Can we talk about the baby boomers?

C

Clak

CAGiversary!
This has been talked about in passing a little but I don't think we've ever had an entire thread. This came about because I was watching Real Time and it was mentioned just a bit on there, and I'd like to expand a bit on it.

It seems that most of us here are in the 20-30 year old age range, give or take. That means that we're at the mercy of the baby boomer generation when it comes to the economy, politics, etc. We haven't yet had the chance to really change the country through the system in any big way. So all of the problems we're currently dealing with, the economy, fighting in foreign countries, the shitty job market, is all the fault of our parents generation for the most part.

So, how does it feel when we're referred to as "the entitlement generation"? That's easy to say when you've had it fairly easy yourself, especially compared to the previous generation. We're called lazy, that we feel entitled to have everything handed to us, that we've been coddled etc. Well are we not your children? How can you complain about how your kids turned out when it's your job to raise them?

I'm sick of being looked at like some spoiled brat, when all I want is what my parents had. All i ask is to have at least as good a life as my parents have, but at least on a national scale, that probably isn't going to happen. This generation (our generation) is mostly likely going to be worse off than our parents (the baby boomers). Whose fault is that? Their fault, plain and simple. They brought us into this world, and rather than trying to make it a better one for their children, have fucked it up even more.

So I have to give a big fuck you to any baby boomers who feels it their place to critique my generation. Former hippies who sold out, now feel they have the right to tell me what is wrong with my generation? That's a laugh. Why don't you get back to fixing the economy so your children can find decent jobs.

So, with my admittedly rant like post done, what do you all think? Are we really the spoiled generation we're refereed to as, or is that just hot air from a bunch of hypocrites?
 
Oh hell, I still remember that. As ridiculous as saying that shows like Captain Planet indoctrinated a generation into hating corporations.
 
You wanna talk entitled, OUR generation didn't start wars because they didn't feel like paying higher gas prices. OUR generation doesn't have some demographics deny others' rights because they feel entitled to their opinion on marriage or whatever. OUR generation doesn't have shit politicians that are so fucking entitled that they can't come together or cooperate to sort out problems or get shit done. Compare the difficulty of education of now and yesteryear, and it's no contest. I often think to myself, I think I would have had it easier in my parents day. Our generation faces more competition and requires more education to meet with standards set by baby boomers and the like to compete in 'global economies.' Buncha shit to distract from their own fuck ups.
 
greatest generation followed by the greediest generation followed by what will likely be the neediest generation followed by the end of the world?

The 60's killed this country, plain and simple.
 
Aren't there a few more "generations" lost in there somewhere? I'm not a baby boomer but I'm not in the 20-30 year old generation either. I've always considered myself part of Generation X while the people in their 20s now probably identify with Generation Y. Either way, yes I agree the baby boomers are screwing it up for everyone.
 
depends on your generation definition. Some seem to use ten years, others seem to use defining events. I tend to roll with the children of people my age as the next generation, but that's a rather nebulous definition that is more like 20-30 years between generations.
 
I think that generation me is partially to blame and I also think that the boomers are partially to blame.

But more importantly the original post is the definition of hypocrisy, the blame game, and naivety. With that I really do think that the twenty somethings these days are the new young teens (maturity and self-responsibility wise).

The following actually paints it as a problem of both not just one group or demographic.

Are American workers getting lazy?

" He paints the problem as a cultural one. Society seems to believe it's better to be a young idealist who's above lawn-and-garden work or a part-time college student who's more focused on music and Ultimate Fighting Championship fights than to be a 9-to-5 go-getter.

http://money.msn.com/investing/are-american-workers-getting-lazy-mirhaydari.aspx

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[quote name='Javery']Aren't there a few more "generations" lost in there somewhere? I'm not a baby boomer but I'm not in the 20-30 year old generation either. I've always considered myself part of Generation X while the people in their 20s now probably identify with Generation Y. Either way, yes I agree the baby boomers are screwing it up for everyone.[/QUOTE]

Tail of X/head of Y here. But yea, I'm somehow entitled because baby boomers moves millions of jobs overseas, caused education to be worse than ever, and graduating people at a ~16% effective unemployment rate.
 
[quote name='elessar123']Tail of X/head of Y here. But yea, I'm somehow entitled because baby boomers moves millions of jobs overseas, caused education to be worse than ever, and graduating people at a ~16% effective unemployment rate.[/QUOTE]

You should read the article I posted. I know I quoted the part that would evoke but it is actually fair but hard on both old and young.

The young and the feckless

Boomers lowering unemployment the wrong way

Hitting the limit

What it all means

Flat wages, a rising cost of living, unattractive jobs and the specter of more taxes. I guess that's why many in my generation just don't see the point of getting up and going to work in the morning.

http://money.msn.com/investing/are-american-workers-getting-lazy-mirhaydari.aspx?page=2
 
[quote name='Pliskin101']You should read the article I posted. I know I quoted the part that would evoke but it is actually fair but hard on both old and young.

The young and the feckless

Boomers lowering unemployment the wrong way

Hitting the limit

What it all means

Flat wages, a rising cost of living, unattractive jobs and the specter of more taxes. I guess that's why many in my generation just don't see the point of getting up and going to work in the morning.

http://money.msn.com/investing/are-american-workers-getting-lazy-mirhaydari.aspx?page=2[/QUOTE]

Having been educated in both the Eastern and Western systems, I agree that society has a lot to do with it. Very few people I know from high school hold regular jobs, for example.

When the recession hit, companies kept lowering wages, hired people who were over-qualified, and gave them more work to make up for the lack of employees. So of course people working will get burned out, and people looking will stop.

Flat wages are semi-true; I think they've been going back up. Rising cost of living is true, but housing has come down a bit (albeit an older generation's fault that it went up so much). Not sure I agree with more taxes. At least, not on a federal level.

Another thing to blame may be minimum wage. To pay the workers, they charge the customers. That of course contributes to rising cost of living, hiring more experienced people (more bang for your buck), and hiring less people. None of those are favorable to the statistic that 16-24 year-olds are w working less, since it's almost not by choice. Recession also causes more of them to go to college, which further skews that figure to make it seem like the new workforce is lazy.

Disclaimer: I'm employed. Just observations from both sides of the fence, since I graduated around the recession. I saw some of this first hand, as well as seeing friends get pay cuts and layoffs and more work.
 
[quote name='Javery']Aren't there a few more "generations" lost in there somewhere? I'm not a baby boomer but I'm not in the 20-30 year old generation either. I've always considered myself part of Generation X while the people in their 20s now probably identify with Generation Y. Either way, yes I agree the baby boomers are screwing it up for everyone.[/QUOTE]The latch key kids haven't really had the chance to screw things up yet either. Obama is technically a baby boomer, just barely, and he's fairly young to be president. We'll still be under their heel for a while longer. Then yeah, the gen-x folks, and eventually Y. When some old timer starts griping though, you really think they care if it's generation X/Y/Z?
 
In a few other circles I run in, there seems to be a great hope that Gen X will avoid a lot of the mistakes of the Boomers. It basically boils down to Gen X not being primed to A) believe that they're special nor B) believing that infinite growth is necessary or even good. To be fair I cling to that hope as well seeing as I'm on the very tail end of the X'ers. We'll see how it works out.

Regardless I don't think it's fair to put so much blame on the Boomers. Taken as a group they did the best they could with what they had and it's really just a small portion of them shitting things up for the rest of us. When they spew nonsense at you just roll your eyes and remind yourself that they'll be dead soon enough.
 
[quote name='cochesecochese']In a few other circles I run in, there seems to be a great hope that Gen X will avoid a lot of the mistakes of the Boomers. It basically boils down to Gen X not being primed to A) believe that they're special nor B) believing that infinite growth is necessary or even good. To be fair I cling to that hope as well seeing as I'm on the very tail end of the X'ers. We'll see how it works out.

Regardless I don't think it's fair to put so much blame on the Boomers. Taken as a group they did the best they could with what they had and it's really just a small portion of them shitting things up for the rest of us. When they spew nonsense at you just roll your eyes and remind yourself that they'll be dead soon enough.[/QUOTE]


I disagree with this, they had plenty and much more than any other generation did.

Its history plain and simple:
1. Hilter literally blew all USA's competition and the everything else away.
2. The greatest generation won and built some real shit that lasts because eveyone either worked or got an education after the war.


Baby boomers claim they are great and shit on younger generations for complaining.

Fact is boomers did shit. They had 2 advantages: no comp b/c Hilter got rid of it and their parents gave them everything (real infrastructure to build on). How could they not succeed in life, nothing stood in their way but themselves.

Now that the end is close for them, they are trying to extend their ponzi schemes for as long as possible at the cost of future generations. They complain about us to distract those facts listed above, they had all the advantages and we do not (rest of the world dug themselves out of the Hilter hole and we still have to deal with the baby boomers leaching ways).

If you dont' believe me, look at Japan and Germany now. After the war, US gave them money to rebuild (Marshall Plan), now with the US, they are arguablly stronger and healthier than the rest of their competition.
 
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[quote name='cochesecochese']In a few other circles I run in, there seems to be a great hope that Gen X will avoid a lot of the mistakes of the Boomers. It basically boils down to Gen X not being primed to A) believe that they're special nor B) believing that infinite growth is necessary or even good. To be fair I cling to that hope as well seeing as I'm on the very tail end of the X'ers. We'll see how it works out.

Regardless I don't think it's fair to put so much blame on the Boomers. Taken as a group they did the best they could with what they had and it's really just a small portion of them shitting things up for the rest of us. When they spew nonsense at you just roll your eyes and remind yourself that they'll be dead soon enough.[/QUOTE]
I'd say that most of us in vs. are Gen XY; born in the late 70's to early 80's. We grew up watching 30 minute toy commercials, Reagan, and 80's hyper-nationalistic steroid laden action flicks...oh and not to mention the transition from arcades to the home console boom.

I have to disagree that the problems we face are going to disappear with the death of the boomers when it's never really been a generational issue, but a class issue just like how racism won't end in it's various forms because those old racists are dying off; it just takes a different form. There are plenty of ignorant people willing to be the vanguard of the power elite and this hasn't really changed even at the height of the worker's rights movement. We see it today when half the country bitches about teachers being entitled to a living wage or public employee wages when a good portion of those jobs are highly specialized while ignoring stagnant wages in the private sector and higher executive compensation driving up wealth disparity. It's fucking bonkers and there are more than enough members of the post-boomer generations to fuck things up more than it already is.
 
LOL....and on cue DD comes along and adds his racist crap.... No conversation can go without it. You guys should get a room.
 
[quote name='Pliskin101']LOL....and on cue DD comes along and adds his racist crap.... No conversation can go without it. You guys should get a room.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, talking about how old racists dying off won't end racism is racist.:roll:

Blow me.
 
Clearly this generation (and probably next) is nothing special and will most likely have a worse life then their parents and while that could have been caused by poor parenting, it seems to me technology advances made a big difference here.

Everyone is able to get everything so easily these days and as such eliminates the need for a lot of brick and morter places, not to mention getting in the habit of having everything available at the touch of a finger.
 
[quote name='Thekrakrabbit']Clearly this generation (and probably next) is nothing special and will most likely have a worse life then their parents and while that could have been caused by poor parenting, it seems to me technology advances made a big difference here.

Everyone is able to get everything so easily these days and as such eliminates the need for a lot of brick and morter places, not to mention getting in the habit of having everything available at the touch of a finger.[/QUOTE]
There's nothing inherently "special" about any generation. Even the Greatest Generation! is nothing more than a marketing term. If you're going to lay some blame on parenting, you're going to have to roll that back to the Greatest Generation! too because they're the ones that raised the boomers.

The problem isn't so much that things are easy to get as that's been the natural progression of civilization since forever, but it's the nature of why things are easy to get and how things have gotten this bad. B&M's aren't being phased-out by technology, but by being forced out by multinational corporations and stagnant wages. B&M's are perfectly good business models when people can afford the goods, but when people can't, it's a race to the bottom. Of course there are more reasons, but I don't feel like writing a multi-page essay.
 
I will have to say that not all of this country's problems are caused by the common citizens, of any age. A fail of a government has been laying into this country in a bad way for years now and at this point everything is falling apart. The economy didn't end up this way just because some old people were questionable parents.
 
[quote name='dohdough']I'd say that most of us in vs. are Gen XY; born in the late 70's to early 80's. We grew up watching 30 minute toy commercials, Reagan, and 80's hyper-nationalistic steroid laden action flicks...oh and not to mention the transition from arcades to the home console boom.

I have to disagree that the problems we face are going to disappear with the death of the boomers when it's never really been a generational issue, but a class issue just like how racism won't end in it's various forms because those old racists are dying off; it just takes a different form. There are plenty of ignorant people willing to be the vanguard of the power elite and this hasn't really changed even at the height of the worker's rights movement. We see it today when half the country bitches about teachers being entitled to a living wage or public employee wages when a good portion of those jobs are highly specialized while ignoring stagnant wages in the private sector and higher executive compensation driving up wealth disparity. It's fucking bonkers and there are more than enough members of the post-boomer generations to fuck things up more than it already is.[/QUOTE]
Honestly I think every generation fucks things up for the next. As easy as I think the boomers had it, and economically they did, they also served in the Vietnam war. Which they can thank the greatest generation for. And I'm sure that, given time, we'll find a way to fuck things up for the next generation too. I just hope hope it's slightly less fucked up.

What i want is recognition that we haven't exactly been hadn't a free ride. We've been handed the worst economy we've had in decades, and a equally bad job market.
 
[quote name='Thekrakrabbit']I will have to say that not all of this country's problems are caused by the common citizens, of any age. A fail of a government has been laying into this country in a bad way for years now and at this point everything is falling apart. The economy didn't end up this way just because some old people were questionable parents.[/QUOTE]
How do you mean?
 
Come on, Obama alone has not exactly been a star when it comes to running this country. It is coming up on four years I believe, so that alone should tell you that the government isn't exactly amazing.

Not to mention having troops in third-world countries for a hundred years, although that doesn't have such a massive direct effect on the economy right now.
 
[quote name='Clak']Honestly I think every generation fucks things up for the next. As easy as I think the boomers had it, and economically they did, they also served in the Vietnam war. Which they can thank the greatest generation for. And I'm sure that, given time, we'll find a way to fuck things up for the next generation too. I just hope hope it's slightly less fucked up.[/quote]
Right, which is exactly why I see it as less of a generational issue. It has a part to play, but are other things at the top of the list.

What i want is recognition that we haven't exactly been hadn't a free ride. We've been handed the worst economy we've had in decades, and a equally bad job market.[/QUOTE]
Yeah...I'm with you on that. The boomers really fucked us.
 
I agree that our problems as a country are directly related to the behavior, motivations, and actions of the baby boomers. As Nixmahn referenced above, they grew up in an era of insane growth and prosperity and have done everything possible to ensure they continue to receive the benefits of that growth regardless of the problem it causes. They are the generation of FYIGM. They were the ones that enjoyed fair wages and employment opportunities. They were the ones who were allowed to have pensions and social security. They were the ones that didn't have to worry about obscene healthcare costs. They were the ones that dragged their heels and refused to come up with alternative energy policies. They were the ones that could own a home and start a family and not have to worry about how to afford it making making shit wages. They were the ones that weren't required to have to taken on massive student loan debt in the hope to even get a living wage.

They were the one's who broke the societal contract. We were told our entire lives that if we played by the rules they set then the we would see prosperity too. Go to college and get a degree, it doesnt matter what in because you'll be successful with just that piece of paper. I think its ironic how our generation is considered the ones with an entitlement mentality when reality shows otherwise. We are the generation that is going to end up worse off then the previous one. We are the ones being told we have to accept less and stop whining. We are the ones that are being buried in all the bullshit from the boomers unreasonable quest of continued growth. The way i see it, our generation hasn't asked for anything more than what was promised to us.
 
And that is what this is all about. That recognition that our parents didn't hand us a utopia, but we're just too damn lazy to take advantage of it. No, unlike what many parents say, that they want a better life for their kids, they haven't exactly made that easy now. Those with wealth and power don't' care because they're well connected enough that even now their kids will be ok. But those of us without well connected parents are left to make it on our own, and get shit on while doing it.
 
[quote name='Thekrakrabbit']Come on, Obama alone has not exactly been a star when it comes to running this country. It is coming up on four years I believe, so that alone should tell you that the government isn't exactly amazing.[/quote]
Obama isn't the government and you're not exactly specific about your gripes. Not to mention that the Government isn't some monolithic group. I'm far from Obama's biggest fan, but the government isn't an extension of his body to command at will.

Not to mention having troops in third-world countries for a hundred years, although that doesn't have such a massive direct effect on the economy right now.
Click to expand...
Well, what does have a massive direct effect then?
 
[quote name='onetrackmind']I agree that our problems as a country are directly related to the behavior, motivations, and actions of the baby boomers. As Nixmahn referenced above, they grew up in an era of insane growth and prosperity and have done everything possible to ensure they continue to receive the benefits of that growth regardless of the problem it causes. They are the generation of FYIGM. They were the ones that enjoyed fair wages and employment opportunities. They were the ones who were allowed to have pensions and social security. They were the ones that didn't have to worry about obscene healthcare costs. They were the ones that dragged their heels and refused to come up with alternative energy policies. They were the ones that could own a home and start a family and not have to worry about how to afford it making making shit wages. They were the ones that weren't required to have to taken on massive student loan debt in the hope to even get a living wage.

They were the one's who broke the societal contract. We were told our entire lives that if we played by the rules they set then the we would see prosperity too. Go to college and get a degree, it doesnt matter what in because you'll be successful with just that piece of paper. I think its ironic how our generation is considered the ones with an entitlement mentality when reality shows otherwise. We are the generation that is going to end up worse off then the previous one. We are the ones being told we have to accept less and stop whining. We are the ones that are being buried in all the bullshit from the boomers unreasonable quest of continued growth. The way i see it, our generation hasn't asked for anything more than what was promised to us.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I think that pretty much covers it. They've basically feasted for years and now we're left with the scraps, but even that is asking too much apparently. Our generation has basically been bullshitted our entire lives.
 
[quote name='Clak']And that is what this is all about. That recognition that our parents didn't hand us a utopia, but we're just too damn lazy to take advantage of it. No, unlike what many parents say, that they want a better life for their kids, they haven't exactly made that easy now. Those with wealth and power don't' care because they're well connected enough that even now their kids will be ok. But those of us without well connected parents are left to make it on our own, and get shit on while doing it.[/QUOTE]

I think the new generation is very naive to think that there was ever a time when this wasn't true.

Baby boomers realized it, they just decided to party instead. Then they turned into the same assholes they used to hate.
Slackers realized it, that's why they decided to chill instead of running the rat race. And I think they're much more well balanced because of it, the voice of reason.
This new generation doesn't want to work hard or do anything significant and they expect to get paid handsomely for it. They are a pain in the ass now and will be an absolute nightmare as they get older.
 
The bit about the wealthy and powerful, sure. But past generations have certainly had better economies to step into and better job markets in which to find work. I don't know how you can say this generation doesn't want to work hard or do anything significant.
 
[quote name='Clak']The bit about the wealthy and powerful, sure. But past generations have certainly had better economies to step into and better job markets in which to find work. I don't know how you can say this generation doesn't want to work hard or do anything significant.[/QUOTE]

It's anecdotal.

There are a few kids who get it. I guess it's not really working hard - it's more of a problem of understanding business. Alot of kids show up and they expect that their work will be hand-picked to coincide with their interests. They don't understand that a client pays you to do what he wants, not what you want.
 
Well do understand that businesses are changing, and have to, to attract new workers. If they expect a 20 something to have the same attitude as the 60 year old guy near retirement, I'd say they're crazy. I think as time goes on, the protestant work ethic that we've displayed for generations is starting to wear a little thin on people. We're starting to see that living to work is no way to spend your life, when other people are working to live. For years it was said that Americans were the most productive workers in the world, but that was because we busted our asses and sacrificed our own time to be that productive. Hell people still don't take all the vacation time they're usually given.
 
[quote name='camoor']I think the new generation is very naive to think that there was ever a time when this wasn't true.

Baby boomers realized it, they just decided to party instead. Then they turned into the same assholes they used to hate.
Slackers realized it, that's why they decided to chill instead of running the rat race. And I think they're much more well balanced because of it, the voice of reason.
This new generation doesn't want to work hard or do anything significant and they expect to get paid handsomely for it. They are a pain in the ass now and will be an absolute nightmare as they get older.[/QUOTE]
This part is especially interesting because the boomers aren't the only birth spurt out there. Gen Y/Millenials, the one you're referring to, grew up in the tech boom that is currently entering the work force.
 
We might need to "identify" ourselves here, cause I believe some of us may be misunderstanding each other. When I say "this generation" i mean basically Y, as that covers the thread title, that's the generation I fall into, though on the tail end of it (born in 84).
 
[quote name='Clak']We might need to "identify" ourselves here, cause I believe some of us may be misunderstanding each other. When I say "this generation" i mean basically Y, as that covers the thread title, that's the generation I fall into, though on the tail end of it (born in 84).[/QUOTE]
In that case, you're an entitled little prick!:lol:

I was born in 78 so I'm on the ass end of X. Some call it XY.
 
[quote name='Thekrakrabbit']I will have to say that not all of this country's problems are caused by the common citizens, of any age. A fail of a government has been laying into this country in a bad way for years now and at this point everything is falling apart. The economy didn't end up this way just because some old people were questionable parents.[/QUOTE]

I disagree with this, all of it. The government is voted in by the people and Baby Boomers move votes and politians. As for the "The economy didn't end up this way just because some old people were questionable parents.", George Bush raised George W. Bush, the economy is in the gutter because of him and his predicessors, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush II. Bush f'ed up so badly that, no other rich/old/white/man could be president after him.

Obama did nothing special before becoming president but got there by blaming rich/old/white/men (Baby Boomers) effectively (which I am all for by the way).

Example:
vs John Edwards, no explaination needed, Sex scandle did not hit yet and he was clean then but still lost
vs Hillery, "I am running against 2 people" meaning Bill, absolutely no reason to bring that up except to remind people connect Hillery with Bill.
vs Cain, "Do you want the same policies as the last 8 years" meaning Bush

Love or hate Obama, George W. Bush had to do with Obama being President than more anyone in history. The state of things are the way they are because Baby Boomers built and maintain the political and economic systems that are in place. And what in place is a complete ponzi scheme and the Boomers are on top and they continue to such the life out of it.

They see the systems they have created and maintaining is crumbling and basically its a cash grab for them to leave nothing behind while they prepare to jump ship, like rats in a sinking ship. You see it in their economic and political policies. Anodotically, with almost every baby boomer (specifically white, 50+, and male) I know I see it at work, business, and what I know of their family life also.


PS. I am 32, Asian, and work as an engineer for a defense contractor in the DC metro area.
 
'79 so I'm also on the cusp. Love the 90s but didn't really get to enjoy adult things until the turn of the century.

As for this whole argument, it's the same old tired crap. Every generation hates the other generations. We all think we work harder than everyone else. We all think the old days were golden. The Boomers look back to the 50s and ice cream parlors. We look back to the 80s and arcades.

Young people think older people are out of touch even though their conservatism is based on real life experience. Older people are pissed that young people can do things like carry a computer around or make a phone call from the Mojave Desert.
 
[quote name='dohdough']I'd say that most of us in vs. are Gen XY; born in the late 70's to early 80's. We grew up watching 30 minute toy commercials, Reagan, and 80's hyper-nationalistic steroid laden action flicks...oh and not to mention the transition from arcades to the home console boom.

I have to disagree that the problems we face are going to disappear with the death of the boomers when it's never really been a generational issue, but a class issue just like how racism won't end in it's various forms because those old racists are dying off; it just takes a different form. There are plenty of ignorant people willing to be the vanguard of the power elite and this hasn't really changed even at the height of the worker's rights movement. We see it today when half the country bitches about teachers being entitled to a living wage or public employee wages when a good portion of those jobs are highly specialized while ignoring stagnant wages in the private sector and higher executive compensation driving up wealth disparity. It's fucking bonkers and there are more than enough members of the post-boomer generations to fuck things up more than it already is.[/QUOTE]

Come on, of course the problems won't disappear when the boomers drop dead. As you said history repeats, etc. We just won't have to listen to the boomers bitch and moan anymore.

And since we're all doing it, I'm right there with elessar on the XY cusp but I identify very strongly with Gen X for a number of reasons but primarily because I always socialized with X'ers as I was growing up.
 
[quote name='depascal22']As for this whole argument, it's the same old tired crap. Every generation hates the other generations. We all think we work harder than everyone else. We all think the old days were golden. The Boomers look back to the 50s and ice cream parlors. We look back to the 80s and arcades.[/QUOTE]

I don't think that at all. I think the newer generation works far less hard than the 40s, or maybe even the boomers. The problem is working harder doesn't bring rewards, because they either expect more from you than the older generations, or there isn't anything available to use as a reward.

My sister, for example, worked her ass of last year for her boss, putting in a ton of unpaid overtime. At bonus time, everyone got the -exact- same bonus. She found a new job like two months later.

Edit: So because I graduated during the Great Recession, I have to somehow be happy to have had massive rises in education costs, lower pay, higher costs of living, AND I have to work harder? Maybe it's slightly an entitlement mentality, but while I understand some sacrifices must be made, but on every front?

Some other great nations work less, and are in great economic shape still. We somehow ended up with a culture of not even taking vacation, on top of working 40+ (60+ in many cases) hours a week. Personally, I work to live, not the other way around, even though my GF calls me a workaholic, and I feel restless if I don't do anything productive for a couple of days.
 
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[quote name='depascal22']Young people think older people are out of touch even though their conservatism is based on real life experience. Older people are pissed that young people can do things like carry a computer around or make a phone call from the Mojave Desert.[/QUOTE]



Baby Boomers are out of touch, they don't realize the forces and happenings around them. They did not realize the advantages around them and claim the world was theirs because of their achievements when it was impossible for them not to fail. They don't realize that conditions that allowed their prosperity are long gone.

There is a difference between a wise elder and an absolute geizer. In the asian culture the elder are praised for their sheparding of the young with their wisedom. Many of the baby boomers are just old geizers waiting around for their medicare, SS, and trying to cashout of any other ponzi scheme available to them. Wise elders within the Baby Boomer group are rare.


Old people can do that too, so by your logic they are complaining just for complaining and should just STFU.
 
[quote name='dohdough']Obama isn't the government and you're not exactly specific about your gripes. Not to mention that the Government isn't some monolithic group. I'm far from Obama's biggest fan, but the government isn't an extension of his body to command at will.


Well, what does have a massive direct effect then?[/QUOTE]

Obama is doing things (things that do little good) that nobody in ths history of the US has done. I'm not going to argue about this all day and night, personally the subject bores me, but there is no dispute that if Obama was re-elected the current economy would look decent in a couple years.
 
[quote name='Thekrakrabbit']Obama is doing things (things that do little good) that nobody in ths history of the US has done. I'm not going to argue about this all day and night, personally the subject bores me, but there is no dispute that if Obama was re-elected the current economy would look decent in a couple years.[/QUOTE]

If he had free reign, I'd agree. But from his current term, and how the shitty bipartisan system is right now, I doubt it.
 
[quote name='Thekrakrabbit']Obama is doing things (things that do little good) that nobody in ths history of the US has done. I'm not going to argue about this all day and night, personally the subject bores me, but there is no dispute that if Obama was re-elected the current economy would look decent in a couple years.[/QUOTE]
Sure, but you really haven't argued anything at all with any effort and only made vague comments about how shitty Obama is. I'm curious as to what you think he's done or should do.
 
[quote name='elessar123']I don't think that at all. I think the newer generation works far less hard than the 40s, or maybe even the boomers. The problem is working harder doesn't bring rewards, because they either expect more from you than the older generations, or there isn't anything available to use as a reward.

My sister, for example, worked her ass of last year for her boss, putting in a ton of unpaid overtime. At bonus time, everyone got the -exact- same bonus. She found a new job like two months later.

Edit: So because I graduated during the Great Recession, I have to somehow be happy to have had massive rises in education costs, lower pay, higher costs of living, AND I have to work harder? Maybe it's slightly an entitlement mentality, but while I understand some sacrifices must be made, but on every front?

Some other great nations work less, and are in great economic shape still. We somehow ended up with a culture of not even taking vacation, on top of working 40+ (60+ in many cases) hours a week. Personally, I work to live, not the other way around, even though my GF calls me a workaholic, and I feel restless if I don't do anything productive for a couple of days.[/QUOTE]


I think it just depends on one's own situation in life. I'm not bitter at all as I love my job, work hard and it has paid off (got a 22% raise recently). So I don't have much ire toward baby boomers and other older (or younger) generations as I'm in a good spot in my personal, professional and financial life.

Obviously someone that's busting ass in a crappy paying, dead end job they hate is more likely to have a very different view of things.
 
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