Generation X has suffered massive loss of wealth

reply to post by mikegrouchy


Not to mention beating us over our heads with their unbelievably lousy music. Yeah, yeah - Hendrix was great. He's been dead 40 years now, ok. Can we get over it already?

But every single movie or TV show is still blasting that garbage out at us like it was some kind of revelation. Can we just say it? It was mostly the drugs that made white kids from England playing the blues so interesting to you, and as soon as you are dead, we are going to load all of your heroes in a rocket and fire them into the sun.

I kid. I kid. We love your boomer music. Obviously. Don't get bent out of shape or anything. :p

Gen Y right here

Get jelly at my smart phone and minimum wage job

woooooooooooooooooooooo

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b7d40c77f822.png[/atsimg]


If the elite weren't hoarding money,
maybe every phone would be a satellite phone.

And by now the antennas would be much smaller
due to a fractal breakthrough by some common person,
who was entitled to earn off of their discovery.

But not the way things are now.
The corporations will wait for three generations
of patent holders to die,
and buy the patent on the cheep,
before they will share one cent.

This is why we have all these bubbles and crashes.
It's a cheep and predatory way to snap up intelectual property rights.
You don't think a single person working at YouTube actually invented
the streaming video protocols that they use do you?

Any one remember the dot com bubble?


Mike Grouchy

Originally posted by 0zzymand0s

But every single movie or TV show is still blasting that garbage out at us like it was some kind of revelation. Can we just say it? It was mostly the drugs that made white kids from England playing the blues so interesting to you, and as soon as you are dead, we are going to load all of your heroes in a rocket and fire them into the sun.

Space and the Sun are too good for them.

They should be placed on the perpetual slide to nowhere,
just like my entire generation was.


Mike Grouchy


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d8d1ab3b85fd.gif[/atsimg]

reply to post by mikegrouchy


Gen X (72). I've just got one thing to say to the world. BRING IT ON! That's all you got? I can do 40 more years of this standing on my head. You can't break me, you can't beat me. I will just do what I've always done... work my ass off. If at the end of it all I've given my kids a solid foundation, work ethic, and genuine love for the people around them I'll exit with a smile.

I hear you man. Gen X here, and I have had a job every single day of my life (at least one job, but a lot of the time 2 or even 3 jobs) since I was 14 years old. I've been paying for all my own everything since that time too because my Boomer parents couldn't be bothered to take care of their children once they were old enough to have income. And no matter how hard I work I never get anywhere other than the necessary roof (rented) over my head, clothes, and food. It's not like I work minimum wage jobs either. I can't quite figure out how I can be so poor but work so much??

Late Gen 'X' here...

I see a lot of people complaining about how their parents turned their backs whe they came of working age. I guess, when I think about it, my mother did also, when I was 18, and I thank her every day for doing so. She taught me one of the most valuable things in life when she did that. She taught me how to be independent. Of course it took a couple of years, but they were truly great years. I did as I pleased and when I felt like getting my act together, I did. I didn't sit around and whine about noone helping me out. I didn't need help because I had learned a valuable life lesson. Independence. Look it up.... they don't sell it at Target.

MOTF!

Originally posted by Bluesma

Originally posted by fictitious
reply to post by mikegrouchy

 

The reason the boomers despise gen x and y is because their mom's and dad's were kids during the Great Depression. They were raised to appreciate what they had because their parent's, as kids, had to work hard to support their siblings and whole families. Boomers had it pretty easy but still had that sense of pride and hard work instilled in them. Then they had kids, gen x, and spoiled them rotten. Now gen x is spoiling gen y even more rotten.

Could not have said it better.

No, the Boomers hated the X Generation as soon as they gave birth to them, because they were a hassle to have around when you're trying to explore your freedom of expression, sexuality, and drug use......when you're fighting for the right to abort, to take the pill, to avoid having children... this rejection of their offspring happened early on and was expressed by the big blockbusters of that time- "The Exorcist", "Rosemary's Baby", "The Omen", "Carrie".

The X'ers never stood a chance. The Boomers were narcissistic spoiled kids that turned into self rightious narcissistic adults.... I never witnessed such a great work ethic- except in their judgements on others. They themselves were great at finding ways of making a living with lot so fast talk and little action. The way spoiled kids learn how to manipulate the world to get all they want.

Xers are most famous for doing hard work, usually underpaid and unappreciated. Their kids are over protected and not used to such hard work because mom and dad were striving to do it instead- to set an example their parents never did (of doing instead of lecturing), and protecting them the way their parents never did.

In fact, generations swing back and forth, and the grandparents always have more in common with their grandchildren than their own children. As an Xer, I relate to and understand my grandparents- of the Silent generation. They struggled, had a hard time, lived in the shadow of their GI parents boasting of their heroic nature. They know what it is to have a small ego and just do what you have to do.

My (Boomer) parents relate to my kids, who are as protected and cherished as they themselves were, and are full of creative ideas to express (but little actual sweat and action to go with it). They are so much the same!

It is expected that we Xers are going to have a continuing of our down and out luck and struggle all our lives- you recreate what you know. This was predicted. Especially as we hit the time of our power, as we reach the age of fifty and are the ones calling the shots, you know we are going to create a world that fits our experience- one in which we have no protection, we are not liked or appreciated, and we have to just not waste time and precious energy crying about that! Survival is more important.


Seeing things as they are is important, but in my opinion, spending a lot of time on hwowthey 'should" be instead is just a distraction from what is important in the moment. But then that is exactly the sort of pragmatic down to earth opinion an Xer would have. I am not much for dreaming and idealism. I'll let my kids do that part when it is time to rebuild.

edit on 8-4-2013 by Bluesma because: (no reason given)

reply to post by mikegrouchy


All I see is more generational gobbedlygook, engineered to turn people against each other.

If Gen-X is complaining so much about being poor, it's because they spent most of the 90s wearing flannel and listening to #ty grunge rock.

Originally posted by VaterOrlaag
reply to post by mikegrouchy

 

All I see is more generational gobbedlygook, engineered to turn people against each other.

If Gen-X is complaining so much about being poor, it's because they spent most of the 90s wearing flannel and listening to #ty grunge rock.

Generation X
as a phrase was invented by a marketer,
and yes for 30 years we, as a generation ourselves, have rejected the label.

But now that one of us
is taking up the moniker as a banner
citing sources, and exposing the abuse hidden inside the American Country itself,

you choose to call it

engineered to turn people against each other

I just shake my head.

Is this comment on autopilot,
spewing feelings from 20 years ago,
or is this a confession that you didn't read any of the sources,
or maybe it was written with the lower reptile brain.

Either way,
thanks for stopping buy.


We now return to our regularly scheduled program...

/chanting continues
Ice-Age, Ice-Age, Ice-Age


Mike Grouchy

Your hilarious

reply to post by mikegrouchy


I couldn't have said it better myself SnF!

To the person trying to say we did not create the tech that is used now. You are correct but you could not use what we did. There was no Google, there was Gopher. GenX was the for front of creating what you see on your smart phone. And now we work but as someone else said can we get the "new" jobs. No becasue while you were in school we were making sure everything worked. And now we feel like we should be paid with our experience. But no when I interview someone they want more money then I make a year because they know xyz. That we helped create. GenX is like the middle child we are good and do what we are "supposed" to do. But we are just over looked.

You have a serious emotional and maybe even psychological problem. Of course you'll deny it, so that leads to something else but... whatever...

Go get yourself checked out first before you blow up or get an ulcer..

Originally posted by MessOnTheFED!
Late Gen 'X' here...

I see a lot of people complaining about how their parents turned their backs whe they came of working age. I guess, when I think about it, my mother did also, when I was 18, and I thank her every day for doing so.

There is a difference between your mother making you be a man at 18 and someone's parents completely turning their backs on you when you're 14.

Originally posted by fictitious
reply to post by mikegrouchy

 

Boomers had it pretty easy but still had that sense of pride and hard work instilled in them. Then they had kids, gen x, and spoiled them rotten. Now gen x is spoiling gen y even more rotten.
.

I think that Gen X kids are the official LATCH KEY KIDS! Yeah Boomers had it easy! Free Love and everything that went with it!!

I don't know about you, but my parents were NEVER home. I had to use the "hidden key" to get into the house. I had to darn near raise my younger brothers!! My parents were boomers. They would buy us stuff yeah, just so we could entertain ourselves while they were gone. We had to raise ourselves without parental guidance. It wasn't just me. It was all of my friends. All of us who came up in the 70 and 80s, especially in Southern California......

X'er here. Been through my own series of bumps and bruises. I would complain about it, but who would listen? Nobody cares! Do I think our generation has been given the shaft in terms of prosperity, and securing a life filled with comfort and security? Perhaps? Still, I look for inspiration from the tales my grandparents told me about how hard they had it. They came up in the Depression, and fought in WWII. One grandfather was a hobo and an orphan, and another told me how he and his siblings would dig through dumpsters outside restaurants scrounging for food. Both fought in the war. They never quite, and I never heard them complain. Never pointed fingers or played the blame game. That tends be a boomer thing?

I have to make a concerted effort to catch my self when I fall into that trap of blaming everyone, and displaying bitterness. Nothing ever gets solved that way. As for my childhood and family life growing up? It was decent, and there was a lot of love and nurturing. We were never exactly well off by any stretch of the imagination, but ends were met. Both my parents were boomers, and I don't hold bitter contempt towards them. They endured the same trials and tribulations as I endure today. It looks as though we have been sold down the river? It won't be the first time, and it won't be the last. It is what it is! One thing about life that I have learned through my travels? Nothing is guaranteed. Roll with the punches, take those hits to the chin, and in a grand display of defiance get back up! Stare adversity in the eye, and never take your eyes off it. Persevere folks, and it is always darkest before the dawn. We are survivors!

reply to post by Starwise


Latch Key kid from the age of 7, checking in (Westminster CA). Yes - we raised ourselves. My mom loved me very much but often disappeared for days at a time. Dad took off to pursue an alternative life style when I was 6. I left home at 15, graduated High School early and took a full time job before I could legally drive a car. Not whining, just saying: We raised ourselves, and had to, because our parents weren't up to the job.

Originally posted by Malynn
And no matter how hard I work I never get anywhere other than the necessary roof (rented) over my head, clothes, and food. It's not like I work minimum wage jobs either. I can't quite figure out how I can be so poor but work so much??

Globalization.

When the baby boomers were joining the workforce, Western economies were much more self contained, self sufficient economies. Much more protectionist and much less specialized.

Since the 1980s, the benefits of international trade have been rammed down everyone's throats. I personally have nothing against competing against another Western worker in another Western country.

On the other hand, it is tricky to successfully compete against a third work worker who is willing to work for a fraction of my salary. In fact it is downright impossible if Western capital is exported to China to build factories there. As a double whammy, we also have to contend with third world workers being imported into the West lowering wages.

This matters because all wealth derives from manufacturing, mining and other extractive industries and farming. In other words producing something. Service industries (health, government, armed forces, leisure, banking etc.) are merely people spending wealth created by manufacturing and extractive/farming industries elsewhere in the economy.

The justification for international trade is largely based on the theories of David Ricardo.

Link

The problem is, David Ricardo assumed that British, American or German capital would be reemployed in Britain, America or Germany. The theory entirely breaks down if a county's capital is exported aboard. Only the capitalists benefit from that, not the British, American or German workers.

International trade and the export of Western capital abroad really does increase wealth overall. The problem is that ordinary Western workers are being cut out of this increase in wealth, while Asian workers and the super rich benefit.

It isn't your imagination that you are treading water. You and I really are standing still or going backwards while the super rich and Asia is getting richer.

reply to post by 0zzymand0s


Haha we lived in Westminster, right off of Euclid? I was about 7 when we moved to Garden Grove, then Huntington Beach where I graduated from.....

My step dad worked the night shift and my mom saw that as her opportunity to disappear with her friends....no she never worked! LOL, I look back and realize why I am always home with my children. I will not have them have the same fate as I. We are truly the forgotten children...