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Guest Post: For A Few Dollars More - Part 1
Submitted by Jim Quinn of The Burning Platform
For A Few Dollars More - Part 1
Where life had no value, death, sometimes, had its price. That is why the bounty killers appeared. - For a Few Dollars More
“Tell me, isn’t a sheriff supposed to be courageous, loyal and, above all, honest?” - Man with No Name – For a Few Dollars More
Whenever I get an idea for an article I plan to keep it short and
sweet. But it never seems to work out that way. Once I start typing, the
articles tend to grow exponentially. It happened again with my attempt
to make sense of how the United States of America managed to screw our
finances up so badly, that an epic collapse is within view to people
with their eyes open to facts and the truth. You don’t end up in the
predicament we find ourselves in today due to a couple minor mistakes
over a short time frame. It took thousands of horrible choices, colossal
doses of delusion, a heaping of stupidity, and a mountain of denial
over decades to put us on the brink of economic collapse. An unholy
amalgamation of demographics, fiat currency, debt, taxes, power and
greed have led us to this point. Next we experience collapse, revolution
and ultimately, retribution.
Since I’ve identified four major rationales for our impending doom,
I’ve decided to write a four part series that can be read in small
doses, rather than one enormous article. I don’t want anyone to miss
tonight’s episode of Dancing With the Stars, get distracted from the
Royal Wedding preparations, or skip the best reality TV show ever – Ben
Bernanke’s press conference, while reading an 8,000 word article about
the end of America. The four part series will have a Clint Eastwood
theme. For a Few Dollars More will address the Baby Boomer impact on America’s decline. A Fistful of Dollars will examine how the creation of the Federal Reserve and the income tax in 1913 set us on a path to ruin. Outlaw Josey Wales will
scrutinize the looting of America by a small group of powerful,
connected, super rich men lurking in the shadows, but pulling the
strings on our puppet politicians. Lastly, Unforgiven will detail the impending collapse of our economic system and the retribution that will be handed out to the guilty.
Over the last few weeks there seems to be consensus among many
financial bloggers, whose credibility is far more trustworthy than the
corporate mainstream media, that the country is teetering on the verge
of economic collapse due to the complete capture of the government,
financial, regulatory, and media by a small group of oligarchs. They
have also been described as the super rich, plutarchs, ruling elite, and
scum sucking leeches. The bloggers that I have the utmost respect for,
including Jesse, Charles Hugh Smith, Mike Shedlock, Yves Smith and Gonzalo Lira have
all come to the logical conclusion the horrific economic situation of
the country is a direct result of the greed, corruption, fraud, and
plundering by a powerful connected group of rich financiers operating
without fear of being brought to justice by the authorities.
While pondering the ruminations of these dedicated truth tellers, I was reminded of the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western For a Few Dollars More.
The quotes above are representative of living in the USA today. There
are supposed to be courageous, loyal and honest sheriffs that protect
the citizens from crime, corruption and evil doers. But, just as we saw
in the Old West of Clint Eastwood movies, the sheriffs are always
corrupt and bought off by the evil cattle barons. In a world where life
has no value and you can’t rely on law enforcement to protect your
interests, the citizens eventually will need to turn to bounty hunters
to take care of the bad guys. The bounty hunters of truth reside on the
internet. They reside at Zero Hedge, Jesse’s Café Americain, Of Two Minds, Mish, Chris Martenson,
and dozens of other anarchist websites. When you can’t trust your
government, your bankers, your church, your media, or mega-corporate
CEOs, you need to seek the truth where it can be found. The insightful
bloggers who courageously print the truth on a daily basis have
unanimously concluded that a small band of powerful elite have
accumulated undue influence and control over this country, having
brought it to the verge of economic collapse. How did this happen? Who
is responsible? Why were they permitted to gain this power?
Boomers Come of Age
“If those in charge of our society – politicians, corporate
executives, and owners of press and television – can dominate our ideas,
they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers
patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.” – Howard Zinn
Whenever I direct any blame for our economic woes towards the Baby
Boom generation they react as expected. They blame the GI Generation for
creating the welfare state. They declare that Generation X and the
Millenials are just as greedy and self centered as the Boomers. Boomers
are great at blaming, ridiculing and acting pompously, while taking no
responsibility for their actions and more importantly their inaction.
This generation cannot avoid their responsibility for the state of
affairs. They like to take credit for their stand against the Vietnam
War and their protests against the man during the 1960s. They don’t like
to take credit for turning into materialistic, greedy, selfish,
short-term focused bastards. When a generation of 76 million people
decides to go in a particular direction, the country will go in that
direction. While blaming FDR and the GIs who stormed the beaches of
Normandy for creating the unfunded Social Security and Medicare
liabilities, the Boomers have been voting since the mid-1960s and have
been in control of corporate America and the levers of government since
the early 1980s.
The U.S. Congress is dominated by Baby Boomers today and has been
dominated by this generation since the 1990s. The Senate has 60 Boomers
out of 100, while the House of Representatives has 254 Boomers out of
435 members. Boomers occupied the White House from 1992 through 2008.
They have had the political power and control of the agenda for two
decades and have failed miserably. Rather than do what was best for the
country for the long-term, they took the expedient, easy, vote getting
route. Promise more than you could ever deliver and let future
generations worry about the consequences. Not one true noble statesman
has arisen from this generation of myopic, self centered “Me Generation”
political hacks. Even as the country nears the precipice, they continue
to address the great issues of the day with talking points supplied by
other Baby Boomer PR maggots from Park Avenue. These weasels care not
for the country, but worry only about poll numbers and the next election
cycle. An apathetic public, dominated by the Baby Boom generation, has
the attention span of a gnat. As long as they can make the lease payment
on their Escalade, use one of their 15 credit cards at the Mall, be
entertained by 600 cable TV stations, play with the latest iSomething,
live in their McMansion for two years without making a mortgage payment
and consume massive quantities of fast food, then any thoughts of future
generations or civic duty are unnecessary. Live for today has been the
rallying cry for the Boomer generation. Pot was their drug during the
1960s. Debt has been their drug since 1980.
The drug (debt) dealer for the Baby Boom generation has been the Wall
Street mega-banks, coincidentally, run by Boomers. The entire corrupt
financial industry is being run by Boomers. The CEOs, CFOs, and the
thousands of Harvard MBA VPs that created the fraudulent derivative
scheme to bilk billions from clueless municipalities, pension funds and
American taxpayers are all Boomers. It is no coincidence that the great
debt delusion began in the early 1980’s. Jim Kunstler captured the
essence of Boomer transformation:
“The Baby Boomers came back from the land, clipped their pony
tails, discovered venture capital, real estate investment trusts,
securitization of “consumer” debt, and the Hamptons. Greed was good.”
The Boomer CEO hall of scam has been built on the brilliance and
financial acumen of Lloyd (god’s work) Blankfein, Charlie (keep dancing)
Prince, Jamie (friend of Obama) Dimon, and the king of the Boomers,
Hank (the system is sound) Paulson. These mainstays of crony capitalism
led the Boomer charge of greed, greed and more greed. The Baby Boomer
generation has been the proverbial pig in a python working its way
through the decades as presented below. By 1985, Boomers had entered the
work force in full force with the entire generation between the ages of
25 and 42. It will be a great day when the python craps this pig of a
generation out the other end.
It is not a coincidence the National Debt growth has far outstripped
GDP growth since 1980. Boomers had been spoiled their whole lives and
felt they deserved the goodies today while passing the bill to future
generations. They voted for politicians who promised them more benefits,
more programs, more subsidies, more tax breaks, more military
adventures, and more pleasure. And this was “paid for” with more debt.
Thirty five years of government debt declining as a percentage of GDP
was reversed over the next thirty years starting in 1980, pushing it
past the 90% tipping point in the last year. The country is
over-indebted to the tune of $9 trillion on a current basis and $100
trillion on a long term accrual basis.
There is no better picture of Boomer decadence and myopia than an
historical view of the national savings rate. The parents of the Boomers
understood the meaning of sacrifice and investing in the future of the
country. During World War II they bought US War Bonds to support the
cause. From 1950 through 1985, the savings rate consistently ranged
between 7% and 12%. Americans had this odd notion that if you saved more
than you spent, you actually got ahead in life. Excess savings were
used to invest in new plants and equipment that were used to produce
goods and employ more Americans. By 1985, the Boomers considered these
notions as quaint and old fashioned. The savings rate methodically
declined until it went negative in 2006, just prior to the worldwide
financial conflagration. Our inspirational Boomer president George
(Mission Accomplished) Bush while waging two wars of choice, asked for
the ultimate sacrifice from the Boomers. He solemnly urged them to buy a
GM SUV with $0 down and 0% interest for 7 years, so we could defeat the
terrorists. The Boomers who ran GMAC were more than happy to make loans
to people with no income so they could “purchase” a $40,000
ostentatious gas guzzling hog. They were doing their patriotic duty for
the good of the nation. It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about
it.
The Boomers not only heeded George’s call, but they did him proud by
buying 8,000 sq ft McMansions with $0 down and negative amortization
ARMs. Luckily, the executives at the mortgage origination sweatshops
were Boomers. They found no good reason to verify income or assets
before loaning someone $600,000, because they knew their fellow Boomers
at the rating agencies would rate the bundles of these toxic shit loans
as AAA so the Boomers on Wall Street could sell them to greater fools.
GMAC’s exemplary subprime mortgage arm – Ditech, did a bang up job
getting migrant Mexican workers into $450,000 homes in California’s
inland empire. As the tsunami of bad debt swept toward shore, delusional
Boomers across the land borrowed $500 billion against the inflated
value of their McMansions and installed granite counter tops, stainless
steel appliances, home theatres, elegant patios, Olympic sized pools,
and with the excess home equity, leased a BMW or two. The first
devastating tsunami wave hit in 2008 and wiped out billions in faux
Boomer wealth. Instead of learning a brutal lesson and reverting back to
saving and frugality, the “never say sacrifice” Boomers ventured out to
where the waves had subsided looking for more trinkets and treasures.
The next tsunami wave is on its way. The delusional Boomers will be surprised again.
The Boomer persona has been formed over the last five decades and the
country will deal with the consequences for decades to come. The clean
cut Beaver Cleaver children of the 1950s turned into the pot smoking
Dobie Gillis of the 1960’s, then into the slimy Gordon Gekkos of the
1980s and ultimately into the eternal wealth seeking Gollums of today.
This Boomer debt orgy over the last thirty years would have made
Caligula blush. Of course, none of this could have happened without the
Creature from Jekyll Island. I will address this aspect of our fate in Fistful of Dollars – Part Two.
Now for the righteous indignation from the Boomers that think I have
unfairly lumped them all together as one. Their reactions are
predictable. Even though they have had the means, the power and the time
to reverse the course of USS Titanic, they plowed full steam ahead into
the abyss. The GI Generation is dead. Generation X doesn’t hold the
reins of power. The Boomer generation needs to look in the mirror to
recognize who is to blame. I’m sure there are a few good Boomers out
there somewhere, but as a generation they have failed this country and
our unborn generations miserably.
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I think it's a mistake to turn against the Boomer generation and point fingers. There's plenty of ignorance in every generation.
It's time to resolve problems, not lay blame.
How to stop the rot as fast as possible? Cut your military budget by 75%, that is all budgets, not just the flippin Pentagon which will free up approx $750 billion a year. No one wants you to be global policeman you know, you can save a bunch of cash and get goodwill in return.
Can't do that too many video game weasels and coders read this generation would be out of work.
They'd just go from one form of the dole to another cheaper form. No problem.
Calling them "soldiers" is a stretch.
As a member of the "boomer" generation it would be difficult to "say it ain't so".... . I will say that I suspect that good boomers are out there, maybe the good ones dropped out or are trying to stay above water in mundane jobs. Not every boomer lives in a mansion, drives a BMW, has a 6 or 7 figure job. Maybe you live in the NE or left coast of this great country and have resultant tunnel vision. Greed and narcissism is not just confined to this boomer generation. I too am disappointed in the "leaders" of the boomer generation. There is no one out there with a vision for a better America. I am near retirement from a normal job, I have many irons in the fire where I can continue to derive an income in this "retirement". I am lucky in this regard. It is ironic after reading your post, just the other day I said to the wife....things look like crap out there, maybe it is time to sell the house and move up to Colorado and get that ranch and farm we've been talking about; take care of ourselves and have rooms available for the kids when the crap hits the fan. As we used to say, maybe this is a "cop out"... who cares, I've thrown enough pitches inside, taken plenty of heat, worked hard to get where I am. I am ready to till the soil, milk the goat or cow, trade the markets via satellite, teach at a local junior college, market my gemstones, put my feet up on the porch and watch the sun set.
Your post is not the first to suggest failure of the Boomers, I've seen alot of this lately. Not to make excuses, but again there are plenty of us around that have a good job, raised our kids to question the actions of government, fought in an unjust war, vote "conservatively", take responsibility for their own actions, pay income taxes, raise all sorts of hell at town meetings, refuse welfare checks etc. I wish I had a better answer to your post, I can only speak for myself.
So if you are one of said boomers, and your development was arrested at the Dobie Gillis stage, would that be ok?
Lol Doom?! 3 year highs and bonds and spx are up today. Nobody looses
Great post!
You're not quite angry enough to put your parent curb side for collection yet but it's a start. I've no doubt you evntually will. Then you'll finally have the keys to the car. But you'll need more than than a bunch of JBS rantings to cement the deal. Luckily you won't have to wait long.
In other movie news, Atlas Shrugged Part I might be a bit low budget, but it is worth seeing before it gets pushed out of theaters by summer formula movies.
+ 1,000,000
I saw it yesterday, and came *this close* to weeping for joy that I saw something like that at the movies...
To thier defense, I think the Boomers would say that they tackled some serious problems in the post war period.
So, now can we just accept these "achievements" and get back to sound fiscal and monetary policy? Including, sharpening, oiling and putting away some of the heavy handed tools they used?
Junked for:
[ ] Offensiveness (racism, sexism, gratuitous violence/sex, xenophobia, biggotry)
[ ] Incompleteness
[ ] Inaccurate
[ ] Trolling/Baiting/Strawman
[ ] Grammer/spelling
[ ] I disagree
Hey wisefool,
I may agree with you on principle, but on execution, what you have outlined is just the name on the placebo prescription.
1. Crappy entitlement system and crappy educational standards. Does not raise standards for those who fought for civil rights, but continues to keep them dependent on government assistance. A system by which everything viewed as a necessity becomes a Constitutionally protected right.
2. Maybe I can agree to a portion of this, but women are still paid less then men and the stigma is still that women are not as intelligent as men.
3. I cannot address this.
4. I don't know why you included this? In my opinion this is the root cause of our predicament. More people watching TV and less people thinking. It also has a fundamental impact on your point 1.
What you have outlined is successful process, how those in charge are able to control individual thought, success and failure. And suppresses it to the lowest common denominator and is dictated by those in control of the system.
I don't accept that these are successes.
How would you address their impact on the Judicial System in this country?
As you mentioned, some of these are successes, some are marginal improvement/degredation. But I think the boomers would offer that the framework is now in place, including the judiciary.
My thrust is that now we need to let local control thrive again and not be so heavy handed. Stop printing so much money. stop borrowing so much money.
1. If your kids are not getting a good education, throw out the school board and/or teachers.
2. With the women's incomes, I think you have to break that out into wages+benese per hour and divide by money + time spent on training + personal injury risk factor + time away from home + stress and come up with a new number. I don't think many women under 30 with the big student loans but also have the big jobs would say they are worse off than men thier age. (more women graduate college with better grades than men) And just listen to you hear one of these young professional women bitch about teachers who have a very high compensation per hour actually worked.
4. Al Gore gave us the ability to communicate here ;)
And again, I am saying they put a pretty good framework in place. Now lets tear down the scaffolding around the steel and move onto the next phase of construction.
Well again, I respectfully disagree. Hey, that is what we are here for.
Central planning is an utter failure, and that is what our current leadership advocates and laws reflect.
Right now our government, is in the business of pushing just the right portion of the middle class back under the poverty line, and dependent on the government so they will follow the Golden Rule, and not question the bullshit going on it Washington. Entitlement for votes. Sound familiar? Sit back watch TV on the government dime and all will be well. Don't worry that your fellow Americans, in your former class, are paying the bill. We will keep sayings we are going to get the rich to pay for it, but this is a lot of smoke and mirrors to keep the middle class occupied enough until we dwindle their numbers, so they will not revolt. Hell we are the rich.
Take Health care. It is a recently advocated Constitutionally protected right. I wonder why? We conservatives all bitched about that. We told the stupid Bureaucracy, you will never be able to pay for the cost of mandated health care without making those individuals who accept such health care, actually live a healthy lifestyle. We tried to stop this piece of shit legislation before it became a new reality, a new framework as you call it. But to no avail. I bet we even get blamed for not trying to stop it when it all blows up in The Bureaucracy's face.
What they are doing is controlling society through your revolutionary entertainment system and the sheep follow willingly. Salt is evil, unpasteurized milk will kill you, any demon in the book.
However, if moderation was a a trait we raised in our children this would be a non problem. But if we learn moderation in one thing then we learn moderation in all things, and then the Bureaucracy would not be able to get us addicted to conspicuous consumption to drive the perverse economy.
Our Constitution and Bill of Rights were framed so we would have a free place to do business, live free, and be able to protect ourselves our families, our property and privacy. We have none of this anymore. We have bureaucrats, laws and no one enforcing a thing. So they invent more laws and tax us more to grow the Bureaucracy. We have the illusion of freedom. This is what your framework is built upon. The illusion of success where none exists.
Thought experiment. If tomorrow a "major catastrophe" happens in your area and you are perfectly able to survive the crisis because you have planned for it. Do you think you will be allowed to stay in your dwelling if the police get orders to remove the residents? Will you be allowed to keep your firearms? Will you be allowed to keep your stores of food?
More likely you will end up dead protecting all that you worked so hard for, and brushed off into obscurity. Or better yet turned into a crazy homespun terrorists that the media can offer up as an example to others.
If you haven't done so I ask you to take an honest look at what happened after Hurricane Katrina. Your framework is nothing but a house of cards waiting for the right wind.
Al Gore is your messiah!
I hope you live long enough to realize what giant scam his film is. After seeing what happens to our climate 'til 2020 or so.
Heck no. And as evlcat correctly pointed out I was trying to be a little bit toungue in cheek. But if we don't give the boomer generation, or any generation some positive re-enforcement as they enter retirement, their political activism will grow since many will have the time away from thier former jobs.
AlGore as a case in point. Let him think he invented the internet. Let Bill Clinton and Barney frank think they gave underserved people the home ownership dream. Tell them jobs are done and they did it well enough that the next generations can steer the ship. Let Newt think he made a contract with america and forced clinton to balance the budget. Let them all be Jimmy carters and work on "elder statesman" foriegn policy (sans US bankroll). Ron Paul is naturally excluded from my goal here.
Gollums, thats what we've got now.
Blame is easy to throw around. I have yet to see evidence that our collapse in the year 2011 isn't a universal responsibility. Leaving todays children out of course.
I have watched this train wreck working up to this point for 30 years! I was called nuts more times than I can count when I said that we were on the fast track to hell. America was a god awful place in the 70's, the Reagan years turned the tide back in America's favor, or so people thought at the time. I was not one of them, though I admitted that all the new "borrow and spend" was going to give AMerica a huge shot in the arm for some considerable time to come. My mistake was thinking this would happen much sooner than it did. Amazing how much debt can be piled up before the system breaks.
I have some gen "X"ers in the family, and their greed and "me firstism" is second to none.
I do sympathize with young folk like my daughter and her Iraq war veteran husband. They are making chicken shit salaries and being sent off to crazy wars because they need the cash that being active Army Reserve brings in. Being in their early 20's they have not had time to become responsible for America's collapse. But anyone above 30 is surely a participant in the debacle, baby boomers just happen to be a large group, being a large group does not attach guilt to it. Plenty of young Americans cheering the wars and wall-street greed mongers. They want to be wall-street greed mongers. Guilt is everywhere, we elect people who should be cleaning pig pens and chicken barns if their abilities are anything to go on.
Reagan??? That was the beginning of the end! Essentially every single study reveals that the inflection point was the Reagan era... The ad should have been "Twilight in America"
That studies surely started with a completely open mind set and looked at all aspects (not just federal debts on a current basis, as important as that is). <roll eyes>
Also it is notable that noone calls out Bush I seems to have tried to do the right thing (deficit wise), if you look at the graphs, and that it surely played a mayor role in not getting reelected...
I believe LBJ was the far bigger turning point than Reagan, not just for the entitlements themselves, but for kickstarting the continuous entitlement mentality.
You can pin Medicare on LBJ and his "Great Society"... Problem is that those actuaries never took into account that when Medicare was enabled the life expectancy was 65....now it is closer to 78.
The root problem is that we have a generation that thinks that you can get something for nothing....
Bush Sr., I never really disliked him, from a Real Politik perspective he was the right man to lead. But alas, the Cold War ended and his complete lack of perspective was laid bare. He knew nothing about what the average American was worried about.
He was dragged into his "No New Taxes" pledge and he paid for it. Held ransom by the intellectually bankrupt Supply Siders...
According to a source I quickly googled US life expectancy was already 69.7 in 1960. And true, nobody could have seen it coming that it might increase further. At least no politician.
You call it something for nothing, I call it entitlement mentality. Which is not completely the same, as entitlement implies somebody else will pay for it.
Hmm. What were the average American's worries around 1991? The Japan threat had subsided, the Cold War had been won, gasoline prices went down again after the first Gulf War... I wasn't living in the US then, so can you recall?
Looking at http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005140.html suggests that 65 was a bit low, the relevant number is the age-weighted population at the time... But we are quibbling...
No, not an entitlement mentality as you describe. It comes from the just belief that "society" owes it's members something, the problem is that "society" has not properly discounted what it thinks is it's due.
No idea how old you are, but in ~1991 there was a recession. Not a bad one though. In comparison to the past 3 years, it was a relative picnic. It was clear even then, at least in the Rust Belt, that things were never going to back to normal...
The Kennedy assassination was the beginning of the coup. LBJ got what he wanted and he knew who was responsible for his good fortune. He, and every one since, toed the line. Reagan, a slow learner, found out right away that it wasn't very healthy to be independent.
Nonsense. Lazy writing but blaming the baby boomers sure helps blankfein skate and. All like him
Blankfein is the Boomer poster child. All hail the Boomer who does God's work. Bow down before your Boomer emperor.
Blankfein is a Zionist. He doesn't count. He marches to a different drummer.
Nonsense. Lazy writing but blaming the baby boomers sure helps blankfein skate and. All like him
To me, anthing that takes the focus of Goldman Sachs and JPM and their like is simply a deliberate head fake. We gotta keep our eyes on who profited and who is still profiting from this disaster. Look at Goldman's bonus pool! That tells you ALL you need to know. Friggen crooks!
true dat...divide and conquer.
If political theatrics start to fail and MSNBC and FOX News cannot continue to escalate a red vs blue culture war.
Then we will see the escalation of many new false paradigms. Anything to keep the masses distracted from real issues.
How about "For a few trillion more..." You can create 8% unemployment at home and outsource more jobs and taxes abroad.
Hmm do you think it is a boomer who codes all the quants and algorithms?
PProbably not, so if you don't like the system do what the boomers tried to do in the 60's and change it. Let's see how far you get. If you continue to march on after seeing your leaders killed that's the point I will jump in with you because that is point where we lost the war.
Show me what you got tough guys. I'm sure it's not more than a joystick, a Facebook account, and an Ipad.
The boomers were the most productive generation, ever.
Both Obama and Oprah did pretty well under the boomer years and don't have anything to bitch about. There was no lack of opportunity, only wasted opportunity for those who missed it. Boomers didn't use up Medicare and social security, they've been the one's paying into it year after year for the last 50 years.
As Greenspan said, the generation behind the boomer generation isn't very well educated and there are no manufacturing jobs for them. The socialists have forced the jobs overseas.
Example: Shell Oil had already spent 5 years and $5 billion for drilling rights 70 miles offshore of a desolate part of Alaska to access 27 billion bbl oil but the EPA just denied them them permits to drill --- saying the CO2 emissions of any icebreaker boats that might be used had not been submitted by Shell Oil for evaluation by the EPA.
Ooh good! I hit a big fat lazy socialist nerve and got a "junk".
Well, speaking of junk, the $5 billion that Shell Oil paid in fees could have paid the health insurance coverage for one million American families for a year -- that's how socialists waste valuable resources that kill people over make believe things like CO2 "toxins" when CO2 is actually essential for life on Earth.
And btw, the $1 Trillion toilet flush, for the shovel-ready liar jobs, would have paid for health insurance for all the uninsured in the USA -- for 15 years.
flag as anti-junk (1)
What an achievement!
You know, they were the biggest generation ever, too. Have you tried per capita stats?
Unfortunately it gets worse.
As self centered and entitled as the Baby Boomers may have been, they've raised children that are even MORE self centered and entitled.
+1
Thank you, anyone who deals with those under 25 for a living knows the vanity & coddling that must be dealt with!
If you want to blame boomers for anything, you've nailed it. The upbringing of boomer children was gold-plated compared to the boomers own upbringing.
the movies are great, as are the stories, and the characters and their roles.
but, too much is enough! please excuse me from following you as you drag these stories and characters thru the 4th turning mud.
For every marxist like Howard Zinn, or economic fascist like Blankfein at Goldman Sachs, there are 10,000 honest men/women boomers that bought into the American middle-class notion of just going about one's own business, contributing to society, raising their family and teaching the next generation to do the same.
They weren't concerned about controlling the ideas of society because they weren't concerned about controlling others. They just want to live their lives and be left alone and assume (wrongly) others want to do the same.
So, what are the middle aged Gen Xers doing about anything? You can run for office, too. You can demonstrate against perceived wrongs. I see you all ready to have pensions from universities after working for homebuilders. Nice. Complaining and blaming changes nothing.
" They reside at Zero Hedge, Jesse’s Café Americain, Of Two Minds, Mish, Chris Martenson, and dozens of other anarchist websites. "
Ummm if that's what ZH is then maybe I shouldn't be here. TD is on their ass but your classification went too far IMO
+1. I am leaving if I am going to be grouped in as an anarchist.
Are we quoting Clint?
Buzzards gotta eat, same as the worms.
We've been betrayed by or leaders, and they continue to profit from it. Plan accordingly.
Doesn't matter who voted, doesn't matter who's president. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss". Even if the voters actually had any impact on the future course of the U.S. they'd still be too iliterate (as are most of the politicians) to fathom how their decisions would impact the future.
But it really doesn't matter since it's up to us as individuals to survive.
If you realize you're standing in a pool of horseshit, are you going to blame the horses or are you gonna get out of the pool of horseshit?
PS. I am Young.
+ 1
Only one more thing left for us baby boomers to over-consume--medical care-- and it could be the answer to your prayers.
Think about it. A couple of bad batches of Plavix or Viagra or Fossamax courtesy of our beloved Medicare and--problem solved.
I've got a chart for you, its the Real Median Household Income, which you might notice was flat from 68 to 83, the Boomers formative years, but started higher when the first Boomer children graduated HS. I want this say this article is crap for all the usual reasons, painting a generation with a broad brush, and ignoring real statistics. If i could junk this article I would
so there flag as junk(X)
by the way the Eastwood Man With No Name was made a hit by Boomers who were tired of John Wayne westerns.
Are you really as fucking stupid as you seem? Real median household income went up starting in 1983 because women had to go into the work force to make ends meet. Check out the employment to population ratio you dipshit.
Real wages are lower today than they were in 1971 you clueless knucklehead.
Also, all such measures post-1980 were corrupted by chronic under-reporting of inflation.
Anytime I see the term "Boomers" early in the article, I know the article will be long on angst, and short on thought. I must say I wasn't disappointed here. Too bad it's so hard to realize that all "generations" were involved in this tragedy. By the way, note that "Baby Boom" started as a marketing phrase; now it's merely shifted to a political marketing phrase.
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Quinn has been pushing this crock of shit for two years plus. one trick pony! hurry Jimmy, and grow the fuck up. it is not a war of generation vs. generation.
Exactly!! Dude needs to work on history as well as his Oedipus complex. Was Johnson a Boomer? He doomed us with the Great Society and Vietnam, ending silver money and finaning it with debt? When Eisenhower warned of the Military Industrial Complex was he talking about boomers? Was Reagan or Bush 1 a boomer? Nixon? Greenspan? Bush 2 was a Boomer but he was nothing but a stooge for his dad's neo-cons. Besides the sonofabitch wasn't really elected either time: 1st appointed by the Supreme Court and second, installed by Diebold's rigging of the Ohio elections.
Let's start a fight.
Fuck you you whiners. All y'all voted to continue allowing theft, invasion by illegals, theft by bankers, career welfare whores and the detruction of the family.
Suck it up.
You asked for this.
Enjoy the taxation, you liberal dbags.
No fight necessay we live in a country where those with the most votes win.
If you do not like this you are welcome to leave at any time and move to a country where a vote does not count.
I forgot Rodent since you are form the let's get physical crowd when you elect to move to the ohjter country they will take your fucking guns and ammo away douchebag.
No they won't. I know people.
Don't apply US rules to other countries. You'll be wrong.
I can have a fully auto M16 with grenade launcher, and the only thing the local authorities will ask me is how well it performs.
How about you get some time outside your tiny little neighborhood, you idiot, arrogant moron.
Fucking A Rodent!
A fight is what this limp wristed, psuedo social science drenched, Peter Yarrow bully-anguishing, power of diversity preaching lame ass society needs to get it's ass jerked back into shape.
It's gone to shit since dodgeball left the schools. More skin on HBO (hat tip to Bloom County). The goddamn boomers all got self absorbed, left us X's rearing to their perverted socialist classmates who infected the staffs of the schools, from kindergarten through college.
So the X's, the latchkeys, grew up hard. And when the X's didn't have the demographic numbers to be of interest to the politicos, or a pliable will that would bend to the socialists (remember how we used to denounce all things incorrect or stupid as "gay" for example) the idiot socialist boomers courted the millenials. They comprise better than double of the X's vote base anyways. And they've been inculated with all the diversity and inclusion that they can hold, amongst other voodoo socialist tripe, such as violence is wrong, feminized, ritalin injected and all solutions dervive from committee. SO now, all I hear at work, is how the "YOUTH" are going to fucking save us. The mini boomers. The replicants that arose from the pods that were planted. My ass.
It's coming down folks. All of it. Haircuts for all, austerity, end of times, 2012, peak oil. All at the same vanishing point. Logic says that it's unsustainable. Mathematics don't freakin lie. A debt that cannot be repaid won't. I've read it all here in the past 6 months, and it's spot on.
So let's pick teams, shirts and skins and get going, I'm sick of waiting. The socialist/libertarian divide works for me.
You get our generational zietgiest just right. The moonbats screwed the pooch. Only the old values of freedom could right the ship. Don't wait for them to be implemented, though.
"Sometimes if you want to see a change for the better, you have to take things into your own hands.”
Boomers are self-centered, myopic, and embedded with a sense of entitlement simply because of the psychological trauma incurred during their most formative stages of life. An entire generation of people who grew up under constant media fear-mongering threatening imminent, if not inevitable, incineration by atomic attack. As such the proclivity toward the proverbial 'living for the moment' is deeply seeded in the unconscious, a phenomenon that ultimately manifests itself in stunted emotional maturation. The net result is 'leadership decisions' by a generation of individuals that resembles what one would expect from young children- short-sightedness, tantrums (i.e. raise the debt ceiling / authorize the TARP / etc. or world ends), self-centered, etc. .
Are we devolved to promoting age warfare as well has class warfare?
How fucking pathetic you fucking asshole.
Bring it.
Exactly where is the promotion of generational warfare? Simply an observation. Agree or disagree with the premise, but it is your words that are couched in anger/frustration/etc.. Another stunted Boomer- drop and cover bitch, the Red Commies hate your freedumbs and only your school desk can save you now. LMAO.
Passive aggressiveness won't save you.
Bring it, Milton.
lol. The lower orders have always been easily herded and spooked into moving in this direction or that by the crudest of government propaganda. Just like a herd of cattle, the more frightened, the stronger the herding instinct. I'm not sure if the boomer generation is any different in that respect, although granted they did come of age when the "national security" bed wetter state was in full bloom.
You are right, intellectually. But it is fun to vent for us down in the engine room. My earlier post gives you a flavor of our life experiences.... I say, let's recognize that some "mistakes were made" and leave it at that. It's a real "bummer" to have to pay for one's student loans, and parents' mortgage, at the same time.
You remind me of my father. All bluff, bluster, then nicey-nicey when he begs me to pay his (second) mortgage arrearage. Spent his 40s and 50s pissing away his money on conspicuous consumption, now he's broke. He didn't step up to the plate with the tuition money when I was a sprout in college.... but is very skilled at grovelling for my life savings. The Boomers are locusts, they're going to eat everything before it's all over. Gen X, the fucked generation, that's us.
See, harmless venting. I'll share my soylent yellow with you, old-timer, when the circumstances demand it. This movie is better than "Earthquake!"
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Oh, the baby boomers made fine music. "This is the end, beautiful friend, the end..... of our elaborate plans, the end...."
I'm not old. I just like old folks, and I am meaner than a badger with sore teeth.
All those illegals you welcome? They like their old folks too.
Are you all total idiots?
I'm a young curmudgeon myself. Hell, we all are, that's why we're here. I was reading "The Spotlight" as a kid, funny how the "kooks" turned out to be right in *some* ways.....
FYI I don't welcome illegals. They've been welcomed, and there's more every day. They won't go away at the drop of a hat.
Blind generalizing ignoramus and liar or propaganda spewing tool?
Don't focus on the US FEDERAL RESERVE BANK and the racketeering swine of Wall St. whatever you do.
Americans had this odd notion that if you saved more than you spent, you actually got ahead in life.
Unfortunately, this simple yet critical concept is lost on the bulk of citizenry. Most of it is do to confusing wants with needs. If you make X, spend like you earn 50% of X and I can almost guarantee you smooth sailing ahead. Do the inverse and you will be F***ed with a capital F over time. It's applicable regardless of income level.
Or Soveriegnty status? <snark> Do you even have a PhD diploma?</snark>
No need for a PhD to know that debt = slavery.
Correction above: let's try "due" instead of "do".
1/2 snark, 1/2 honest question.
If you don't have debt, you can't write it off on your taxes. Or have some sovereign forgive your debt using either bankrupcy or bailouts.
Donald Trump is one of the most famous and wealthiest people in the world, and is currently leading the polls to be the leader/decision maker for one of the two major political parties in the USA.
Trump, ugh.
He is famous for screwing his companies' bondholders. MANY on Wall Street were screwed by the Donald. <--- Or is that a GOOD thing?
Ron Paul for me. Freedom and ethics work for me.
Interest expense is tax-deductible which is one of a plethora of flaws in the current U.S. tax code, but that is a whole separate discussion. No debt eliminates any opportunity for bankruptcy or a bailout from the state assuming you get one. It seems only available to a very select few.
I think infamous is the more accurate term when it comes to Donald Trump. I'm not sure if Trump is one of the wealthiest people in the world and is actual net worth has been subject to debate. Most of the "wealth creation" over the past thirty years is simply the result of a significant increase in public and private market debt outstanding. Trump was in the right place at the right time and has been a major beneficiary of this phenomenon. Remember, debt magnifies returns - to the upside and the downside.
Yep....
I do not see how debt (unless it is back taxes) has hurt anyone (downside) ever since they closed down the debtor prisons. Moral Hazard.
Boomers' biggest flaw? We did a stupendously shitty job of raising our children.
Evidently some did.
If you see your children being raped by a giant cocked monkey in a ronald mcdonald outfit, would you at least attempt to stop the monkey?
If your parents were children of the depression and raised you with penny pinching and grave warnings of debt, why did you ignore them?
Despite your misappropriations, are you still planning on spending your parents' money? Are you planning on defaulting on their entitlements even if they adequately paid into the system?
If you squander the resources of the world and ensure that upward mobility is an impossibility, then how you raised your children is largely immaterial...
LOL! Well said sir.
My father wore that USRV patch, before he wore MACV. Old school. He'd enjoy your statement too.
the real divide isn't by age, it's by citizen or barbarian. Citizens carry their own weight and contribute to the betterment of the whole. This used to be called philanthropy, but was twisted by upper echelon barbarians into a mandatatory robbery of productivity in the form of taxes. All in order to promulgate their continued existence as the upper echelon, by way of lower echelon barbarian vote farms funded by the very same taxes.
I know who the enemy is, I'm just waiting for best effect.
That dichotomy only works when structural unemployment doesn't disproportionately target lower age classes... [which was caused on boomer's watch/under their guidance]. What happens when a citizen cannot get a job despite trying or stagflationary pressures render his efforts fruitless? Is he then a barbarian? Is it a distinction of effort or success?
That targeted unemployment you mention was engineered by the socialists to crush the last of the productive by unduly burdening them with even more "social debt". That's why armloads of jobs went overseas in the 90's, setting up the table back then to run the balls today. It could also be why reliability and consumer confidence of US products went down the tubes... I'm thinking here of Japanese cars that got good mileage and didn't leak oil back in the 70's, things like that.
Now, since there's still a little bit of juice left in the citizens, the pulping continues through extensions of unemployment and manipulation of the markets. Using the unemployed as sandbags to weigh it all down. 401k and other sanctuaries will be looted next (and probably last, I'm hoping that's the final straw).
I'll give the old time socialists credit, they were patient and they did their long march very carefully and with minimal detection. I wonder if their boomer heirs have been as patient though? Hopefully they let greed push them along a little too fast and the wheels come off before they can cinch the deal. The sleepers might awaken then, realization might finally cut through the television sopophorics.
I refuse to believe in a complicated conspiracy when the entire endeavor can be explained through rudimentary self interest and a duty to provide return for shareholders. The simple fact is that the world became economically integrated... many barriers lifted... and labor could be had cheaper elsewhere...
As a Vietnam Combat veteran who made it through the meat grinder without daddy's help and obtained a PhD in Clinical Psychology after coming out, i can unequivocally state that the baby boomer generation is the most selfish, narcissistic collection of self-indulging whiners that ever existed. they are directly to blame for all this madness, and deserve everything they are going to get in the next few years...
So you include yourself? I'm sorry you have failed so miserably and I'm sorry for your clients.
SuperRay:
As the daughter of a Vietnam Vet (Tet Offensive 1968), I completely agree with your assessment.
Carry on.
Best,
~Misstrial
Do you include your dad?
You want to blame something for the end of the American dream? Blame the Fed and the Banksters -- none of what you are bitching about would have been possible without the FRN. 1913 Woodrow Wilson -- and he knew he'd sold us out. Get beyond your personal feelings and learn something.
So is it your position that at no time during the boomers' ascendency was the ship capable of being steered clear?
Obviously, for America's youth, the ship was too far gone to right... hell, we're still political afterthoughts.... but can you really say the same for boomers?
The last person who tried to do the right thing with respect to root of the problem, the FED, was JFK and they blew his brains out. Can you tell me what candidate since then has even addressed that core rot?
The boomers did raise enough hell to stop the Vietnam carnage. The boomers also answered the call in the 100s of thousands, drafted or volunteered, full of the the WWII patriotism they'd been pumped up with since birth and vast numbers had their lives pissed away by the "Great Generation" who cooked the conflict up.
Which boomer should we hate? The country boy who trusted his government and went to war like his forebearers? The protestor who saw it was pointless catastrophe. The protestors at least had the guts to protest until they were shot down in street. What have the youth of America done since to stop an unjust war?
Frankly I think it is less than useless to talk about generations. Let's look at the key institutions that created the terminally toxic, shrinking pond we find ourselves swimming in.
I think there is an important distinction to make... and it may be one I'm keenly aware to make given my profession, but I think it's important nonetheless... and that is from a position of attempting to defend our respective generations, mine was fucked before we were born... and yours had a chance to right the ship... we can disagree over the degree or scope of the boomers' ability to effectuate meaningful change, but this fact remains. As a result, actions to assess or lay blame upon a generation have eliminated the youth from the dubious distinction... not so much the boomers.
I disagree. Those who weren't killed or disabled in Vietnam, were screwed before we were out of our 20s and felt just powerless as you. The US FRN defaulted in the early 70s as a result of Johnson's Vietnam war and Great Society as a result inflation dug in and took off. Stagflation, oil crisis? Been there.
As I've said else where, and as a vet, no disrespect to vets, but our generation raised enough hell to get shot and killed stopping a war--and arguably stopped it. What did the next generation do about the Iraq invasion and the lies that led us into it?
Boomers are the Generals in Iraq and Afghanistan.
What did you do to stop the Iraq Invasion?
Too busy watching your 52 inch HDTV in your McMansion?
So your generation decided that if you can't beat them, join them? It's one thing to feel helpless... it's another to take the handoff from moral hazard and run it in for the touchdown, scoring one for the here and now team... while the future team shakes its head...
The fact is, you've got a pickle on your hands... and the changes in our future are for young, able bodied men to decide... I pity those who think that our labor will feed their mouthes... we will flip you the bird and not think a thing of it.
You people need a new sheriff.
Jim Quinn needs his nookie.
The only "nookie" SmokeyQuinn ever gets is when he goes out into his sheep shit paddock and forces himself on his favorite old fat ewe, who he has affectionately named.
He moans to her softly... "Avalon... oh Avalon"... as he does his daily bestiality ritual on her.
"Do I feel lucky?' Well do ya, Ben?"
Bens got the 45 printer, cause they don't make a 46....
+1 Ghost.
That's not Dobie Gillis. That's Maynard G. Krebs, bitchez.
America's problems were not caused by an entire generation or a single generation. This kind of thinking is being promoted to keep America divided. It is also intended as a way to justify on Boomer's social security benefits. Facile and shallow thinking. I cannot wait for some politician to try and take this side of this "debate" in public.
Exactly. Well said.
Huge contribution to the debate. It might be the most intelligent post of your pathetic life.
Are you paying for posting privileges at ZH? Your articles are simply awful. Please cancel parts 2 -4. And refrain from the sophomoric comments. It destroys what little credibility you wish you had.
++++++++++!!!!!!
Really. This fuckwad's comments only demonstrate that he indeed is the moron who wrote the article.
This article is total junk. Boomers didn't grow up or live in a vacuum. There has been 100 years of generational stupidity to go around, but Quinn has a hair up his ass for those who were in positions of responsibility for one-fifth of that 100 years. Fuck off, seriously.
Let's drop some names -
Woodrow Wilson - Boomer ? Uh, no.
JP Morgan - Boomer ? Uhhhh, that would also be a no.
How about all those CEOs of the defense industry that Eisenhower warned us about in 1960 - Boomers ? Thought not...
Cheney ? Carter ? Greenspan ? Reagan ? Bush Sr ? McCain ? Weill ? LBJ ? Nixon ? Hoover ? FDR ? Barney Frank ? Robert Rubin ? That would be a big fat no - no Boomers in that crowd.
How about the Framers, who allowed articles concerning taxation, commerce and general welfare to be included in the Costitution ? Pretty sure no Boomers there...
Let's get more recent. Obama ? NOT a Boomer, yet more destructive than any Boomer to date in any political office. How about Tom Miller, the sellout Iowa AG ? Nope, not a Boomer either.
Hey, I'm having a hard time here proving that ONLY Boomers were complicit in financial rape and pillage. Damn, this is hard work !
Get the point, idiot ? Only a brain-dead midget would place the blame of the sorry state of this country solely on the Boomers. Get over yourself asshole, and stop trying to compensate for your tiny dick by blaming others.
There's plenty of blame we can assign - aiming at one generation leaves out a whole chunk of guilty parties. Are you a Bankster apologist, or a sheriff ? You won't "get your man" if you're looking in all the wrong places.
skipjack:
That pretty well sums up SmokeyQuinn in all his manifest triteness.
But... add in the fact that he is also a 9-11Moron and you got another "idiot" clogging up the web with four parts of meaningless crap.
Bah Bah Bah
Aw... now ain't you my sweet little bitch/troll!
ZH people are trashing this recent drivel and you take a spare moment posting like an idiot to other ZH commenters and honour my short missive, which by the way was not even addressed to you.
I see you have regained some of your limited sanity and killed off your alias 'Smokey' under which you commented, then lied about for so long, over at your pathetic little racist blog @ www.TheBestialityPlatform.com .
Now you are taking lessons in creative writing from RE and plan to post three more installments of this BS on ZH. Well bring it on. I just love to see the depths of your stupidity displayed in public for all to witness.
Maybe someday soon you will enlighten everyone on the subject of 9-11. You can then delve deeply into mystical magic and numerous miracles and Hollywood versions of reality.
...............................................................
"Bah Bah Bah" !!!
What's that you hear?
Your favorite fat ewe, Avalon, bleating... crying out in pain in your sheepshit paddock. Best you be leaving off with that sick and perverse dirty habit of daily bestiality on her before the SPCA gets wind of your filthy obsessions.
Back to the barn you inbred mogoloid.
Must be getting pretty shitty in that pea brain of yours... can not even spell properly.
Your birth certificate reads 'Mongoloid' .
There is a button for spell check on ZH... Moron !
I should have known you would know how to spell mongoloid.
Did you get the part of the banjo player in Deliverance 2?
SmokeyQuinn my own personal retarded troll. I'm flattered.
Welcome back for some more bitch slapping.
Why don't you tell the nice folks on ZH how I outed you as a LIAR and RACIST and a 9-11-IDIOT over a year ago.
You have never publicly denied anything ... have you?
Best you hustle on back to your MORON blog and start to delete and clean up lots of that shit you wrote that is still hanging around to prove me correct.
But not to worry! I have some of your deleted rants all nice and safely stashed here on ZH.
Let's see... What ever happened to your 30 Blocks of Squalor racist threads?
Oh... here they are... right where I left them before you deleted them off your blog.
#495628
A great place to start your research on SmokeyQuinn for any ZH people interested in learning more about the true nature of this little man's mind, his obsessive love of bestiality, obscenity and his outright racism.
#577149
I'm curious to see just how indepth he goes. Not that I'm any expert by any stretch of the imagination but if someone is going to tackle a subject like the history of our global monetary mess, they better have done their homework! Why he would start off a 4 part article about money problems bashing baby boomers has me confused? Baby boomers such as the infamous Gordon Gekko are a product of the ideology that is installed through our institutions, which is use the system to take advantage of the masses of ignorance.
FWIW LaRouche calls them the '68ers. People can find out more about the 'ideology' of this generation from him as well. If you are interested in such a viewpoint and Quinn hasn't satiated your tastebuds enough of it, try there.
It's about mindset, and this generation has been exactly what Quinn/LaRouche speak on the subject.
As said in the article above, there are exceptions to the generalized, generational rule, but as a whole, this mindset coupled with the enabling of the Federal Reserve and fraudulent crony monetarism, and marketing favorite 'globalization" as opposed to it's real name (and why it needed a marketing facelift from the banksters) IMPERIALISM, is the dynamic that brought us here.
Make no mistake, Obama while generationally outside of the boomers, timewise, goes down the same path with his policies (as well as basically the entirety of our politicians), and thus could easily be included. Any politician that goes down this print and/or cut for fraud pathway would also be going down that path of the boomer/'68er bullshit believers.
This is the same mindest that with their 'money thinking' took us down the road to ruin by saying.....
No to manufacturing, machine tools
No to protecting jobs, outsource it all, or hire undocumented workers
No to space, we can send satellites, and skimping on those
No to fusion, we can use oil/gas until bunk solar/wind happen to save the day (never happening)
No to science (except faux we need to change everything to stop natural global warming/cooling cycle idiots), instead of adapting to said changes, and using actual science to figure out better ways to do things...we just have to live like aborigines they told us....not them of course....us.
No to actual medical advances, yes to symptom masking pills....the colors..the colors...what am I sick with? who cares.
No to small business, yes to corporations, consolidations, and TBTF's. Yes to the bullshit Silicon Valley Wall Street model.
No more schooling to instill knowledge, just more testing so they can feel better or throw down the fascist hammer and make things worse..again to the detriment of the student.
No to infrastructure, except regular roads for their SUV's filled with 1-2 people.
Yes to the weakening, and later repealing of Glass-Steagall.
Yes to the cradle to grave marketing about everything, everywhere, all the time. Happy meals, diet soda, new age candles to retreats (how about those deaths at a retreat in Sedona), liposuction (good soap), financial modelling and probability, 'no one ever loses, everyone is a winner' sophistry, hell you could even say 'live life to your own sophistry' just make up your own rules.
The list is endless. It is a generational mindset, but it isn't solely limited to it. The disease is rampant in boomers, and they're always trying to infect more....and not just here, but around the world in suckering other nations to buy into their crap metaphorically in ideology and literally in finances/system setup (under the American banner that it isn't, but they're using our name).
They are even going to hand over their wealth to the banks instead of their children...see reverse mortgages.
Or the J.G. Wentworth....it's my money and I need it now. Forget those payments, get all the cash now, and pay off your fed reserve inflated (and due to lack of wage growth) debts.
But while some of the following generations do buy into it, many are scoffing at it, and that trend won't change, it will only get stronger and immunize it from the boomers/'68ers dying death grip on fantasyland and it's even more insane attempts to preserve fantasyland via more federal reserve and keynesian/austrian sophistry.
Glass-Steagall wipes away their fantasy
We all see the debt, but is it legitimate? Nope. So cancel it.
Why latch onto any sophistry that tells you....cut to pay off fraud, or print to pay off fraud? It's just more boomer sophistry. Or boomer bullshit. Cut or print to pay off THEIR debt.
We shouldn't be cutting needed services, and neglecting the science drivers of our economy as the only real way to progress out of this overall mess through not doing any of it. (mag-lev, nawapa, nasa, fusion, machine tools, etc)
We should be cutting the fraud, and spending on science drivers as listed above. That's a true path forward. Forget the boomer's anti-progress bandwagon.
You have to have the CORRECT metrics, not just something called one. Like balanced budget, or deficit. As if $1 in bailout debt is equal to $1 of mag-lev debt. But since you just look at a NUMBER with those things, it's easy to cut the wrong items.
You need to stop the wars, stop the bailouts, cancel the fraud (which makes up the debt), and spend on endeavours that will yield the desired results for the betterment of mankind and thus of course, us as Americans. Tangible benefits. Water, energy, scientific discoveries, ability to tap unlimited resources, logistical efficiency, putting millions back to work *or coming soon, a generation that never worked...not counting fast food type jobs*, etc.
The Boomers/'68ers...the generation that completely jumped the shark, fed the bull, and ate the bullshit. So much so, they served it to everyone as American Apple Pie to their children, grandchildren, and the world. Someone should sue them for not having a 'product contains no fruit' label on the package. But those that ditch that mentality, or never had it, aren't included, however, as one clearly knows, when it comes to the boomers, very few would qualify for such an exemption. It's the mentality that infects most boomers, and while the name isn't perfect, it is close enough to be named to that age bracket. Since when did any social definition cover everything perfectly? So in that sense, who cares if it isn't a perfect definition? It depicts what it needs to, and people who are not a part of that mindset, but are of that age bracket, should ditch that label ASAP. It's easy, start saying yeah, but I don't think in that old, tired, idiot way. Hell LaRouche is part of the GI generation, yet is he thinking like a boomer? Hell no. It doesn't need to be perfect, but there has to be the definition, and sane minds can notice the nuance that not everybody is a part of it. But there are also many that don't think they are (because in some ways they aren't), but still are (in other ways that are)...but that's a different topic, for another time. Fuck the sophistry.
The difference between the pre-boomers and now is this. The people back then, didn't have the boomer mindset. We have what we have (way worse than great depression) because the current boomer/'68er mindset, is just what they Federal Reserve was created for. A time when it's people matched the thinking of the '68er, which is not historically knew...usually it's talked about as decadence in old societes like Rome. Fuck their sophistry.
Glass-Steagall
"Let's get more recent. Obama ? NOT a Boomer, yet more destructive than any Boomer to date in any political office. How about Tom Miller, the sellout Iowa AG ? Nope, not a Boomer either."
Not to worry. Gen X & Y will set it all right. LOL.
I don't like the boomers either. My mother in law, father in law, mother and father are all boomers. All different philosophical and political views. All of them are greedy me first people. If the SHTF, only one is welcome in my house. The rest can GFYAD.
The decisions made by the Baby Boomer generation were, if anything, caused by the progressive education system with it's emphasis on the nanny state well in place long before WWII. That the majority failed to correct their thinking is their part in the guilt. Whatever hope we have also comes from, and has come from, those minority Boomers who espoused Liberterianism, Conservatism, and the Objectivism of Ayn Rand.
However, it was not the Boomers who put Obama the Socialist into office -- but the generation coming into power replacing those Boomers.
So there's blame to go around.
I leave you poor youngin's with a crocodile tear and this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g30nwCpyaA
Boomer music still rocks.
It is not a coincidence the National Debt growth has far outstripped GDP growth since 1980. Boomers had been spoiled their whole lives and felt they deserved the goodies today while passing the bill to future generations.
Eh - generational warfare, another marxist re-direction. The money went to SocSec (boomer parents), to schools (for the boomer's kids), and to welfare and foreign aid. It hasn't (yet) been spent a lot on the working boomers. It was misdirected empathy, not self-interest.
This is not a generational thing. This is a marxist thing. It was the marxist thread in education (started long before the boomers, see John Dewey) that ruined the public schools. The self-feeding, self-aggandizement tendencys of politicians and government desk jockeys has a permanence across the centuries that has nothing to do with a single generation.
The average age of American billionaire in the top 100 is 67, the median 68. The people that shaped this country's economic and political direction are those born during the WWII or immediately after. However, to a large extent, this country direction and trickle down theories of low taxation, deficit spending and borrowing at low rates was put into effect by Ronald Reagan 1911, Alan Greenspan 1926, Paul Volcker 1927, Robert Rubin 1938, Pete Peterson 1926, Steven Schwarzmann 1947, and Ken Lay 1942 etc. How about Mozilo, oh he was born before WWII in 1938. How about our "business icon" Jack Welch from GE, 1935. How about our MSM mogul Rupert Murdoch, 1931.
None of these individuals can be remotely called boomers. In fact, looking again at the list of the richest men, few can be even considered boomers. There is also a growing list of billionaries in their 30s.
The boomer generation is just taking power. Quinn your research is "JUNK."
It is funny that overall he's talking about a mindset within a generation, so somehow, when people outside of that generation (but with the same mindset) are talked about, somehow it negates the overall principle of the mindset? The mindset is more important than the label, but the label that is fairly accurate in its description, somehow negates the principle?
It's amazing. He's wrong, because he labelled the generation who bought into the bullshit the most, and setup our current fuckups, either by being in power, or just underneath it, but since others also are involved, it isn't true?
That's just asinine. It was the BOOMERS/'68er mentality that got us here. It's just that before that sorry generation, there wasn't a generation that was THAT COLLECTIVELY taking it up the ass and asking for more....and going 'hey kids, try this!'
Sorry, the name fits, even if it isn't 100 percent true. Because the principle that underlies it, that mentality, is the focus.
People got to get over the inclusion by date of birth factor. The more important thing to be concerned with...is if you mindset warrants inclusion.
But lets all argue about the label, instead of the principle. Follow the sophistry argument and attack on those bullshit grounds. Sounds like a '68er mindset's response to me.
But don't worry, that generation won't last much longer in power. This crisis period is their last call and their last chance. When they are dead/incapacitated, there won't be any way for them to change the living people's minds then. So what does their body of work point to again? Abject failure, and it was their (and others' liked minded) mindsets that was just as instrumental as the federal reserve itself in what has transpired.
Good day to all, and hopefully some ditch their loser generational mindset, it ain't worth keeping. In the end, their generational title may be switched to the 'buster' generation, as in economics and social status. What busters! And it was all capable due to their fucked up mindset.
I call bunk 88. It wasn't the boomers that voted Nixon and Johnson into power. The two of them set the stage for where we are now. We know it is easy to try to pick convenient scapegoats but do your homework first. I for one do not want to pick on the 'greatest generation' either. I believe they voted the folks into power that they thought would do a good job. But, you know what they say about good intentions......
It's been over 40 years since Nixon and Johnson. Boomers had the power, the time and the numbers to change the country. They fucked up. They will go down in history as the generation that destroyed America.
Look in the mirror and stop blaming dead men.
How come your generation hasn't fixed it all? Stop blaming old men.
Maybe you should read his post. He clearly explains which generation sits in congress etc.
I read his bullshit post, thanks and his childish trolling replies. I replied several times.
The issue isn't generations, it's institutions. It's not who is in Congress, it's the system which ensures they will be either corrupt or ineffectual. Beneath it all is the Fed and the toxic fiat money system.
As old as history: "the circumstances made me do it!"
"There is no better picture of Boomer decadence and myopia than an historical view of the national savings rate."
I'm not a boomer, but mischaracterizing a generation based on popular culture sterotypes is just making noise by banging your spoon on your high chair....
Boomers were told SS was a 15% savings plan for their old age and retirement. Medicare was another coerced savings plan for healthcare in retirement. Boomers paid into both and still are. This is an admission it's a myth. Add the 15% SS and the medicare witholdings back into the savings rate and see what savings rate you get.... shouldn't the savings rate especially count when the government is there watching and protecting it for you?
Unless, of course, it's all a lie by the social welfare state determined to confiscate and misallocate private wealth. Where's that Trust Fund lock box? China has a 35% savings rate because they don't have a social security "trust fund" for people to fall back on, so they do it themsleves. China is even telling their people to stockpile PMs for themselves. If our government really cared about us they'd be telling us to do the same.
Milton friedman was right, Americans would have been better off without SS and Medicare to be confiscated by an irresponsible US government (multigenerational) backed up by corrupt mass media.
"Boomers were told SS was a 15% savings plan for their old age and retirement."
Perfect statement to represent the pure and utter stupidity of Boomer mentality. You were told that your retirement was taken care of, so you didn't save a fucking dime.
Maybe you assholes should have used your fucking brains rather than believing what you were told.
Your a dumbass squared. Thanks for posting and proving my article was too lenient on you numbskulls.
He said he wasn't a boomer, dickbreath. Are you able to read English? I know you can't write it, but still.
WOW. great banter today. Pt 1 article is good and spot on--however their is plenty of blame left to spread on both the Silent Generation that proceeded and the 13th (X) Gen that followed. (Even the old GI generation is partly to blame obviously) Our experiment, this Republic, is entering ANOTHER winter season.Time of upheaval. {Happens about every 80 years} And each & every generation will have to do its part so that the current crop of young folks have a world to inhabit after this crisis passes. As an "X"er, I have grown up in a USA of ever declining standard of living. But I have it better than most on this planet by virtue of simply living in this great republic. I trust that my generation will be the pragmatic voice of common sense as we take the helm from the boomers in the decade ahead. ZH is a start.
The best book recommendation I ever got from the fine folks here at ZH was "The Fourth Turning" by Strauss & Howe. I highly recommend it as a wonderful source on the topic of mankind's generational history.
I love the smell of Boomer indignation and denial in the morning. It smells like epic failure.
Bring it you Boomer bitchez!!!!
Do your homework....then perhaps you can dispense with the sweeping generalizations.
Look in the mirror Boomer.
Your article makes some valid points, but your responses to some legitimate criticism here on this message board are juvenile and inane. Since I am a member of the boomer generation you hate so much you probably don't care, but your idiocy on this message board made me lose any respect I might have had for you after reading your article.
I'll try to recover from the devastation of losing your respect.
May I ask what generation produced a miserable little piece of shit like you?
Go fuck yourself and your mother Tricky Dicky.
You anonymous trolls aren't worth shit.
Considering the garbage you produce, Jim, you'd be better off if you were anonymous.
Why should he start now? It's the boomer's fault he's ignorant and lazy.