having jobs that lasted them for 40 years, and was able to own a home and buy purchase appliances, cars, TV sets, and things that represented American dreams.
ReplyDeleteAfter the Second World War, colleges and universities began their liberal admissions policies and accepted more poor, working-class, middle-class, female, and colored students. People talked about American dreams. Then the Vietnam War came into picture and it escalated in the late 1960s. When the war escalated, President Johnson ordered more men to fight and the Armed Forces rejected too many volunteers. The Selective Services System rejected too many poor and working class volunteers and drafted many unwilling college students who did not want to fight in Vietnam. It was a sham because multiple people had evil intentions and plans. These were hard years for Baby Boomers and younger members of the Silent Generations.
Then the troops went home the same year the oil embargo began in 1973. American's prosperity began to ebb slowly over the years but it did not negatively affected all Baby Boomers. Some Baby Boomers did the right thing while the selfish few and narcs changed policies for the worse. The narc Baby Boomers are the ones who caused the Great Recession and created bad job market with bad trade policies and accepting bribes from inhumane corporations and narcs. Jobs these days are not like the jobs our grandparents were able to enjoy for 40-plus years because of the Great Recession, free-trade policies and narcs ruling over us. We need to get them out of high horse. There are narcs from the Silent Generation like my adopted narc mother and narcs from Generation Xers like my so-called school friends who became narc executives, and narc Millenials who have been working while a millions in their age are struggling to get a job. Baby Boomers were composed of many people in the 1960s to the 1990s but they are dying these days. There were many of them but the 1% are the ones who are ruining our lives.
(cont)
I agree there are innocent baby boomers. In thinking more about this topic, it's true the elite are producing resentment between generations but more of the older people need to speak out for the young! It is scary to me watching millennial lives be destroyed, and they are ending up POORER then I was and you all certainly have read enough of my stories on here about how bad things got.
DeleteEven with those three cousins, living at home with no jobs [the girl has a cashiers job] at ages 30, 29 and 27. I consider that a travesty. They have no life, no development and live like 12 year olds in their parents upstairs. I was in shock that the father has not gotten any jobs at his factory, where he has been for 25 plus years, but as far as I see it their lives are ruined. They will never marry or have children or have careers. When the parents die, they probably will be in the streets. I am NC with them as well. I told my brother and mother too, why doesn't anyone help them get some employment or a start somewhere, you have the connections before I went NC. They are mind slaves to the narcs sadly enough who have done NOTHING for them and to be honest they will be at least the new familial set of scapegoats with me out of the picture for good.
Babyboomers of conscience should point out the younger generations are being destroyed and stand against the policies ruining their lives. They should not be voting selfishly for the likes of Hillary Clinton. I am sure there are some now who speak out now but I hear very few in real life.
Yes they remember the good years. Life was much different. Their good jobs were stable and paid living wages in the days before globalism was allowed to destroy the USA economy and before trickle down theories and other nonsense took hold.continuing...
Many do not understand how younger people live and don't try to realize why Generation X doesn't own homes or lives in poverty or can't get good jobs. We live these differences every day. It's hard because even last week, my husband was doing articles on people who had retirement parties, with jobs they were at for 20-30 years. These were people with suburban lives, success and respect. My husband has said, "I went to college, I worked hard, why couldn't I have a life like one of these guys? It hurts. They have things we can't even imagine. Jobs that allowed them families, good medical care, new cars, and decent lives and respect. That hurts, when he goes to write these articles and he's friendly and the people are nice to him and comes home to no money, and poverty, and we are standing two hours [me in a chair] or by the sidelines sitting in the car when I get tired, hours at a food pantry because there's no money to get food.
DeleteI will admit to a degree of bitterness and envy. I fight these sins constantly but I am tired. Very tired. I know it's showing. I have hit that middle aged where you examine your life and for me I have a whole dish of regret and how "did things go so wrong" while I see happier baby boomers who could build a life and have respect. Sometimes I think just having money would be my fastest way to heal. Poverty grinds you down.
In my old town, when we were working class, I had the thoughts someone could be of lower means and happy and I managed it, but there's a point where you start getting chipped away at even if you don't have abusers making it worse, and finally get away from them. Our poverty is growing where the car is nearly falling apart and our clothes are OLD. It SHOWS.
I am considering now, whether to give up our apartment and return to a cheaper room or place or get a roommate but trying to keep needed resources, is very difficult. My husband says if we give up the apartment we will never get a decent one back, but paying rent that is half our income is tough. Many of us have ruined lives. My life was ruined, at least I had some happy years, and we escaped poverty ONCE already to fall back in again. The lack of stability impacts lives in multiple levels. This isnt just us facing it but millions and in American society more and more we are the HIDDEN, even the Atlantic magazine wrote an article called the LONELY POVERTY, and I posted on it.
http://fivehundredpoundpeeps.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-lonely-poverty.html
There is a lot of charity where I live, I am glad they offer it, but it chips away at your soul to always be in need and wondering "What you are doing wrong" everyday.
continuing...
DeleteBaby Boomers of conscience who care about what happen to younger people need to realize that for millennials this will be worse. They are not launching. They are not getting lives, or spouses or houses or families. Generation X is suffering enough, we are dying young, this is a proven fact. My husband never got that vein surgery he needed 10 years ago.
The stigma given by some baby boomers to people who did not succeed like us, is IMMENSE> I got a taste of it almost everyday until I separated myself from narcs who were heavy on advice that always cost money, and never had any empathy and told me in a multitude of ways I was a "Bad" person for being disabled and poor. I know a special ingredient of my disability being super fat, and people thinking "Why doesn't she lose weight" also added an immense layer to this stigma. I know other poor Generation Xers, including one friend who was homeless living in a RV on a small plot of land, during warmer parts of the years and couch surfing with another friend, who was rejected by her family and cut off by others. This is destruction of people's souls. It's not just me but many people out there.
If you do not become a "successful" adult in many circles, you become nothing. For years the media has told the country that Generation X is slackers and then millennials are getting the entitled label. Well shouldnt a young person think a job should pay for an apartment? Otherwise why work? Shouldn't we be able to feed ourselves? Why doesn't anyone question this? I see this weird focus on older people almost wanting the younger ones punished. You deserve to be poor! You didn't work hard enough and "It's your fault!"
Some have kind parents but many do not. I see people all over a message board for children of narcissistic parents who are younger and can't get jobs that pay the bills and are going through horrible abuse in their 20s, because they are "mooches", supposedly and other such nonsense and forced to live at home with parents who abuse them everyday for it. It's like society itself is helping the narcissists abuse.
I am a Generation Xer who was born in 1965 so I was a borderline. However, I never had a chance to have a job for 40-plus years, to own a house, to buy appliances, and to raise 3 children. I had to rent a room in somebody's house or apartments until I got my own in 2000. Although I had my own apartment, I could not afford to own a house. My neighbor told me that 40 years ago, fast food workers or minimum wage workers could own a home in a city in Northeast Coast. Today, the cheapest home is $650,000.
ReplyDeleteYoung people today are accused of being narcs but they are having a raw deals in life. For example, they could not put themselves through college and graduate from college without debt, unless they are lucky eough to get full financial aid from their college or have parents who are paying their ways to college. Many young people could not find a job that quickly and are forced to depend on their parents or siblings. Those who have a malignant narc parent are worse off. I know of horror stories that i will not put in here. People in my generation and Baby Boomers were able to escape abuses and poverty when we were young. Now, the whole country is full of hate because of a very bad government and very bad business. The rulers who are responsible for ruining our lives are from Baby Boomers (John Boner, Donald Trump) and Generation Xers (Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz).
On the other hand, the members of Congress these days are Baby Boomers and Generation Xers. A few Millenials got in for the House. The ones who accepted bribery and engaged in corruption are Baby Boomers (John Boner, Donald Trump, Mitt Romney) and Generation Xers (Paul Ryan, Ted Crud). There are too many Baby Boomers and the 1% is the one who need to go away and stop working. They need to stop hoarding money. If they have enough money to retire, they need to retire soon and let younger people start working. The oldest Generation Xers are turning 51 this year. The youngest Baby Boomers are 51 going on 52 so we are still working. The oldest Baby Boomers are turning 70 this year, so they should retire. Hope God will force them too if they get too greedy.
Yes you never had a chance to have a job for 40 years or to own and home or buy appliances or have children. Like you I had to live in a cadre of boarding houses and rental rooms and am hoping now not to be forced back into that life. I am old enough to remember factory workers and people with simple employment owning homes and being able to keep a good car. If you worked full time you could keep some kind of roof over your head and transportation.
DeleteThe student loan debacle is a crime too. Some of the oldsters say work your way through college and that was possible in their day but with tuition 400% more in cost or more, it is impossible. They are cutting off the hands and feet of the young with joke jobs and student loans and greed.
I escaped poverty via husband getting a decent job, but when those jobs were taken away I was forced back in. Now the younger generation doesn't even have that way out. I agree about the bad politicians ruining our lives. Even those Generation Xers like Paul Ryan and Ted Crud [LOL] are sell-outs who have lived no where near the way of an average Generation Xer but came out of the silver spoon set. I asked my husband how come there's not more jobs as Baby boomers should be all retiring by now, he said many are holding on to their jobs longer and the companies all over are having people retire but not refilling the jobs.
Something has gone very awry with the system. It used to be that older people wanted younger generations to succeed. I am not so sure this is true anymore. Many people look to short term gain and many have been indoctrinated into the world of "success" at all costs, and I tend to think with some that is even at the expense of their children and grandchildren.