Weaver95: eddyatwork: This is bullshiat.

welcome to pennsylvania.

And here I was being told the smell was just pollution.

ciocia: rocketkitty: When my parents are no longer able to live independently, they'll come and live with me (and my hubby and kids). I used to volunteer at a nursing home and it was the most awful and depressing thing I've ever seen. I'm not sure why Americans moved away from multiple generations living in one home (post-WWII economy?) but I think it's great to have family close so we can take care of each other. My parents have always supported me and I return the favor out of love, not a sense of obligation.
/naive woman, please don't flame me
/k thx

You are working on the assumption that the bad kids are turning away their poor parents. Think again. My mom is slowing becoming less able to care for herself, and my sister (who lives in the same town as me), WANTS her to move in. Mom refuses, because she doesn't want to move to a different town. My bro would take her in, too, but she doesn't want to live with his (well-behaved) stepkids. She won't live with me because I'm not in her hometown, either. So she is just not dealing with her loss of independence. But it's not because her kids are SOBs.

You're absolutely right, I bet lots of older adults hate to admit that they can't/shouldn't live alone. I'm really just sort of depressed that so many people seem to have a "Fark you, mom and dad, go live in a box" attitude. Unless those parents were truly scumbags, in which case I'll donate the box.

Gecko Gingrich: X-boxershorts: Farkin Generation X and their "Greed is Good" MBA fueled mantra is what brought us where we are today.

Yuppies (ie, Baby Boomers) started the whole "Greed is Good" bullshiat.



/why yes i am reading all the comments

stiletto_the_wise: This. The baby boomers, as a generation, have taken more--and given back less--than any generation in history. A hundred years from now, society will still be paying off the debt they've rung up, cleaning up the environmental mess they've made, and repairing the social damage their "Me! Me! ME!" attitudes have done to the entire world.

I'm sure blacks, women and gays would disagree.

Just out of curiosity,can a resident of Pennsylvania be forced to sell a house to pay off debts?

"...and all the corporations are all corporation-y!"



Yes. Yes they are. When you get it wrong, Trey and Matt, you get it so wrong.

msannomalley: None of this will never, ever, ever replace parental love, affection and attention. This is what the Boomers don't seem to understand. You have to stop thinking of this in terms of tangible objects. And then they wonder why the younger generations are so angry at them...

You are full of your own mind. I have few possessions in this world, but my children have love from me born of insights most people never will conceptualise, and that's no boast.

Some of us "boomers" have spent our entire adult lives working to understand what it means to be human, because the society that preceded ours seemed so frequently rigid inside that it was hard to be part of it. We have rejected materialism and, frankly, were disgusted with the 80s excesses and the "peers" who indulged in them. Bear in mind, most of climbers in the Beemers were children of early "boomers" and do not identify with the peace/love 60s at all. They just wanted stuff.

Anyone who experiences relationship problems and has issues with some particular individual which need resolving, had better speak the hell up. You are part of that relationship. If you have tried to no avail, get over your anger, and live. Lots of "boomers" wrote books about that "getting in touch" stuff - read one.

gadian: larrycot: Wow. Lots of butt-hurt among the Generation X crowd today.

If you were born in the 70s or later, you've had it better than your parents did. If you went to college, 99% of you had at least some of that expense paid for by your parents.

Your reaction? Die soon, motherfarker.

Fortunately, the courts don't seem to agree with you. I weep for my grandchildren.

You weep for your grandchildren because you taught us how to be parents. You taught us that kids are more trouble than they're worth - to give 'em a flashy toy or send them to extra cirriculars and they'll shut up. You taught us to work so much you're never home and tried to teach us that life sucks and greed is good from the day we first opened our eyes. I weep for your grandchildren too but it is tears of joy -- most of us will never do to our children (if we have them ) what you did to us.

personal responsibility...i commend it to you.

tchamber: Yes, because that's all us baby boomers are looking to do with our lives - screw our kids.

Go and fark yourself, submitter. And stay the fark off my lawn.

I'm sorry, but you baby boomers really are the worst generation, and now you're electing yourselves presidents and senators. Please do the world a favor and die soon without taking everyone else with you.

Shrinkwrap: My boomer dad is way more financially responsible than I can even dream of being.

My Boomer mother has managed to consistently stay in debt, even with a 6 digit salary.

/And let me tell you her "contributions" to our education was basically co-signing our loans.
//And don't get me started on my step-dad...

turdmist: RemyDuron: IronTom: Whatever happened to respect your elders?

Technology and society began to advance at such a rate that elders began to appear not only stodgy and strict, which they always were, but often ignorant and bigoted compared to the youth. Instead of being the keepers of knowledge, elders became more like lost and angry children in a world they could no longer understand. Tradition, instead of being unifying, became constrictive and divisive and seemingly pointless.

THIS!

/thread over.....

Lol, don't comprehend this is the distilled essence of the hippy/boomer ethic? Need proof Boomers screwed the world? Look at the crotch fruit they dropped.

rocketkitty: When my parents are no longer able to live independently, they'll come and live with me (and my hubby and kids). I used to volunteer at a nursing home and it was the most awful and depressing thing I've ever seen. I'm not sure why Americans moved away from multiple generations living in one home (post-WWII economy?) but I think it's great to have family close so we can take care of each other. My parents have always supported me and I return the favor out of love, not a sense of obligation.
/naive woman, please don't flame me
/k thx

I think you might be in for a disappointment, especially if either/both of your parents get dementia or alzheimers.

I agree that nursing homes can be depressing places; group care homes (small, independent homes serving 4-6 patients) are a much better situation, and usually cheaper, too (if you worked in a nursing home, you know how expensive it can be). However, at some point you may have to bite the bullet and put your parent(s) in a home. Nobody is superman (or woman); you may be able to take care of them temporarily, but there will come a time when you will say "enough! I can't constantly get up every other hour to transfer my mother to the potty chair and then wipe her butt; I haven't been able to sleep for more than 2 hours in a row for over 8 months; my back is out and my neck is killing me; oh, and when will she/he/them stop chanting for hours!"...

Believe me, I know where I am coming from. I (and my wife) are there currently with my own mother. We tried to place her into a home, once it became apparent she was no longer helping with transfer, and was dead weight to move around (not that she knows or cares; she hardly knows who we are, nor what time of day it is). She was only in a group home for a couple of weeks when she began screaming through the night for hours on end, keeping the entire home awake. She was "kicked out".

We had her evaluated for hospice; they ended up taking her. They transferred her to a hospice care center where she stayed a week. She made so much noise during her first day she ended up waking a person up (in the adjacent bed) from a diabetic COMA (who had been in it for a few weeks). Haldol and morphine (prescribed by hospice) have not been enough to calm her down to a point where ANY care home will take care of her. She will not stay asleep at night more than a few hours; she wakes up and chants all night (with a few screaming fits). She is not lucid during any of this (not that she is very lucid when she is "awake"). We did manage to find one facility who would take her (a special in-patient alheimers/dementia center); it would only cost about $11,000 per month.

We ended up bringing her back home with hospice helping out, along with a help from friends and some family. She is still on Haldol and morphine, and is a bit quieter (still chanting and screaming at night; sundowner behavior). If there were a place we could place her, we would. We've been doing this since October, her health (and mental facilities) have been on a rapid downhill slide ever since.

I don't think any child who loves their parent(s) would want them to be in a nursing home, especially if they know what they are like. They are depressing and sometimes ugly places. But I can certainly understand if someone has to place their parent(s) in one; sometimes it becomes the only choice if you want to have any hope of providing adequate and proper care for your loved one.

Dull Cow Eyes: Bobby Teenager: The Baby Boomers were responsible for 80s culture."


THIS. The "Get Rich or Die Trying" culture.

...which was a product of mid to late 70's economics


/...and a whole lot of cocaine

Actually, man, I was thinking more along the lines of this:



But, yeah. You're right, too.

gadian: larrycot: Wow. Lots of butt-hurt among the Generation X crowd today.

If you were born in the 70s or later, you've had it better than your parents did. If you went to college, 99% of you had at least some of that expense paid for by your parents.

Your reaction? Die soon, motherfarker.

Fortunately, the courts don't seem to agree with you. I weep for my grandchildren.

You weep for your grandchildren because you taught us how to be parents. You taught us that kids are more trouble than they're worth - to give 'em a flashy toy or send them to extra cirriculars and they'll shut up. You taught us to work so much you're never home and tried to teach us that life sucks and greed is good from the day we first opened our eyes. I weep for your grandchildren too but it is tears of joy -- most of us will never do to our children (if we have them ) what you did to us.

My parents "worked all the time" because they were poor, and I never begrudged them. It's hard to survive, and harder to get a bunch of kids to survive with you, and especially to make sure they know everything they need to survive when they are off the teat.

They never gave me college money--so I'm not whining about having to go to a local college (the horror!) like some posters. Furthermore, I never expected them to put me through college. I did it myself, and am grateful they fed, clothed and sheltered me till I was 18. I wasn't entitled to more.

My parents had more issues than the National Geographic but you know what? They did good. And I love them. And my happiness is now my responsibility, because I am a grown-ass woman.

//Even though mom called late last night to accuse me of hiding her Drambuie. :D

Jeffrey.Rodriguez: Euthanize them, and the farker who came up with that law.

No, that farker needs to be Euthanized, resurrected, Euthanized again, pulverized, creamated, have his ashes mixed pig feces, smeared on the earth, and that earth salted.

Wow, came here to blast the scum-sucking lawyers (who are really to blame) but look at all the whiny emo kids with their "You messed up the country! Why can't you just die?!? Waaaaaaa Waaaaaaa Waaaaaaaa!"

Way to set yourselves up for failure, all the while blaming it on somebody else. Somebody needs to grow the fark up and get over it.

tb tibbles: Just out of curiosity,can a resident of Pennsylvania be forced to sell a house to pay off debts?

Don't give them any ideas!

More proof that lawyers all need a good shooting in the face.

n3philim: This article actually scares the living hell out of me. My adoptive parents are in the process of moving to Pennsylvania, and while it sounds like my dad will be making some acceptable amount of money they have debts up the wazzoo racked up around the country and basically will spend every last cent they can get their greedy hands on (including mine, both sides of my grandparents, and various "friends" of my dad) on fancy food and gambling. I have people who get my phone number already and harass me for debts incurred by my parents. My parents are irresponsible and can in no way handle money, and I have no desire to be financially tied to them. Any FARK lawyers have any suggestions for how to avoid what is happening in this article?

We need some equivalent of the Witness Protection Program, but one where they keep your identity and whereabouts a secret from your parents.

/would sign up for that in a heartbeat
//good luck to you

uatuba: X-boxershorts:

Actually, it's a near perfect model. Especially the early tax cut Rooosevelt was duped into enacting in 34? 36? It wound up triggering a second serious recessionary dip. You see, tax cuts in times when revenue had been lost and not recovered wound up crippling the economy, again.

And don't forget Nixon, Reagan, Both Bush's and Clinton all had to engage in deficit spending on their watch.

Milton Friedman's theories, while popular and logical on the surface, are impractical to implement in real life.

You won't find many Friedman economists who agree with you. Almost all Friedman economists agree that FDR's actions directed toward the economy prolonged the Great Depression. Keynsian economists, on the other hand, including the current Nobel laureate, tend to believe the current stimulus effort was severely underfunded.

FTFY, you know why?

Because...
Your view of history, it is too one sided. And the trickle down Friedman types just exploded a world of hurt on the world. so...it seems they're down a notch or two on the credibility scale.

I don't disagree with deficit spending...but it can be overdone. And it is being overdone, currently.


What was overdone, was tax cuts, 2 wars and cuts in domestic funding to the tune of bridges falling during rush hour. It is now time to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and to provide incentive for new industry. The current deficit spending is woefully insufficient to make a dent in what really needs to be done.

RemyDuron:
It felt good when I was typing it, although it seems sort of condescending and nasty upon rereading. Not really what I intended, and I was speaking rather generally.

Not the vibe I got from it at all. Actually, it seemed rather sad, lamenting the relegation of a once-valuable demographic to high irrelevance.

The elderly today were born and grew up when the technology curve was still flat. Now they barely can remember how to turn the TV on and find the channels with old movies before the paradigm shifts and they have to alter their worldview again when all they want is to watch Jimmy Stewart, because they can't do much of anything else.

Nemo's Brother: You and your kind have made America a worse place than when you were given the keys. You are the first generation to do this as well. Please die!

Word for word.

From a genetic standpoint, if the older generation cannot bear young, care for young, or somehow contribute to the welfare of the young (most especially their descendants), they're not worth wasting resources on.

In the case in TFA, the mother is actually a negative asset, or a liability, to her genetic lineage. Her conscious actions are causing a definable burden against her son's ability to bear more young and possibly her granddaughter's ability to find the best mate to bear young with.

Yes, I know that the presence of consciousness and the ability for intelligent thought and determinations might preclude an individual from a natural evolutionary track, but, as a species, we should be able to make decisions that counteract the individual's faulty choices.

I believe the Eskimos had it right. When an elder was no longer useful to the tribe, they willingly put themselves on an ice floe. This was done for the good of the whole tribe. We are not that much removed evolutionarily from the Eskimos that this should not still be the practice. If an elder is no longer producing more than he/she consumes and is not able to contribute in a satisfactory manner to the upbringing of later generations, the burden should be eliminated.

Gecko Gingrich: IronTom: Whatever happened to respect your elders?

Respect is something that is earned, not handed out willy nilly.

So is hate.

JoeBagadonutz: You mean there's a way to screw over my tattooed, worthless, disrespectful son who bled me white for child support for 21 years? Yes! There is a God!

Actually no, a child under 18 has absolutely no means of "bleeding your white", blame his mother, and the courts. But ultimately its your fault. The child on the other hand has no legal rights and whose disrespect is a result of his upbringing more than anything (again you and your wife's fault). Do you think a 5 year old suddenly decides, "You know what I'm going to be an asshole for the rest of my life"

JoeBagadonutz: You mean there's a way to screw over my tattooed, worthless, disrespectful son who bled me white for child support for 21 years? Yes! There is a God!

You had to financially support the child you helped create? Oh the humanity.


Dick.

Poor little foofoo generation
this may interfere with their talking on cellphones and $10 cups of coffee

Some Bass Playing Guy: Nice job painting all boomers with the same brush, jackass.

In any case, even if this were true, different generations were raised with different ideas of what working meant. When I was in HS my parents always told me to go to college so I could get a "good job" and make "good money". To them earning a high salary was something they had instilled in them. It didn't matter to them if you loved or hated your job. It only mattered that it paid well. They had it instilled in them by their parents who lived through the depression.

When we raised our kids, we taught them that yes, you should go to college and find a good career, but find something that you love doing.

The difference is generational ethics.

Go back another generation and they never would have taken out the loans that babyboomers and later have no problem with. They had the options. Would have made the later half of their life much more luxurious to just borrow... but it went against their generational beliefs.

Yes there are generational ethics and belief systems. It's the reason why managers across the globe right now are struggling to learn how to best manage the next generation now entering the workforce. Different brains need to be handled differently to get optimal performance.

Study any management book and you'll see a substantial part of it dedicated to the past 3 or 4 generations and the differences in ethics and morals. Each one is worlds apart though generally speaking it's cyclical as each tends to rebel from their parents.

Finding those who gave themselves multi-million dollar bonuses at the expense of leading their company to it's demise acceptable is a generational thing. Generally baby boomers don't mind this as much as other generations in the tradition of "if they had the power to do it, they earned it"... while their parents, and children believe the ethics of it is dubious at best.

If you look at those who think Bernie Madoff is evil, vs those who think he was treated unfairly.... you'll see the same generational splits. Boomers interviewed on TV tend to be more sympathetic to "he was just providing for his family and got carried away" vs their children's "he's Satan and needs to be burned".

Generational ethics is an undeniable part of our society. Go back to "the greatest generation" and what's going on today would have never been acceptable. Today? Well obviously it is.

cr0sh: rocketkitty: When my parents are no longer able to live independently, they'll come and live with me (and my hubby and kids). I used to volunteer at a nursing home and it was the most awful and depressing thing I've ever seen. I'm not sure why Americans moved away from multiple generations living in one home (post-WWII economy?) but I think it's great to have family close so we can take care of each other. My parents have always supported me and I return the favor out of love, not a sense of obligation.
/naive woman, please don't flame me
/k thx

I think you might be in for a disappointment, especially if either/both of your parents get dementia or alzheimers.

I agree that nursing homes can be depressing places; group care homes (small, independent homes serving 4-6 patients) are a much better situation, and usually cheaper, too (if you worked in a nursing home, you know how expensive it can be). However, at some point you may have to bite the bullet and put your parent(s) in a home. Nobody is superman (or woman); you may be able to take care of them temporarily, but there will come a time when you will say "enough! I can't constantly get up every other hour to transfer my mother to the potty chair and then wipe her butt; I haven't been able to sleep for more than 2 hours in a row for over 8 months; my back is out and my neck is killing me; oh, and when will she/he/them stop chanting for hours!"...

Believe me, I know where I am coming from. I (and my wife) are there currently with my own mother. We tried to place her into a home, once it became apparent she was no longer helping with transfer, and was dead weight to move around (not that she knows or cares; she hardly knows who we are, nor what time of day it is). She was only in a group home for a couple of weeks when she began screaming through the night for hours on end, keeping the entire home awake. She was "kicked out".

We had her evaluated for hospice; they ended up taking her. They transferred her to a hospice care center where she stayed a week. She made so much noise during her first day she ended up waking a person up (in the adjacent bed) from a diabetic COMA (who had been in it for a few weeks). Haldol and morphine (prescribed by hospice) have not been enough to calm her down to a point where ANY care home will take care of her. She will not stay asleep at night more than a few hours; she wakes up and chants all night (with a few screaming fits). She is not lucid during any of this (not that she is very lucid when she is "awake"). We did manage to find one facility who would take her (a special in-patient alheimers/dementia center); it would only cost about $11,000 per month.

We ended up bringing her back home with hospice helping out, along with a help from friends and some family. She is still on Haldol and morphine, and is a bit quieter (still chanting and screaming at night; sundowner behavior). If there were a place we could place her, we would. We've been doing this since October, her health (and mental facilities) have been on a rapid downhill slide ever since.

I don't think any child who loves their parent(s) would want them to be in a nursing home, especially if they know what they are like. They are depressing and sometimes ugly places. But I can certainly understand if someone has to place their parent(s) in one; sometimes it becomes the only choice if you want to have any hope of providing adequate and proper care for your loved one.

Thank you for sharing your story. My father ended up going to hospice because of lung cancer. I had to keep him on powerful narcotics so he could function. It got to be too much and his cancer moved quickly. We couldn't have made it without liquid narcotics and hospice.

AVENGE YOURSELF! Live long enough to become a problem to your children.

Taxes = slavery

There was a point were taxes were at about 1% of gross income and most where voluntary.

Now you either pay, go to jail or leave the country.

Yeah I see the real freedom here, and there is no disputing if they were wrong or right. YOU PAY, YOU PAY NOW!

Trik: Poor little foofoo generation
this may interfere with their talking on cellphones and $10 cups of coffee

Yeah, damn boomers.

madblader: There was a point were taxes were at about 1% of gross income and most where voluntary.

There was also a point where you had to know how to use a flintlock musket or the Savages would kill you, burn your house to the ground, and steal your children.

But we've got beyond that.

the threadjackers have completely missed the point....and yet made it at the same time.........


See how you people come to Obama's defense when you're talking about the debts he and his economic policies will leave you?

And yet you biatch about the debts your parents are leaving you?

If you're willing to pay the debts of this irresponsible President's spending then pay for the irresponsible spending of your parents to and ( as I said ) STFU about it.

The Icelander: I also don't like that I'll have to pay off the debts of these irresponsible presidents:

To be fair, a decent chunk of Reagan's debts were necessary - our military hardware was hideously outdated for a while there.

The other two, not so much.

X-boxershorts: uatuba: X-boxershorts:

drivel


First of all, it's Keynesian. Secondly, his theory is based on the government working against the current economic conditions (increase taxes/cut certain programs when times are good and DECREASE taxes/increase certain programs when times are bad). You are boiling the theory down to deficit spending alone (which I said could be a good thing), but that is absolutely not all there is to it. His theory, as it applies to our current situation, is that deficit spending on labor and industry heavy infrastructure projects (not social programs) will help in a down economy.

I happen to agree. FDR took it too far by adding wasteful (and unsustainable) social programs. Because according to the Keynesian theory, we should have cut those programs when the economy rebounded. Furthermore, for you to assert that tax cuts--in and of themselves--are bad simply shows how little you know of Keynes' ideas. Tax cuts are appropriate and encouraged when the economy is down; tax increases are appropriate and encouraged when the economy is up.

The Icelander: libbynomore2: If you're willing to pay the debts of this irresponsible President's spending then pay for the irresponsible spending of your parents to and ( as I said ) STFU about it.

I also don't like that I'll have to pay off the debts of these irresponsible presidents:

don't forget


and

The Icelander: and eas81:

Yeah, you're both right, so shake hands and be nice. We can add Nixon and Carter to that too.

/I'm only 27, not old enough to know everything about all of 'em.
//Those who seek power probably shouldn't have it.

My parents have gambled away everything and are deep in debt, but that's alright, I plan on "taking care" of them in their old age.

... Because spineless tenderfoot americans are afraid to trigger the off switch when they are no longer viable.

it is said that Queen Victoria died standing up, after days of sleepless terror of dying while asleep.

the thought of waking up in an old folks home would get me reach'n for my revolver...

BOOM!!!

Only thing I could think of but I play Gears of War all the time.

IronTom: although,, the parents have to pay a lot of shiat for their little kiddies who get sick, get in trouble, etc.

I'm sorry. Please remind me when I chose to be born, when I chose my parents, and when I chose how my parents would raise me from birth.

You people need to crack a book every now and again:


http://www.amazon.com/Fourth-Turning-William-Strauss/dp/0767900464

Basic summary, bring back a more cyclical view of the passage of time and suddenly American history lines up neatly in roughly 80-100 year cycles consisting of four generations each. Each cycle repeats in exactly the same pattern.

For instance, the majority of the names that we know from the American Revolution were from their cycles equivalent of the GenXers, who would lead their "millennials" to victory. It happened again during WWII. The last two ALWAYS get stuck cleaning up after the first two. It's what we do, it's our function in the cycle.

Another good one:

http://www.amazon.com/Saves-World-Generation-Everything-Sucking/dp/0670018589

one of the worst experiences of my life was caring for my ailing mother as she progressed thru diabetes and eventually brain cancer.
late night calls to come help her back in bed after she had fallen out ,to having her not recognize me in her last days.


it was also one ill never regret doing,as she truly loved me,and made my young life,and even my not so young life better. she did without so we kids could have the things we wanted,and never asked
for a thing from us.and i still care for my father,i put him foremost in my life as i know i wont have him forever either.
sure,i rebelled when i was a teen and got in a lot of trouble but they never gave up on me. i see it as my honored duty to care for him in his advancing years even if it does cost me a bit socially.
and its not like im expecting a big inheritance either,he spends all his money on his kids,grandkids,and thier kids. he doesnt know the meaning of greed. i geuss i have been blessed with a good set of parents and many of you havent.i truly feel sorry for you. all this generational hate is to me a very sad thing.
it makes me think most of you dont appreciate what you actually have or how you came to have it. for all your so called liberal leanings and so called social consiousness,you young farkers are really starting to sound like the worst kind of bigots i have ever had to discourse with. what im getting from reading most of your posts is that social responsibility has taken a huge step backwards,and that a new me me me type of thought process has taken its place.and that is what it really is,masked as outright indignation at another generation.
it is simply greed.

Wow... another Boomer hate thread.

They really ruined America, with stuff like equal rights, legalized abortion, birth control pills, ending the draft, and flying to the moon. Not to mention all that shiatty music like Hendrix, Clapton, and Led Zeppelin.

Damn, they suck!

/sarcasm

ChrisPC: They really ruined America, with stuff like equal rights, legalized abortion, birth control pills, ending the draft, and flying to the moon. Not to mention all that shiatty music like Hendrix, Clapton, and Led Zeppelin.

The music I'll give you. Most of that other stuff was not done by Boomers, primarily.

dreadprophet: Also, you're a presumptuous cock. Some of us put ourselves through college.

On top of that, college is MUCH more expensive now than when the Boomers were young. They benefited from government policies that made higher education affordable for the middle class, and then gutted those policies in exchange for lower taxes and made their kids take out student loans to pay for massively inflated education costs. So I'm not inclined to listen to any sort of wharrgarbl about how young people today have it easy on paying for college.

larrycot:
Aw... Did I hurt your widdle feelings...

Sure some of you (as I did) put yourselves through college.

THE VAST MAJORITY DID NOT. So please go find your peers who sucked on the parental teat and blame them. Until then, just shut up and open your checkbook. Every good thing that happened from birth until you moved the fark out of your parent's house had a price. Once you've paid every nickel of that back, you can biatch. Until then, just shut up and give. Just like your parents did for you.

Sounds like you have some of your own offspring who won't give you the time of day. You probably deserve it.

DIGITALgimpus: Each one is worlds apart though generally speaking it's cyclical as each tends to rebel from their parents.

That was a very insightful post. My theory is that each generation actually rebels primarily against the most repulsive aspects of their parents' generation, and makes the opposite of that part of their generational ethics. Now we're seeing the backlash against the greed of the Baby Boomer generation, with young people who aren't as willing to sell their quality of life to a corporation to get a higher salary. I also think, based on the attitudes I've observed, that there's a major backlash against some other things like the massive divorce rate, too.

Personally, I think that my parents (particularly my mom) and I have fundamentally different attitudes about money. She is responsible, thankfully, but she is OBSESSED with constantly amassing more wealth (to the point where all she ever wants to talk about with me when I call her is whether I'm making more money, getting job prospects to move up for more money, getting promotions/raises, etc). It actually is starting to piss me off, to the point where I've told her "Mom, I don't care about money like you do, and I'd rather talk about something more pleasant". To me, money is a means to an end, and something that can buy me security and quality of life. To her, it's like money IS the end. I don't get it, but I think it has to do with this generational divide.