Mortgage meltdown--ONE they can't blame on us boomers

[SoCalDem]

As a boomer, I get very weary hearing about how greedy we are for expecting some social security at the end of the line.

Some young'uns are seriously pissed at the idea that THEIR precious wages might take a hit, if many of us live long enough to actually collect on that promise made to us over 4 decades ago.


The parents & grandparent of boomers had not participated in SS for as many decades as we will have, and of course many of those oldsters had lower amounts put in, since there were fewer people living long enough to collect, and our money was overlapping our parents' since many boomers entered the tax-paying communities in our early teens (not as many labor laws as now).

Boomers MY age, moved out of our parents' home and started at the BOTTOM.. That meant crappy cars, crappy jobs, crappy apartments, and MANY years of saving before we even THOUGHT of buying a house.

Banks were about the ONLY places offering home loans back then, and a 25-30% down-payment was the norm. ONE income (the man's) was all that was allowed when figuring out if you could afford to buy..(yes there was actually a formula applied BEFORE they would even talk to you seriously).

Housing was not as "glamorous" back then too. Many houses did not even have garages (the HORROR!!).. they did not routinely have dishwashers, or fencing, or beautifully landscaped lots or pools or Jacuzzis.

People did not BUY "apartments"..Of course there were no condos or townhouses (well maybe there were in the big city)..but in most places, there were houses you bought, and apartments/duplexes you rented)..

The rules attached to renting, spurred on the "saving-for-your-own home". Buying meant you could paint the place whatever color you wanted, you could have pets, and could have noisy parties whenever you wanted. A 30-year loan meant no more landlords capriciously raising your rent whenever they felt like it.

We entered adulthood , not expecting to START where our parents currently were. We knew that it would take US a long time to amass what our parents had. We were okay with the used cars, and hand-me-down furniture..

We (most of us) had NO credit. Credit cards came much later for us. If we wanted something, we had to either guilt a family member into buying it for us, or we had to save up.

Reagan wanted to "fix" social security, since the oldsters with us then, really did NOT have enough to live on, so of course Ronnie's solution was to make US pay extra (to make up for all the years of shortfall), and to PRE-PAY for our own retirement. We were the FIRST (and only) generation who were asked (made?) to do this. At the same time as this was happening, we also started to have the pension-plans our parents had at work, taken away from us. the union jobs our parents had during their work-lives, started to go away too. NONE OF THESE CHANGES WERE MADE BY US.. They were made by rich old men (some of whom are still with us in government today).

I do not recall being angry at being asked to pay higher taxes. We accepted this because we knew our grandparents deserved to have a better standard of living, and we expected that since we had prepaid all this money, we were also doing it for ourselves.

So now we find ourselves a few years of retirement (hah!) , and many of us are now caring for elderly parents who are living a lot longer that any previous generation, and caring for the children of OUR children, while still working , as we try to manage to save something for our own futures. Many are having that option taken away, due to off-shoring, outsourcing, and layoffs as we become insurance liabilities to employers.

We are poised to transfer most of our "wealth" to pharmaceutical corporations and long-term care facilities, instead of to our children .(Sorry kiddos..hope you weren't planning on iheriting much.. we may have little left)

For many boomers, the ONLY thing of any real value we have is our house...our ONE house that many of us worked a lifetime to pay off.

Until recently, real estate was cyclical. Older people sold the family home, after raising a family in it.. They downsized as younger families just starting out bought those houses as their first homes. They fixed them up, maybe added to them, and raised their own families in them. The lucky ones, would move up to a larger new house at some point, since there was always a new batch of 30-somethings looking to buy their first house.

The phenomenon of 24 yr olds buying $300K houses is something new..created by the same people who brought us all the wallet-full of plastic envy-cards. They understand psychology. What 24 yr old would not want to live in a gorgeous new house? It goes well with the designer duds & the new car, and hey! paying interest-only for a few years, then selling it for a profit, works pretty well..UNTIL IT NO LONGER DOES!

So now we are where we are.. Maybe millions of homes that never should have been built, bought by millions who never should have bought them, are now being abandoned, foreclosed on, sold for losses...just dumped into the same market that boomers had counted on, so they could finally get a profit (long-deferred) to finance/supplement their own retirements..

With so many people with mountains of debt, ruined credit, and all those houses with more "falling prices" than a herd of walmarts, there will be no "soft landing"..

Looking back at the long list of "money crises", I see none that WE created.

Depression....not the boomers
60's-70's recessions.....not the boomers
savings & loan debacle of the 80's...not the boomers
dot.com bubble.....not the boomers
martgage meltdown now...not the boomers

This latest crisis is a manifestation of greed & envy. Greed from the people with "cheap money" to lend to willing suckers..and envy from the people who think they deserve more than they can afford.

[Ishoutandscream2]

1. Anytime I hear a young un' trash boomers

I simply say that you better thank them. The boomers helped end the war in Nam, and more significantly, were instrumental in eliminated the draft, keeping a lot of the young un's out of serving. In my opinion, the boomers were the true "greatest generation."

[redqueen]

2. Fuck yeah! Let's divide ourselves according to age!

That'll help!

:bounce:

Fuckinell.

[WCGreen]

3. Amen, fellow boomer...

Amen...

[DaveJ]

4. Isn't it boomers running the companies...

...that employ every possible psychological method and tactic to entice the young to buy their products at any cost even if it means going into debt for it?

I mean sure you can't blame anyone except the person who signs on the dotted line, right? Can't blame the scumbag who puts the important details in fine print. Can't blame the efforts in advertising and media that makes home ownership look glamorous. Can't blame the sheer lack of honesty and upfront-ness. They signed on the line, so only they are to blame, apparently.

If I were a dishonest person, I would try to find a job where all I had to do is lure stupid people into signing their lives away to me. That is, if I were dishonest. I choose not to.

[SoCalDem]

6. I would guess that MANY of the big corporations are still

owned by pre-boomers. They may have boomers running parts of them, but the BIG bucks are still being held by pre-boomers.. Look at GHWB, for example.. these old codgers have run the show for a long time, and they do not pass that torch easily:(

Rich powerful people often do not EVER "retire"..

[DaveJ]

13. Please, Help us then... since your turn is next

I have not purchased a home yet, and in this market do not plan on it for at least a few years. My parents have one and some property as a fallback if I ever become too elderly to work I suppose. But the U.S. could really shine as a pinnacle of freedom once again, if we did something to put home ownership within reach of EVERYONE. The idea of the "haves" owning everything worth owning really makes us a global embarrassment.

[slackmaster]

58. People of retirement age and up hold about 75% of the wealth in this country

None of them are Boomers.

[slackmaster]

57. Let's see you come up with a concrete example

Please identify a company you consider predatory, and look at their Board of Directors, CFO, and CEO. Let's see how many of them are under 61.

:D

[mainegreen]

5. There are the guilty and innocent in every generation.

Some boomers are responsible for this, along with some gen-x and some of the greatest generation, and probably some gen-yers to boot.

[redqueen]

10. NO no no! You're not doing it right!

All that reasonableness about how it's really individuals of of EVERY group that can be selfish, thoughtless assholes... well that just ruins the fun!

:sarcasm:

[DaveJ]

33. I'm not for blaming any particular group

But when people try blaming one group I am compelled to point out how another group also shares the blame.

The ultimate answer of course is to DO SOMETHING about it. For that to happen people have to actually care about it first. Problem is right now most people who 'have' don't care about the have nots. And most the have-nots are too scared to speak their mind.

[redqueen]

34. Agree completely. n/t

[Mountainman]

7. Get ready for those that say we boomers have more wealth than we need.

I will be able to retire in 5 years but I will keep working if I can because I don't have a big savings or investments. I never worked for a company that had a retirement plan.

I have a house that is on the market but the market sucks. I want to downsize and pay off my debts.

But time and time again I run into the prejudice younger people have toward us old folks. That is just the way it is and I have to deal with it.

[stimbox]

8. Here is the meat of your rant

"the same market that boomers had counted on, so they could finally get a profit (long-deferred) to finance/supplement their own retirements.."

I guess you are mad that you can't sell your house and make a mint off of it.

[ThomWV]

11. Talk about someone 'not getting it'

You have no idea what he was talking about.

Its called work ethic for one thing. Its called earning what you get, not having it handed to you. Its called contributing to society, not assuming it owes you something you did not pay for.

[stimbox]

19. I get "it" alright.

It boils down to sour grapes.
That's what I got out of the rant.

[SoCalDem]

22. No grapes here..just a house that's too big for us now, and I'm sorry

people think we should just "give it away".. We can afford to stay in it, but would have liked to move to a smaller place and have a little to show for our troubles:)

[Romulox]

26. Your house is worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

No more, no less.

You didn't "earn" a profit on your house if no one wants to buy it.

[stimbox]

27. Maybe just unrealistic expectations.

:shrug:

[ProfessorGAC]

68. How Is That Sour Grapes?

The metaphor doesn't even fit. The OP isn't complaining about what they can't have. It said the boomers earned what they've gotten and doesn't want anyone blaming them for things they didn't cause.

That's not even close to the meaning of sour grapes.
The Professor

[stimbox]

75. Read more carefully Professor.

He is lamenting that he can't sell for a huge profit because the market is bad.

[ProfessorGAC]

76. A Tiny Point Within the Post

That was not the point of the post. You should read more carefully, stim. You're cherry picking. The point of the OP was that such phenomena cannot be blamed on boomers because boomers are suffering the same consequences as everyone else.

The Professor

[stimbox]

77. He was using all of that blather to get to that point.

Boomers are as much at fault as anyone.

[ProfessorGAC]

78. Then You're Agreeing It's NOT Sour Grapes

Like i said. it wasn't the point. It was just among the supporting facts. So, no sour grapes.
The Professor

[stimbox]

79. So i misused it.

blah blah blah.

it doesn't discount his real agenda.

[SoCalDem]

12. Not a "mint"..just a fair profit after 35 years

not too much to ask.

[AnneD]

70. This boomer....

doesn't have a home because she never earned enough to afford housing in her area and refused to get an ARM. But all is not so bleak.....I stayed with the state that had a retirement Pension (Texas Teachers Retirement System), and am well on my way to getting out of debt and saving up for a home (I own my travel tralier but pay lot rent). Not quite the American Dream-but I won't be homless either. And I sleep pretty well at night.

[The2ndWheel]

9. It all comes back to growth

We need more people. We want more for ourselves. We want more later in life. We want more earlier in life. We want longer and longer and longer and longer lives. But if we want to retire at 65, but live healthier lives longer, then that retirement age needs to be bumped up, because we have fewer young people, because more people are career oriented, so they put off or have fewer kids, which requires you to work longer, which keeps the kids out of the picture, etc, etc, etc.

You're right though, everybody doesn't get to have everything all the time. Good luck selling that.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Um...

Aren't the boomers the ones running the banks, giving out the really seedy mortgages? Aren't they one the ones that weakened the usury laws decades ago and account for all the debt there is today?

[redqueen]

16. C'mon Hooligan... be nice...

they just want a little profit! Who can begrudge them that?

Besides all those people who don't even bother fooling themselves that they can even try to put a foot on the 'property ladder'... but they don't matter.

This thread bothers me so much.

[SoCalDem]

17. In a word.. no

Decades ago the boomers were not in charge..any more than we are today..
True..SOME boomers may run their own show, but I'm guessing that the really BIG money is still being controled by the same gang that has controlled it since..forever..a few rich families and the Murdoch's of the world..(hardly boomers)

[Romulox]

21. Ummm, the last two presidents were boomers

As are the bulk of congress people.

When will the boomers ever be responsible for anything?

The boomers proceeded directly from blaming their parents for everything to blaming their own children. It's pathetic.

[AngryAmish]

31. Post of the Month!!!

Grow up Boomers.

[DaveJ]

37. LOL - Well said

Your other points on this thread were very sharp too. If the baby boomers had followed through on their ideals we wouldn't be having this discussion.

[girl gone mad]

42. I wish I could recommend your post. n/t

[KoKo]

15. K&R...! I hear 'ya!

[Greyhound]

18. All of the "money crisis'" you list were caused, at the root, by the same thing,

the people that control the banking/financial industry. They have all been caused for very specific reasons and have paid those people very well.

The greatest offense the Boomers committed was in having the right ideas and principles, using their power of numbers to force change in that direction, and then selling them out for a new beach house and a Mercedes.

[SoCalDem]

20. Dammit.. you mean I was supposed to have a beach house & a mercedes?

No one ever told me that.. I mis-spent all those years paying hospitals & doctors & mortgage payments & bills & groceries and i coulda had a beach house & a mercedes...??

NOW you tell me..

Most of the people I see with those "goodies" are either waaay older than I am or a lot younger & well-connected than I am :)

[Greyhound]

30. Perhaps you're just not looking?

As with any discussion of generations, it is, or should be, obvious that it is not all inclusive. Many Boomers didn't sell out and many still hold the values that they embraced and used to call attention to some of the crimes committed in our name, but Raygun could never have started this end-game without appealing to the greed of a large portion of that generation.

What you say about the well-connected is the real issue, not which generation did what to whom, it is and always has been, a class war and only the ruling class is fighting it. The distinctive thing about the boomers is/was their sheer numbers, perhaps you have to be behind the elephant to appreciate what it leaves behind.

BTW; did yo have any input about the actual topic of my reply?

[redqueen]

35. "it is and always has been, a class war and only the ruling class is fighting it"

AMEN AND HALLELUJAH!

:thumbsup:

[AnneD]

83. I still get angry at the whole....

media crap that was forced down our throats in the 80's. You remember the 'greed is good' thing, I thought is was shit then and it certainly is shit now. That was a 'not in my name' time for me.

I was lucky and worked my way in to a good job that paid well. It lasted 2 years. I was thrown out of work in the RE and S&L bust of the 80's in Houston. It took me 8 year, a degree and all of my savings just to get near the income of those 2 years (considering the wage level growth took 8 years-it really wasn't that much of an improvement).

I did get smart and work for the state (lower wages but a defined benefit pension). I pumped as much as I could into a 401k to fund my retirement during the 90's only to lose 1/3 in the dot com bust. I have been toiling away for almost 20 years at 'real' hard work. I have, along the way, tried to be environmentally friendly and socially responsible. I may have given up my love beads-but not my principles.

All this intergenerational conflict is the same BS as with the black and white this. The ruling class has a divide and conquer game plan. The sooner we wise up-the better.

[Romulox]

24. I'm pretty sure young people FORCED the boomers to sell out...

In addition, young people made a solemn promise to the baby boomers 40 years ago (before many of them were born!) that they would finance the boomers' retirement even if it meant bankrupting the country.

:sarcasm:

[SoCalDem]

25. RIF

:hi:

[Blue_In_AK]

29. Hmm, I'm missing the beach house and Mercedes, too...

Where did I go wrong?

[riverdeep]

43. There was change

Agree with the first part, but a caveat to the second:

Speaking as a non-Boomer, changes did occur. Especially in the cultural realm, these changes were dramatic. Also, environmental concerns came to the fore, the way children were raised (ie, less beatings) etc. In the economic realm, not as strong. But fighting becomes wearying, you can't burn white-hot forever. So, they settled, to varying degrees.

Nowadays, the establishment basically co-opted the cultural scene to get people to buy stuff. Be a rebel, 'do the Dew'.

But lasting cultural and economic change often lurches, zigzags, and yes, even regresses before it becomes established. It's like quitting smoking, it usually takes more than one try. And society is about due for change right about now.

[raccoon]

23. K&R. I'm sick of people blaming boomers for this, that or the other.

This boomer, for one, ain't accepting any more guilt for what TPTB did.

[onethatcares]

28. all i can say is,

it's not my fault, and now I got a piece of potato chip stuck between the "Y" and "U" keys.

[murloc]

32. The worsening housing situation will affect EVERYONE

Just as the rising of values affected everyone.

Not much point in pointing fingers at older or younger folks.

[Jed Dilligan]

36. I don't even want to own a house

But why do you identify so much with your generation? It comes across as rather childish (not OUR fault, nyah nyah nyah).

[regularguy]

38. The 24 year olds that I know can't even afford an apartment.

I work at a University and I'll tell ya, these kids are more often than not moving back in with their parents, much less buying some sort of fancy/expensive house. Your example reminds me of Reagan's "Welfare Queen", which is interesting since upthread you poo-poo the more realistic (but still anecdotal) example of a baby-boomer with a nice car.

[skids]

45. I'm a decade older than that, above median income,

...and I still cannot afford a house. Not unless I want to be in debt for the rest of my life and more.

And my first car was crap, so was my second, and my third was a VW super beetle two years older than me. Nowadays the car siuation is better. Housing still sucks. At this rate I'll be too old to attract the ladies before I can even think about marriage and kids.

Almost everything I own is secondhand. I rarely if ever do anything expensive on my days off.

I think my generation knows full well what living hand to mouth means. I think those that went on from school to live on credit cards did so partially due to the futility of it all -- the game is rigged, so take the money and run, at least you get ten years or so of stress free living before it all catches up to you.

[Jed Dilligan]

48. Describes me pretty well.

I think my nightly dreams of nuclear war since age 10 or so also have had some effect on my tendency to live higher than my income by borrowing and paying monthly minimums. For most of my adult life my income was under 20,000; I would have either starved to death or been homeless (more often) if it hadn't been for credit cards and student loans. I have excellent credit, btw, but a lot of my income goes to "servicing" it.

Now I'm supposedly making around $50K a year in a government consulting position but the job is for one year only and I haven't seen a paycheck yet due to our lazy legislature. You say you can't afford marriage; I have to live with my girlfriend (we never got to date--it was straight to "marriage lite") because paying two rents between the two of us would be impossible. We also share a used Honda Civic.

[ryanus]

39. baby-boomers are the lenders - zing!

just kidding

True. We can't pin ALL of the mortgage problems on baby boomers.

[slackmaster]

54. Board of Directors of Countrywide just for reference

http://about.countrywide.com/bios/BoardOfDir.aspx?ir=yes

I didn't know that Henry Cisneros is a member. Most are borderline Boomers, some are definitely too old.

[Vadem]

40. Excellent post, SoCalDem!!! K&R! True to my life, for sure! ....n/t

[Odin2005]

41. If the Boomers haden't sold out to the Creed of Greed in 1980...

The US wouldn't be stuck in the situation it's in.

[slackmaster]

55. I finished my Bachelor's degree in 1980 and was dead broke, and voted for Carter

La culpa no es mia.

[Odin2005]

64. I'm talking about in general/on average.

I never said every Boomer sold out.

[JanMichael]

44. It started, the predatory lending, in 1996.

We Xers were not in charge then. Who was? Boomers.

[tnlefty]

46. As a younger boomer and someone who usually loves reading your

posts, I really have a problem with this one. I know too many boomers, many of whom are either my siblings, other relatives or acquaintances and all of them older than I) that I refer to as the 'sell out' boomers.

They've sold out to the ideas of cut throat capitalism, abandoned ideas for peace - especially if there are corps. making money from war - and many who were sweating out their lottery numbers during Nam to then turn around and cheer this fiasco in Iraq on, as long as there is money to be made. They're also very involved in trying to get rid of Social Security. Don't want to have to pay taxes for anything, etc., and on and on until I want to :puke: Public education? They don't want to pay for it even though they benefited from it, and the list just goes on and on.

There seem to be good folks and bad folks from every generation. I haven't sold out, but I know far too many 'sell out' boomers to just praise the entire 'boomers'.

And from your list, there were boomers who participated in some of those. One Bush boy and El Dorado S & L comes to mind, along with Norquist, others, and the ultimate sellout who squats in the White House. :hi:

[SoCalDem]

66. Alas, with the largest generation ever, some did sell out and become republican leeches

but I still think that the majority of us, have been struggling pretty much our whole lives, and have had that "finish line" moved constantly.

I did not write this in any angry way..just to remind boomers who feel like they are called "greedy" when they mention that they too would like to retire and collect that which they prepaid for 4 decades.:)

I have 3 sons who are late 20's & an mid-30, and I know that they are pulling for their parents to manage without help from them, but they have all offered.. We would dearly love to not have to take them up on their offers...

It's just a creepy, sad sort of feeling to be approaching "that age" with such trepidation, when others before us actually looked forward to it :cry:..If that's greedy, then so be it :)

At least we will have a LOT of company :)

[high density]

47. Yeah all boomers are great wonderful people, everybody under 30 is evil and stupid

:eyes:

[sufrommich]

49. SoCalDem, from one boomer

to another" That was beautiful,man". Seriously, that needs to be published somewhere.

[Johonny]

50. The phenomenon of 24 yr olds buying $300K houses is something new

300K $ I wish. I'm almost past mid-life have been saving my whole life and I still can't put the 20 % I want on a house. 300 K home in my dreams, houses where I am start at 1 million (and no they haven't started dropping crisis or not). I guess I can move to south central for one of the posters fantasy 300 K homes. Insanely bad loans are the only way anyone (24 or not) can buy a home in LA these days. The rest of us get stuck renting forever, where we get no tax break from renting like we would if we paid morgage (the biggest tax screw job period).

[slackmaster]

51. A lot in SoCalDem's post rings true for me, just one minor issue with the facts

Until recently, real estate was cyclical. Older people sold the family home, after raising a family in it.. They downsized as younger families just starting out bought those houses as their first homes. They fixed them up, maybe added to them, and raised their own families in them. The lucky ones, would move up to a larger new house at some point, since there was always a new batch of 30-somethings looking to buy their first house.

My dispute is merely that IMO the cycle still exists. It's just going through a perturbation, what a tropical cyclone expert might call an "eyewall replacement cycle". The pattern has indeed been distorted by people over-buying because of high expectations or a form of greed, but the market is in the process of correcting itself. A generational price spike has caused a couple of misunderstandings on the part of GenXers and Yers:

- Fear that prices would continue to rise, and housing would become ever more unaffordable to them, and

- Expectation that the value of a house would never go down, so buying one is always the best use of one's money at any given time.

Here is my take on what is likely to happen over the next 5-10 years:

Prices will basically level off and stay there. Average prices will adjust down but never get anywhere near the bottom they reached toward the end of 1994. Cost of living will stabilize, and wait for salary growth to catch up so that home ownership becomes a realistic possibility for people once again. Patience and persistence will pay off for young people today as it did for my generation.

I am 49, and SoCalDem's description of the life stages of a boomer with regards to housing seem spot on to me. Including college days I put up with shitty apartments and rent for 20 years before I was in a position to own a home. I bought at the bottom in '94, got divorced in 2000, refinanced at a very low point in interest rates in '03, and now, FINALLY I am in a good financial position living in my house that I am renovating myself over a period of many years. I've never had a fancy car or a mountain of credit card debt, and never counted on inheriting everything. There is quite a lot of satisfaction in having done it all myself through honest hard work, and I don't care if I never live in a palace or drive a BMW.

[KoKo]

53. Having renovated yourself is the SPIRIT OF THE 70'S...and it's a sustainable one

while one waits out the Real Estate Cycles.

Good Post...........Thanks!

[tammywammy]

59. Good Post

As someone that's 27, my situation has been a little different. I was lucky enough that my college was paid for either by grants or my parents.

Secondly, I have zero credit card debt. I've had the same job for the last 3 years and it's not going anywhere (and I'm being promoted in the near future).

I purchased a new vehicle 2 years ago, that has such awesome resale value that it's worth more than I owe on it.

I purchased my first house a few months ago with no help from my parents. It's a 1951 2 bedroom, 1 bath, that was a foreclosure so I got it at a really good price, well below tax value. Sure it needs some work, but it can be done a little at a time.


I've worked damn hard for what I have.

[KoKo]

52. K&R

[snot]

56. Demonizing the Boomer's was part of demonizing the 60's.

Personally, my own experiences bear no resemblance to the conservatives' caricatures of either the 60's or the Boomers.

[grace0418]

60. It seems to me that plenty of boomers *raised* the subset of 24 yr olds you describe

who think they're entitled to everything without having to work for it, and who don't want to have to take care of their parents and grandparents. They spoiled and coddled the shit out of their kids. They started the whole "you're all winners, everyone gets a trophy, my child can do no wrong, here's a new cell phone/computer/car" mentality that teaches kids to be spoiled, selfish and have no concept of working hard for the things they want. Can anyone really be too surprised when they turn out to be exactly that?

Of course that's not all Boomers. Nor are all 24 yr olds spoiled and selfish. But no generation is completely at fault and no generation is blameless.

[Geek_Girl]

61. Well I'm an Gen Xer and I worked hard to buy my first home at Age 31

I bought my first home 6 years ago I put about 10% down as down payment. I still live in the same home. It's not a new home it was built in 1929 and it's huge but needs allot of updating. But over the years I've managed to put a new roof replace some of the fixtures and replace the furnace as well as fix the chimney. It's a slow process but I really do love this home. I also feel pretty confident that I will make good money when I decide to sell it despite the houseing market. I think if you bought your homes in the 80's or 90's you will probably make a decent profit as long as your home is in good shape.

I also want to point something else out. I have a 4 year old daughter and within the next week my mother who is haveing health problems will move in with me too. So boomers aren't the only ones faced with these kinds of problems.

It's wrong to paint with a broad stroke when talking about a particular generation.

[roamer65]

62. Trust Bernanke, you'll get your Social Security.

You'll get the dollars you are promised. But they won't buy you anything of value. The wonders of debt monetization.

[NMDemDist2]

63. right on! I sold my overpriced home in PHX to a woman who was

22 years old!

22! with her first child on the way, unmarried albeit the boyfriend was in the picture but his name didn't appear on the escrow papers. the word was his credit wasn't good.

how did a girl fresh out of college with middle class parents manage to buy a house?

I fear she and her child will be a statistic. I can only be grateful and a bit guilty that my hubby's job moved us to what was to become one of the hottest housing bubbles before he got outsourced so we were able to cash out and pay cash for a place in a rural area with 10 years left to build a nest egg.

If we had children in college or aged parents who needed help we'd be screwed too.

[earth mom]

65. Word. My hubby was 43 & I was 40 before getting our 1st house 6 yrs ago. We've paid our "dues"

and then some.

[Hydra]

67. "Blah, blah, blah, your needs!"

You know, many of us work hard and get nowhere. I resent having to pay SSI to people who vote for people like Shrub who promise to legislate morality and take our jobs away. It especially bothers me because when I get the retirement age in 30 years, it won't be there, and I doubt I'll have been able to save anything.

All of you who helped bring us to where we are today, and think we are demanding something other than the opportunity to survive, just please keep it to yourselves.

[ProfessorGAC]

69. And Vice Versa

The Professor

[Hydra]

71. Oh, you'd like us non-boomers to be silent?

Fine. Let them bleat uselessly about "lazy" and "amoral" later generations just like the generation before did. I'll be happy to ignore it.

[ProfessorGAC]

72. What's Fair Is Fair

If one group cannot complain without being told to shut-up, those saying to shut-up should do likewise.

Basic fairness. A concept with which you clearly have issues.
The Professor

[Hydra]

73. He had his say, I had mine

Otherwise...

*crickets*

[ProfessorGAC]

74. You're The One Who Suggested Silencing Others

"All of you who helped bring us to where we are today, and think we are demanding something other than the opportunity to survive, just please keep it to yourselves."

Look familiar?

What's fair is fair. You want others to keep it to themselves, you should do the same. Otherwise. . .
The Professor

[Hydra]

81. You have a problem with the guts of my statement?

The feel free to tell me how unfair I'm being by asking people who have caused the crises we are now dealing with, or those who are accusing me and my peers of feelings of entitlement to kindly keep it to themselves on the basic premise of less hypocracy in the world.

It won't make you look better or more wise to do so, but feel free all the same.

[MrCoffee]

80. yeah, well, if you'd have raised your kids right

[Touchdown]

82. Boomers are to blame for Green Acres and beach movies

It doesn't matter what good they do in the world now. Nothing will make up for Gilligan's Island and Adam 12.:P