Are Boomers the Most Selfish Generation in History?

Ah, the Beatniks. The NAM protestors. I'm not old enough to have been there so my bias comes from what I see today. But it looked like fun. FUN! But a generation later, these same people are preaching the essense of global warming as boomers enjoy their SUV's with a "save Tahoe" sticker on the bumper and telling everyone else what to eat, smoke or drink in lieu of the upcoming massive use of medicare budget.

Honestly though, I have to credit the Depression Era children for marching for our civil liberties and braving the coldest opposition in order for us to enjoy the rights and priveledges we do today. This is a real over generalization of course. The boomers are infact a large group and not everyone started or ended up in the same place. But I'm addressing the trends and the Boomers are a large enough group to take precidence over everyone else. Our Congress is made up of Boomers.

Someone had mentioned that this is the 1st generation to leave their children in a world worse than they found it.

1. The Boomers make up the majority of those who benefitted from real estate speculation, since real estate was priced fairly (as they had access to stronger real wages in order to save up for that mortgage. Gen Y has no chance in the current conditions. Don't think the public sector is going to enable them to afford legitimate mortgages on the excessively high real estate value).

2. The Boomers have demanded rises in Social Security (of course, hello inflation) however the future costs of Medicare and Social security alone will raise the fiscal burden $41 trillion to $52 trillion. http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d08446cg.pdf -see pages 17 and 18.
To make matters worse, it appears that we are going to be nationalizing the banks, at a cost of $1.4+ trillion in bailout funds approved by our congress and a proposed bailouts for those who gambled in the real estate marekt.

The net worth of America floats between $50-60 trillion dollars. OUR DEBT = OUR NET WORTH (or exceeds it). Hello! AMERICA IS BANKRUPT!!! China buys treasuries to keep the Yuan valued lower than the value of the US Dollar. However, Hillary Clinton is selling even more treasuries to China to finance our spending (the debt we have can be considered a Security issue, China can easily push our currency to collapse). And Geithner thinks that he can just tell China to raise the value of the Yuan. Kids, if we want to fix the detrimental trade deficit, we need to stop spending. Why is the trade deficit bad? The biggest economists, including Krugman believe that the deficit is the fundamental root of our economic crisis. http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13251429 We can't have a public sector without a private sector and the private sector is vanishing to far away lands with labor so cheap Americans can't compete because of our cost of living index.

3. With that being said, they will be spending the their as of now non-existant grandchildren's salaries to save their asses NOW! The ironic part is that Boomers were the most open to Marxist ideals during times of protest (another selfish trait in my opinion) when Capitalism runs on greed. Capitalism allowed the Boomers to do so much throughout their lifetime, including the indulgence of credit and a middle class lifestyle for most. And this they refuse to leave to their children, while we, our children or the children that do not exist are left to pick up the tab--without a private sector due to offshoring and outsourcing because more Boomer CEO's and shareholders want to benefit from the cheaper costs (and same or lacking production).

4. Mind you, this crisis couldn't be created by itself. It needed willing participants to buy ARM loans to flip property to keep it unaffordable to the people who earn the average salaries in any town or city. Credit thrives on midlife crisis'. A technique often used in marketing is tricking people into believing they need something. Sure spending helps the economy, as keynesian economists preach. But if you don't have value, you shouldn't have credit.

Here are a few more articles concerning the silent Boomer group:
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2007/12/baby_boomer_gen.html
another blogspot.
http://theworstgenerationever.blogspot.com/2007/07/why-are-boomers-so-selfish.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/09/AR2007010901334.html

So yes, I may be attacking the Boomers "unfairly". As Gen X & Y would be attacked for other items. Remember the Boomers raised Gen Y. Do I have issues personally with my Boomer parents? Absolutely. My parents foolishlly gambled away money in the real estate market in the amount that could've paid off my college education (which I paid for myself. I'm no Paris Hilton wannabe trust fund brat. The media ignores us, so you blame Gen X&Y for being spoilt based on what you want to see). Again, it's their money not mine. But now I don't want to pay for their Medicare and bail them out of their real esatte gambling on my lowered real wage. I (or the collective Gen X&Y) could not afford the real estate (as the free market should dictate, but gouged thanks to the misuse of the credit market), socializing our lifestyle with community property (or lack of ownership due to affordability issues) through means of ARM loans and public sector jobs while those who 'already have' privitize the gains. This is the reality. Gen Y is in the workforce. Gen Y is starting families. Gen Y should be building the support in real estate prices if the real wages, courtesy of the private sectors enables us to. The boomers are not retiring soon enough. But they're concerned with short term gains, although long term gains would benefit them if they wanted to increase their social security benefits.

We know that the system wasn't perfect, but the Boomers enjoyed more good times than bad. And the Boomers have the largest collective voting and purchasing power which makes the trends in the group influential. This group has more influence, than the current Gen Y in numbers and in financial matters. Its' a shame that most of those protesting the bad fiscal management of our politicians are infact Gen X and Gen Y. I will soon be adding to the numbers in protest.

My parents ignore the real wage troubles relative to the higher cost of living, like our collective society they suffer from the entitled, narcissistic trait of 'I have mine'isms. Shared between the left and the right. However, they look no further than themselves when discussing matters outside their realm. And again, it was the boomers who bought into more socialist ideals because we're not nice enough (preached by liberals who are a part of the worlds most selfish generation).

They approve of a credit bubble regardless of its' effects on the world economy (silence is consent). My parents need the media to tell them how to think, be it MSNBC or Fox News; both which are flawed due to political bias (serving political agendas, not ours). Again, it would be unfair to generalize an entire group based on the behavior of my parents. However, these things are a part of larger trends, the trends are in contrast to some freedoms that the hippies preached or preached against years ago. The result of trends as of now will make it difficult for Gen Y or later to make ends meet. Which is rediculous, our country has so much wealth. It requires pathetic fiscal mismanagement to result our country in the situation it is in today.