Quote:
Originally Posted by queasy27
But I genuinely don't understand how boomers are somehow to blame for the high cost of housing, gig economies, lack of pension plans, soaring college tuition, etc. Even social security supposedly teetering on the brink of collapse is more a function of our sheer numbers than anything we did. And we're certainly not immune to the rising cost of living and increased housing prices ourselves.
How did boomers have it so easy, exactly? I'm not being sarcastic; I honestly don't understand the anger.
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It's complicated. The late boomers kind of get it, because we were pretty much left out of the upward mobility whirlwind. And then we missed the dot-com boom, and then the next generation took over. The white house, picket fence, everyone has a job, everyone has a retirement account, everyone can afford health care days were the boomer generation.
Later generations - in particular the millennial generation, lost out on all that. Our generation saw to that with our generation's activities in business, the stock market, trade, investments, and legislation in government from the feds all the way down to village municipalities.
Our generation is why disposable diapers are common. Our generation is why plastic has replaced paper in stores. Our generation is why forests were stripped of wood, which created the need for plastics to replace paper. We were, and still are, the greatest CONSUMER generation in history. We are the biggest fans of disposables, and while we didn't create the niche, we gave it more value than it had ever had previously. And all of this gave way to greater pollution, greater waste, greater need to consume more, greater need to have more, greater need to throw away more.
That's all on the Boomer generation. We didn't create it. But we created the market for it.
The newer generation has college costs that spiraled out of control, promising the same rosy and successful future that their predecessors had, while at the same time bringing in new technology that made their college majors obsolete - leaving them with no USEFUL education, but a whole lot of debt.
We didn't cause the newer generation's headaches, but we contributed to them, we encouraged them, and we did very little to prevent them. And now they're burdened with it, and we're telling them to "get off my lawn."
People are living longer than they were, when the oldest of the boomers were growing up. That means there are more older people using more non-renewable resources than ever before. That means less for everyone else.
That's where their particular angst regarding the older generation comes from. It's a frustration that comes from overconsumption, and not giving it a moment's thought. The grandkids see how it's affecting the world - and they recognize that overconsumption is creating a risk to their own future. But how do you tell Grandpa to give up the fancy expensive hobbies and toys he worked for decades and earned, just because the continual use and purchase of more is killing the planet?
Frustration. That's what it is.