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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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Classic Boomer reaction. You are incapable of refuting my article with facts, so you resort to ad hominem attacks.
I'm glad to see I get under your skin, you fuckwad.
Hey Jim you seem pretty pissed. Take it to the streets like we did. If you are still standing after they kill your leaders let's talk.
Give it up dude. That was 45 years ago. What have you done lately?
I am not sure that it is strictly a boomer phenomenon, I think is more of a symptom of the current entitled attitude that will change when the ponzi collapses!
By Young has it exactly right above. Doesn't matter who you vote for (not that anyone I've voted for won). Blame the boomer sheep or the sheepherders? The amounts of money made on drugs since the mid 1950s have bought the entire NY Stock Exchange and everything else too. In the 60s I thought we would outlive the ruling elite. Duh, didnt happen! Again: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Criminals have run things like forever, the boomer sheep are putty in their hands.
As well as every other generation.
zero zero zero hedge on the wall, who's the saddest of them all
buck owens -
Mirror mirror on the wall who's the saddest of them all
But I don't have to see I know it's gotta be me
Every time the wind blows at my window I rush to see if it's you at my door
And the sadness fill the rooms when you're not standin' there
And I wish that I could walk right through the floor
Mirror mirror on the wall...
[ steel ]
Every night in dreams you torment me as I remember things I should forget
And the sun comes up by and a new day's dawnin'
I rise to defend Boomers.
While it is true that many of the politicians who brought us to this point are of Boomer age, it is not true that as a generation we pushed for increased entitlements. These were brought forth on the perception that our parents wanted and demanded them. They were pushed on us by a government determined to increase it's usefullness and to create dependence upon that government.
We worked and paid our 15.2% (social security and Medicare taxes 7.5 from us 7.5 from our employer (both halves from us if we were self-employed). We thereby essentially supported our parents who had themselves not paid in very much at all. If we deserve to be chastised it is for passivity in having the whole cradle to grave security thing heaped upon us. In reality there was never an outcry to have these things given to us. I at least saw them as benefits for our parents. We should have spoken out, yes, but it was not the Boomers who demanded this demented entitlement morass we are in.
In the end I ask why are you so hostile to Boomers? I agree as a generation we did some pretty stupid things but in some ways we did what every generation has done. We supported our parents. The difference between us and earlier generations is that we did it by an indirect financial method (paying taxes and having the benefit of those taxes transferred to our parents). Hostility towards Boomers does little to solve any problems and ultimately we are as likely as screwed as the rest of the population as we face the coming troubles.
You have to be careful to not mix up "did not push for craziness" with "did something to prevent the insanity".
Aside from the fact that presuming the boomers did just want to help out their parents, the boomers have put their children in a position where even if the younger generations decide to adopt this same philosophy, they're physically incapable of doing so given economic deterioration or, at the very least, without significant declines in the standard of living/entitlements.
A people is defined by the sacrifices it must make for the future. Similarly, a people that has to live through hard times learns life's valuable lesssons. The boomers have no concept of this. Their moral compass is skewed. The "Grapes of Wrath" is thought to be a bad Merlot with too many sulphites.
Sauve qui peut...
What sacrifice did we make in the face of 9/11? We were told to go shopping while our rights were taken away in the name of security. As long as the latest gadget or consumer piece of shit was to be had, all was fine. There was always somebody else to pay the freight.
Now we have piled up debt until the system is all but crushed...
Great rant - Dennis Miller quality. Every generation plays a role but the end game of the boomers is really shitty. All the good stuff just came at too high a price. Societal promises are only as good as the future generations ability to pay them - nobody ever figures on leaving any wiggle room for shit nobody was thinking about. Then, you spend more than you should....but wait, theres more! - you finance your generous promises to "yourself". Thank you for playing "AMERICA". Now we're where we are and it just sucks.
Goddam drivel, that's not Dobie Gillis, that's fuckin' Maynard Krebs.
Kids these days got no cultural literacy.
GET OFFA MY LAWN!
(PS: grow a sense of humor, Quinnbo, you bitch.)
Don't trust anyone under 30!
<sarc on>
Don't blame the debt orgy on Boomers. Reagan was no boomer. He started it all. Boomers actually saved huge amounts - but not the amounts the government wants to tabulate. Because of inflation, corruption in Wall Street, and low interest rates boomers would have been fools to have passbook savings acounts, stocks and savings bonds. Meanwhile the government declares that the 12% of income mandated away for Social Security is not savings.
With every avenue of savings blocked by the old guard, boomers instead opted for socking away their money in real estate. They could retire on the equity someday. Many drove old cars and lived like cave men so that they could put their life savings into real estate.
Jim Quinn, don't blame the people for their corrupt government. They have no choice in the matter.
"don't blame the people for their corrupt government. They have no choice in the matter."
That might be the stupidest fucking statement I've ever read. Who elected the politicians that promised more than they could ever deliver?
Reagan is dead. LBJ has been dead for 40 years. FDR has been dead for 65 years.
When will you Boomers stop blaming dead people. You control 60% of Congress and do nothing.
I presume you are old enough to hold office or possibly connected with someone who would be interested in holding office. In fact I hope that your generation begins to speak out and form new political platforms.
Until you commit your disdain for what has happened into a positive force for change you are no better than the people you are pointing your finger at.
If you are pissed about being duped by the hope and change that was sold to your generation do something about it.
I believe many Boomers tried to do something about it in the 60's but we really got the shit kicked out of us it was not pretty. Unfortunately many gave up and joined in lies, deception, corruption, and immorality of American business and politics. Some went into politics but were marginalized as extremists.
I am currently unemployed because I choose to follow the words of MLK
Your life begins to end the day you do not speak up about things that matter.
Bashing a generation of people does not fall into the realm of speaking up about what matters.
It does though... simply because the mob acts upon generalities... and generations make good scapegoats. Further, so long as there is a standoff to discuss the perilous situation our youth have been placed, I suspect the likelihood of becoming a scapegoat grows. It's time to open the matter for discourse rather than wither in denial.
Nobody elected any of those bastards since LBJ at least. They were appointed by the SOBs like the Dulles brothers that own and run this fucked up place. If you can't see that you're beyond hope and you should work on getting a life. Get back in the flock and see if you can't get closer to the head of the line at the slaughter house pal. American elections are a farce just like the Soviet ones.
We have here two wonderful candidates for your selection pleasure. They have been selected by your country's owners'. We are sure you will find that one of them will fuck you like you've never been fucked before. Have a nice day!
the two most irresponsible boomers were : GWB and WJC. No running away from that. They were in the top job and they shaped this current mess. They could have stemmed the WS ponzi. They both first helped make it then fed it totally. Oh'Bama is just a WS patsy who doesn't want to end up like : Abe L and JFK. Who can blame him...It was too late when he was elected. He didn't have the guts to stop the rot from getting worse.
So Humpty Dumpty must now fall...Look on to the solution after the fall...learn from the past. Humble pie time.
Eh, shouldn't "A Fistful Of Dollars" have been part 1?
dup
Can we have a nice article on religion next?
I really want to blame the peruvian shamans; sons-a-bitches, all!
Or maybe which state is to blame most. I pick Iowa.
Yeah, really. Enough of this punk troll.
Have you ever made a worthwhile post on ZH or do you just like to see your fake name in print? It probably makes you think you are smart. Guess what? You're drivel is mind numbingly worthless.
You have some intergenerational issues of your own, I suspect. I suggest you get some help sorting them out.
I think your intergenerational issues involve your parents being first cousins.
Seriously, Quinn, just put a sock in it.
No room left in his ass, his daddy's cock is too big.
Bike Boy
Have you ever said anything useful on this site. I think Tricky Dick down below wants to pump you up with his 2 inch baby dick.
I don't think it's that small, Jim, but if you'll take it out of your mouth for a second we can measure it.
Debating anonymous mongoloid trolls like yourself is like having a conversation with a retarded shit eating monkey.
You fuckwads are taken aback when I call you on your moronic responses to my articles.
Another delusional Boomer in denial.
Moronic articles deserve moronic responses. Your article and our responses are proof of this incontrovertible fact.
Yeah Tricky
That is why every article I write gets picked up by Zero Hedge, Financial Sense, Minyanville, Dollar Collapse, Jesse's Cafe Americain, Market Oracle, and twenty other sites.
I'm sure people come to ZH to read your wise comments. Enjoy your pathetic worthless life.
"...twenty other sites..."
Name them! Liar!
Got your sorry ass booted off Seeking Alpha for your obscene and stupid bestiality comments... did you not?
Those others just pick up your articles because they feel sorry for you and so they can have filler on a slow day plus get a good laugh at your expense.
Not to mention all the site hits refuting your BS.
Would you mind listing the twenty other sites so I can avoid them, as well? Thank you in advance.
I know you are a moron, but ry googling the name of this article and my name and you willget three to four pages of the sites.
David Pierre is a parasite that can no longer post his mindless 9/11 drivel on my site, so he needs to troll ZH and desperately latch onto every article I publish. He has such a miserable pathetic life as a draft dodging traitor living in Canada, that he practically foams at the mouth while typing away on his keyboard.
Clean that spittle off the keyboard David Pierre. Back to the barn where you belong.
Hmm...he doesn't get sarcasm, apparently has no sense of humor. Let me respond in a way he will understand:
I'm rubber, you're glue. Everything you say bounces off me and sticks to you!
Your stuff is counter-productive; completely unuseful. Just STFU already.
I think that the boomers' attitudes towards savings and debt were shaped by the inflation of the 70's. They saw their parents buy homes in the late 60's and early 70's and watched as inflation drove up the values of the homes as well as their parents salaries during the 70s and early 80s, while the mortgage on the house remained constant. The takeaway message: debt is good, buy the biggest home that you can!
Also they watched as inflation destroyed the value of the money that their grandparents had so carefully saved in bank accounts, bonds, and insurance policies. The takeaway message: saving is for suckers.
The twist is that boomers' financial instincts were shaped by the high inflation of the seventies. But inflation has been mild for the past few decades. So the boomers now find themselves in a bind. Inflation has not washed away their debts, nor has it puffed up the values of their assets.
Not to worry however! Inflation will arrive with a vengence in the next decade or two. Gen X'ers beware!
Some actual thought is helpful. Thanks.
Those of the GREAT GENERATION who engineered the culmination of the whole mess, retired and lived out their lives with SS and defined benefit pensions, then added medicare to boot. Working boomers have paid for it for 40 years and most still do. Many cared for and buried their folks by now and many went into hock to send their kids to school
I mean if you want to get generational about it . . . I don't think it's a very useful way to think, unless you are making observations rather than judgements . . . but if you are thinking that way it might be useful to de-mythologize grandpa a bit and consider the effects of the WWII near total State had on the Great Generation. The implicit fear of State authority was palpable in that generation as was the mass consumption of cigarettes and booze -- lots of self indulgence and self-medication for PTSD combat troops. And lots of carryover of war time "morality," with respect to the crimes of authority, perogatives of power and the indulgence of personal appetite as well.
They are the generation that lived high on the hog in the only surviving intact industrial society in the world. Corporations became fat, bizarre and dysfunctional as all systems do when insulated from feedback (competition being the dependable source of business feedback). A factory worker could support a wife and family on one income--not because they were morally superior but because the US owned the world markets and had real gold backed currency.
The middle class kids I knew all worked in the summer: mowed lawns, delivered news papers then landscaping, janitor work, whatever. No work, no gas for the beat up hand me down VW Beetle. Wanna play Little League? Ride your bike to every practice and game. How it was, that's all. Fortunate to be well fed in this world but hardly spoiled.
A completely one-sided view of things.
What do you think how much X'ers have paid and will pay into SS and medicare? For how many X'ers has it become utterly impossible to give their kids a debt-free education??
It all fell apart because we were too busy with this stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EXKus7OUOs&feature=fvsr
This sounds like a poster child for the Hitler Youth
So how does Nixon taking the US off the gold standard, Carter unleashing deregulation, and Reagan running deficits to the chagrin of Boomer Stockman fit into this neat little generational analysis ?
Quinn's conceptual framework is cyclic, and essentially deterministic. So what sense does it make to excoriate one specific generation ?
Good point, but he tends to speak from both sides of the issue.
Nice try, but boomer are not a homgenious group, they don't act as one and it's stupid to blam it on 'boomers'! Since there are large numbers of boomers there are naturaly more of every type of person within the age group.
Quinn's data is very misleading. There are currently 62 members of US Senate that were born in 1945 or later but, there are only 36 members that were born in 1951 or later. Out of those members only 5 were in the Senate since 2001.
Only 15 members of US Senate born in 1945 or after are serving in the Senate since 2001. However, there are 30 members in US Senate that were born before 1945 that are still in the US Senate since 2001.
Moreover, since 1980, only one boomer Bill First(1952) severed as a Senate Majority leader and that was for mere 4 years. As I had said before, it's those that were born during the war years or immediately thereafter who control both the economic and political spheres; look at the ages of US billionaires.
My data is absolutely correct. I notice you ignored the House because the data doesn't fit your preconceived ideology. Boomers have been in control of government and corporate America since the early 1990s and have steered the country directly into the iceberg.
Keep blaming Presidents that have been dead for decades.
I really enjoy a lot of Jim Quinn's writing and consider him a true patriot! As a boomer that missed the boom I can share some of his animosity toward the extravagant, wastrel, boomer generation. But wait! My last job was 35 years as a supervisor in a big oil related corporation. My wife taught grade school. Together we made a living and paid off the mortgage on a very small ranch in a nice neighborhood after 25 years. There was never enough money though. I lived cheap and would have lived even cheaper if I could have reined in the wife and daughters a bit more. We took 3 low-cost vacations in that time. Cell phones only while the girls were in college. I hope to take those monumental parent plus loans to my grave. I always saw full service on my autos, the last one, a Chevy by the way, lasted 14 years (just starting to rust!) ..and then I clunkered it on a Prius. Cable TV is an indulgence and almost worthless today and I would put it on the chopping block in a heartbeart. That wonderful, company defined benefits pension evaporated over the years and is now worth about $300 a month. Social security is coming up in a few months and I hope to get a year or two out of it before it folds or the dollar devaluation makes it worthless. I am in survivalist mode now with guns, gold and gardening! Ha! Now that my daughters have graduated college and grown up I no longer worry about it. If someone asked me what I did with my life I would have to say I raised two fine daughters and worked 6 days a week. In my opinion the people that raised families in the fifties and sixties had the best lifestyles.
I think Jim's problem might be that he works and lives around a bunch of affluent, mindless boomers that seem immune to the present economy. They are ignorant of the hammer blow coming their way and seem to deserve no better. This will change soon.
Jim cares deeply about the future of his children and blames the boomers for robbing their generation. His deep (and blind) anger toward the boomers stems from this love of his children. Never mess with a person's kids or dogs!
In his mind, the sheer size of the boomer generation gave them the control of the vote and the future of the country and he believes they have squandered the future of America on fat-assed self-indulgence. Of course this is partially true, but not the whole picture as several posters above have eloquently stated.
It appears youth today has a grim future and future generations possibly worse. Let's hope that when that last crust of bread is to be eaten, it is given to the children.
Is Quinn part of the monster's misinformation/propoganda campaign? This was the most simplistic piece of shit I've ever seen posted on ZH. So now we start quarreling amongst ourselves about which generation instigated this shit storm? Seems to me just a different version of Blue vs. Red, Right vs. Left, Coke vs. Pepsi etc. Most people throughout the generational spectrums are guilty of making deals with the devil so they can live larger than they could afford. We need to be pulling together to fight the common enemy (the elites) and stop pointing fingers at each other. We don't have the luxury of this bullshit anymore. Time is running out.
This article is just an attempt to divide Americans. To shift the focus from real problems. Fortunately the author has a shallow argument and zero credibility, so no harm done.
Bike boy posts 46 comments on this thread and not one original thought. Do you get paid per comment or is your life so pathetic that you can troll all day long saying nothing?
I guess the bike repair business is a little slow.
Original thought? When have you had one? I can't wait until you break the news about the FED and Jekyll Island.
Well, Jim, you did one. It's not the same, not like the Japan article we arggued about, nor the way EU is talked about and analyzed, but you did one so whether I agree on the take you have is not relevant.
At least it's something, so acknowledged and accepted as such. Look forward to reading part two--although part 3 should be the best, because that's the best movie