The Baby Boomer Bomb

Relax
Robots coming. Fix everting

originally posted by: Fools
a reply to: toysforadults

I left my home at 18. Never had to get help at all (well except after my first divorce, couldn't even afford to eat after what the court did to me then back then). Now, my oldest son is bleeding me dry, he is also doing the same to my mother. He is 24 years old and we take care of him and his girlfriend and their child. It's kind of sad but they just don't seem to have motivation or something.

It's not motivation, some of it could be job skills but the other part of it is that good jobs are few and far between. I talk a lot about what it takes to get a good job. But, for every 3 people who do everything necessary to get one, only 1 will land the job, the other 2 will be working bad jobs. Wealth inequality in the US has gotten really bad, there's a lot of poverty trap jobs and a lot of good jobs, and there's very little in the middle.

a reply to: ladyinwaiting

I am a millennial doing just fine. So well, in fact, that I avoid other millenials like the plague. I have a wife, daughter, house, two cars, and a dog. I would never consider myself privileged though.

My big secret? I joined the Army at 17. I earned a Paramedic License at 27. I work on an ambulance, go to monthly drills as a Reservist, and am now a part of an on-call fire department where I live.

There's jobs-a-plenty out there. Find out what shortages there are in the job field. Most of them are skilled, blue-collar jobs. You just need to find a niche that suits you and get licensed. Most certification courses are a fraction of the cost of a four-year degree.

But first of all, quit whining and playing the victim card. Nobody cares, especially if you're white (I'm white too, fyi).

Secondly, don't breed if you don't have a good and stable financial situation. Those of us who do work our butts off do not need more useless eaters. I'm not interested in supporting the existence and survival of someone else's genes.

Finally, be a Paramedic. It's a rich and rewarding career path and there's a severe, nationwide shortage that's only going to get worse. Please, I could really use some help.

a reply to: ltdan08

I am a millennial doing just fine. So well, in fact, that I avoid other millenials like the plague.

Hm. Avoid millennial because of how much money you make??

I really did LOL at the last sentence of your statement though.

a reply to: toysforadults
First, we paid into the system all our working lives whether we wanted to or not. I despise that the government wants more and more control over our lives. I don't recall asking the government to
Pull money from my paycheck in a mandatory retirement "pension" as you do smirkingly mention. Not really sure what part of thatvyou dont understand but it was people older than me who set that up.
Second, i didn't agree with other baby boomers who wanted more and more govt interference. So to put me in the same category as those who
Wanted a nanny state is laughable. Not all of us want that type of system. Got any more bright ideas that lumpneveryone into the same boat.

a reply to: toysforadults

I avoid them because, other than age, I have almost nothing in common with them. I don't share their general, collective belief that socialism will save us. And I can't stand the whining.

a reply to: ltdan08

en.wikipedia.org...(psychology)

In Jungian psychology, the "shadow", "Id", or "shadow aspect/archetype" may refer to (1) an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself, or (2) the entirety of the unconscious, i.e., everything of which a person is not fully conscious. In short, the shadow is the "dark side".

I recall in 2003 or so in a college math class we studied the future of SS, medicaid, and our national debt in relationship to the baby boomer generation. The numbers were not good and eventually we will be crippled by debt if nothing is done. Here we are much later and nothing has been done.
I work in health & human services and we call it the incoming "silver tsunami" with more and more people retiring. We do not have enough low income housing, we do not have enough nursing homes...if we have to find housing for someone we find them a bed in a care home for several thousand dollars per month and 5 hours away. The other crazy thing is how few boomers prepared for retirement...I see old people living off $800/mo SS, which in California means they live in a crappy low income apartment and after paying bills have $40 left for food for the month. This is only going to get worse...
However what happens after the boomers are gone? I think we will have an over abundance of hospitals, care homes, and housing and jobs in general. It may be catastrophic to our economy but it may also be a massive shift in allowing younger generations to own homes and have jobs.

a reply to: AnonymousMoose

You better keep the hospitals and homes in good working order:

“1Millennials are the United States' largest living generation. In 2016, there were an estimated 79.8 million Millennials (ages 18 to 35 in that year) compared with 74.1 million Baby Boomers (ages 52 to 70).Apr 27, 2017”. Google search.

Nothing has really changed in the last 50 years, just terminology. Had this thread been written 50 years ago the only difference would be that the word 'Millennials' would be swapped out with the words 'damn hippies'!

originally posted by: ltdan08
a reply to: toysforadults

I avoid them because, other than age, I have almost nothing in common with them. I don't share their general, collective belief that socialism will save us. And I can't stand the whining.

I have to say that many young college students parrot or demand socialistic remedies to their problems, ie demand for free college.....they relate to Bernie Sanders a communist sympathizer. How did this happen? Maybe because of the Marxist college professors who push socialism in the University. Bill Ayers comes to mind here, and he was part of the original SDS/Weatherman radicals, and part of the disaster that was the Kent State Massacre.
The nutcases are running the nuthouse in DC.

originally posted by: chibsonguitarplayer
Nothing has really changed in the last 50 years, just terminology. Had this thread been written 50 years ago the only difference would be that the word 'Millennials' would be swapped out with the words 'damn hippies'!

We happened to have watched a movie called "Children of Men" mostly made in London with British folk and the movie pretty much glorified the old Hippie Professor stereotype. Of course the actor wore John Lennon type glasses and smoked ganga, then euthanized his wife who had dementia before being murdered by a band of nutcase revolutionaries. I think its a commentary on what we grew up with.

I have no illusions of ever being "retired". Besides, I'm not here to just exist. I'll always be doing something productive.

My mother is the strangest boomer I know. She's "retired" but realized she had to work just a little each month to have some spending money.

She'll work about 30 hours in a month, and gripe about it.

I'm like....cry me a river mom...I spend 13 hours a week just driving to and from work! Let alone time actually working....

Maybe because of the Marxist college professors who push socialism in the University.

Way sooner than that. Starts around middle school these days, from the textbooks I've seen.

originally posted by: Gazrok
I have no illusions of ever being "retired". Besides, I'm not here to just exist. I'll always be doing something productive.

My mother is the strangest boomer I know. She's "retired" but realized she had to work just a little each month to have some spending money.

She'll work about 30 hours in a month, and gripe about it.

I'm like....cry me a river mom...I spend 13 hours a week just driving to and from work! Let alone time actually working....

At least yours bothers to get off her ass & work for that spending cash. Mine? Nope, thinks she's worked enough in her life, "retired" at 62 to collect what is now up to just $500 a month (hey mom? You didn't work enough in your life if that's your payout for it) And constantly complains she's broke and whiiiiines like no other that my husband and I won't buy her the frivolous stuff she wants. Did I mention she's a serial spender and has never managed to hold a savings account balance in her life? And she somehow managed to get and max out 3 credit cards just shopping online? I don't know how she expects to pay for those, her rent & utilities share is 4/5s of what she gets a month, the rest is a portion of the household groceries.

Our error in judgement was letting her live with us, what a huge mistake feeding the entitlement complex of a very spoiled Boomer. Unfortunately, since she's on the lease, it makes simply kicking her out and making her grow up a little hard to do. We may just wait for it to expire and leave her off it when we renew later this year, rental company can give her the GTFO papers.

originally posted by: Nyiah

originally posted by: Gazrok
I have no illusions of ever being "retired". Besides, I'm not here to just exist. I'll always be doing something productive.

My mother is the strangest boomer I know. She's "retired" but realized she had to work just a little each month to have some spending money.

She'll work about 30 hours in a month, and gripe about it.

I'm like....cry me a river mom...I spend 13 hours a week just driving to and from work! Let alone time actually working....

At least yours bothers to get off her ass & work for that spending cash. Mine? Nope, thinks she's worked enough in her life, "retired" at 62 to collect what is now up to just $500 a month (hey mom? You didn't work enough in your life if that's your payout for it) And constantly complains she's broke and whiiiiines like no other that my husband and I won't buy her the frivolous stuff she wants. Did I mention she's a serial spender and has never managed to hold a savings account balance in her life? And she somehow managed to get and max out 3 credit cards just shopping online? I don't know how she expects to pay for those, her rent & utilities share is 4/5s of what she gets a month, the rest is a portion of the household groceries.

Our error in judgement was letting her live with us, what a huge mistake feeding the entitlement complex of a very spoiled Boomer. Unfortunately, since she's on the lease, it makes simply kicking her out and making her grow up a little hard to do. We may just wait for it to expire and leave her off it when we renew later this year, rental company can give her the GTFO papers.

Um
Yah the problem with millemials is they have no understanding of the fight we had juggling the work place and our homes in a time when there was little support for a working mom and we were all expected to do everything perfectly and still
Be the ideal volunteer and be the soccer Supermom etc etc etc. we were the pioneers so millenials can stuff it with their criticism. Also you have likely failed to take into account the rising cost of living and in, the divorce rate, single motherhood and other factors.
Was she there feeding you when you could barely hold a spoon up to your mouth? Did she change your didies and do the laundry and dishes after you went sleepy bye, then iron your dads work shirts?

a reply to: ltdan08

Your whole success story is based on your compliance to the system of social control, and your benefit from socialist redistribution.

I’m not here to say if it is right or wrong, but rather to apply an alternative perspective to your situation. Joining the military has traditionally been viewed as a means of upward mobility, particularly for lower classes. However, these days serving in the military is treated as a privilege.

Those who are allowed this privilege are selected by representatives of the military, who often, like any other bureaucrat, employ their own personal standards instead of professional criteria to your own applicability. What happens when you have a meeting with a recruiter who is having a bad day, has a disapproving opinion of your tattoos, or claims that some minor suspension from highschool a decade prior invalidates you from service? Was it the recruit’s fault for not trying hard enough?

And the military is the state. The state is funded by taxpayers. So essentially, everything that you gained worth monetary value from your military experience was taken from other citizens who are not members of the state. All of your benefits, including long-term, are paid for by others just trying to scrape by in the private sector.

Your position in the military was not your choice to make, but rather approved by a member of the state (in this case, a recruiter). You were accepted into this privileged position of status based on their assessed ability of you to adapt to their standards of social control. What happens to people who do not meet this subjective criteria? They end up paying for your service.

The position of any member of the state is a position that is only attained by endorsement by other members of the state in their selection of who they think deserves a share of the state’s resources.

In the case of the USA, the military is large and has high turnover rates which make it easier to join. Considering that payment to military members occurs after service as well, then it is to be assumed that the military costs will increase with expansion and turnover, thus taking more money from the citizenry to pay for the employment of soldiers.

So your success really results from your compliance to an expanding socialist state and its agendas, not necessarily from your personal merit or work ethic. In my opinion, I do not see the relevancy of this conclusion in comparison to the claimed “laziness” of millennials, who are more distrusting of the state than ever before. Is your solution to gaining financial success and security the advocation of giving up your democratic free will in submission to the state and its conformist ideology?

originally posted by: Gazrok
I have no illusions of ever being "retired".

Agreed. I know that "the media" is trying to sell me with commercials and ads this image of happy, healthy white-haired couples dressed in white linen cruising along the beach on their bicycles, enjoying their leisure time. That's what they think we should want out of retirement.

Well, it's all a load of crap. It's just like that image of the Leave It to Beaver nuclear family that we've all been sold since the middle of the last century. Only a small percentage of people ever manage to accomplish that, although there were many times more who tried to contort themselves into that template and failed, making their lives miserable in the process.

The reason we're sold these images is simple. Money. Banks want our money. Insurance companies want our money. Drug companies want our money. Real estate companies want our money. So they sell these images to try to convince us to invest or save or simply spend. Spend it all!

We all have to decide how live our own lives, and not try to force ourselves into some advertising agency's image.

I personally can't see myself all in white riding a stupid bike on a beach. What a waste. Rather than retirement, we should be looking for later-life careers in which we can express ourselves and feel a part of a community and a sense of accomplishment. Maybe even... help people? Rather than make it all about ourselves.

originally posted by: EmmanuelGoldstein
Relax
Robots coming. Fix everting

What's the holdup?

originally posted by: ThirdEyeofHorus
Um Yah the problem with millemials is they have no understanding of the fight we had juggling the work place and our homes in a time when there was little support for a working mom and we were all expected to do everything perfectly and still
Be the ideal volunteer and be the soccer Supermom etc etc etc. we were the pioneers so millenials can stuff it with their criticism.

My mother never volunteered a day in her life, "What do I get out of it?". She was no soccer mom, she refused to bother with even attending my brothers' hockey games. My DAD stepped up there, including with my older brother, who is my half brother and therefore my dad's stepson. My dad deserves far more credit for being an outstanding parent, while my mother was mediocre at best. Supermom my ass she was and still is lazy, disinterested in things that don't directly benefit her & is more concerned with being catered to. So you can stuff it with you idolatry desires.

Also you have likely failed to take into account the rising cost of living and in, the divorce rate, single motherhood and other factors.

She has 2 failed marriages under her belt for a reason. It's not because the ex's were crap.
Her first divorce posed no problem with raising my older brother, he was in daycare just fine, even she touted it as very cheap & affordable for the 70's even for single women. She also had a decent job that made up for the cost, so they were not lacking.
When she divorced my father, she also had a job. And his child support payments. And I was well into stay-at-home-alone latchkey kid life. However, she wrote checks back to my dad because she didn't need the money, again, she had a good job that covered the expenses. Until she got lazy and got fired for it. Lost the house after that because she refused to get another one, and despite my dad offering to pay her mortgage on top of his, which he could have easily done because his income was far better (upper MC income) Make stupid choices, win stupid prizes. In this case, the prize was homelessness.

Was she there feeding you when you could barely hold a spoon up to your mouth? Did she change your didies and do the laundry and dishes after you went sleepy bye, then iron your dads work shirts?

According to my older brother, he and my dad did the majority of the "mommy-centric" tasks while she played wannabe seamstress in her sewing room. Which never produced much for the time spent in there.

I think we can agree a lousy job done of being a parent can dictate the sympathy and respect earned. My dad went above & beyond, he juggled a farm and multiple businesses of his own on the side in my early years while juggling me and my younger brother because my mother was to lazy to do it. We didn't move to Asia with him for a year because he just couldn't do any more extended international trips anymore, we moved with him because he didn't trust my mother to take proper care of things for longer than a month. My dad always has been, and is always going to be, hero parent material for being both dad AND mom to us, including the stepson.

My mother didn't work only 20 collective years of her life because she was a doting mommy slaving over the kids, she worked that little because she was a spoiled upper middle class brat who expected everyone else to pick up her slack, and got it. She still thinks that mindset applies. It does not. It never did.