Commentary: We owe oldest Americans an apology

As the country frets about extricating itself from the financial mess, there is one group of Americans to whom the rest of us owe the most sincere words of apology.

That group consists of the oldest of our fellow citizens -- the men and women who went through the Great Depression when they were young, who fought and endured World War II when they were just a little older, and who had hoped for a sense of peace and tranquility in their final years on this earth.

I found this article and it really struck a chord with me, I am watching several of my older family members fret, just as mentioned in this article, over their final years, and what the future holds for the children and grandchildren that they will leave behind, but their own futures, short as they will undoubtetly be, are in question. My favorite aunt, who turns 83 this year, and worked all her life, even beyond retirement age, owned her own home, paid her taxes, lost her husband in the war, raised her daughter alone, spends her days now wishing it would all just end for her. She is depressed, the news, her church, friends, ect, all have the same horrible forecast and it doesn't leave her any hope.

The mistakes and tricks and reckless gambles of the supposedly sophisticated masters of Wall Street have wounded these men and women, many of whom, before the last year, had never even heard the names of the men who ran the biggest investment banks and brokerage firms. Which is why what those oldest Americans are going through is so unfair. Once more, in a lifetime that has been filled with sacrifices, they are having to pay the terrible price for decisions in which they had no say.

www.cnn.com...

not to worry...

the Fed and Treasury have started to re-inflate the bubble.
So all those 401k and IRA portfilos held also by esteemed elders
will return their wealth which evaporated in the 2007-2008 years.


all it took was pouring trillions into the financial system
the banks keeping the monies like a hoarding miser,
then, just as the recent market 900 point rally attests,
the pop culture figures that the banks will need to spend their troves of money on something... & with stocks so dirt cheap, stocks are once again skyrocketing and the fed/treas promotors are declaring the worst is Over

spend-buy-spend-buy ....


Whew... i thought my 92 year old mother-in-law was going to subsist on
off brand pet food as her main diet while the markets continued to collapse...
It's all over now, Bernanke told us on national primetime TV, Sunday night


whew

I see what you are getting at but I thought you meant the Native Americans.

Two lines just in case.

This is a topic that makes me so angry. My mother is one of the most financially responsible people I know. This woman has only ever had ONE late payment.......ever.

She spent her life saving and putting money into her IRA's, 401k, and various money market accounts. She had her retirement planned and payed for....until the crash.

She is now living in a house that is worth far less than the mortgaged amount, though her payments are under $400 a month (Mom is pretty savvy). Since this all started she has lost nearly 50% of her monthly income and is fast using up her savings.

Isn't it always the weakest among us that suffer the most? It makes me so angry when I see older people standing in bread lines.....they should not have to do this.

It is past time for these pricks to pay back the American elderly for their own mismanagement of their institutions. Don't hold your breath though.

Who is "We"?


What apology?

The media is FOS, they are trying to make everyone feel guilty and lump us in with criminals. Yea, you guy's should say your sorry too. BS!

I didn't overspend, didn't scam, didn't steal trillions of dollars to bail out corruption on Wallstreet. I am sick and tired of lies, deception and corruption.

Only the guilty should apologize, but they won't because they just keep on stealing and lying and think they deserve it. No remorse and it shows.

The difference between the last depression and this one is that many of the people at the top actually had some ethics, today it's not so.



[edit on 16-3-2009 by Realtruth]

what i don't understand is that if at any time you have anything to do with drugs they can take your house, car, bank account and throw you in jail saying that you used illegal money but these people like pinhead Madoff and the bankers and all the rest that stole and robbed the American taxpayers get to keep everything. How is this different?
Not to mention that morally and ethically they should all be put in jail and have their property and accounts confiscated to help pay the debt, oh wait that would also include our entire government.
By the way i've contacted everyone i can about filing for the 10th amendment on 3 different occasions and have gotten no replies. I live CT so how blasphemous is it that our constituents who live in the so called Constitution state refuse to protect and uphold the Constitution, perhaps we should change it to what many living here likin it to, the Communist state.
Oh and how lucky are we that we also have one of the greatest politicians of all time Joe about face Lieberman and his partner in crime the cemented in Christopher dud oh i mean Dodd.
Can we impeach all these waste of space politicians?

You make a very valid point. It seems to me that those in the highest positions of these bloodsucking banks and Wall Street people should be held accountable and be FORCED to put up or get locked up.

Of course we all know that "white collar" crime is viewed differently than the average drug crime. Sad isn't it that drug dealers with a house, a few cars and a bit of illegal money can have their effects sold and used to benefit the DEA or local law enforcement. Imagine how much could be recovered from these people, heck we could solve the whole mess with their holdings. red

My father died in 2007, was a child of the great depression while living in Oklahoma, and fought in Korea.

I wish I could ask him of his perspective and thoughts on our country's situation today. At the same time I'm glad he doesn't have to go through it.

He always taught me to be self reliant. Americans don't need to be rescued by anyone, not even our own government. After all, who can you trust? Yourself.

[edit on 16-3-2009 by becomingaware]

How bout an apology from the older generation of wall street to us.
We were too young to see it.
They were making money and back room deals when "we" were in diapers.
And im not talking of the average amerikan, especially the ones who served in ANY war effort.
Im talking aboutthe ones who saw this coming and did nothing.
The "first" group of people who saw a power behind the throne, since the throne was built.
The first set of amerikans that "knew".
The ones who set up these sweerthearty deals, and golden parachutes.
Who am i talking about?
The pimps and prostitutes.
The businessmen in monkey suits.
THE POLITICIANS.
Where is our apology for letting something that may have started out innocently, but turned around and bit them in the a**
Where is our apology for having to tell our kids of the "days when you could get"""""" for a dollar.
The ones who dont give a rats a** about your foreclosure.
The ones whio baited you into a stock market that was a hollow shell.
The ones who KNEW.
Where is our apology?

reply to post by space cadet


if you've lived since the last great depression then you've had enough boom time to enjoy your daytime telly and ready meals - i don't see why anyone would think the oldfolk are getting a bum deal -they lived through and helped in the consumption of of all our resources, they let the world get in this state -lets not forget that since 1950 all any government did was borrow money from the future.

This crash didn't come about because of the last 8 years (although it sped it up) this crash has been coming for as long as most of these oldfolk have been adults - So no, they aren't the unlucky ones - the kids born into the century with nothing but debt and corruption backing up 'the system' are the unlucky ones.

As the country frets about extricating itself from the financial mess, there is one group of Americans to whom the rest of us owe the most sincere words of apology.

Yeah, the younger generation whose jobs have been sent over seas and whose salaries will no doubt be lower than any other generation.

I found this article and it really struck a chord with me, I am watching several of my older family members fret, just as mentioned in this article, over their final years, and what the future holds for the children and grandchildren that they will leave behind, but their own futures, short as they will undoubtetly be, are in question. My favorite aunt, who turns 83 this year, and worked all her life, even beyond retirement age, owned her own home, paid her taxes, lost her husband in the war, raised her daughter alone, spends her days now wishing it would all just end for her. She is depressed, the news, her church, friends, ect, all have the same horrible forecast and it doesn't leave her any hope.

He or she who feels a lack in anything is lacking everything.

The mistakes and tricks and reckless gambles of the supposedly sophisticated masters of Wall Street have wounded these men and women, many of whom, before the last year, had never even heard the names of the men who ran the biggest investment banks and brokerage firms. Which is why what those oldest Americans are going through is so unfair. Once more, in a lifetime that has been filled with sacrifices, they are having to pay the terrible price for decisions in which they had no say.

It is not unfair. No say over the matter? These are adults we're talking about, not babies. They have control over their investments. My mom who is near getting SS pulled her stock out of the stock market at 13.1K. When you invest in the market, you know that you might lose something, thats part of the deal.

The adults shouldn't be worrying about the mess they created, they were all complacent in the matter. They racked up debt over the years and didn't care. If regulation was lacking, they should have been the ones saying that things need to change. The young are the ones who are going to be feeling it. What some of the older folks are experiencing now will probably seem like the good ol' days to the younger generation. As a country, we live off the sweat of other poorer countries by buying their slave labor products, no adult has the right to be complaining about fairness, you made your bed.

[edit on 16-3-2009 by ghaleon12]

Apologise? What are you kidding me?

My parents and Grandparents and Great-Grandparents are the ones that let our Govt. get out of control.

They are the one's that let the Bankers in!

They are responsible for the last 96 years!

Now, I have to fight to get back what they gave up!

When I speak to them about the Govt., the only answer I get is "you just have to deal with it. There is nothing you can do about what they do".

Are you Frickin kidding me?!?

At this point, they keep voting to give away the whole future, just so they can be comfortable.

reply to post by j2000


Just to make it clear. I am no spring chicken either. I will be 45 this year.

2nd line

Originally posted by j2000
Apologise? What are you kidding me?

My parents and Grandparents and Great-Grandparents are the ones that let our Govt. get out of control.

They are the one's that let the Bankers in!

They are responsible for the last 96 years!

Now, I have to fight to get back what they gave up!

When I speak to them about the Govt., the only answer I get is "you just have to deal with it. There is nothing you can do about what they do".

Are you Frickin kidding me?!?

At this point, they keep voting to give away the whole future, just so they can be comfortable.

It is unfortunate that I can only give you one star!

You nailed it on the head - they owe us a friggin' apology for giving this country over to the bankers and the nazi scum...

And - to this day - very few "elders" I talk to admit their culpability in all this - they simply and inexcusably insit on remaining Willfully Ignorant!

I'm sorry, but I completely disagree! In fact, it is THAT very generation that owes the younger generation an apology.

Look, this whole system went into the gutter when the "Baby Boomers" took over. The Baby Boomers have lacked integrity, morals, and values and have placed greed front and center in their lives. These are things that are taught by PARENTING. Obviously the "Greatest Generation" didn't do its job in raising their children!

My generation, Generation X, has inhereted one F'd up system. I have been responsible with my money. I have exhibited good morals and values. I have lived within my means. And MY generation is going to pay for the sins of the previous one! We will have no Social Security. Taxes will have to be astronomical to pay these debts. All so that we may continue to live and worship the Corporatocracy that our parents and grandparents created!

Also. If I remeber correctly, wasn't it the "Greatest Generation" that instituted the Federal Reserve? Took us off the Gold Standard? Created all of the social safety nets that have put us in debt?

Yeah, they got their pensions, medical benefits, social security - condos in Florida, days on the golf course, bingo halls and all-you-can-eat dinner buffets. BUT, my generation will work until were dead and spend precious time and resources looking to clean up the environemntal disasters that they have left behind. So, Sorry? NO! BS, they can kiss my a**!

I think that the working and middle class Americans from the WWII generation were the ones that really sacrificed and made America a place of opportunity. I will exclude the greedy elitists and the corporate and government parasites who abused their power and position to acummate more wealth and power.

I don't deny what you are saying, HOWEVER, they also fell asleep at the switch. They didn't raise their children to hold fast to strong morals, values and ethos. In fact, they taught their children to sell out to work! They granted the power to the government which was to have resided with the governed. They allowed the government to buy votes by pandering with social programs. They permitted the birth and rapid growth of the corporatocracy. And worst of all, they held no one, themselves included, the least bit accountable.

Great responses ! I'm guilty of laying down on the job myself. What can I do? It's overwhelming the amount of repair our society and planet need at this point. I vote every election while plugging my nose and hope each politician I vote in can make a difference. I actually like a few of the people I vote for.
I think if the country had listened to Eisenhower and Kennedy on certain issues we would live in a much nicer world with a lot fewer military actions. So much money that could be spent making peoples lives better goes to weapons and bureaucrats and lobbyists.

reply to post by stikkinikki


Well.. If you voted for one of the two mainstream candidates for President - this last election - then you ARE part of the problem.

They both voted for the Unconstitutional Bailout and the both voted for Telecom Immunity (an unconstitutional ex-post facto law)

So - if you support them then you are an enemy of the Constitution period - and should have no issues with the looting and explotation of this country.

Enjoy your New World Order - you've earned it!

Originally posted by stikkinikki
Great responses !

I'm guilty of laying down on the job myself. What can I do? It's overwhelming the amount of repair our society and planet need at this point. I vote every election while plugging my nose and hope each politician I vote in can make a difference. I actually like a few of the people I vote for.

Um, your Honor... I rest my case! Now please dispose of the guilty so that those of us who actually give a damn can get our country back on track!