Boomers, Yes. Babies, No

[McCamy Taylor]

After WWII, the nation gave birth to a remarkable generation of workers. They had better health than their ancestors, who often died young or suffered the crippling effects of disease. They had better educations than their ancestors, too. More folks finished high school and went on to college than at any time in the past. This created a strong, healthy, skilled workforce that helped the nation become the richest and most powerful in the world. The country’s wealthiest citizens amassed huge fortunes thanks to the hard work of American labor.

Now, the bill has come due. The nation made a contract with its workers. Stay on the job until you reach retirement age, help us make the airplanes and cars and pharmaceuticals and all the rest, and when you get too old to work, you will be taken care of. No handouts, mind you. Instead, the government will help you save for the future by deducting a portion of each paycheck and putting it away into a retirement account----

What would the CEO of Exxon do if Congress passed a law confiscating the money in his pension plan, so that it could be used to pay Halliburton for its work in Iraq? Would he bow his head meekly and say “It’s all yours. Dick Cheney needs that money more than I do.”? Hell no! He would raise a shit storm. So why, when the Boomers object to having their pension fund---Social Security---robbed, are they called Babies?

“Baby Boomers Could Force Economic Catastrophe” Fox News headline

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/01/11/baby-boomers-could-force-economic-catastrophe

“Baby Boomer Generation: As Selfish in Near-Death as They Were in Life” Debbie Schlussel

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/3192/baby-boomer-generation-as-selfish-in-near-death-as-they-were-in-life/

“You haven't heard, the Baby Boomers don't plan on dying”. Rush Limbaugh

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_022610/content/01125111.guest.html

“But as far back as the 1980s, America started amassing debt at more alarming levels, and our leaders began to realize that a larger challenge was on the horizon. They knew that eventually, the Baby Boom generation would retire, which meant a much bigger portion of our citizens would be relying on programs like Medicare, Social Security, and possibly Medicaid. Like parents with young children who know they have to start saving for the college years, America had to start borrowing less and saving more to prepare for the retirement of an entire generation.” Obama, 2011

http://www.cfr.org/economics/obamas-speech-budget-deficit-april-2011/p24659

Look at that last sentence. The “parents” are federal government officials---like Obama. The “children” are the Boomers. Sorry, the Baby Boomers. Too naïve, too greedy, too helpless, too nonproductive to have any say in their own fate or in the running of the government----

I am 52 years old. I am a physician and a mother and I am no one’s baby.

[Cool Logic]

1. "What would the CEO of Exxon do if Congress passed a law confiscating the money in his pension...?"

Not such a far-fetched statement... The government considers it to be unfathomable that such a large sum of money could be allowed to exist beyond their reach.

The figured out a way to loot the SS trust fund, it is quite possible that 401ks are next.

[McCamy Taylor]

2. Except that the force behind the "Baby Boomers don't deserve Social Security" are the banksters

who have been trying for years to privatize Social Security. Recall that Bush ran on a "No gay marriage platform" in 2004, but in 2005 he tried to privatize SS. His right wing base was not amused. Now the banksters want to see if they can get the Dems to do what the GOP couldn't. Because they want every young American worker to invest his money in their ponzi schemes. Remember, the banksters engineered the debt crisis. They knew what they were doing. Now their "solution" to their crisis is to have the government force young workers to give their money to same people lost billions of it just a couple of years ago. Where do all those "lost" dollars go? Into the banksters secret accounts.

[Cool Logic]

31. The banksters didn't have to engineer or steal anything...

Our Representatives wrote the plan and then cut 'em a check.

Ponzi scheme accounting was bad for Enron and it is bad for the fedgov.

Enron used off–balance-sheet entities to artificially inflate profits and make themselves look more financially secure than they actually were. On the other hand, Congress used them to mask the severity of the deficit and buy votes.

This "ingenious" way of raising taxes without explicit legislation allowed the Beltway Bandits to loot $2.6 trillion over the years. The sad part is that most people don't understand basic accounting principles, much less complicated ones. Now they will be forced to ante up the cost of their investment twice.

How about them returns...?

[Fuddnik]

11. It's already happened to a lot of working people.

My former employer raided our "overfunded" pension plan. Several years later, when they filed bankruptcy, the hourly pension fund was found to be "underfunded" and turned it all over to the PBGC. Which cut monthly payments by over 60%.

Meanwhile all of the executive pensions were stashed in an untouchable trust fund. They still get theirs.

Money we paid in for over 30 years, gone. Stolen. Now, as though it's not bad enough, we haven't had a COLA in two years, and they want to steal Social Security and Medicare to boot.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From, a little blurb on the news last night. Don't remember the exact quote, but it was talking about a bill moving through Congress, with bi-partisan support to lower corporate tax rates. And upper tax brackets.

THIS WHOLE CHARADE HAS BEEN ABOUT NOTHING OTHER THAN MORE TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH AND CORPORATIONS!!!!!!!

[Cool Logic]

32. Your former employer wasn't Enron, was it?

[JDPriestly]

30. What do you think the mortgage crisis was for?

It transferred pension funds (private, government and company pension funds) into assets that were purchased with the knowledge that they would lose money. The big banks and financiers on Wall Street insured the assets that they knew were doomed to fail and even go the US government to buy them up with taxpayer money.

Of course, when the assets failed, the insurance companies, to the extent that they were still solvent, paid the banks for their losses -- but the pension funds were depleted. Some of the pension money has been regained on the stock market rebound -- but for how long.

I would not put money in the hands of the crooks on Wall Street if I could avoid it.

And now they are taking the money we put into Social Security (and Medicare).

We cannot allow them to get by with this.

Obama does not get it.

Let's find a Democrat who does it. Marcy Kaptur understands this as do a number of other Representatives and Senators and former representatives and senators.

[Enthusiast]

43. NO! Obama does get it!

He knows exactly what he is doing and who he is working for. And it ain't us.

[JDPriestly]

52. Very possibly correct! Timothy Geithner and Pete Peterson.

Good Grief Charlie Brown!

[obxhead]

42. 401k's were already looted.

In the great crash of 08 401k's lost huge amounts of money. The inside traders (bankers, Wall Street, and politicians) sold out just before that huge hit and made serious LOOT.

Why has Wall Street not reacted to the "debt ceiling CRISIS?" It's not quite time to cash in yet.

Just watch.

Credit rating reduction followed by a serious crash, followed by another bank collapse, followed by another too big to fail bailout.

The good news is we have finally discovered perpetual motion.

[girl_interrupted]

3. K&R

[JustAnotherGen]

4. Another k/r

You paid for others - you are due the respect of having others pay for you. We are only as good a country as how we treat our disabled, infirm, children, and elderly.

[backtomn]

26. But we need to something about the MATH

SS was passed for people over 65, when the average lifespan was 61.7. Now people live to an average of about 80.....and the number of retirees to workers in changing. It doesn't add up. I want people to get a decent retirement, but this will need to be balanced in some way. Oh....did I mention Medicare??

I believe that we all need to agree on a solution, before bankers get to decide.

[Jim_Shorts]

37. I keep hearing this argument but it's not true

working people are not really living longer

New York Times:
Look at Table 4: since 1977, the life expectancy of male workers retiring at age 65 has risen 6 years in the top half of the income distribution, but only 1.3 years in the bottom half.

link: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/income-and-life-expectancy/

[Enthusiast]

44. Oh, bullshit!

Why are you on DU promoting right wing talking points?

[sulphurdunn]

50. Your argument is predicated

on the false premise that the country hasn't enough money to discharge its obligations to both its creditors and to its people. To fix that merely eliminate the Bush era tax cut orgy, tax financial transactions, raise the margin top income tax rate, tax investment income at the same rate as wages and salaries, lift the cap on FICA, tax inheritance at the same rate as income, rescind corporate tax giveaways and cut military spending in half. Finally, tell Wall Street that if it doesn't invest the $2 trillion dollars its squatting on in rebuilding the American employment base it has been greedily dismantling for 30 years that the government will take the money and do it for them. Equation balanced. Problem solved.

[liberal N proud]

5. There would be screaming in the streets if you took their millions in pension

.

[MedicalAdmin]

19. They don't have pensions.

They have wealth. So there is no fund to raid. Their wealth is protected.

[lunatica]

6. Thank you! I'm ten years older than you and work as hard as anyone

And, as a matter of fact was hired over younger people a year and a half ago because I have experience and didn't need a single day of training and have vast institutional memory. that simply means I know my way through all the red tape which takes years to master in a bureaucracy. I am one of those people who others go to to find out how to do things and what the myriad rules and policies are. The reason I'm one of those people is because of my age and experience. Some things are acquired with time that can never, ever be taught or trained into people.

Younger people can waste their time resenting me all they want. They won't get what I have till they're my age. That's the way I acquired it.

[truedelphi]

21. Glad to hear your story.

It's a bit inspiring.

Usually the report from those I know in my age group is their inability to be hired.

And after all, if you were trained as a research scientist, and the laboratories you need to ply your trade are now in Singapore or New Delphi, and your age means that any American firm employing you will be paying four times what the insurance premium on a younger worker happens to be, I do believe for most of us over 55, the job search thing-ee is a difficult row to till.

But still, glad your outcome was different.

[JDPriestly]

27. If you found an employer who recognized what a good employee you will make,

you are very fortunate.

If you have the good health to permit you to work at your age, lucky you.

But right now, most employers prefer to hire younger workers no matter how well qualified and healthy an older applicant is.

In some fields, employers just plain prefer a person who is more physically attractive. Neatness, a healthy-looking weight and a good smile added to education, life experience and expertise just don't add up to a job for most seniors today. Depends on the field of course.

Some jobs require that the employee work 12+ hours on certain days. Employers assume (often incorrectly) that an older employee cannot do that.

Then there are the employers who discriminate just because . . . .

Shortly after my 50th birthday, my employer (male) said to me: "There is a reason why men divorce their wives after 50." Appalling but, I assure you, my story is absolutely true.

So, you are very, very lucky to be working after you are 60.

I think older workers who established themselves when they were fairly young in a general career direction that permits a lot of flexibility have it easier. Let's say you have worked as a manager of a store for a number of years. That skill may be called for in a lot of other kinds of businesses. Accountants and bookkeepers also have an easier time getting a new job I think. And for an accountant or bookkeeper, good looks and quick physical and mental reactions are not essential. They can generally be just a bit slow provided they are accurate and efficient in other ways.

A lot of women have to change careers in mid-life (maybe even more than once) because they need to move with their husband to a new location or they take time out to raise a family or the field in which they trained or worked when they first entered the workforce offers no opportunities. This means they have less experience and less expertise to sell.

A lot of teachers in their late 40s and 50s are simply being laid off. And it can be very difficult for a teacher to get a job in the private sector once he/she has been laid off from teaching. Seems strange, but I have seen many cases of teachers who cannot get any other kind of work although they are very capable.

So you have a lot to be thankful for because getting a job at any age is tough in this economy.

[CountAllVotes]

7. I never thought to hate the elderly nor the sick

I was not raised to believe that any of our citizens should not be taken care of when they became old and/or sick. I never regretted paying into Social Security nor various other "pension plans" that were available via the different employers I had over the years.

I never for one second wanted the WWII generation to simply die because I wanted something they had or have. Many are still with us and they have good lives in some cases depending upon their health.

I am sick of this baby boomer diatribe of extreme hated. It accomplishes nothing.

As a child of this time, it is my fault? I've worked my butt off having as many as four jobs while putting myself through college. The WWII generation I came from had no real use for "that college crap". If you wanted it, you had to pay for it yourself which is what I did (I got a little bit of help from my family at times but the bulk of it fell on my shoulders).

It sickens me to read this hateful crap.

Why even empower the likes of Limbaugh by even bothering to post this garbage that seems to be all I read these days about the baby boomers.

We've contributed plenty to society, plenty alright.

You'll never see the likes of my generation again once we are dead and gone which will be soon enough. I hope the pukes are happy. It makes me sick. :puke:

[freshwest]

29. Agreed. And we are not a monolithic group. Great differences.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. They doubled the FICA tax in 83 to fund SS for our retirement.

They then proceeded to loot that fund, using it to subsidize tax cuts for billionaires and endless voluntary wars. Now they want to not pay the money they 'borrowed' out of the trust fund back, because doing so would require restoring all those tax cuts.

Fuck Washington.

[Enthusiast]

45. Exactly.

Our politicians and Wall Street have betrayed us. And I will not vote for a fucking candidate that has surrounded himself with Wall Street insiders of questionable character.

[whathehell]

47. Correct...The Boomers paid for both their parents' retirement and fheir own.

[Le Taz Hot]

51. Something else they never talk about:

Women joined men in the workforce in record numbers which added HUGE $$ to the tax base, social security and medicare.

[Skidmore]

9. The thing is that lost of those engaging in this type of scapegoating

are members of the same generation. They are the parasites and leeches who are sucking the life out of the rest of us Boomers.

[bertman]

10. Excellent post, McCamy. REC. The fact that our Democratic President is pushing the meme

that we have to curb 'entitlements' in order to lower our debt is beyond outrageous and infuriating. The man is supposed to have a college professor level of intelligence but he buys into the same meme the Republicans have been pushing for decades. That tells me he is either less intelligent than his background would argue for--which I seriously doubt--OR he really BELIEVES in the Republican approach to solving our fiscal problems: cut taxes and cut social programs. Actions speak louder than words and he's SCREAMING at us.

[Jakes Progress]

14. Obama buys the rhetoric of his youth.

The reagan lies.

[WinkyDink]

12. Some people still hate the 60's, what can I say? They don't "get" the Beatles; they're mad they

missed Woodstock; they think Boomers had the Life O'Reilly growing up with non-techie gizmos and in normal chidren's clothing; and.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential campaigns have for more than forty years exploited symbols, images, and personalities from the 1960s era as a means of mobilizing political support for their candidates and political agendas. For the most part, these campaigns have come from the right side of the political spectrum. Over time, they have blamed “the Sixties” for just about everything they see as wrong with America.

“I come from a new generation of Americans. I don’t want to fight the battles of the 1960s.”
~~~Barack Obama

http://www.alternet.org/books/149866/what_really_happened_to_the_1960s%3A_how_mass_media_culture_failed_american_democracy?page=2

[xxqqqzme]

17. "...I don’t want to fight the battles of the 1960s..."

He is the product of those battles. Does he think he 'won' the presidency by magic? He needs to stop pushing his peas under the mashed potatoes.

[SammyWinstonJack]

18. +10000!

:applause:

[Enthusiast]

46. Great post!..........nt

[JDPriestly]

28. Sorry Mr. President, but you are fighting the battles of the 1960s.

And too many Democrats have refused to fight them. That is why we are where we are -- fighting about wasteful wars, racism (Norway?), terrorism, Medicare and social justice.

[mikeburetta]

13. 54!

yea I'm 54 and all of a suppen paul ryan thinks i oughta get my social security cut ..i got news mr ryan social security ain't enough as is let alone shrink benefits!

[SOS]

15. Those darned boomers....or is it political ideology?

Debt increase by President in unadjusted dollars:

Reagan (WW II generation): $1.9 trillion
Old Bush (WW II generation): $1.5 trillion
Little Bush (boomer): $6.1 trillion

$9.5 of $14 trillion in debt was amassed under three spendthrift Republican presidents.
68% of the total.

Whether born before or after 1946, it's the wasteful, borrow 'n spend Republicans who are responsible for the debt mess.
The workers are not responsible, regardless of their year of birth.
Don't let the big money PR firms blame us!

[lumberjack_jeff]

16. That last Obama quote is amazingly insulting.

America didn't "start borrowing less and saving more" - workers, specifically boomers, did. Starting in 1983, we raised our SS taxes to create a surplus for our old age. Sadly we saved our money in US Treasury certificates which you are working diligently to avoid repaying.

[JDPriestly]

34. Had we saved the money on Wall Street, we would be even worse

off than we are now.

[Gormy Cuss]

20. Sad that a Democratic president is siding with that lot of despicable tools.

The president knows full well that in the 1980s we were told that the fix to Social Security withholding and retirement schedule would keep the system solvent for us boomers.


And as another boomer, I'm really tired of politicians and pundits describing a massive generation as a bunch of whining children. We as a whole never were that caricature.

[Alcibiades]

22. Actually, the term "baby boomer" dates from around 1980

It's not intended to be infantilizing, but refers to a specific surge in births following WWII.

Of course, Limbaugh is a boomer himself.

[diane in sf]

23. I recall hearing the phrase baby boom in the 50s--1946-1964 is the official

birth range. So Obama may despise boomers, but he's a tail end boomer.

[The Wizard]

24. Take the ceiling off the FICA tax

The wealthy elites already have more than they'll ever spend. Keep Social Security and Medicare solvent and stabilize the economy. As long as the wealthy elites don't have to make proportional contributions to the general welfare of the nation, the economy will suffer.
We are a consumer based economy, and when consumers have more cash the economy grows. The vast majority of those on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are not stashing money in the Cayman Islands, and not bribing Congress to get favorable legislation.

[Mimosa]

35. That would be curative! n/t

[sofa king]

25. And yet, three decades of boomers in polit6ical office has left us with....

A trashed kitchen with food and shit splattered from floor to ceiling, and the babies crying about the fact that they have no food and dirty diapers.

Leaving my generation to pay the costs, clean up the mess, and then die young and penniless like the servants we are.

So I for one think the term fits quite well with the circumstances at hand.

[Mimosa]

33. EXCELLENT commentary, McCamy!

Thank you. :D

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SoCalDem]

38. a name once given, is hard to remove

There were also "notch babies" once (most are dead by now)..

[Sivafae]

39. Sure, but my generation, you know your childrens' generation is smaller than yours. eom

[avaistheone1]

41. The so-called Millennial generation, those kids born betwen 1978 and 1996

is 30% larger than the baby boomer generation. That's something that the folks pushing the cutbacks on Social Security and the fake debt crisis didn't want you to know.

[demigoddess]

40. rush hates the baby boomers, but doesn't realize

he IS one!! Rush born in 1947 is a baby boomer. But he uses baby boomer as code words for 'people who live on government money'. Stupid idiot.!!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

48. k&r . . .loud and proud, tail end of a boomer, here

and I am pissed off :grr:

[ThomThom]

49. We are babies because we don't think we should have to pay

a third time for our Social Security? Government should keep it's promise. Raising the debt ceiling is so simple and easy, any congress can do it.