Professor writes Apology leter to students for bad choices made by their parents

[Chisox08]

Run time: 05:31 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jqFSscH9S0   Posted on YouTube: September 21, 2010 By YouTube Member: MOXNEWSd0tCOM Views on YouTube: 154   Posted on DU: September 21, 2010 By DU Member: Chisox08 Views on DU: 1270

 
I agree with the professor my parents and grandparents generation were the ones that gave us Reagan and 2 Bushes, NAFTA, other free trade agreements, outsourcing of jobs and the uncontrolled greed that has landed the country in the mess that we are in today.

[Ken Burch]

1. Thanks for this...but If you still can, I'd check the spelling of "letter" in your title

Given that we're talking about a professor, that slightly(and unfairly)undermines the credibility of the piece.

[Chisox08]

4. I didn't notice it until it was too late. I was posting from my phone.

Stupid auto-complete

[Radical Activist]

2. Yep.

We're all expected to worship the holy sacrament of social security while older generations refuse to care about the rising cost of college and the burden of student loan debt. But climate change is the worst of all. The luxury and wasteful energy policies we continue today will be paid for by younger generations in the form of catastrophic climate disasters. It's a generational crime and young people need to stand up for their rights.

[Tansy_Gold]

3. I see.

Young people need to stand up for their rights, but they don't have to respect the rights of older people?

Social security is a huge benefit to younger people, too, so they don't have the horrible burden of caring for their older family members, bringing them into their homes to live because they can't work and can't afford to live on their own. I watched my grandparents care for aged relatives until the day my great-aunt died. My grandparents had been married 43 years, and at Aunt Alice's funeral my grandfather said to my grandmother, "We'll finally have a house to ourselves."

Social security also benefits the children and surviving spouses of workers who have died before retirement. http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10084.html

Medicaid, which benefits the poor and especially poor children, is an outgrowth of Medicare which is itself an outgrowth of Social Security.

And then there is the disability insurance portion of Social Security that provides benefits to the disabled, who may be children or young people or wage-earners who can no longer work.

But hey, if you just wanta believe Social Security is some hand-out to the worthless elderly, you go right ahead. I just hope you or your kids or some young friend of yours never needs the benefits.




Tansy Gold, NTY

[Radical Activist]

7. Yawn.

The rights of seniors are not seriously threatened. The rights of the young are. No one dare mentions the idea of cutting SS or Medicare. And no one bothers to take action on students loans, climate change or many other issues that are of primary concern to young people. Do you see the difference?

[keith the dem]

5. I think your totally missing his point.

SS and medicare are something we're doing right..
Extravagant military spending and a huge transfer of wealth to the richest one percent while ignoring our common needs is the problem.

The post WW2 generations are to blame for not being educated on the issues and voting to many fear mongering idiots into office.

This guy nails it, I hope he gets more press.

(Disclosure: I am also educated as an engineer and architect, we know everything...)

[SkyDaddy7]

6. I totally agree...

I know it is not representative of everyone in the Baby Boom Generation but just look the selfish Tea Baggers who from what I have seen seem to be mostly baby boomers who are being used for votes! The Right Wing appeals to their selfish side & has convinced them that they are the true Americans & everyone else is simply scum living off the system.

The Baby Boomers had all the perks of good government & now they are siding with the party who wants to do away with these extremely important LIFE SAVING programs! The power of the Right Wing Media to convince so many to vote against their own well being is jaw dropping.

I know my parents (Excluding my Mom who actually THINKS) & their friends seem to be very selfish in the way they look at the world. They think new green tech is just BS Liberal Stuff & they refuse to examine the facts when it comes to how we are abusing the planet...It is almost as if they are programmed robots that simply can't be communicated with! Yet they watch Glenn Beck & think he is the smartest guy on the planet along with Sarah Palin! I am simply blow away at the willful ignorance of many of these people! Young & old!

[JDPriestly]

8. Social Security is a debt the government owes to seniors.

The government has to pay it. If you owe student debt, you have to pay it. I'm a senior who went back to school in my 50s. I borrowed to fund my education. I have had to pay it back just like you do.

What the professor is saying is that young people need to pay attention to the decisions being made by the leaders of government to insure that they are making the choices that are best for society as a whole.

Young people (and older people) have the right and responsibility to demand that the wealth of our country go not just into the pockets of the greedy but into the development of infrastructure and industry in our country -- so that we can continue to produce the wealth that will insure good lives for future generations.

We need to invest in public transportation -- for you and for seniors.

We need to invest in public schools -- for you and your children.

We need to encourage industrial investment here in our country.

We need to discourage outsourcing and importing -- so that your generation can continue to prosper.

Social Security is not the issue. If it did not exist, you would still have to support your parents as they age. They supported you when you were a child.

And, I must add that the kids who are now in their teens, twenties and thirties are the most indulged generation of all times. You are the children of the baby boomers, and much of the excessive spending by baby boomers was to get YOU the toys and trinkets you saw on TV and to spoil you to the utmost. So, you are as responsible as were your parents. Don't forget it.

[Tansy_Gold]

9. Thank you.

I too went back to college at age 50, and I am still paying the loans that enabled me to do it. I'm also a widow grateful for social security (which both I and my husband and our employers paid into) to keep me from abject poverty and being a burden on my children and grandchildren.

TG, NTY