Confessions of a Boomer
To be born a Baby Boomer has meant that -- from elementary school to retirement parties -- everything has been crowded in a messy, but hopeful way. We’ve had healthy self-esteem because all our lives we’ve been important to everyone from politicians to advertisers. Now that those retirement parties are reaching 10,000 per day, however, some folks are not so happy to have us around.
It pains me to have young people complaining about selfish Boomers. The complaint is fair in some ways and unfair in others. Most programs that are now insolvent were started by our parents’ generation and have more or less worked for them, because there were so many of us working to pay the bill. Boomers, however, had far fewer children. I’ve heard Boomer friends say that they would have had more children but for talk of overpopulation in their youth; or that their reproductive lives took a hit when divorce became fashionable in the wake of the sexual revolution. In general, however, birth rates plummet as the standard of living rises -- which is to say that Boomers are not more or less selfish than other generations, but that our place in history has resulted in fewer births and a subsequent generational squeeze.
It is becoming clearer and clearer that the nation can’t afford the entitlements promised to Boomers. We are caught between a rock and a hard place, however, because -- though the economic collapse and endless QEs have decimated our savings and retirement accounts and made pensions increasingly impossible to pay -- our plans to work longer to recoup these losses earn us resentment from young people desperate for jobs. We actually sympathize more than they know—many of us attempted to enter the workforce in the Carter years and experienced the same bleak conditions. And, of course, many of these young people searching for work are our beloved children.
My economist son, still young and idealistic, is disgusted with both parties this election because they can’t tell the truth about entitlements to Boomers, who vote in high numbers. There is some truth in this charge, but I contend that everyone understands that during elections it is necessary to heed Emily Dickinson’s admonition to “tell the truth, but tell it slant.” In other words, you have to get elected before you can fix anything.
Most Boomers know that the resources aren’t there to keep all the promises made to them, but at the same time have planned their lives around those promises and, of course, paid into the system. The Democrats aren’t dealing with these realities in any way, but the Romney/Ryan ticket is promising to keep entitlements the same for those over 55 (except for wealthier seniors). With the increase in longevity since entitlements were introduced, even these promises are looking decidedly iffy. People get understandably frightened when they face an old age of poverty and ill-health; but, on the other hand, most of us are very concerned for the plight of young people with large student loans and few job prospects.
So I’d like to ask Ricochet readers—what are the solutions to these problems? How can we avoid generational warfare? I like to think that after the election—which, God willing, will give us President Romney and budget whiz Veep Ryan—the talk will need to be about jobs, jobs, jobs ... but also about working together to pay down the debt and balance the budget. My husband and I are fortunate enough to be among the wealthier Boomers, and are willing to pay more taxes—by sacrificing deductions under the Romney plan—toward fixing the fiscal mess. But we are not willing to pay more taxes for Obama to squander.
I think we are going to need to revive the old idea of sacrifice in the service of our country; and I believe most Boomers will respond with enthusiasm once politicians start addressing the serious fiscal problems instead of digging a deeper hole. But Boomers were born in the surge of post-World War II optimism, which we have carried with us all our lives. Is my optimism warranted?
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Comments:
May '11
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
Americans adapt. When the great society replaced the extended family we adapted, in many ways to our cultural and spiritual detriment. The extended family will return and Americans will adapt.
Jan '11
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
It should not pain you to hear young people complain about anything.
Sep '10
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
I'm pretty much in the same boat, but my disgust is directed towards American voters, of all generations.
Watching these debates, it becomes clear that neither party can be seen, even remotely, advocating for an increased burden (higher taxes or lower benefits) on anything resembling the "middle class."
You can't get elected promising cuts to anything, not even clear bloat and waste in useless agencies like Education and Transportation. There is always a hard luck story, somewhere, that trumps all rational cost benefit analysis.
In the end, I am extremely pessimistic that anything will be fixed prior to the moment when the debt or inflationary crisis hits us in the face.
Sep '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
TCK--I think you're right--Americans adapt, but Mark maybe right that they don't adapt until they have to. Still, the tradition is that you don't tell people the bad stuff while campaigning. Afterwards, if they're skilled enough and are mixing good and bad, they can make the case for some sacrifice. For example, if Romney and Ryan take 6 months or so and get hiring going again, then they'd have some cred to take on some of these other problems in a serious way. Yeah...ok, whether or not it should pain me, it does. I can't tell if you say this because you are old, young, or in-between or just generally a skeptic.
Apr '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
Let me first say that you are one of the good Boomers. :) You never bought into the overpopulation nonsense or the divorce culture. You contributed five competent, healthy adults and are still willing to talk about compromises that will enable old and young alike to survive and thrive. If all Boomers were like you, things would be fine! But they're not. I find that many Boomers get positively bitter when people even talk about scaling back entitlements. Many have little or no sympathy with the young. ("We never had all those fancy gadgets that you kids think you need, so stop whining and get a job.") And note that while politicians "slant" the truth (though I think that's a little generous at times), they don't make much effort to do that for us. It's Boomers, always the Boomers, who get flattered and cajoled and catered to, and it's hardly surprising that this creates some bitterness in the smaller and less-courted generations. I think it would be naive to suppose that it's only rhetoric that's geared towards appeasing sub a massive voting block. (Cont)
Mar '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
I would like to believe this still applies, but I fear the decades of progressive educational rot has changed the culture of America significantly. As a boomer, I know that what and how I was taught bears little resemblance to what is taught today. Sacrifice is a virtue expected of others. Self-sacrifice has been largely derided by a secular society.
Apr '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
I'm also fairly unwilling to buy that the failure to produce a substantial next generation merely shows that Boomers were victims of circumstance. Seems to me that it's fairly easy to persuade people to take on less parenting responsibility and enjoy a higher standard of living instead --which is mostly what the Boomers did. Their parents didn't have it as good, and their kids won't either. As for buying into the divorce culture -- that's not a sign of selfishness? It seems to me that Boomers have as much to answer for on that front as any other. BUT, having said all these unpleasant things, I would like to say that the Boomers aren't all bad by any means! They elected Reagan and largely oversaw an economic boom. They're used to taking charge, and they're currently in a position to provide some great insight and leadership in a time of change, but they have to be persuaded that the effort is big necessary and obligatory on their part. A lot aren't too interested, which is one reason I'm occasionally hard on them as a generation, but perhaps we could agree to unite our efforts in persuading generations to compromise? :)
Apr '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
Sorry for those few typos... I'm typing on a phone, which incidentally doesn't seem to be able to handle the "edit" function.
May '10
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
Merina, you and your husband are exactly the people that Strauss and Howe had in mind when they wrote 'The Fourth Turning'. They predicted, many years ago, that, as Boomers age, they would make the sacrifices necessary to set things right and restore America for the benefit of our kids and grandkids.
Apr '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
Well, Tom's comments remind me of the other thing I was going to say in behalf of Boomers: they were ever generous with their kids. I sometimes remind the more bitter members of my generation about that: at least we had good childhoods! (Assuming, that is, your childhood wasn't marred by messy parental divorces.) Hopefully all that enrichment will make us big enough people to step up to the plate in a bleaker times than we had anticipated. And hopefully the generous impulses of the Boomers will not run dry at the end. We can still work together to ensure that my kids (and their peers) inherit a society worth living in.
Sep '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
SC--love the Churchill quote. It is true that the values with which Boomers were raised have been debunked and eroded, often by Boomers themselves. But as Rachel points out, we helped elect Reagan and we're going to comtribute a lot to electing Romney. I actually think part of the secret to getting Boomers to step up to the plate will rest on how the case is made. First we need to restore some confidence in the future with a turnaround on jobs and growth, then when things are more stable, make the case for a united effort to pay down the debt. Hey--it worked in Canada and Iceland. We can do it here. Anyway, Romney is one capable Boomer. I think there's some hope.
Sep '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
I do have some Boomer friends who are in pretty bad financial shape, mostly because of improvidence, but it's always complicated. They'd be pretty concerned about any cut in benefits because they have no retirement savings and have lost their houses. I think they are the ones whose benefits will not be cut, however. My friends who are well off--and there are many of them--are willing to pitch in to save the country.
Aug '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
I am a leading-edge Boomer. I grew up never believing that Social Security would be around when I got as old as I am now. I am mildly surprised that it has not collapsed yet, but will be surprised again if it outlives me. Well, I may be beyond surprise it that happens.
What irks me, though, is the supposition that the Boomers are the clear beneficiaries of all these entitlements. Even if we give the Depression/WWII generations a pass, there is another (half-) generation in between them and us. There was a birth-dearth just ahead of the boom. Those who were kids during WWII grew up in the postwar time when there was great prosperity and little competition for jobs/promotions. They were relieved of responsibility of supporting their parents by SS (and, later, Medicare), were able to retire early and live affluently if they had pensions or savings. They are the ones who pitched the lefty, hippy, entitlement culture to us young boomers, and succeeded with too many of my cohort. My "classmates" just followed the piper to some degree.
Aug '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
I grant that my wife and I are not typical. We have lived well below our means in order to fund our own retirement. The prospect of significant inflation destroying our savings in order to relieve the indebtedness of our own generation and the following generations who are over their heads in debt may yet lead to significant bitterness. At least the kids are launched without significant unsecured debt, so there's that.
Sep '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
I second what Richard Finlay said. I am in the same boat. I also think that the Boomers, because of the size of our group, are affecting all aspects of the entitlement programs, the financial products, the medical programs, the long term insurance programs, senior housing programs; basically all the costs of supporting a huge aging population. We are the cause of many looming problems just by our sheer size and expectations. We are also the cause of many looming solutions to those problems by creative producers of goods and services. I personally am in a space that is neither optimistic nor pessimistic--rather, cautiously watchful and hopeful, because I've always loved my age group for what it has gone through. We were the group that had one foot in the past and one foot in the future more than any group before us. We had so many changes thrown at us in such a short time that we became very good at adapting to all the changes. I think that makes us very wise and kind. And, worth it.
May '10
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
We need growth. More than reducing the deficit, more than any issues about traditional marriage, and more than, yes, even our foreign engagements, the moral issue of our time is economic growth.
Our society is so structure (with entitlements) that we are locked into a model (perhaps unfairly referred to as a ponzi scheme) that requires economic and population growth to sustain. We have taken our eyes off that ball. Content with feel-good environmentalism, political corporatism, and arcane one-size-fits-all labor laws, we are vastly underperforming our potential. And growth is exponential.
If we want to provide for the elderly, the sick, and the poor without sticking the unborn with the bill, we need to be able to pay for it. As they say, you can't draw blood from a stone. If we don't grow, we're doomed.
Edited on October 13, 2012 at 12:03amJun '10
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
Merina Smith:
our plans to work longer to recoup these losses earn us resentment from young people desperate for jobs.
So I’d like to ask Ricochet readers—what are the solutions to these problems? How can we avoid generational warfare?
For starters we need to hammer home again and again the point that economics is not a zero-sum game. There is not a fixed-size pool of jobs that the generations must fight over.
In a healthy economy, more people creates more demand for houses, food, health care, cars, and so on. That creates opportunities for new businesses to start and existing enterprises to expand and hire more workers.
The problems start when government regulations make the cost of hiring new works exceed their incremental value to the company: minimum wage + payroll taxes + mandatory benefits (like when employers must buy birth control for their employees) = high unemployment.
Mar '11
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
Our standard of living rises, we have fewer children, you expect entitlement programs to be there just because you paid a small fraction into them compared to what you'll get out of them and you say we're not more selfish?
Well, ya know, nowhere in the Constitution or elsewhere are we given the unalienable right to retire at age 65. Our parents didn't cause this mess, we did, because our entire generation took its cue from the great John Blutarsky:
Sep '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
Well, yes, Illinguy, but most people don't think these things through. They just accept the world they find and plan accordingly. It was a mistake to start the entitlement programs, but you can't exactly blame people for assuming they'd be there when that's what they were told.
Feb '12
Re: Confessions of a Boomer
Does this apply for the Millennials and our job situation too? You know, "you can't exactly blame [us] for assuming that [jobs'd] be there [after graduation] when that's what [we] were told."
If not, why not?