# What's the problem, if any, with baby boomers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 16, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214 "2011-07-16T03:18:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/41 "2011-07-18T17:52:57Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Almost everyone I know in my generation (I’m 31) could save themselves and/or their households a few thousand dollars a year if they just canceled their cable/cell phone/high speed internet and lived without those frivolities. But, we don’t. Don’t even talk about the amount of money spent eating/drinking out at restaurants. > > For all the complaining about the boomers (which is kind of news to me, to be honest), most of the people my age seem to have no concept about how to live frugally, and how to save even with relatively small incomes. _This_ is a much bigger problem than mom and dad (or grandpa and grandma) living too long. It’s incredibly easy to live on a (relatively) low income. Anything on top of that is gold, and to complain that the very people who invented our modern world are a ‘problem’ because of their very existence sounds awfully ridiculous. > > “I wish Fred in accounting would die, so I could have his job. He’s too old anyway.” I’ll go along with this. When my husband and I got married he had just gotten his first job out of college, and I had three years to go. For reasons too complex to go into here, we were not taking any assistance from our parents. I was 18, he was 22. We paid for our own wedding. We lived in the cheapest apartments we could find and stretched every penny. Most summers we did without air conditioning as we couldn’t afford either the a/c itself or the electricity to run it. For a beverage we drank a pink grapefruit cocktail juice that was the cheapest thing on the shelf, or water. Once in a while we’d splurge and share a beer. I’d plan every meal and buy only what was required. Some weeks I would splurge and buy a box of cookies. Some days I only ate one meal a day because I needed the gas to drive to school. The list goes on and on and on. We were better off than a couple of friends who took even more stringent measures, such as not having a phone, because they had a child and neither one at the time had so much as a high school diploma. We went through another austerity phase later when we started a family. We travelled, owned sports cars, ate out when we felt like it, and bought the major furniture and appliances for our house. Once I stopped work, all of that stopped, too. I made bread, grew vegetables in the garden, hung the laundry outside to dry unless it was just too wet or cold. Cloth diapers, no disposables. I used a bicycle to get around the neighborhood and didn’t take the car unless I needed to go out on the main roads. In this respect I was much LESS frugal than my mom and dad, who only had one car, for him to drive to work in. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/42 "2011-07-18T17:55:22Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > It’s a joke, man. It’s also the actual attitude of most of the 40+ population. They are planning to work the younger generations to collapse and suck the world dry, then leave their descendants to scrabble through the ruins. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/43 "2011-07-18T17:55:48Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > HA! on the news this morning…kids are safer riding with grandparents than with their parents. wonder why that is? experience & driving defensively? not thinking you’ve got to get to the drive-thru at break-neck speed while using your cell phone to let everybody you ever met that one time at the conference in (pick a city) or your neighbors’ friend (you can’t remember her name) KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING? that’s okay, give us the kids. you’ve got more important things to do… I heard this item also, but had a lot of questions. They didn’t say how they defined “safer.” Fewer injuries in aggregate? Per mile per child? I would hazard a guess that most children spend more time in their parents’ car than in their grandparents’, so of course there will be more injuries. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/44 "2011-07-18T18:05:55Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Almost everyone I know in my generation (I’m 31) could save themselves and/or their households a few thousand dollars a year if they just canceled their cable/cell phone/high speed internet and lived without those frivolities. Cable, yes, but I wouldn’t call cell phones or high speed internet frivolities any more. Many employers expect you to be available by phone the vast majority of the time, and to be able to do some work from home. Those things require a cell phone and high speed internet. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/45 "2011-07-18T18:31:40Z")
hmph, someone already said “too many baby boomers, not enough Gen-xers”, the rest is just whining, from both sides imo, I expect to work till I die, I have declined financial assistance from my boomer parents more than once, I have a cell phone becuase its actually cheaper than a land line, don’t have or want pay tv, oh yeah, my isp, i got internet. drive a small used truck getting ready to buy another for mrs. guest in a couple of monthes. generally i’ve had a damned decent life, not many real worries or hardships, but in a few years I can see that changing and things not being nearly so good for all my little guests. ss, medicare? pish, I plan to retire the old fashioned way, have lots n lots of kids and then be a burden to them by living with one of them as to how I will retire while working till I die, that is a trade secret known only by me and Jesus ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/46 "2011-07-18T18:37:36Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > sry, that there are no ice floes for us to go sit out on…do you know you is STILL financing your asses? US!..adult children coming back home, single mothers leaving their babies with us to take care of, grown children “needing” a second car/boat/trip to Jamaica…& we’re supposed to co-sign for it. We drive too slow? We don’t “look good” anymore? Hey, this is what happens when Time catches up with you & you ain’t dead yet…you should be so lucky to experience it. What did our generation do? (We’re not “the Greatest Generation”, Tom Brokaw has pointed out.) But, we helped bring about Civil Rights. We helped bring about Women’s Rights. And we helped stop the Vietnam War. What have YOU done lately? This post is what is wrong with Boomers ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/47 "2011-07-18T18:55:26Z")
Here’s a couple of generalizations. Boomers are, in general, people. People, in general, tend to suck. Therefore, boomers, in general, tend to suck. Unfortunately Millennials are also, in general, people, as is/was the greatest generation, Gen X, Romans, Mongols, Canadians, et. al. I think the problem is people in general, not some specific subset of people. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/48 "2011-07-18T18:58:20Z")
Yeah, but what have _You_ done lately? ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/49 "2011-07-18T19:07:39Z")
I actually kind of like being a member of a smaller generation following the Boomers. They built lots of schools and colleges for the Boomers. Less crowding for me in K-12, easier for me to get into college, and less crowded dorms when I did. It was easier for me to get the single room I wanted and not have to deal with roommates any more. Anything that makes life easier for me can’t be entirely a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/50 "2011-07-18T19:23:29Z")
I am a child of two tail end boomers (1949). There is nothing wrong with their generation. They have done great things for the world. My generation’s biggest fear is that they are all starting to retire now and there are so many of them that it could cause a serious problem for the country (in Canada) financially. If I were them, I would have more complaints about our generation. We constantly accumulate things, eat out, get big houses and drive huge debts for ourselves. It’s not going to end well for us and our parents generation can only ‘tsk-tsk’ since we are adults and should know better. (Hey, wait a minute, how did my mother’s soapbox get in here.) ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/51 "2011-07-18T21:13:10Z")
> [@](#): > > What have YOU done lately? Do you wander through life with your eyes and ears closed? I’m not judging, just curious. In no particular order: Dealing with the devaluation of our education, with an inversely MASSIVE pricetag. Taking on years or decades of loans to accomplish what was possible with a moderate parental savings account when boomers were kids. (And relatedly–Coping with radical unemployment rates in spite of our degrees) [The Iraq War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War) Fighting institutionalized and unconscious racism (you didn’t think the fight for civil rights was over, did you?) Mainstreaming veganism and vegetarianism Skinny jeans Blogs Twitter Facebook Oh, and gay rights, bitches. Oh, and don’t forget that whole black President thing. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/52 "2011-07-18T21:14:04Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > It’s also the actual attitude of most of the 40+ population. They are planning to work the younger generations to collapse and suck the world dry, then leave their descendants to scrabble through the ruins. But that’s been true throughout history. It’ll be true when your generation turns 40+ as well. Meanwhile the earth still goes around the sun. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/53 "2011-07-18T21:36:05Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > But that’s been true throughout history. Not true at all. Concern for the welfare of future generations is the historical norm not the exception. > [@suranyi](#): > > It’ll be true when your generation turns 40+ as well. I’m 40+. I was referring to mine as well. > [@suranyi](#): > > Meanwhile the earth still goes around the sun. Because it’s a big ball of rock in space. That doesn’t mean that the organic specks on that rock are going to prosper. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/54 "2011-07-19T12:00:56Z")
rachelellogram, I should probably clarify. I am a card carrying poster child Gen Xer. My post was actually a back handed swipe at the attitude that I see very prevalently among boomers the moment there is even a whiff of criticism aimed towards their generation. You know “we ended the Vietnam War, marched for civil rights, made women equal and invented the orgasm. All you do is play video games and live in my basement” sort of thing. I know that they can’t help it. They have basically been conditioned from birth the be narcissistic. But it gets old. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/55 "2011-07-20T19:11:37Z")
> [@polar\_bear](#): > > Well as someone one generation younger (parents are boomers) and in another country (I must add) it seems we are losing all entitlements they had. Here in the Netherlands the story is that the Boomers got to study (while receiving scholarships from the state) as long as they wanted (8/9 years was quite common) then they benefited from rising property value and all had the opportunity to retire at 58-60. > > Nowadays students get less and less time and opportunities to study. If you need extra time you’ll be charged higher tuition. The scholarship isn’t anywhere near large enough to live off (so you need parents to chip in or get a parttime job, usually both). It is almost impossible - as a young family - to get mortages large enough for the properties in good neighbourhoods and the retirment age is going to be raised to 67 and probably even higher after that. > > Off course everything is a bit more complicated, but this is how it looks. We see our 60 year olds (that often seem more like 40 year olds) living in their expensive houses - that we can’t imagine ever being able to afford, except as inheritance - driving their sportscars to play golf twice a week and tennis once a week. While we are looking at a future where we need to somehow pay for all these retirees. Seeing the political landscape, it also seems the boomers’ agenda is best represented. > > ETA This is not necessarilly how I see things, but it is how it looks too many. True, all that. But we have the Internet. That makes up for a lot. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Quintas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@Quintas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quintas)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/56 "2011-07-20T21:23:07Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > But, we helped bring about Civil Rights. We helped bring about Women’s Rights. And we helped stop the Vietnam War. What have YOU done lately? Nah. Most of the heavy lifters in all these issues were born in the 30’s or earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/57 "2011-07-22T17:06:50Z")
This boomer thinks we shouldn’t draw social security as soon as earlier generations did. It’s only reasonable. We’re living longer. But, how many of us shoulder the burden isn’t our fault. I sure didn’t want to be in the most crowded year. My classes were all beyond capacity, I bought my starter house when everybody was trying to buy starter houses, and I invest when the market has too many buyers and will try to live off my savings when everybody is selling. Plus, BOTH kids moved back in as adults, and I average well over $1000 a month in what appears to be necessary assistance to them and the grandkids. I don’t know ANYBODY in my generation that moved back in. This is a big trend, I read. I think I like the view that with millions of people in a generation, individual personalities and free will get averaged out, and every generation can take the same amount of credit and blame as every other generation. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/58 "2011-07-22T17:36:04Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Mainstreaming veganism and vegetarianism > Skinny jeans > Twitter What? These are some of the things that is what is wrong with the younger generations. There’s nothing wrong with the boomers it is the system that needs to be fixed to account for there being more people taking from the system than putting in. ---
**Author:** ![race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/race_to_the_bottom)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/59 "2011-07-22T18:03:45Z")
We were born and grew up when the capitalist class was seriously worried that communists would convince people to overthrow the system. It is important to remember that communist parties came out of the Second World War with a lot of prestige. Seriously. Therefore, it became policy to “buy off” the people who counted with certain trappings of socialism. White people, for sure, and white males in particular. Social democratic parties in Europe and Democrats in the US were allowed to create a pretty civilized existence for the majority of the population. However, by the early 70s it became clear to the ruling class that the “communist threat” had passed, and it was time to get back to business as usual and so the three decade long squeeze on people began and is still going on. And will continue until such time as the ruling class again feels it needs to make concessions to protect its power. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2011, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214/60 "2011-07-22T20:03:03Z")
The only problem that I can see with Baby Boomers is that they (yes I’m generalizing, and yes I know that there are many boomers who don’t share the same opinion) seem to think that the world of today is the same world they inhabited when they were younger. Many, many things have changed. Examples:[ul] [li]“Living lean”. Easy to say when you grew up in an era where you could still get by as a single-income family. Two working parents necessitates daycare, a huge bill that your parents just didn’t have. It also means that one parent can’t spend the whole day cooking and mending clothes, which means we end up spending more eating out and replacing damaged clothes. That plus other factors has led to the culture of debt we live in. And how do you live lean when you’re in debt?[/li][li]Education. A college degree is necessary for a decent job these days. And the cost of college is increasing at roughly double the rate of inflation, often more. One chart I found said the price of tuition is up 439% since 1982. So, to get a good job, you need a degree, and to get a degree, you need way more money than ever. That means you take out loans, which means that even when you get that good job, you’re starting from a negative position. What’s the point in putting a few dollars away for retirement when you already owe $60 grand?[/li][li]Media. It’s everywhere, and it all costs money. We’re spending more than ever on things we can’t touch. Today we pay for cell phones, internet service, cable TV, the monthly Netflix subscription, Kindle books, iTunes movies, Xbox Live subscriptions, and internet message board subscriptions (look, I’m a charter member!). In the 1950s, you paid your phone bill, and that was pretty much it. Sure, we could theoretically detach from it all, but in essence that means detaching from the rest of the world of today. Saying, “Just cancel it!” is asking us to leave our world and live in yours.[/li][li]Kids. When you were kids, your parents said goodbye in the morning and didn’t see you again until the streetlights came on. In truth, the world of today is still safe enough to do that, yet any parent who did would get investigated by Child Protective Services. So, the trend is for structured activities, often involving the parents. That gives us even less time to do the things that your parents used to do, like build an addition on to the house or repaint the barn or whatever.[/li][/ul] Anyway. Just a few thoughts from a bitter Gen-Xer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-problem-if-any-with-baby-boomers/589214.md?page=2)