Don't forget that it was the baby boomers who went to Vietnam, who fought for civil rights, and who pushed for women's rights. Is it there fault that they happened to be blessed to be born at the right time? And even if baby boomers are clumped together as a generation of "haves", there are plenty who "have not". I'm considered a baby boomer with a birth year of 1963, but believe me, I've never experienced what the older boomers did in terms of wealth. Personally, I believe the boomers can be broken into two categories; the early boomers and the late boomers. It's the early boomers that had all the advantages, not the late boomers.

I'm guessing you're a 20 something who thinks they know everything but doesn't know anything at all.

plutocracytown can you please explain to this baby boomer how my parents were able to buy a great home in a great neighborhood in the SF Bay Area with a single blue collar salary, but I could not afford to do that until later in life, even though I worked my way thru college and got a degree from one of the top universities in the nation?

I really don't know what all the hoopla is about. I was born in 1948 and up until I met my fantastic husband 17 years ago, I was struggling to survive every single day! There was nothing "booming" about my life at all.

Because of my husband's higher education, and ability to make the best of a successful career, we are now financially safe and secure due to some sound investments, and our children will never be a burden to anyone.

There may have been some people who lived high on the hog and spent beyond their means trying to keep up with the Joneses, but it was not us. And I resent being lumped in with them.

...and one more thing, I would never buy a Mercedes, even though I can now afford to own one. I think I resented the people too much who drove them during the times when I was struggling so hard to survive!

I wouldn't give Mercedex-Benz one cent of my hard-earned money now. I just turned 61 and I am still working full-time and I drive a Lexus, thank you very much!

This reminds me of my father who is 67 yo. He always attributed his sucess to his hard work and good character. He was never laid off from a job in his life and I know it is because he never lived through times where he would have been suseptible to that. He has ego blinders on that keep his inflated self-esteem going. I see that with alot of the baby boomers. They have it good and they think they deserve it. To them generations after them don't have the fortitude and character that his generation had. The baby boomers took us down this path, expending and money grobling as they went. No concern for the betterment of everybody involved nor the good of the American economy and it's foundation. Trying to reason with most of them is like trying to talk to a brick wall. They don't want to hear reason.

Auzziegirl:

Spoken like a true boomer! Keep up the great work. Make sure everyone knows how great you are. Modesty was never one of the boomer's strong suits.

J. Hicks - Let us not forget that it wasn't the Baby Boomer's who fought in Desert Storm nor in Iraq. Those soldiers sacrificed just as much and yet they don't get a enittlement ticket. They are left coming home - if they make it home - to a country financially crippled by the Baby Boomer generation.

Frankly, your rant about baby-boomers is going to come back to bite you where it hurts. Most boomers saved to retire which the Y generation doesn't even come close to understanding. The X Generation isn't far behind the Boomers with curbing their spending because their parents are Boomers. In the 70's the Boomers faced much the same type of Economy and learned ways to make ends meet. In doing so the X Generation lived and learned what Mom & Dad had to do to survive and have a better idea what it takes to survive a hard situation.

So, the Boomers are downsizing yet again and the X Generation will be doing more also but the Y Generation are used to having it all handed to them and living on credit instead of the hard reality that if you can't afford to pay for it, don't buy it on credit! The Y Generation hasn't learned how to survive and is blaming their stupidity on the Baby Boomers which shows how truly dumb they are. A rather high percentage of Y Generation can't even cook and runs to the grocery for prepared food instead of preparing meals which is always cheaper.

Since the largest percentage of doctors are Baby Boomers getting ready to retire this Healthcare Plan could cause a huge deficit in the number of doctors a whole lot faster than Obama is prepared for. Tell the doctors what they can charge and watch a mass exodus from the profession into retirement!

Last-

Then perhaps if the doctors are only in for the money, we don't really need them. Another example of boomer greed. It was this generation that decided they should hold people's health for as high a ransom as possible. Good riddence.

As for your sophomoric rant on Gen Y, I now several who can cook like mad, and have no credit cards. Fortunately, many will have learned from the follies of the baby boomer generation and will avoid the game of debt pushing. As a gen-xer, I unfortunately have had a front row seat in watching adults behave badly.

Wasn't it your boomer parents who mortgaged their home so they could pay for you younger lot to go to college, and not have to apply for all those student loans?

Wasn't it the boomer generation that sacrifice(d) to help some of you care for your children?

Wasn't it the boomers who many times work(ed) more than one jobs so some of you younger lot could maintain your lifestyle like going to Florida etc on Spring Break etc?

And the list goes on and on and on....... Now it is the boomers who are the ones at fault for your miserable lives of overspending and buying bigger homes in which each child must have his/her own bedroom and there must be a guest room and an office space, and with your kitchen filled with high end granite countertops, stainless steel commercial grade appliances and wine cooler, because you want to entertain your friends and continue to eat out while wearing your designer clothes and drive your expensive cars instead of living simply and saving like they did huh. LOL

How many pairs of shoes do a person really need? How much clothes do you really need? Is that why there is this need for the 'walk in closet' or the mega master bed room with mega master bathroom as big as some folks apartments?LOL

How many room do you need? Can't children share bedrooms anymore? What is this need to trade up or move every few years? LOL Can't anyone stay put in their home and pay off their mortgage like the generations before?

Could it be that some of the younger generation in their selfcenteredness selfishness may have been hoping that the boomers would just continue to give them money, or provide free housing or that the boomers should just retire or drop dead so that the inexperienced younger lot can either get their jobs or their money before it runs out paying for longterm care and healthcare? LOL

So it is fault of ALL the boomer for the financial/economic crisis that is ailling this country (because they stop spending)......including the younger generation mis -management and continued mis management of their funds and their futures? Remember when you younger lot were moving from job to job because you could and did not want to be tied down or be stuck in the same old dead end jobs like your boomer parents huh? LOL

When last did any of you younger lot get out and demonstrate to get what you want changed or do you sit behind your computers whining and whinging as per usual waiting for boomer mommie and daddy to do it for you?

All these years and I did not realize that these companies were targeting the 'older demographics'...... LOL

So that is why there are all those commercials for hair colouring, botox and plastic surgery and for bowel, bladder and erectile dysfunction.......LOL

Who knew?............LOL

Most boomers saved to retire

Actually, that's not true. Boomers have been way behind on savings.

The boomer S.O.B.s tried to change everything in existence, just for the sake of change. In the process, this conglomeration of grand f***ups has managed to ruin most things they touched - marriage/family, education, the economy, morals, healthcare, ....you name it, they made it worse. They've had all the answers, but none of them has worked. Of course, the rest of society shares the blame for allowing these arrogant, loud-mouthed cretins to have their way.

can you please explain to this baby boomer how my parents were able to buy a great home in a great neighborhood in the SF Bay Area with a single blue collar salary, but I could not afford to do that until later in life, even though I worked my way thru college and got a degree from one of the top universities in the nation?

You couldn't afford it, courtesy of inflation, brought to you by your government and the Federal Reserve. Inflation is how the government pays for all it's vote buying social spending and it's wars.

I'm a boomer, born in 1950, who was never selfish, rich, or into materialism. Boomers are a split group, those of us who looked for meaning and spirtiuality in life, liberal if you will, the hippy side of life, who never "sold out",  and then those who were more materialistic and semi selfish and into all the toys of life, perhaps called conservative  ....They bought into all the me me materialism and in a hippy sense 'sold out".

But there is a streak of "the hippy and bohemian" in both groups and  all boomers who listened to JFK, RFK, MLK, Gene McCarthy, McGovern, Jerry Brown, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger,  the Beatles, and other 60s/70s influences and can find meaning with less and look to spiritual values and living with less ...

Don't lump all us boomers totally together, or write us off .... The hell we went through with Vietnam made us question the status quo like not many others before us,  and that is all to the good ..... We are an adaptable group, who want the best for the planet, our children and grandchildren. "Peace and love" is not justa slogan, and it is not dead in our boomer hearts.

I wish that some of these brain dead spoiled brat gimmees would realize that the boomers made many of the things they worship possible-----ever hear of Ipods, personal computers, cell phones etc.? Where did you think these things came from---under a cabbage leaf?

Let me guess -- you're a "Man-Made" Global Warming believing Liberal!

Here are two words for you -- Freedom and Liberty

That means we are free to spend our hard-earned (and the baby-boomers have worked their a**es off) money any way we so choose.  

Whereas the younger generations have reaped the rewards of their baby-boomer parents busting their a**es by having everything handed to them and now they think they're entitled to freebies by the Government that they love (almost as much as they Love Celebrities) because they were all raised in Government Schools to be Liberals. 

plutocracytown- Great post.

Greed is what has fed an fueled this economy for years. If you cant' afford it charge it, now people have come to the realization that in order to survive this deeping recession and jobless, it's time to live within our mines. Who cares about "keeping up with the Jones."

Contentment comes from within, happiness is not found it buying things as a symbol of status. Frugality is the new norm. I remember the days where things were put on layaway, instead of a credit card. Seems to make more sense to pay a little bit at a time beforehand.

ever hear of Ipods, personal computers, cell phones etc.? Where did you think these things came from---under a cabbage leaf?

Yep boomers need to thank the generation before them for inventing computers so that boomers could take the credit form themselves later on.

you want to know whose coming up with the new ideas for programs and technology improvements now? Say hello to Gen x and Gen Y, oh yeah, and quit patting yourselves on the backs for everything.

That is not true! I ALWAYS bought American. Was incensed when LL Bean, after NAFTA, started imporing "All_American" style. NEVER bought another of their products. Boomers may have had the GI bill, college loans, etc but most of my friends worked their butts off. It was to provide for their childen 1st and formost. What a waste!

Not true antitrust -- is the Baby-Boomers' children who have to have the designer this and that and spend $150 on sneakers and jeans, and that may have come from the media and advertising, peer pressure; not the parents.

I know in our case, we were frugal baby-boomers, but our kids turned out to be clones and it started happening in high school and then college, because before that, they went to private school and didn't watch TV.

My perspective is firmly planted in the Y category.

I recall being told in high school civics class (really, we had one) that the top heavy boomers were going to cause a lot of strife for those that follwed. The ratio of workers to retirees will flatten out and the market would go upside down when they all walked away from Wall Street at the start of their mass retirement.

I couldn't agree with you more. This horrific generation has given us more societal problems than the summation of every American generation before it. They brought us "me first-screw you", pure unbridled greed, corporate downsizing, outscourcing, political division, healthcare degradation, educational degradation, "trickle down" economics, monumental drug abuse (both illegal and prescription), stock market corruption, Great Depression #2, and miserable people such as Rush Limbaugh, Tom Delay, and Nancy Pelosi. I could go on, but the list is too long to type.

They got the best of everything in the 40s and 50s at taxpayer expense, then they turned around and decided they weren't going to pay for the same for the generation behind them. After they were done partying in the 60s and 70s, in 1980 they turned around and told the next generation that they couldn't, and it was now time to suck up as much money as possible- much to the detriment of their offspring, which went largely uncared for as a whole. They did whatever suited them best at the time and didn't give a rats arse about the generation behind them or ahead of them.

The sooner we can usher this herd of locusts off this planet, maybe we can start to get the human race back on some proper footing.

The best of everything in the 40's and 50's????? They were still infants during the first 10 years of the boomer generation. Those of us who were war babies ('42-'46) know what it was like during that time period when our parents were struggling to recover from the depression and the war. Things didn't really start to "boom" until the mid-seventies/early eighties. That was when the boomers started looking to have what their parents didn't have or couldn't afford to give them. And they spoiled their offspring by giving them more than they needed. Now Generation Y wants to blame them for everything? Yes they were responsible for establishing the greed pattern, but Gen X and Y are just as responsible for the greed of higher and higher wages and benefits.

Yes, better education, healthcare that didn't break you, and being able to make ends meet on one salary. All conducive to a better quality of life and cohesive home life. Even as small kids, the boomers had it better than the generation after them. The greatest generation handed them great blue collar jobs, and the boomers in turn shipped them away to further enrich themselves.

Generation X and Y are responsible for the greed of higher and higher wages and benefits? Huh? Wages and benefits have stagnated with the cost of living starting since 1973 and has only gotten worse as the boomers control more and more of the wealth. The only ones to profit from wage suppression have been those at the top- and for the last 20-30 years, those people are baby boomers.

I'm not blaming them for everything, but I am blaming them for a good deal of the problems we face today- the ones they have handed off. This latest economic meltdown is probably one of the worst gifts of their legacy. They could care less about anyone behind them as long as they got theirs.

Well, I am a 50 yr old boomer, started working when I was 13 and have paid about 35% of what I make to taxes (right off the top) my whole working life. Other than student loans, I have never qualified for any government help because I make too much and have never expected to collect Social Security so I am curious as to the benefits of being a boomer and where these benefits may be. Jobs that you could retire from started disappearingwhen I was a teenager. Funny though, I don't disagree with a lot of the criticism's from younger posters, although I find the inter generational friction disturbing. Nice to know the younger generation plans to put a bullet in the back of my head the second I can no longer fend for myself, I will keep that in mind.

Things didn't really start to "boom" until the mid-seventies/early eighties. That was when the boomers started looking to have what their parents didn't have or couldn't afford to give them. And they spoiled their offspring by giving them more than they needed. Now Generation Y wants to blame them for everything? Yes they were responsible for establishing the greed pattern, but Gen X and Y are just as responsible for the greed of higher and higher wages and benefits

Nope. wages have consistently gone DOWN over the past 20 years.

See if you can guess which generation is sucking up all the income for themselves?

It is not possible today , as it was in the 60's - 80s, to have one family member work and be able to sustain the same standard of living our parents did. We must have a two earner income.

Things certainly changed in the 1980s with Reaganomics. Remember that? Wasn't there a downturn in the economy by the early 1990s when many people especially in middle management were being laid off and those folks that still had a job were now working longer hours to make ends meet? You know the enforced overtime? LOL

Wasn't that when the whole latch key kids thing came about, because parents were now earning less and having to work longer hours to make ends meet, so the children were left to fend from themselves, thus parents in their guilt over compensated by giving their children a lot of stuff? Wasn't that the time when the socalled experts started with their buzzwords like spending 'quality time' etc with the kids, to help parents cope with their feeling of guilt that they were not spending enough time with their children?

Who is to blame, the parents/boomers or the mindlessly greedy capitalistic corporations/ institutions etc and the so called experts with their psycho babble, who preyed upon the workforce?

Isn't it just easy to blame the boomers en mass for the problems this country is facing instead of looking at the whole picture of a generation (boomers etc) who were also trying to cope with the mixed messages that they were being fed even as salaries stagnated.

The latch key kids grew up and unfortunately they probably feel that the parents should continue to maintain their (children) lifestyles like they did when the children were young. LOL

So the boomers tried to give their children things that they never had when they were growing up? How come all the children of all the boomers did not turn out to be selfish, selfcentered prats who want to blame their boomer parents for everything bad that happens to them or want them (boomers) to just step aside/get out of the way like some seem to suggest?

Perhaps it is time to stop blaming all the boomers for the problems of the world as your children will grow up too, to blame you for their failures etc. LOL The old what goes round comes around thingy.

Why not just place the blame where it belongs on the various folks that have been selling the masses a bill of good that have not been worth what they said it was worth?

Who still really believes that the realestate market implosion was due, primarily, to a bunch of poor people buying homes they could not afford? LOL As if those poor people could even get the credit in the first place no matter how crazy or unethical the lenders may have acted. LOL

Outsourcing jobs overseas and stagnated paychecks anyone? LOL

Now Generation Y wants to blame them for everything? Yes they were responsible for establishing the greed pattern, but Gen X and Y are just as responsible for the greed of higher and higher wages and benefits.

As a Gen Xer we learned from watching our parents the baby boomers; so we have an excuse. We learned American history and Keynesian economics from the union monopolized public indoctrination centers run by baby boomers. You better believe Gen Xers are much more cynical than our parents...after all we were raised by the boomers. Considering how selfish and hedonist my parents were it's amazing I'm still sane. That's okay though...it's Gen X up next for running the country; the generation that grew up in the days of Reagan and the 80's, when there was still some innocence left in the USA and americans were still proud of this nation. The more I read of Ron Paul's writings the more I realize just how bad my generation and every subsequent generation hereafter, got screwed, courtesy of the "Me generation".

Gee you are so judgemental .... Boomers worked their asses off too, and many of us don't like what has happened to the middle class during ourt lifetime one bit, and we've lived long enough to know what we are talking about !!! .... Many of us could not buy houses the way our parents did (one income), health care costs have rocketed out of sight, and I for one boomer feel terrible for the younger generations who have to work even harder for less and less and less ...

Part of the shift is that the conservative, Wall St. crowd, and rich elite, who have more and more control Congress with their lobbiests, etc, and greedily manipulate laws to eat up more and more of the % of national income to feather their nests ...

FACTS: The top 1 % earners made something like 13% of national income 40 years ago now it's more like 25% and their income tax brackets have been cut by 40% or more. Top CEO executives 40 years ago used to be paid about 10 times as much as the average employee in a company, and now CEOs average over 400 times the salary of the average employee and it only gets worse. Is this insane ? I think so !!!!

The ones I blame for this mess are the people who sold out to corporate America, like Ronald Reagan, and the Bush Duo did, and catered almost every benefit and tax break to the rich. The lessons of the Depression Genration who were our parents, were lost by many "sell outs", but that is not all Baby Boomers, especially the ones I know.

I, for one Boomer, have been horrified for years at the direction this country has been mislead. I hope the latest Economic Meltdown teaches us that trickle down theory of total market capitalism and Reaganism doesn't work, and that Wall St. is in it for themselves ....

We need a good housecleaning and back to breaking up monopolies with Anti Trust Laws. There should never again be allowed unregulated greed, speculation, and companies and banks that are "too big to fail" .... We need to start cutting these "fatcat" entities into smaller, more manageable, corporate entities, and make them work hard like us middle class boomers have most of our lives ....

Younger folks ... We Boomers are with you ... and now many of us are losing everything just when we are too old to start over ....... We sort of need a peaceful revolution !!!

To all those ungrateful or ingrate post boomer generation, Why don't these whining and whinging post boomers place the blame where the blame is due? Why not blame themselves and the pre boomers ie their grandparents?

Was Reagan a boomer? No. Were the other presidents boomers? No.

The first boomer to take office of President of this country was Clinton and he did good by this country imo. Of course he was a boomer from the middle classes and knew first hand about hardships etc. He and Hillary did not suffer from the disease of 1. croneyism and 2. where one feel he/she is entitled to what ever whether qualified or not just because mommie and daddy were wasps and wealthy etc from the look of things. LOL

This country really went pearshaped during the Republican years and in the 2000s imo, (and they are still at it with their new mantra - No, no matter what LOL) with the stagnation of salaries and the outsourcing of jobs overseas all brought on by policies of the top 2% and their offsprings and their well fed well compensated cronies imo.

So instead of blaming the boomers place the blame where it is due.

Also generation next or generation post boomers or whatever you want to be referred to, blame yourselves because you were given more than you deserved from the sound of you.

Many of you would not have even seen the inside of a college if it was not for your boomer parents' sacrifices and their doing without so that you could accomplish more than they did.

With the education financed by your boomer parents you went on to get a MBA withthe idea to go straight to Wall Street to make buckets of money without paying your dues like your boomer parents did.LOL

Your boomer parents most times had to work their way up the financial /corporate ladder, oftentimes through hard work and sacrifice and putting up with a lot of crap from those who were not even as committed or knowledgable as themselves who were in the management seat or other seats of power while you were busy spending your money on computer games and stuff instead of saving/investing it.

Your boomer parents gave you too much and did not require that you earn it like they had to when they were growing up.

Did your boomer parents get 'pocket money' or did they have to run errands etc to get theirs?

Did your boomer parents get a new car on their 16th birthday and also had the insurance paid for by their parents like you did or did they have to wait and felt lucky to be able to drive the family car or inherit the old family car and were grateful to just have 'wheels'?

Did your boomer parents have the expensive orthodontics from an early age to straighten their teeth etc like you did?

Did your boomer parents have their own room when they were growing up or did they have to share with their sibblings?

Did your boomer parents have designer clothes and shoes every term to go back to school or if they were lucky enough to go to college have a new computer/notebook, Ipod etc?

Did your boomer parents go off on spring break to some exotic place to chill out or did they have to go home to parents and find a job to help defray cost of tuition/save money?

Did your boomer parents have the many children they could not afford to support like you folkd did or did they oftentimes wait to have children and those who did were encouraged to have only 2 children and a dog? LOL

Did your boomer parents rush to buy larger homes they could not really afford or did they buy what they could afford when they could afford to put down the 20%?

So now the boomers who have sacrificed want to buy a Mercedes or a BMW etc or some sports car or other and move into a smaller home like a condo in the city, what's wrong with that? Didn't they work long hours etc for the privilege of having a easier life as they grow older?

At what point in time do children stop blaming their parents and start taking responsibility for their actions. Did your boomer parents put a gun to your heads and told you to take that credit card from those leeches who came on your campus? Did they encourage you to spend like there is no tomorrow running up debt without a job to pay for it insight even before you graduated from college?

By the way there are irresponsible people in every generation. Some boomers like some of you post boomers were equally irresponsible.

We all make mistakes in life, and it is the grown up in us who take responsibility for our actions/ mistakes, then man up or woman up or simply grow up, stop blaming others including our parents for our problems/issues and instead deal with/resolve them to the best of our ability period.

It is time to stop blaming the parents, boomers or not and grow up and face facts/ reality and your pocket books for a change.

If you need to blame someone why don't you blame the polititians who sold you out to and continue to do so to the/those mindlesly greedy, selfish, selfcentered, me first and always, over compensated, bloated, conscienceless, deregulated, under-regulated, lacking in checks and balances and do not want it anyway, profit driven at the cost of health, welfare and economy of the country as a whole and the masses in particular, too big to fail, feeding on government welfare, capitalist corporations/institutions etc who still continue to sell you a 6 for a 9?

Your boomer parents gave you too much and did not require that you earn it like they had to when they were growing up.

I don't have boomer parents, but the ones I've know were/are self righteous, spoiled brats.

Did your boomer parents get 'pocket money' or did they have to run errands etc to get theirs?

I've never actually witnessed a working boomer . I only see the ones who take credit for the work of the generations before and after them.

I've seen boomers get free money from their parents yes, plenty of times. in fact wanting to borrow large sums.

I know a boomer who lived with his mama until she died, and one that lived at home with mommy and daddy until they were 30 when she finally got married and got a full time job.

Did your boomer parents get a new car on their 16th birthday and also had the insurance paid for by their parents like you did or did they have to wait and felt lucky to be able to drive the family car or inherit the old family car and were grateful to just have 'wheels'?

LOL Remember, insurance wasn't mandatory until pretty recently I had just started driving .... so I doubt most of you even forked out for insurance or THAT law wouldn't have been changed.

not only that I bought my own car with money from my paper route paid my own gas and maintenence. I'd bet my I tooth you drove daddy's car and used his gas and his insurance (IF he had any)

Did your boomer parents have the expensive orthodontics from an early age to straighten their teeth etc like you did?

Again ypou assume everyone has had dental work care o' boomers.. you are fine proof of the arrogance of boomers.

Did your boomer parents have their own room when they were growing up or did they have to share with their sibblings?

Did your boomer parents have designer clothes and shoes every term to go back to school or if they were lucky enough to go to college have a new computer/notebook, Ipod etc?

Repeat you live in boomer fanasy world where you believe you selfish dickheads provided all this stuff for the next generations. ...you haven't a clue what you're talking about.

Did your boomer parents go off on spring break to some exotic place to chill out or did they have to go home to parents and find a job to help defray cost of tuition/save money?

Did your boomer parents have the many children they could not afford to support like you folkd did or did they oftentimes wait to have children and those who did were encouraged to have only 2 children and a dog? LOL

Did your boomer parents rush to buy larger homes they could not really afford or did they buy what they could afford when they could afford to put down the 20%?

YES boomers rushed in and bought homes they couldn't afford. they didn't save they spent and claimed they didnt want to leave future generations with largee debt while doing nothing to solve the problem ( spoiled brats) , they spent "quality time" with the kids because quantity didn't matter while boomers were enriching themselves at their children's expense.

Are you really dumb enough to blame gen x and Y for your generation's failures?

btw when are you going to pay off that national debt you keep promising not to leave us with?

Come on Generation X and Y both, you are the ones who, because of the attitudes of the boomers, began to expect them to buy you the expensive goods instead of what they could really afford. It was, and is, only when you hit the job market and realize that you aren't earning enough to afford those same goods that you suddenly complain. When I grew up (born in '44) I got one pair of dress shoes each year, which then served as my "everyday" pair of shoes the following year. We had to pay a high price for the shoes because I had very narrow feet. Otherwise I would have been getting shoes for 1/4 the price. The past two generations of kids scream if their parents try to buy them the "bargain" goods. I know because I've dealt with retailers who have had to order new inventory for school uniforms each year because the kids would refuse to buy anything other than the new "trend" brands. Every year, it would be a new brand they would want. Too bad the schools haven't said emphatically that "these are the brands that will be allowed", and made a low cost brand the standard.

I'm a generation Xer. My parents are baby boomers. I can recall that when I was growing up, all the adults used to think we would all be worthless to society. However we are now the CEO's and money-makers of today. I remember while growing up that most , if not all my friends had parents who were all about "impressing the Joneses" too. I admit that we definitely lived above our means back then. I suspect it was this way for most babyboomer parents and their Gen X kids. While I was in college, the dot com craze was in full swing, and we were told that we could have the whole world and all the money in it by the age of 30. That was a serious miscalculation.

What being raised by a baby boomer has taught me is how to save. How to not live on credit, and to not buy anything I can't afford simply to keep up appearances. I'm proud to see the end of American decadence and consumerism. It's high time we came back down to reality in this country.

Glad you learned that lesson, Julian.....too many of the post-war generations (all of them) have not learned that lesson. I fully agree that it is time to come back down to reality. We need to go back to the "neighbor helping neighbor" that I grew up with as a "war baby" living in rural NW OH.

NO "Common Sense". You have NO idea what it was like being raised in the post-WWII era. Unless one had a vegetable garden, NO fresh vegetables. My grandmother, who was quite rich, could not get wax to polish her Packard (Which was up on blocks anyway inasmuch as gas was rationed). She tore up her rose garden to plant tomatoes, zucchini, etc. We had to eat this grease which passed for butter (Came in tube with a red dye at one end that you had to squese to make the grease look like it was yellow). Only because my family had farms, did we have an adequate food supply. Meat was eaten RARELY! So, after that horror of that, the "Boomers" indulged their children, hoping that such privations would never happen to the US again. UNFORTUNATELY, too many of those children, who had the best educations imaginable, became Republicans. They wanted more and more, and did not want to pay for it. I have many cousins who stand agog at what their children have become. All they wanted was that their children would NEVER have to go through the privations that they had had to endure. It was not until the mid-50s that things started getting better for most of the people in this country. Don't blame the boomers. If they are at fault for anything, it is indulging their worthless children in the hopes that they would never suffer the way they did in early childhood.

Come on Generation X and Y both, you are the ones who, because of the attitudes of the boomers, began to expect them to buy you the expensive goods instead of what they could really afford.

Many of us Gen xers are coming around to the truth; something baby boomers have never done nor will they ever. That generation doesn't believe in personal responsibility afterall; they believe "if it feels good do it" and "damn the consequences".

TWO TERM term limits for all elected offices, with a maximum of six terms total for elected offices. If you can't find candidates you can support, don't stay home. go cast a NO VOTE vote and tell all of them they aren't worth your vote.

Yeah that term limit jazz worked so well for us in California. NOT! The lobbyists are NOT termed out and suck in the inexperienced newly elected officials here and create an even worse problem. By the time the newly elected find their way around they are termed out for a new batch of inexperienced officials to take over.

Ain't that the truth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To those still thinking with a "local economy" lens...well, the economy is now global. If you don't know how to survive competing with $1 a day wages, then you are in for a rough time.

There are smart people everywhere, labor is cheap, and all that is needed is a fast internet connection. Welcome to the new "flat Earth"...no borders, no time zones.

Quit whining and go create something...plenty of new markets are still waiting to be tapped.

LOL.......if you were born in '54 you've probably got great taste in music. I know I wouldn't trade my old Super Session tape for all the tea in China!

Thanks Dollyrocker, I LOVE the Old School British Blues rock --Savoy Brown,Ten years after,blue Cheer,Cream,etc--- Just a few of my favorites !! Never been into "Owning Stuff" And ALWAYS DISTRUSTED what the "SYSTEM" could do to you & "For" you !!!!!!!

I'm w/you raymond...I've always been a big blues fan.

If you live as you say then why the persecution complex?

Could it be that while verbally distancing yourself from your peers, you secretly envy their unbridled avarice?

dollyrocker - you sound BOOORRRRING!

BRAVO! You are the boomers that I know - and am. ALWAYS lived within my means. Yes, there were those who wanted to keep up with the Jones, but most of the people I grew up with, even those with money, ALWAYS watched their budgets and lived within their means. Those posting negatively sound as if they thought their parents should have provided MORE for them. Obviously, they are losers and would be no matter how much money their folks dumped into heir worthless lives.

Dolly,#10, you are so right. The problem here is that the few bad apples are being lumped in with the whole barrel and then the whole barrel is being described as rotten. Like you noted All boomers are not the same or think the same way or came from the the same socioeconomic group.

But on the other hand what we have here is the old 'divide and conquer' thing going on.

To those of you who are on the bash the boomers bandwaggon, I wouldn't be surprised if there are lobbiests etc from the various financial institutions, corporations, political parties etc that are helping to fuel the fire of blaming the other generations. In doing so, while everyone is fighting and blaming each other for their problems, the actual culprits are being let off free.

This whole situation is just mis-direction of angst from the parties that caused the problems on to those that did not. While you are busy beating up on the boomers who in many cases are in as much distress as everyone else, as they also have seen their hopes and dreams dashed by the economic downturn,as these boomers can no longer think of retiring, or giving those monetary gifts etc and making the opening for the younger lot.

Place the blame where the blame is due. We are just like a bunch of rats stuck in a barrel scrambling around to get whatever scrap of food that is thrown into the barrel by those who control the food imo.

The country started really changing with the advent of Reagan and his Reaganomics trickle down economics theory. Nothing trickled down to the masses which included the boomers. It may has gushed down for the top 2 percent but by time it got to the middle classes every thing dried up.

It was as if during the 1980 - early 1990s this country was trying to get rid of the middle class and have just the rich and the poor. Even education/college got more expensive and continue to be even to this day. People (Boomers) were taking out mortgages on their homes to send their children to college. A college education was fast becoming a far off dream for most regular people. Student loans were very expensive at 6-8% interest rate. To even get these loans parents had to sign with their children showing their earning so their children could get a loan.

A lot of things have gone wrong in this country during those years and in the past several years. It was not about helping the middle classes it seem it was about getting rid of them.

Whether these folks in congress are/were middle class boomer is questionable. The only middle class boomers were the Clintons, as everyone else before the present President was from wealth (and connections) that they (i.e. their family) had, even before the boomers generation grew up imo.

Don't lump all the boomers in the same bunch as those boomers and the children of the top 2% or paint them with the same brush. Don't try to give the impression that all boomers are greedy, selfish, selfcentered, irresponsible capitalists, because they are not imo.

Yes there are some parents that are stupid, and give children everything they want and not things they need. That's life and people for you, some are responsible and some are not so responsible and this does not only affect the boomer generation either imo. But there were more boomers who were busy pushing their children to get more education, to go to college, to become the doctors, lawyers, scientists, nurses, sociologists, teachers etc and to do better than them, achieve more in life than they did, from what I have observed.

By the way, irresponsible behaviour stands out more than responsible behaviour doesn't it. LOL You seldom see the responsible person(s) being feted in the media do you? I wonder why?

Perhaps its because responsible people are looked upon as being boring? Hmmmm LOL

You're not the only anomaly, Marc. I did the BMW "thing" too, but it was WAY back in '69 when BMW was a little known gem for auto enthusiasts (mine was a '69 1600, but I have to confess...I lusted after the 2002!) instead of the status symbol it has since become. Like you, I'm driving Hondas now. While the thrill might not be the same driving the Honda as driving the BMW the difference in price more then makes up for it. Our cape cod home, about the same size as yours, fits our needs. No need for a "McMansion" to show off! We don't spend more then we earn and we've always paid our own way. JMO, but I really DO think the generation that came immediately on the heels of my own was the beginning of the the slide downward.

LOL........I can't tell you how many times I've commented to my spouse with regard to this! $175.00 for a pair of "affordable" summer sandals? $125.00 for a pair of nice fitting jeans? NO WAY, NO HOW! Target.....here we come.

You're right,wisardsnest. Many folks who collect Social Security have already collected FAR more then they ever contributed...and our own 401K's have evaporated! Those who love to whine about baby boomers have a LOT to learn. Too soon old, too late smart!

Don't forget to add in the medicare $ they also sucked up as they lived in the homes they paid practically nothing for and are now worth 100s of times more.

martyinla now when housing prices are down you should be getting in on the ground floor and stop blaming the boomers who put money into social security and were robbed by a government who called that money surplus. They also had a 770.000 party with that money recently do you see the democrats making them pay that back you reep as you sew.

It is people like you marty who voted for Obama who is robbing you and your children of a future blame yourself for that.

I see lots of people who resent the baby boomers and think they are greedy but they didn't waist time looking for handouts they went to work. You only have your own greed and laziness to blame if you are not as successful as you want to be. Start with you and not them when you plan a future this is what the baby boomers did.

You voted for Obama Because you feel the world owes you a living. Now you want to blame the baby boomers? You are greedy want the world handed to you, want something you have never earned. Why not just follow the lead of the boomers and adopt a if I work hard and save for what I want I can create my own achievements.

If you want something that you have not earned that makes you greedy build a future and work hard. The world don't owe you a living aspier to your own greatness.

Become this generations inventors and movers and shakers.

Marc, I happened to grow up with a wonderful dad who just happened to be a MAJOR car fanatic. My dad grew up poor (his parents both had college degrees but they chose to be farmers!). My dad borrowed, worked and saved to get through college & dental school. One of the first cars I remember him owning was a gull wing Mercedes---followed by numerous Porsches and Ferraris. He bought his last Ferrari, a 1971 Daytona coupe, several years before his death in '85. My dad paid 17K for it. HE loved it...and he knew it would be a good investment. My 84 year old mother (in her day she was a fantastic autocrosser) still has the mistress in her locked garage. Would my older brother & I ever be able to afford such cars? NEVER in a million years! I've been exposed to, and driven. some really great cars in my life but I think the greatest blessing is being happy with what you have---and can afford! BTW......our kids drive a used Nissan Sentra!

How about jeans at Kohls. $10 (with the 20 % off coupon). $30 is still too expensive.

Sorry--on my last post I thought it was wrong to send kids out of the room or have a teacher smack them, just to clear that up.

Sorry, but in a way I disagree. My spouse and I have worked hard for EVERYTHING we have. I don't have a problem helping working parents who have lost their jobs due to the current economic problems, What I DO have a problem with is supporting generational welfare------those who drop out of school and 15 and have 3-4 kids (often by different fathers) by the time they're 21. This trend has gone on for far too long and it needs to stop! IMHO, you breed---YOU need to feed and provide for !

I live Alone, Don't have a family or Debt , Don't Impose on others unnecessarily and I've Always been able to Take care of Myself(Work) and be thankful for everything in my life --- Whats Wrong with living like that ???

Nothing at all Raymond, that frugality is going to help you through this quagmire.

Here is why your plan will not work.

GREED OF THE BOOMER GENERATION.

Simple restaurant jobs use to provided health insurance. When the boomers went to college it was relatively cheep.

But now, thanks to the greed of the boomer generation and wanting more and more and not wanting to give any back, school cost a fricking fortune and good luck to any younger generation affording insurance while they find their place in the business world. If they can even afford it then while paying off their student loans.

Now why your plan sucks,

Boomers still own most of the business's and until this greedy generation @!$%#s off, the behind generations are screwed. Pay an gas station attendant...HAHAHAHAHAHA, they would rather increase their collection of pet rocks than pay a decent wage to their lowly servant.

Rather than block the idea of hiring service station attendants with a decent argument you say "until this greedy generation @!$%#s off, the behind generations are screwed." Greed comes in all age groups, races and sexes. Getting things done takes unified action. So tell us one good reason why hiring people to pump gas nationwide is such a bad idea?

Oh yeah, that's gonna happen!

Let me help you out vid,

A simple shirt,

Made in america by close to minimum wage labor, retails for about 20 bucks

Made in china by slave labor at 2 bucks per week, retails for about 19 bucks

Just where do you think that extra profit is going? The clerk that stocks the shelf, or some baby boomers bonus?

Baby boomers are not about innovation, they are about cutting cost at any and every ones expenses so they can get that Mercedes and out do the Jones. Hell, they invented the phrase "keeping up with the Jones" just for the baby boomers.

Their is greed at all ages, but place it where it became an entire generations motis operandi.

Working for a living and buying things at yesterdays prices is not greed try to remember once whole families lived on 100 dollars now families can hardly live on 1000. dollars a week.

The boomers tryed to save money so the next generations wouldnt be burdened it is not the boomers fault you young idiots voted in the democratic party that wants to suck your future pockets dry.

Blame that stupidity on your own generation. The world owes me a living generation.

The boomers tryed to save money so the next generations wouldnt be burdened it is not the boomers fault you young idiots voted in the democratic party that wants to suck your future pockets dry.

That would be Republicans. The deficits and debts were created by REPUBLICANS. and REPUBLICANS have been using "for the children" with NO intentions of ever following through paying off debt or reforming health care OR social security.

No Boomer tried to save money for Gen X . You all haven't done a thing except call everyone besides yourselves slackers.

Quit patting yourselves on the back ...shees! You didn't save , you weren't prepared for retirement, but are quick to tell Generations behind you how it is. LOLOL!!! "we got something to learn.." huh?

Nice and condescending ..as expected. Dollyrocker is a perfect example of the smug, self-righteous boomer.

btw.. to the boomer who laughingly, arrogantly thinks boomers brought us computers..you're completely wrong. They've been around long before boomers came into the technology picture.

Like Bill Gates, who just capitalized on other people's ideas or used cut throat business tactics to gain market share. He screwed IBM after they backed his qdos (Mommy was on the board of directors) .

He then made illegal exclusive contracts with hardware makers whereby , if the hardware makers used a different, possibly BETTER operating system they STILL had to pay Microsoft for theirs.

Gates is given so much credit for innovations regarding computer, when all he really did is stifle new ideas and steal others ideas.

Nice one, JetRanger! I think the answer to your question is - Because schools (including colleges) can't teach MORALS & that's why even tho they may have those "useless" degrees they don't have ANY COMMON SENSE!! THAT is supposed to be taught AT HOME!

I always thought that those who could afford college would be GUARRENTEED a good job after they graduated. Yet a LOT of them can barely get a job in a fast-food joint! And if they DO, they have NO CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS! No please & thank you, no smile, NOTHING! Who wants to do business with people like that?!? Yet that's how the majority of young people today in their teens & 20's act. It's pitiful........

Its a the world owes me a living complex an Obamanation of people who think they wont have to work their way up from the bottom and that somehow people who dedicate themselves to their jobs and do well because of that they are somehow greedy when in fact it is the people who want something free and never paid for it or worked their way up the ladder are the greedy.

You fools bought into the idea that somehow it is the fault of the people who work hard and not your own fault for not working as hard. If you want something you have not earned you are greedy.

Yes we are jasson. We have a the world owes me a living generation who blames the past and dont want to get off their butts and become the next generation of sucsess. This is evindent because they voted for Obama it is a frightening concept that they somehow think suctioning off the past workers and robbing the future people is their right. I find this concept very frightening.

I like your anger, but you seem to hide it well while you are greeting customers at walmart. To bad you didn't save anything and have to continue working until you die. But enjoy all those beany babies you collected, they'll be worth money someday.

As for the claim that the next generation won't get off their butts and achieve the boomers success, you may be right. Then again if success is defined but screwing everybody over so you can drive a mercedes and live in a 5,000 square foot house with only 2 people in it, then you boomers can keep your version of success and think you are better than everybody else. I'll stick to living within my means and paying for everything cash.

Whats with all the hate on Obama voters. Bush was the biggest suction off society that ever lived. He is your defination of "The world owes me" that you are so found of calling the Obama voter generation. Mcain and Palin were an obvious extension of that same "the world owes me and screw everybody over" policy and the majority of the US has had enough of that. Obama didn't win because he is a great man with proven experience, he won because your canidate sucked so bad that YOU would have to be a MORON to vote for him.

This is evindent because they voted for Obama it is a frightening concept that they somehow think suctioning off the past workers and robbing the future people is their right. I find this concept very frightening.

Oh that is rich coming from the generation who is literally sucking gen X dry with social security. F*ck you support yourself, quit "suctioning" off yoiur children !

I do know several of my collegues around 50 buying Harley's and going on expensive vacations and cruises, I just think that the next generation will do the same thing too - they grew up seeing it done.

You know the old BaBoo bumper sticker, "I'm spending my children's inheritence"? I think that says it all.

Now they should write a new bumper sticker for this generation I'm spending my children into a third world country. The bumper sticker for this generation of cry babies that think the world owes them a living.