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November 30, 2008 at 00:41:56
Promoted to Headline (H2) on 11/30/08: by David Michael Green Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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As a Baby Boomer, I’m sure not encouraging generational warfare in America. I have everything to lose from such a battle. On the other hand, though, as a political analyst, I can hardly believe we’re not seeing it. Never has it been so manifestly logical. Never would it be so thoroughly deserved. And yet, never has it been so astonishingly absent from the playing field of American politics. I grew up in a period of generational conflict. "Never trust anyone over thirty", "Hope I die before I get old", etc. But I have to say that my generation got a way better deal from our parents than we’re leaving for our kids.
Sure, our parents bequeathed us Vietnam and Nixon. But I think those politics were a matter more of naivete, really, rather than malice or greed. I remember how my own parents reacted to the war and to Watergate. Having struggled collectively through the Depression, and having fought the good fight of World War II, I think they were wholly unprepared for the levels of deceit and callous indifference to harm they came inescapably to find that their government was capable of. This was an existential challenge of the kind we jaded Boomers can probably never appreciate. They were true believers, and they were rattled to the core when Toto pulled back the curtain. Their children, on the other hand, were raised to become cynics, for whom no such political crime can ever quite surprise us.
And it’s funny, too (though certainly not hah-hah funny), to think of how our generation – as much as you can speak of such a thing without falling into stereotypes worthy only of some PBS pledge-break docudrama – how we mocked the materialism of our parents. At one level, we were right to do so. Big cars with tail-fins were not exactly means for enrichment of the soul. No one was ever gonna transcend the material world and get to nirvana by purchasing a TV set and watching the latest episode of Ponderosa (in living color!). But, on the other hand, we might have been a whole lot more charitable too. Given where they came from, and what they’d been through, it was not so outrageous for them to seek a little prosperity and comfort. Moreover – on the other other hand – there’s that whole nagging hypocrisy thing. The truth is that the rocket-fueled materialism of their kids makes Mom and Dad’s modest suburban house with the single TV in the living room seem awfully quaint by comparison. Today, if there isn’t a satellite-fueled TV in every room of your McMansion (and, of course, your cars as well), with a DVD player and game box hooked up to each, Child Protective Services might well be dispatched to cart your kids away in order to protect them from neglect.
But even if the Greatest Generation wasn’t so great when it came to some of the items higher up on Maslow’s laundry list, their kids – the Boomers – could only dream of being as devoted parents as were their own. Indeed, if there’s any one great crime for which the World War II generation may be most guilty, it is the raising up of the most narcissistic, self-centered, self-aggrandizing crop of kids ever. In China they call the analogous generation the Little Emperors. I guess we’re a bit too self-reverential for even that little bit of comedic introspection. Just the same, though, not for nothing are we known as the Me Generation. To get a sense of our sense of ourselves, just look at the two presidents we’ve contributed to the pantheon: Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Of the latter nothing need be said that could meaningfully add anything to the eight years of experiencing this president’s capacity for self-indulgence and his unparalleled sense of entitlement. As for Monsieur Clinton, he is said to have lamented, especially after 9/11, the fact that no major crisis occurred on his watch, so that he could join Lincoln and FDR and Washington among the greatest presidents of all time. Now, if I sat down for six weeks trying to think of the most self-centered sentiment I could conceive of in all the world, I doubt seriously I could top that one. Imagine wishing that thousands of people could die in order to enhance your reputation for the history books. And this after you’ve already had the privilege of serving two terms in the most exclusive position in the world.
Gee, what a legacy we’ve left in presidential politics. But it only gets worse if we consider the more general picture. I cannot think of a single time in American history where one generation left their children such a stunningly large and complete a mess to clean up.
The fiscal part of it is astonishing, though only the most visible element. A wrecked economy that may sink below the depths of the Great Depression is just the latest contribution. But even before that, economists have been predicting that today’s young people will be the first generation in American history to be less well off than their parents. That doesn’t even account for the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, which has been almost completely neglected for thirty years, so that we could party now and pay later. It also doesn’t include bills encumbered as Baby Boomers begin to retire and demand their promised Social Security and Medicare. These would be almost impossible to meet by virtue of demographic and rising healthcare factors alone. But we might have had a chance at doing so had we set aside the revenues coming in all these last decades while Boomers were working, for use at the time when the payers would became the payees, en masse. But, of course, that would have meant raising taxes or spending less – and we can’t have that! – since we’ve been using that money instead to pay for general budget expenses.
Or, should I say, to not pay for general budget expenses? Could you imagine parents so reckless that they would party themselves into a drunken stupor by stealing the funds from their children? I’m not talking about burning through the inheritance, which, after all, is the parents’ money to do what they want with. No, I’m talking about spending the money the kids have saved themselves for their own college education, or for a down-payment on a house. Outrageous, eh? Well, guess what? That’s exactly what the Baby Boomers did. Because they wanted all the government services they got, plus the tax cuts that put a little extra jingle in their pockets, plus the luxury of being so stupid and ill-informed that they didn’t have to grapple with the questions of where that tax ‘cut’ money was really going, or how utterly bogus were the administration’s claims about its policies, especially concerning the hugely expensive Iraq war. Put it all together and it equates to living well beyond your means. And when you do that, there are only so many ways to deal with the difference in what you’re spending versus what you’re bringing in. Cue the kids here.
The math is astonishing. The current amount of the national debt is a staggering 10.667 trillion dollars, and climbing fast (indeed, it has already risen substantially since I typed that number). Let’s leave aside for the moment that it is rising every year with each annual deficit – which some people now think could be a dramatically record-breaking trillion dollars next year – added to the pile. And let’s also leave aside the fact that each of those dollars are borrowed, and are thus accruing additional liability every day in the form of interest. If we just take the current debt, and divide it by the number of payroll workers in America (about 150 million), that means each worker’s share of the existing debt is $71,113. Now, just for the sake of argument, let’s say a worker has a job pulling down fifteen bucks per hour in pay. At that rate, they would have to work 4,741 hours to do nothing but pay off the amount that has been borrowed in their names, without their assent, and just to cover only what has been loaned so far to date – not counting new additions to the pile each day, and not counting accruing interest. At forty hours a week, that’s 2.37 years of someone’s life. In fact, that’s 2.37 years of 150 million people’s lives. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine going to someone and saying "I’m going to force you to work over two years of your life in some job you probably don’t like, so that I don’t have to"? Because that’s exactly what this represents: Baby Boomers refusing to live within their means and desperately turning to their own children to facilitate the parents’ irresponsibility. Parents stealing more than two years of their children’s lives, to add two years of play time to their own. Unreal.
But, of course, economics are only the beginning of the story, and not even the worst of it. Imagine a meteor was headed to Earth, and there was a way to avoid the destruction of the planet, with little pain or sacrifice involved in doing so. Imagine if instead you did nothing and let the planet be destroyed That’s what the global warming crisis and our reaction to it looks like. The only good news here for our generation – and especially for our generation of Americans – is that our maximal stupidity will probably guarantee that there are no historians left around in the future to call us out as the single generation throughout the entire history and pre-history of the species that caused infinitely more damage to ourselves and our host planet than all the others combined. The one that ended the game. What an honor, eh? And haven’t we just been wonderful to our kids in this regard? Because we couldn’t be bothered to switch to electric cars instead of gasoline, or insulate our houses, we are taking the Earth we were fortunate enough to inherit as our home and giving them Mercury instead.
That’s something to be proud of, ain’t it? Then there’s also foreign policy to consider. America before Bush was no great shakes when it came to our relations with the rest of the world, although we somehow managed to engender a fair amount of good feelings, despite ourselves. We certainly did some good things out there in the world, but we also supported every two-bit dictator who would play ball with our corporate interests, and opposed every real democratic government that would not. Marcos, the Shah, Pinochet, Diem, apartheid South Africa, Saddam – the list is endless. But never, despite all that, has this country been as reviled in the world as it is now, nor ever more deservedly so. In addition to undermining the Anti-Ballistic Missile, Kyoto, International Criminal Court and Geneva Convention treaties, the United States now stands four-square for the principles of unjustified military aggression, invasion of sovereign states, and torture. True, most of us never wanted any of that. But then most of us never did a damn thing about it, either.
As a result, this is just one more way in which we’ve handed our children a raw deal. In this case, we’ve made them hated in much of the world, just for being Americans. Not only did we spend their time and money, we’ve spent their good will for them too. And – according to our own intelligence agencies – we’ve created a farm system abroad which has been busy generating droves of anti-American terrorists. It is very possible, therefore, that our children will die tomorrow in terrorist attacks that were directly precipitated by our laziness today in curbing the gross excesses of a disastrous administration. You’d almost think we lived in a Stalinesque dictatorship of the most repressive sort, given our disinterest in using the tools readily available to us to replace or even stymie a government gone insane. Who would think, looking at the mass violent crime called Iraq committed in our name, and using our tax dollars – a crime that we stood by and watched happen – that we actually had the power to do something about this? Who would think that we live in country where a president can be impeached for as little as lying about getting a blow job? And yet we did nothing. Shame on us. My god, shame on us.
We could go on and on here. How broken is our educational system? How obscenely twisted is that corporate business enterprise masquerading as our healthcare system, a beast only incidentally concerned with keeping our country well? How messed up is American foreign policy in the Middle East, not even counting Iraq or Iran? How bankrupt are our societal values when everyone knows who Britney and Brad are, but probably not even one in ten could name the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court? How jive is our commitment to equality of opportunity (let alone actual equality), when we fund our schools through property taxes, with absolutely predictable results? How dishonest can one society be, when it deploys more mercenaries than soldiers, woefully abuses the National Guard and the Reserves, hides the bodies coming home in caskets, avoids a draft, cuts taxes and deficit spends, all to prevent citizens from having to think about a war that would instantly be massively unpopular in the absence of such ruses? How breathtakingly paranoid are we, and how devoid of the most basic skills of diplomacy, that we spend more money on ‘defense’ than every other country in the world – about 195 of them – combined? How fundamentally deluded at the wholesale level are we that it would be effectively impossible for an atheist to be elected president? How shamefully lazy are we that – even in 2008 – a third of us still didn’t bother to vote, and the rest of us tolerate an electoral system frequently designed to suppress turnout?
And so on, and so on. Like I said, we could go on and on here.
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You're a professor of political science ...
... and you leave out the political part of this equation? Indeed there is plenty of blame to be placed on a generation that allowed themselves to fall into traps that were placed for them, but to leave out the trap setters and placing all the blame on Baby-Boomers seems a bit disingenuous. What we're fighting is a conspiracy so vast, so complex and scientifically thought out and executed that one can hardly fault the masses for being fooled. How do leave out an elite whose bloodlines you can trace back to ancient Egypt that have kept their wealth and influence over a world population through methods of scientific social control through the centuries? Was one generation partially waking-up to these cretins crimes enough to overcome plans that have been in place for centuries? There is ample evidence that the release of drugs during the 60' and 70's was part of the elites plans to lull us back into complacency. It wouldn't be the first time the 1%ers have used drugs to subdue a nation. Or do I have to remind a political professor of the Opium Wars, or the hashish and Opium dropped on Turkish forces to subdue them? Or that one of the main reasons we're in Afghanistan now is to secure the massive Poppy harvest now taking place? And this drug war (not the phony one presented to us against drugs, but the one being waged by our government against us) continues with many of our children and adults today taking some form of prescription drug. Who is to say that these drugs aren't contributing the lack of outrage we are witnessing today? After all, right after Baby-Boomers came Punk, and X-generations, and if you were looking for rage, they had it in spades, so what happened if not a systematic plan to placate the masses? Of course the biggest drug of all is one you mentioned, television. Even in your own profession, surely you've noticed the systematic dismantling of academia? One of the hallmarks of bringing down any country by tyrants is to purge the educational system first of it's teachers and replace them with ideologues. I'm sure you couldn't have missed that? Yes, ultimately we're to blame, or a vast majority of us are, but leaving out those that have formulated this plan of dominance and laying all of your blame on the victims rather than those holding the lash seems to me that you're focusing your rage on the wrong people. Enough of us stayed outside the fray to keep our eye on the ball, and watched as those 1%ers played us like a fine tuned piano. Your job, and mine, is not so much to lay blame at the feet of those that have been played, but to keep awaking people to the players. And given the odds we're up against I don't find it strange that we're losing that fight. After all, those 1%ers have had centuries to formulate and fine tune their plans and we've only awakened one generation ago and only had this tool, the Internet, for a few short years to try to turn the tide. I still don't have much hope given our situation, but beating a generation over the head for being ultimately to blame seems that you're taking your eye off the ball. by Mr M (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 2845 comments [654 recommended, 27 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 9:36:11 AM  (0+)
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Reply: The numbness of the populus
Academia is not only being degraded, its being infected, as you can actually major in Homeland Suckurity in some colleges. For a while there was an employment website promoting prozac daily and now it all comes together why H.W. Bush's nickname was Poppy. He probably spent enough time over there to cultivate his own patch. I'd read when the Clown Prince George attended Yale that he always had the best drugs. by Dave Kisor (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 310 comments [40 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 5:13:35 PM (0+)
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Reply: Mr. M 's response
Mr.M , your are 100% right here, "always the people " never the agendas . You have kept your eye on the ball and so have I. by jade (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 6:39:01 PM (0+)
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Reply: I had a lot to say.....
A lot to say about this article. My first was a question; "Who is this "we" you keep talking about?" Certainly you don't begrudge me my lousy 35,000. a year for busting my ass 60 or more hours a week for 30 years. You're not accusing me and 75% of the country who earn this or less for these problems, I hope? But along comes Mr. M, as usual, making all of the sense that I was going to make before I can. Stop stealing my b*tch, Mr. M! The only people who see the problems as they truly exist are automatically dismissed by this forum because it is made up of people like this, who are in the 200,000. plus bracket and are the ones who did allow this sh*t to go down. I'd love to know how many of these knowledgeable people voted for "W" in 2000. How long before you geniuses figured out that he was a boomer on steroids? I reject being included as a "boomer", being one responsible for this mess, as I have been a faithful radical rallying against this ball of confusion since 1967. If you want to assume blame so readily it's probably because it's you're fault but don't include me in your group of thieves. Not one of you is even now doing anything about the problem except exasperating the situation by throwing money at corporations and CEO's whose greed and stupidity ran our most lucrative industries into the ground. Anyone who was for ANY money given to AIG, the banks, Wall St. or anyone else is just another person who is responsible for our problems. If ever there were a true revolution these people would all be taken out and shot. They better pray long and hard because things aren't getting any better and people are growing weary. Good work Mr. M by PeterJ (16 articles, 3 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 236 comments [53 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Dec 4, 2008 at 10:25:05 AM (0+)
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As one of the few.....
(and younger) remaining members of "The Greatest Generation", I applaud your insight. You have certainly lived up to the mantra of your generation in "telling it like it is"! Do not be deterred by those with the theories of "mind control" or "international conspiracies"; we did this to ourselves! We fell victims to the lure of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", we felt entitled to "the good life", and willingly made ourselves the victims of "easy credit" and "keeping up with the Joneses." But it is simply too late for regret. The poor will remain poor, no matter how they struggle, and their numbers will grow as the bills come due. Just as members of my generation are happy to know that we will soon give up the struggle, you will come to the conclusion that you were all too accurate in your wish to die before you get old. Old and poor, abandoned and reviled for the debts that your grandchilren and their children will pay forever. by Mary Pitt (77 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 282 comments [11 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 10:56:52 AM (0+)
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Reply: Theories Mary?
Do you have any proof that they don't exist? Because I have a wealth of evidence that they do. It's gotten to the point that those that can't, or want, see what's before their eyes are much like 9/11 deniers now. They're either too afraid or too whatever, fill in your own blank, to recognize the truth even when it falls on top of them. Mary, you'll have to do some research, shall I suggest to listen to Alex Jones Radio, and get a crash course on what's happening. by Mr M (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 2845 comments [654 recommended, 27 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 3:24:16 PM (0+)
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Reply: meant, "won't see" ...
oops by Mr M (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 2845 comments [654 recommended, 27 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 3:26:16 PM (0+)
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Reply: Why they don't see!
They don't see and accept the blame because it is theirs to accept. They are the ones with the portfolios, stocks and bonds, gold etc, but because they only have a thousand dollars in the checking account they call themselves broke. They had an income of 250,000. a year or more and tried to keep up with the jonses. WE tried to pay the bills and keep "food on our families"! I'm sick of these whining fools, accept the blame and pray that you won't "really" have to pay the "real" price one day. by PeterJ (16 articles, 3 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 236 comments [53 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Dec 4, 2008 at 10:37:44 AM (0+)
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Insightfull Article/And Mr. M's Response is Right On
Not much I can add to Mr. M's followup to the professor's article. I also believe we have been duped and dumbed down by the power-elite. They are very smart, resourceful, and totally evil. One need look no further than the creation of the Federal Reserve banking cartel and their private owners. They control the currency, the MSM, the militery industrial complex, big pharma, and our politicians. With the internet, more of us are waking up to the evil goals of these greedy control freaks. I hope and pray we still have the ability with our God given intelligence to wrest control back from this dark force. We must all stand together and resist enslavement. by ronheri (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 256 comments [45 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 10:58:03 AM (0+)
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Don't blame the lazy cowards.
The lazy cowards of any generation are not responsible for the follies of the crooks and suckers who run things. The crooks and suckers work hard to keep the lazy cowards out of the loop. by John Hanks (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1760 comments [39 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 12:00:47 PM (0+)
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Excellent art
Enjoyed the read. Perhaps this lack of social consciousness is because we are now in the 3rd or perhaps 4rth generations (since the early 50's) of those who grew up in the Great Age of American Consumerism... The tying of everything important to our own purchasing power. There was a concerted effort to put us here; to insure that we cared more about what new car is "hot" this year than what political philosophy is best for us. TV has turned us into something that resembles machines; the prime programming being to buy everything we can get away with. Our personal well-being, our self-confidence, our very worth as citizens; are tied up with how many bathrooms our houses have, how new the car out front is, and how big our TV screens are. This keeps us very busy. We can never win this race, when any gratification gained from purchasing is instantly wiped away with the next TV ad we see. We can never get ahead , because we were "forced" to run up the credit cards in order to be Good Americans. So why should the government be any different that we are? by Steve Windisch (jibbguy) (17 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 360 comments [54 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 12:35:53 PM (0+)
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Oh, come on!
Why give the benefit to the "Greatest Generation" and then, as usually happens, stomp Boomers? Either be a person who is generous or is not. Don't cherry-pick your way through generational rights and wrongs for a political conslusion. For instance, don't ignore the "Greatest Generations" vicious racism, which they dumped on their children, and now they and their children are finally making great progress in diminishing. Come on! by Stewart Nusbaumer (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 19 comments) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 12:38:44 PM (0+)
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Heck No! I just began to fight!
C'mon people lets go! I'm 51 years old. I know it's not looking good. But I really believe people are opening their eyes. I wasn't aware of the 'real' problem until 2003. I was just cruising along in life with no need to question. Just another lemming. I had a good job, great family, pool, dog, property, you name it. I had no idea just how crooked things were in this world. There wasn't a need to even look, or so I thought. When I opened my eyes and kept reading, it really hit me what's happening, I couldn't remain silent. You have to admit, it's a big deal!! The world I thought that I grew up in is gone. My childrens future is at stake. It's almost like waking up in the Twilight Zone! I've since learned that the Truth isn't welcome in this world, but yet there is a Truth. Pastors, Policeman, Lawyers, Judges, and Doctors all ignore it, refusing to even look at it! It exposes them! I've found that there are some things that no one wants to discuss and no one will answer you, and that a cure for cancer, Alzheimers, many other ailments, and a way to clean up our environment isn't wanted because it grows for free. They have actually locked the keys to the Kingdom. They won't enter, nor will they let anyone else enter either. I've since lost my job, been separated from my family, and basically lost everything I ever had for being honest and speaking the Truth. But what I've gained is greater than all the gold on this Earth. I believe that God is knowledge and knowledge of God is eternal. The bottom line is, and I believe it, "that if you 'know' the Truth, the Truth will set you free!" With the computer and internet we now have the avenue to educate the masses like never before, and to think I fought bringing the sucker into my office. We just have to somehow get the right seeds planted and get rid of all the weeds and distractions. Once we do, it will spread like yeast! Many people are hungry for change, looking, and have eyes to see, others aren't, remain blind, and will remain in darkness. I believe we certainly are being controlled by an elite few, but I don't think they can handle their plastic "creation" crumbling apart as it is. It's going to be interesting to watch but the Truth will ultimately win. The lie has worked its way into every aspect of our lives and taken many forms. It's everywhere. It's in our media, our energy, our food, our medicine, our educational system, our sports, military, it's everywhere. It controls the black market. But, this false "creation" is bound to fail! There isn't any foundation and the roof is coming off and exposing it. Prophets have said this will happen for thousands of years, and from what has happened in my life, I believe them!!! Many, many ancient sources and the last chapter of the Book I've been reading say that in the last day's the curse will finally be removed, the flaming sword extinguished, and we will once again bring the "knowledge" of the Tree of Life back into the garden, and then all the rest will follow! We will pull the lie and all the weeds up at the root. There are no lies within the Truth! Food, fuel, shelter, medicine, pleasure, spirituality, unity! The Tree of Life - Kaneh bosm!!!
Garry Minor
Columbus Indiana by Garry Minor (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 56 comments [7 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 1:27:33 PM (0+)
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Go Gary!!!
Lead the charge, Brother! I won't be behind you, I'll be right next to ya! by Mr M (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 2845 comments [654 recommended, 27 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 4:17:29 PM (0+)
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Reply: Excellent!
(Boff'ya!) Count me in, too! by Bia Winter (6 articles, 2 quicklinks, 14 diaries, 756 comments [119 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Dec 7, 2008 at 1:35:48 PM (0+)
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Mary Pitt
Conspiracy theories??? by William Whitten (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4880 comments [1686 recommended, 28 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 6:38:22 PM (0+)
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Reply: Worthy of an article itself
... great response to the clueless, you can add the one below to that list ... again, it's "we the people", not the elites that have been pulling the strings. by Mr M (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 2845 comments [654 recommended, 27 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 9:59:03 PM (0+)
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Excellent read for this struggling Gen X activist...
Mr. Green~ As a 30 something, gen X activist and struggling, impoverished American citizen I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this excellent article. What a refreshing read; a much needed break from the vitriol-inspiring, ill-informed tomes of your peers. It has not escaped my notice that in addition to standing idle by while our leaders plundered our economy, environment and our education system, the Boomers also have the temerity to BLAME us for our financial paralysis. While I have the greatest respect for those who fought the battles of the era before mine, the countless books that line the shelves in reaction to our struggle (i.e."Boomerrang Children" and "Gen X" ) are shamefully ignorant of any facts or accountabilty. To ascribe us as apathetic, lazy, or most offesively "ignorant, entitled consumers" is such a slap in the face to my efforts to overcome these economic obsticles in the wake of Boomer-dom that I have devoted endless hours of research to the statistics. Despite my skill set, intelligence, and my four part-time jobs: I AM the dissapeared middle-class. While we are most sincerely grateful for, and inspired by, those meritous efforts in the 60's and 70's that DID improve our lives and social structure--our parents have left us in a terrible spot. We are unable to achieve the final adult rite-of-passage: FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE, which has slowed and retarded our contributions to society, and devastated our sense of purpose. While we understand that every generation has it's cross to bear, we are now experiencing the same depression and anxiety that your parents and grandparents endured during the Great Depression. Your article serves a s reminder that we are also on the recieving end of the same, unfair resentment. (Transferrance, anyone?) I see by the comments in this thread (seems to be mostly from Boomers) that most are still locked into the "Don't blame us for the heinous acts of government beyond my control" meme. I can't tell you how many times I've heard this, along with a million speeches about "the power of one" and "how we changed the world". This is a conflict of concept I find most distressing. To have had such a successful collective impact, only to fall away, fall asleep, or WORSE--to become entrenched as leaders and beneficiaries of the very establishment that they worked so hard to over-turn, is utterly disingenous at best (see Jerry Rubin.) I strongly urge them to read "Generation Debt: Why Now is a Terrible Time to be Young" by Anya Kamenetz, if for no other reason than to better understand their own legacy, the employment landscape we have inherited, and what it's done to us. No blame-laying, only saying: I don't expect I will ever get out of debt, own a home, be able to start a family, pay for health care, or receive the social security I have paid into for years. Your apt title of this article is a phrase we all kick around at basement parties as we pool our resources and collectively brainstorm a way to circumvent these "uncertainties". We remain hopeful, while we are young-ish, that can still do so. But if we can not, we are all hoping we die before we get old... Thank you again for your insightful article. I can't tell you how much it's appreciated. by Jeannie Dean (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 16 comments) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 6:38:28 PM (0+)
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Reply: Jeannie ...
Jeannie ... let me ask you something, you ever shed any blood? Been arrested? Shot at? Hand-cuffed and beaten? When was the last time you went to a demonstration? Called your rep? May I remind you when all that was happening to me, I was young. Can I ask where you've been? What mantle have you picked-up? What tourch that we laid at you feet have you let go out? Did you think it was over after we paved the way for you? And why are you still blaming everyone else but those you should be blaming? The enemy is not us. This is also in their plans. Getting each generation blaming the other. For it is for sure that if we were to focus our attention on the real enemy we'd have nothing to be blaming each other for. But now the future is you. What are you going to do about it? Are you up to getting bloody? All those things you're bitching about not having now, that you were cheated out of, they're there. All you have to do is take them back from the same greedy s.o.b.'s we told you were stealing you blind before you were born. Don't tell me you weren't listening? Where have you been all these 30-something years? by Mr M (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 2845 comments [654 recommended, 27 rejected]) on Sunday, Nov 30, 2008 at 10:30:58 PM (0+)
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Reply: I think I'm done
I haven't written a thing since the elections so today I thought I'd see what's up. This is the fiirst article I've read and thank God, Mr. M is here to offer the breath of reality which I need to keep me on sight but, this is, as usual, too much bleeding heart, self flagellating, unthought out crap than I can handle. "It's my fault, it's our fault, it's your fault." I don't know any of you people but if you can't look at our OVER top heavy society, with 98% of the wealth teetering on the top 2% of the tower and see a top heavy tower ready to topple over its' own excesses then you're the same people who CAN understand that 3 tall building with a bit of fire damage could all collapse in exactly the same fashion in an eight hour period, no questions asked. Ever. Govt says they collapsed because of fire,, they must be a truthin. They gut experts. This, as usual, answers all of my questions, deludes all of my desires to continue the fight (and there IS a fight and you better pray that WE don't all give up) and leads me to make this final statement before my head explodes. Wake up,, ther is a fight even if you're not fighting the richest people in the world are and you are the enemy.They won't hurt you physically (except to keep you in your place) unless you physically stand up and fight against their systems of inequity. Then you will eventually become a problem for them as time goes on and you will be dealt with. So make up your mind, keep on swallowing the bullshit they feed and step in line, don't make waves, be satisfied with your 30,000. a year and pathetic benefits , shrinking each year and do as you're told! OR, open your mind and think about what is being said by myself, Mr M and many others who know the score. You won't learn any of this in school, the school is the establishment. You learn this livimg life as it is, on the streets from the 60's on. Fact is, there will be a revolution. How it goes down, that is the part that really is up to you. You can't fight lying on your back. by PeterJ (16 articles, 3 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 236 comments [53 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Dec 4, 2008 at 11:55:02 AM (0+)
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Are you up to getting bloody?
I'd back off, Mr M, You sound like a politician getting other people's children to fight your battles. Like you've been there, I suppose? And even if you have, where'd it get you, as a cartoonist? Look. With all due respect, too many great leaders have come and gone since the early Egyptians to put all the blame on an unknown conspiring family. You wanna name David Rockefeller as the culprit? The guy's about 90 years old. Who's he leaving it to and why? Sure there are people out there who want to take over the world. But for every one of them there are a million others, including you and me, who want to have a system that works fairly for everyone. It's not time for blood. It's too late for blood. What are you gonna do, take on a platoon of marines with stones and tomatos?You gonna put Jeannie out there in front to lead the way? Good plan Mr M. And then what do you do when they shut down your internet and come looking for you? Start swearing? The fault is not those who have bamboozled us, the fault is ours for having been, for allowing ourselves to have been, bamboozled. To change the system one has to play within the rules of the system. We can do that. The rules are good, but they're not being followed. That's our fault, not Rocky's. We gotta get organized. We need more Cindy Sheehans, Kuciniches, Wexlers....good patriots, true heros that speak their minds. True leaders and Americans, waiting for us to support and encourage them. We need to insist on investigatians under oath, let the chips fall where they will. No pardons until we know exactly what crimes have been committed and what we are being asked to be pardoned. We must stop complaining to ourselves in these feel good venues and reach out to our immediate communities to get to our representatives. Happy Thanksgiving. peace. Do something. by Nick van Nes (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 596 comments [150 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Monday, Dec 1, 2008 at 12:34:56 AM (0+)
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Nick Van Ness
"We gotta get organized. We need more Cindy Sheehans, Kuciniches, Wexlers....good patriots, true heros that speak their minds. True leaders and Americans, waiting for us to support and encourage them. We need to insist on investigatians under oath, let the chips fall where they will. No pardons until we know exactly what crimes have been committed and what we are being asked to be pardoned. We must stop complaining to ourselves in these feel good venues and reach out to our immediate communities to get to our representatives. Happy Thanksgiving. peace. Do something." I agree we should all "do something". Did you support Kucinich? As a liberal I certainly did. I still have the Strength through Peace Kucinich for president bumper sticker in my car window. But "they" would never let a man like Kucinich get anywhere near the presidency. If by some fluke he did, they'd assasinate him. Did you notice how, not just msm, but liberals marginalized DK? So many of my liberal friends went for Edwards instead because they said, though DK was the true liberal, he was unelectable. They bought the msm hype. I love Cindy Sheehan but did she beat out Nancy Pelosi? Could she? What do you propose we do? We've emailed, faxed, snail mailed, called, protested in the streets. Are you one of those who intend to hold Obama's feet to the fire?? Tell me HOW? He didn't listen to us about fisa or the bailout what makes you think now that he's in office he will listen to anything you or I have to say? Dream on. The american public as a whole is brainwashed. Mr M is exactly right in what he said about the majority of the Gen X's. They are complacent about politics in general. Ron Paul managed to get a lot of them to support him but the numbers were small in comparison. I'm not blaming them, it's where the elite want them to be. Obsessesd with their ipods and wii games they live inside of the box created for them by the powers that William Whitten just quoted. Believe what you want. Ignore what many on here have said as conspiratorial nonsense. But if you will lead with your head instead of your fear for just once in your life you will start to see a very clear picture of just who has really been in charge since the 1930's. Look up Smedley Butler and see how the wealthy industrialists finally accomplished here in the good ole U S of A what old Smedley thwarted them from doing back in 1933..a fascist coup d'etat. Honestly, do you really think phone calls & letter writing will work now? What's that you say? They need to listen to us in order to get our vote? Ha! Don't make me laugh. "everybody knows the dice are loaded, everybody knows the game is fixed". ~~leonard cohen by jersey girl (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1201 comments [734 recommended, 12 rejected]) on Monday, Dec 1, 2008 at 6:04:43 AM (0+)
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Reply: I agree completely
that our system of representation is failing us. I must have called and written to my congressman, Delahunt, D-MA, 20 times over impeachment. The most I get back from him is a form letter saying something to the effect, "thanks for writing. You can imagine how busy I am and thus unable to get back to everyone but let's continue to stay in touch." But the point is, by voting NO on impeachment, he is responding to someone. His party? Pelosi? Maybe it's a much larger group, a consortium of businesses that contributes to his cause....who knows, but it is someone or something that he feels more compelled to represent. To break that he must be approached, sat down with, made to understand our position, which has been, AND HERE'S MY POINT, up to now, disorganized, frustrated, apathetic. As you say, gen X, my own children, would rather be playing computer games. And that's our fault and our problem, not Delahunt's. He's got much more organized pressure exerted on him from the military industrial complex than he does from individuals like you and me. We got to get smarter and more organized, not start throwing rocks at the local grocery store. We've got to make our representatives start listening to us. If they won't we got to stop voting for them, the incumbents. Progress is frustratingly slow. We gotta work harder. Keep the heat on Obama. Send copies of these articles to your friends and family. get them convinced. If you cannot convince them, how are we gonna convince a representative they are voting for? by Nick van Nes (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 596 comments [150 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Monday, Dec 1, 2008 at 12:20:49 PM (0+)
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Reply: Another thought
"Honestly, do you really think phone calls & letter writing will work now? What's that you say? They need to listen to us in order to get our vote? Ha! Don't make me laugh. "everybody knows the dice are loaded, everybody knows the game is fixed". ~~leonard cohen " No. I don't think phone calls and letter writing to our reps will work. Not to mine, anyway. I'm convinced of that. But they do need to get our vote to stay in power. Look at Sheehan vs. Pelosi. You would think in a liberal town like SanFrancisco, who the hell would vote for her? But she won, right? By a lot. Unless you think it was rigged. I guess that's always a possibility but I honestly don't think so. Maybe I just don't want to think so. So what do we do? Do you not believe the vote count? Do you want to count them all over again? I don't think that's the problem. I think the problem is that for the most part, the citizens of this country, myself included, are apathetic. Also they are frieghteningly centrist. You have a lot of Jews in many American cities who feel our war on terrorism is in the right direction. They're afraid. They woulod be happy to simply wipe out all of the Mid EAST. Pelosi is also afraid and able to capitalize on this fear. She's the worst thing that ever happened to this country but she keeps getting re-elected because ignorant Americans keep agreeing with her. That's our problem and our challenge: ignorant, xenophobic, spoiled brat Americans. It is not that our government is inexorribly corrupt, it's that the masses have been indoctrinated to believe the propaganda and crap they are fed to believe. We gotta work harder and come together. by Nick van Nes (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 596 comments [150 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Monday, Dec 1, 2008 at 12:42:23 PM (0+)
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Reply: Nick
Honestly, the only thing I feel we have left to us now is a new american revolution. People have to realize Obama is more of the same and that things are going to get much worse. If there isn't a great awakening by the sleep walking public than I personally feel we are doomed. Time is running out. It's too late to reconstruct the system. Knowledge is power but we have to have our eyes wide open to learn the truth. The more of us that are awake and aware and not making excuses for false idols, the easier it will be to fight against the onslaught of horrors they are sending our way. There is power and safety in numbers. Let's not re-enact the German complacency during Hitler's reign. Buy storeable food & water. Grow a garden if you can. Get your money out of the bank & get out of debt. In other words, get off the grid asap. But mostly, research what's really going on worldwide not just in the U.S and then spread the word to everyone you know. Go to infowars.com & listen to Alex Jones broadcast. He and his multitude of experts will clue you in to what is coming down and what is necessary to prepare. Yes, it's that bad. It's time to stop pretending it's not. by jersey girl (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1201 comments [734 recommended, 12 rejected]) on Tuesday, Dec 2, 2008 at 6:14:18 AM (0+)
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My resume for Mr. M...
Yes, Mr. M~I'm so glad you asked. While I'm not sure how my personal activity is relevant to Mr. Green's article, and while your question seems overly hostile/ aggressive, I'm happy to oblige. As the daughter of a political science professor, I've been on the front lines since I was 2 yrs old. My first political campaign was for McGovern--helping my mother stuff mailboxes for him in a right-wing, back-water region of the south. My first memories include the nightly briefings from my beloved Walter Cronkite, counting the casualties of the Vietnam War and tracking Nixon's Watergate Scandal. During my college years in the 80's, I canvassed for nuclear disarmament on Capitol Hill. In 1991, I worked tirelessly in New York City for the Clinton Campaign, only to watch him sign the Telecommunications Act of 1996, support NAFTA, and sell out my entire generation (and yours). From Sept 11, 2001-Jan 5, 2002, I worked in Lower Manhattan as a supply coordinator for the brave men and women who were working around the clock to restore Lower Manhattan, recover human remains, and remove 2 tons of twisted steel and debris from the site. After that I became obsessed with U.S. intelligence failures, and within a year (a devasting, "lost weekend" of a year) I read everything I could get my hands on from Ray McGovern and others who put forth the argument that 9/11 couldn't have occured without our government's complacency/ assitance. While I did not "bleed", I was traumatized, and didn't sleep for 2 years. Often I wished I HAD bled to death on the day of the attacks (I lived less than a mile from the WTC, and was scheduled for a job interview at 10:30 am, but overslept.) If it had not been for the assistance of the Mt. Sinai's WTC screening progam, where I recieved counsiling, medical attention, and Zoloft, I might've taken my own life. After 2002, I was "laid off" in NYC from downsizing due to the economic fallout from the attacks. I went back to bartending and struggled to make ends meet. In 2004, I protested the RNC convention in my beloved, shell-shocked home-town, infuriated that Ground Zero was being utilized for yet another PR stunt from the Republican Party. That was when I realized that elections were being stolen, and became obseesed with election integrity. I surmised then, and still do, that if George Bush hadn't stolen the Presidency in 2000, then 3,000 of my neighbors *(and yes, friends and family) might still be with us. I then moved to Florida to study/ research election law and fight for election reform. There I worked for VIDEO THE VOTE and various voting rights groups as THE ONLY ONE covering every aspect of the now notorious 2006 Sarasota, FL. Congressional race between Christine Jennings and Vern Buchanan, in which over 18, 000 votes were "dropped" by ES&S's iVotronic, paperless, touchscreen voting machines and likely seated the WRONG candidate in our House of Representatives. For two years straight I produced 40 short films as a series of WEBISODES on Youtube for the public record (because no one else was doing it) which covered 2 recounts, 2 audits, 4 lawsuits, and one white washed GAO report, and endless Canvassing Board meetings. In January 2008, I worked with Bev Harris' BlackBoxVoting on the New Hampshire Primary anomolies, which showed that the Diebold failure rate was 163 times greater than federal standards allow. That same month, I filmed and posted a DIEBOLD CENTRAL TABULATOR MANUAL OVERRRIDE in Sarasota County--election officials using a calculator and typing in results without any oversight. I am far from clueless, as you pressupposed. And your response to my original post only underscores the point Mr. Green is making with his article--and your anger is telling. Mr. Green is asking why I'm not more angry at you than you are at me. In my above post, I was asking for understanding and mutual respect between the generation gap for what we are suffering. Any rational reader can see that. And you jumped on my case and asked for my resume, which you could have gotten from just googling me. Yes, I understand the scope of the lies, the obfuscations, and the magnitude of the tactics the opposition is using. Yes, I get that there's only so much one generation can muster. My point was that you (not necessarily YOU, sir) but the WHOLE BOOMER COLLECTIVE, the ones we were looking to for direction in the fight, drifted on selfish high during the Clinton years, driving their SUV's in hapless slumber and watching passivley as everything we hold dear was slowly being undermined and deregulated. If I was onto it at age 4, I would hope that the grown-ups would be to. I don't know what your background is, or whether or not YOU'VE BLED or been arrested, but I assume you have and that is why you've got such an angry chippy chip. Mr. Green's article either touched a nerve because you've been working just as hard as I have over the years and you've taken this as a personal affront, or because you've got some issues that are far beyond my ability to reconcile here in the threads of OP ED. Either way, I wish you health and love. by Jeannie Dean (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 16 comments) on Monday, Dec 1, 2008 at 6:55:34 AM (0+)
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Reply: Hats off to you, Jeanie!
As to Mr Green, I say, speak for yourself! I for one, have been one of the boomers who "awakened" in the 60's and never stopped working for the progressive principles we championed back then, when we, OUR half of the Boomer generation, fought against the Viet Nam war and for Civil Rights and a more just society. I am not one of those who turned "Yuppie", or allowed myself to be lulled into mindless consumerism or acquiesced to the militarism and faux-patriotism of many from my generation. And yes, we indeed have been a split-generation who went separate ways after high school, most never to return to the ways of the "Greatest" Generation, which, despite its mis-nomer, is responsible for much of the mindless war-mongering that has squandered most of our country's wealth for ALL generations, except theirs. Most of the evils cited by Prof Green were started during/by Poppy Bush's generation, brought to fruition by Junior , a denison of the "Other" half of the Boomer generation, and HIS party, along with of course, all the old Dinosaurs of the cold war's "Greatest" (my ass!) generation. And it is for our children and grandchildren that we keep fighting these same fights, and yes, we're getting weary, especially when we have to hear how it's now all "Our" fault! by Bia Winter (6 articles, 2 quicklinks, 14 diaries, 756 comments [119 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, Dec 7, 2008 at 1:20:32 PM (0+)
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One more thing...
I'd like to add--I have been looking for steady work now for 8 long years. Jobs are hard to find, and once found, they often dissapear or don't offer a living wage. It takes 4 "almost jobs" to keep me in Ramen Noodles. It's a daily humiliation that I've been far too sober for. Cartooning is one of the ways I supplement my income. Do YOU have any work for me? by Jeannie Dean (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 16 comments) on Monday, Dec 1, 2008 at 7:11:15 AM (0+)
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Thank you
How nice to see the painting of the Whole Boomer Generation as selfish, lazy, greedy slobs! Thank you! I'm a boomer and I live in a very rural area of Upstate NY on a road with a lot of other boomers. Not a Mc Mansion nor a big SUV in sight! What I do see is a lot of professionals living in modest homes, most heated by wood, who are taking care of aging parents AND have their children, their children's spouses, and their grandkids all under one roof. Yes....that's 3 or 4 generations in very small homes making do. In talking with my neighbors, all of us have recently lost most of our life savings at a time when we can do nothing to regain it. And....yes...most of us have suffered and given unselfishly. Over half the men on the road served in either Vietnam or the first Gulf War. Political activists? Oh, yes indeed! Right now a lot of people are looking for scapegoats and since the Boomers are such a large number they certainly make a tempting target. Divisiveness, generational hatred, class warfare (and don't believe for a minute it doen't exist!) are ways the the Powers That Be keep us divided and keep us from focusing on what is truly being done to the American people. How much more we could do; how much more we could accomplish for all of us, if we stopped blaming and hating each other and pulled together. My parent's generation, "The Greatest Generation" stepped into some pretty ugly traps set by the Powers That Be also ie: McCarthyism, the Cold War, the continuing of Jim Crow laws. The Boomers have similarily fallen for traps but, for all their faults, there have been some tremendous gains, both socially and certainly techonologically. Please people, don't let "THEM" divide us! Put your righteous anger towards helping fix this rather than blaming those of us who are struggling to care for both the elderly and our adult children and our grandchildren. Most of us will never retire now. We will work til we drop.....and that is just what the Powers That Be want. "Hope you die before you get old"? What a kind and considerate thought! Thank you....but I'm too busy taking care of my loved ones to to die and I'm not about to give "Them" the satisfaction. Rememer, it was GHW Bush who called us "useless eaters." by Nana P. (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 40 comments [8 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Dec 1, 2008 at 1:07:00 PM (0+)
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Reply: Sounds alot like where I live!
I recognize so much of what you're saying, and I live in Maine. I'd be the one taking care of my old mother if it wasn't so cold up here (it scares her) . Instead , my sister, also a boomer, takes care of her miserable spoiled self. Yes, my parents worked hard and did well, after coming here out of the hell of WWII Germany, and were able to help us some also. But compared to my life, and my sister's, they lived in luxury and relative ease, my mother never had to go outside the home to work, and their retirement years included many trips and good times. My father was a wonderful husband and provider, and a good father. There was much my Mom could be thankful for, but now after having it all, plus her family taking her in so she doesn't have to go to a retirement home, she acts as if it's everyone elses' fault she's old and can't do everything she wants all the time whenever she wants to, and is nasty and miserable to everyone. In many ways, she has the typical attitude of the "Greatest Generation"; after they've had it all they still want more, and everything still revolves around them. They don't care what else is going on in the world because they aren't going to be around much longer anyway...to hell with the grandchildren! by Bia Winter (6 articles, 2 quicklinks, 14 diaries, 756 comments [119 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Dec 8, 2008 at 10:07:42 AM (0+)
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Is It Possible?
That Mr Green doesn't realize that the Baby Boomers and the following generations have been prepaying their retirement since 1984? Until then, Social Security was a pay as you go plan, with money going directly from the payers to the payees. In 1984, Alan Greenspan announced that there were too many Baby Boomers for the following generation to fund, so we had to prepay. And since then, something like seven trillion dollars over the amount needed for current recipients has been taken from worker's paychecks and placed into a "lockbox". Where it has been used to pay for wars and such. That doesn't mean it hasn't been paid and that it isn't owed. Of course, it's owed to us. It was borrowed from us. This announcing that the money is gone and can't be retrieved is ruling class propaganda that is being fallen for by fools, of which I wouldn't have believed that David Michael Green would qualify. This is why they say that in 2017, retirees will reach the time when the amount paid out will be greater than the amount paid in. So? That's how it always was until Greenspan and Reagan. And the extra will be gone by 2047? SO? The baby boomers will be mostly dead by then. Also, people paying over $100,000 could be asked to pay Social Security taxes on that amount. Why not? We pay taxes on all of our income. I can't believe we're even arguing generational war here. Capitalism is a system where the ruling class takes as much as possible from the working class. Period. They're winning. And, as so many have pointed out, if we are divided by race, or sex, or age, we cannot even fight back against them. And that's the point of articles like these. Divide and conquer. And Mr. Green calls himself a socialist? What socialist would try to help the ruling class divide the capitalist class? by wagelaborer (6 articles, 1 quicklinks, 9 diaries, 307 comments [34 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Dec 1, 2008 at 3:23:01 PM (0+)
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