Discontent Towards Boomers

[The Duke]

Why is there so much discontent towards baby boomers? I am not one but I see it's fairly common amongst 20 something 's. I guess my generation was raised to respect your elders. We had relationships with our grandparents, uncles, aunts, old people, etc. They had a lot of solid lessons to share.

 

[BillyPilgrim]

There's always been multiple generations pissed off at them, both older and younger, at any given time. Their elders called them the "Me Generation". Here's what George Carlin had to say about the Booms:

This is what having distant, trauma-shocked parents (the Silents), winning a world war that enabled hs-diploma home ownership, leaded gasoline poisoning and the introduction of mass consumption will do to one's sense of empathy. Namely, stunt it.

Unfortunately most of the old people who were worth a damn have passed now.

 

[CornbreadFed]

Why is there so much discontent towards baby boomers? I am not one but I see it's fairly common amongst 20 something 's. I guess my generation was raised to respect your elders. We had relationships with our grandparents, uncles, aunts, old people, etc. They had a lot of solid lessons to share.

Hmmmm where do I start! To keep it short, they seem to be extremely ungrateful for the unique world & opportunities they grew up in and selfish to pass down the equity to the younger generations.

 

[EyeBRollin]

The boomers had everything going for them and want to take it to their graves. Love your elders to death but that generation some of them made upwards of $30 / hour over four decades ago (in that years money, not todays money) with just a high school education. Homes were only $30K. Then the constant lectures from them about kids these days are just lazy pieces of shvt that don’t deserve two pennies.

 

[Kotaix]

Why is there so much discontent towards baby boomers? I am not one but I see it's fairly common amongst 20 something 's. I guess my generation was raised to respect your elders. We had relationships with our grandparents, uncles, aunts, old people, etc. They had a lot of solid lessons to share.

It's just another face of identity politics. Leftists want everyone to hate eachother.

 

[Bokanovsky]

Why is there so much discontent towards baby boomers? I am not one but I see it's fairly common amongst 20 something 's. I guess my generation was raised to respect your elders. We had relationships with our grandparents, uncles, aunts, old people, etc. They had a lot of solid lessons to share.

For the same reason people hate "rich kids". The hate is not always justified but oftentimes it is. Baby boomers are basically a generation of people who had it easy in life compared to earlier generations. Everything was handed to them on a silver platter: strong economy, a social safety net, improved working conditions and ample opportunities for leisurely activities, medical and technological advances and no major wars. All things that average people of past generations could only dream of. And yet, the baby boomers somehow managed to make society worse instead of making it better. Just like rich kids indulging in drugs and other self-destructive habits and squandering their inheritance.

 

[Pierce Manhammer]

I’m solid gen-x. I inherited nothing from the boomers except my bad attitude.

Sounds like jealousy to me. The world owes you nothing. Make your own pile and do with it what you want. Bitter lemons…

Instead of whining about their good fortune and your own lack of motivation, why not build something yourself. Or you waiting for mommy and daddy to drop in on a chopper to save your pathetic selves? Poor little unique snowflakes…

Don’t hate the playah, hate the game.

 

[SW15]

Baby boomers are basically a generation of people who had it easy in life compared to earlier generations. Everything was handed to them on a silver platter: strong economy, a social safety net, improved working conditions and ample opportunities for leisurely activities, medical and technological advances and no major wars. All things that average people of past generations could only dream of. And yet, the baby boomers somehow managed to make society worse instead of making it better. Just like rich kids indulging in drugs and other self-destructive habits and squandering their inheritance.

They're the only generation to have it better than both their parents and children, and managed to f*ck it up by letting women run wild and free.

Then we have all the Millennial and Gen Z hatred, primarily purveyed by the very generation that birthed the generations being criticized.

These two posters made some good statements. Boomers were born into a good situation and managed to mess it all up for future generations. That's the reason why the subsequent generations dislike them.

When Boomers were finishing high school in the late 1960s/early 1970s, there were many productive paths possible without a college degree. Even if Boomers got college degrees in the 1970s, college tuition was far more affordable than at any point that it has been since the year 2000. Some Boomers also like to complain about graduating into recessionary periods during the Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter presidencies (1974-1981). To Millennials, that is a big time joke. A lot of Millennials were graduating from school near when the late 2000s/early 2010s recession happened. I finished my graduate level in the late 2000s as the recession was hitting. The Great Recession fuccked me over economically big time.

The Boomers as young adults had a healthier mating environment than the Millennials/Gen Z have had post-2000. A 50th percentile Boomer male in the 1970s-1980s was more visible to women than a 50th percentile Millennial male in the 2000s-present. There are plenty of 65-75 year old Boomer men out there today that have had decent relationship lives but if they had been born in the 1980s, they would have been incel or borderline incel based on their personality traits and being merely average looking and average earning.

 

[The Duke]

Hmmmm where do I start! To keep it short, they seem to be extremely ungrateful for the unique world & opportunities they grew up in and selfish to pass down the equity to the younger generations.

What equity/opportunities are not getting passed down?

 

[SW15]

Another legitimate point of criticism for Boomers is the absolute terrible job they did parenting Millennials. The typical Boomer in the 1950s had Millennial children born in the 1980s. In the 1990s, Boomer parents started giving their Millennial children positive affirmations based on nothing, created a generation of entitled people. Millennial females became extremely entitled, and the abundance of romantic prospects that swipe apps and Instagram gave them only furthered this.

What equity/opportunities are not getting passed down?

Inexpensive college tuition, inexpensive housing, and a mating environment that was more equitable to more normie range males.

 

[CAPSLOCK BANDIT]

Because they were able to lead incredibly easy and comfortable lives; most of them act as if technology is purely beneficial and not a burden, which would be true if only a few had access to it. Instead it has made the world hyper competitive.

Financially, the boomers have led the easiest lives of any living generation, to argue this point is just ignorant though in their eyes... Look at how qualified you have to be just to have a fraction of the buying power they did for example.

Furthermore, no boomer wants to acknowledge any of this because it fractures this identity most of them carry that they had to work so hard to get where they are now without realizing most of them are sitting on pensions the general work force just does not offer to people anymore for example. My dad has over a 70k/year pension and complains about his life constantly, it's actually downright infuriating considering there is not an industry currently that would offer something like that today. Also he took his pension early and is retired, not even 65, many people later on are looking at a life completely devoid of any retirement at all.

 

[EyeBRollin]

My dad has over a 70k/year pension and complains about his life constantly, it's actually downright infuriating considering there is not an industry currently that would offer something like that today.

On top of the pension, boomers are getting social security benefits while telling younger generations that it “won’t be around for you youngsters!”

 

[SW15]

sitting on pensions the general work force just does not offer to people anymore for example.

boomers are getting social security benefits while telling younger generations that it “won’t be around for you youngsters!”

Pensions were more of a thing for the GI Generation (1910s- early 1920s births) and Silent Generation (late 1920s-early 1940s births). A lot of Boomers didn't get pension as the 401k replaced the pension during the Boomers' working years. Nevertheless, the Boomers had a better economic environment for most of their working years. The Great Recession didn't hit until a good portion of the Boomers were on the verge of retirement. The Boomers' prime working years of the 1980s-1990s were times of economic growth.

Boomers will be the last generation to get Social Security in the USA. It's possible some older Gen X'ers might see some portion of Social Security for some part of their retirement, but the Boomers will be the last full generation to enjoy the bounty of it. It won't benefit me as a Millennial.

 

[The Duke]

My dad was a boomer, when he was in high school he made enough money mowing lawns to buy a new corvette. The day he went to buy it the car caught fire and he ended up buying a brand new Chevelle SS 396. It will take $100k to get one now days. So when I was in high school I figured out that there was no way I could afford a new car on that level even though I mowed yards just like he did. I settled for a used Mustang GT 5.0. I didn't fault the boomers for this. Those were the economic conditions of the times.

My boomer parents also paid 25% interest rate on a home loan in the late 70's, early 80's. It was economics.

 

[The Duke]

On top of the pension, boomers are getting social security benefits while telling younger generations that it “won’t be around for you youngsters!”

They paid into social security, shouldn't they get something back?

 

[EyeBRollin]

They paid into social security, shouldn't they get something back?

That is not the point. It’s boomers and boomer politicians getting theirs, then telling subsequent generations they plan on cutting everything the boomers benefited from.

 

[SW15]

They paid into social security, shouldn't they get something back?

I'm paying into it right now as a working person and don't expect to see any of it when I'm of retirement age.

My dad was a boomer, when he was in high school he made enough money mowing lawns to buy a new corvette. The day he went to buy it the car caught fire and he ended up buying a brand new Chevelle SS 396. It will take $100k to get one now days. So when I was in high school I figured out that there was no way I could afford a new car on that level even though I mowed yards just like he did. I settled for a used Mustang GT 5.0. I didn't fault the boomers for this. Those were the economic conditions of the times.

My boomer parents also paid 25% interest rate on a home loan in the late 70's, early 80's. It was economics.

You were born in the latter part of Gen X, so it wouldn't be surprising for you to have early Boomer parents.

Those home loan rates were ridiculous in the late 1970s/early 1980s, but the homes themselves were more affordable. Mortgages were also refinanced when rates dropped.

 

[EyeBRollin]

Boomers will be the last generation to get Social Security in the USA. It's possible some older Gen X'ers might see some portion of Social Security for some part of their retirement, but the Boomers will be the last full generation to enjoy the bounty of it. It won't benefit me as a Millennial.

And you’ve swallowed their bullshvt. You do know social security is “paid” by pressing a few keys on a computer, right?

 

[The Duke]

Inexpensive college tuition, inexpensive housing, and a mating environment that was more equitable to more normie range males.

So how is that the fault of boomers? We live in a free market economy. I do agree that many large corporations have a stranglehold and too much power over pricing. But the consumer ultimately decides if he wants to swallow it or go with out. If you can't afford gas for your car, then walk, ride your bike, take the bus.

 

[EyeBRollin]

So how is that the fault of boomers?

Poor public policy legislation.