To have people idle at a time when they are full of energy and their grey-cell count is at a maximum is a shocking waste. And in any case, my generation has had it very good for much too long. We bought houses when they were still just about affordable. We had free education and pensions. It's all been jolly nice, and I've enjoyed it a lot. Now is the time to start to pay.

Why is this not on the main page?

This should be required reading for everyone over 50

Checks to see if that's an Obama quote.
Leaves article disappointed.

In before Obam...

Talondel: Checks to see if that's an Obama quote.

Goddammitsomuch.

It's sad to look around me and see 30-and 40-somethings in entry level jobs and 50-somethings just barely starting to climb the corporate ladder. Something's really wrong.

the author's gone to a bit of an extreme but there is some truth to this - i especially notice it in academia where you've got professors continuing to work well into their 80s(!)

i'm not trying to be ageist, but if you're at a point where you don't need the money and the job is little more than a hobby to you, you're basically (selfishly) keeping food off of someone else's plate. all because you don't want to find a new hobby.

Norv Turner: To have people idle at a time when they are full of energy and their grey-cell count is at a maximum is a shocking waste. And in any case, my generation has had it very good for much too long. We bought houses when they were still just about affordable. We had free education and pensions. It's all been jolly nice, and I've enjoyed it a lot. Now is the time to start to pay.

Why is this not on the main page?

No, seriously, modmins. Why is this not on the main page?

Kuroshin: You work, make your money, get old and retire.

Yep. However, the "get paid for doing nothing" scam has pretty much systematically dismantled, ergo, all the boomer still working. The plutocrats didn't think their cunning plan all the way through.

The other, unspoken subtext when these guys talk about "the people at the top are good" is that the people at the bottom are bad. And, considering she's a journalist and the people at the top completely missed the boat on the internet and thereby killed their whole industry, how good can the people at the top really be?

Furthermore, considering just how crappy our whole economy is right now, how can these oldsters claim that they know better or are doing a better job than a younger group would be?

Norv Turner: To have people idle at a time when they are full of energy and their grey-cell count is at a maximum is a shocking waste. And in any case, my generation has had it very good for much too long. We bought houses when they were still just about affordable. We had free education and pensions. It's all been jolly nice, and I've enjoyed it a lot. Now is the time to start to pay.

Why is this not on the main page?


My fault. I submitted it as Business accidentally. We have this problem in the publishing industry, and it's absolutely killing it. You need younger, fresher minds if you ever want a hope in hell at keeping up with technology and where things are going. And I'm sorry, but a 60 year old who owned her own print house ten years ago teaching new grads how to get into the publishing business? She had only the vaguest idea about ebooks, but strongly stated that that's where things were going, so...you know, look into that.

Yeah, we will. In the mean time, take your outdated self out and let the young ones flourish.

I can tell where this is going...



Or perhaps this...

The author is wrong on one thing -- things will not change when the older generation retires. The system is setup so that successors are nearly identical to those leaving. Do you really see some set-in-his-ways, rich, old, white man handing over the reigns of a multi-million dollar company to someone he doesn't trust/relate with?

Girl I'm seeing now says I wear two masks: Work-me & Life-me. When I'm at work, I am a ruthless, conservative, straight tie wearing, Christian, Republican. But when I get home I'm a care free, liberal who can't wait to hop into some jeans and a t-shirt while I cheer on the Democrats (and haven't been to Church in years). I, thankfully, learned early in my career that who I was wouldn't get me places in "Corporate America" ... so I needed to lie. When I did, my career went straight up.

Back in 2004 my boss invited me out for some after-work drinks the night of the election. My younger self would have been disgusted. I sat around a cigar and whiskey bar with a bunch of old executives, smoking and cheering on President Bush's victory. (Even though I campaigned for Kerry)

My hope is to one day sneak in to the higher levels, then make some changes.

HellRaisingHoosier: My hope is to one day sneak in to the higher levels, then make some changes.

LOL By that point you'll be voting republican and complaining about your taxes.

The only way is to create new industries, to create a market space that no existing company can effectively fill. So then it's left to young people to create businesses and jobs to fill that space. That's how the tech industry became disproportionately represented by young people.

stiletto_the_wise: HellRaisingHoosier: My hope is to one day sneak in to the higher levels, then make some changes.

LOL By that point you'll be voting republican and complaining about your taxes.

I just can't see it happening right now, but maybe everyone says that. Life changes you, that much I'm learning.

I went back to visit my home town during Christmas (pop 8,000), and felt snobbish the whole time. "What do you mean you don't take plastic, how do I pay for this?" or "What do you mean all you have is PBR and Coors Lite? Disgusting".

HellRaisingHoosier: I went back to visit my home town during Christmas (pop 8,000), and felt snobbish the whole time. "..."What do you mean all you have is PBR and Coors Lite? Disgusting".

That's not snobbish. That's just being a decent human being.

One job that 20-somethings do readily that 40-somethings shouldn't and 50-somethings can't. Reproduce.

A lot of the Mediterranean countries are in a negative-feedback loop. 20-somethings not having steady jobs, declining birth rates, declining economy, no jobs for 20-somethings.

/ immediate supervisor is 78. He'd have been just fine financially quitting 15 years ago, and the larger organization would have done at least as well.

On the one hand, we're being told that people on pensions and Social Security should stop being leeches and go out and get a job.

On the other, we're being told that people who are retirement age should quit their jobs for the young people.

Apparently, the boundary is down to 50, which is 15-20 years short of Social Security age, which we're not supposed to accept because we should stop being leeches.

So, what should people over 50 do? Just die once their savings are exhausted?

HellRaisingHoosier: Girl I'm seeing now says I wear two masks: Work-me & Life-me. When I'm at work, I am a ruthless, conservative, straight tie wearing, Christian, Republican. But when I get home I'm a care free, liberal who can't wait to hop into some jeans and a t-shirt

Hello, comrade.

Contents Under Pressure: On the one hand, we're being told that people on pensions and Social Security should stop being leeches and go out and get a job.

In my experience, the people who are saying that are actually on pensions and Social Security.

HellRaisingHoosier: My hope is to one day sneak in to the higher levels, then make some changes.

here's hoping you have not forgotten who you are when you get there. it happened to the people before you. best of luck.

Lawnchair: One job that 20-somethings do readily that 40-somethings shouldn't and 50-somethings can't. Reproduce.

A lot of the Mediterranean countries are in a negative-feedback loop. 20-somethings not having steady jobs, declining birth rates, declining economy, no jobs for 20-somethings.

That's actually a good thing, not bad. Any ecologist can tell you that delayed fecundity is a stabilizing factor and tends to lead to a decline in population.

SoCalSurfer: This should be required reading for everyone over 50

Not everyone over 50 is on easy street. I know several that have been downsized and pretty much flushed out of their careers. They work low paying jobs now and don't have fat pensions to dip into.

So maybe you might not want to generalize so much.

HellRaisingHoosier: My hope is to one day sneak in to the higher levels, then make some changes.

Relevant (new window)

stiletto_the_wise: HellRaisingHoosier: My hope is to one day sneak in to the higher levels, then make some changes.

LOL By that point you'll be voting republican and complaining about your taxes.

That's my plan. I don't have much now but I have a highish income. Accumulate now so I can say "I got mine, fark you!"

browser_snake: That's actually a good thing, not bad. Any ecologist can tell you that delayed fecundity is a stabilizing factor and tends to lead to a decline in population.

From a broad enough perspective, sure. Great. It does have to stop at some point, and now is as good as any.

From the perspective of the moneyed classes, who expect their money to grow by skimming off some portion of the growth going on around them? Capitalism, as a general idea, needs growth. Continually skim off a system that isn't growing, and you eventually kill it.

Travis_Bickle: Not everyone over 50 is on easy street. I know several that have been downsized and pretty much flushed out of their careers. They work low paying jobs now and don't have fat pensions to dip into.

That would be my own mother, bless her soul, but I'm still bitter at Baby Boomers overall because they are doing much, much, MUCH better than their progeny with few feelings of guilt overall.

Prime example would be one guy I know at our company. He didn't pay off his house; he farking inherited it. Brags that his answer to any family problems is to just get drunk. Makes more money than me despite working in a lower cost area and far more replaceable. He's the worst performer in the company by far but the CEO rewards him because he's loyal. His region has high turnover because he keeps throwing his subordinates under the bus to save his own hide. The guy is always railing about high taxes and big government even though he gets a large share of his business from defense contractors. The guy literally plans business dinners on sales trips to get co-workers to spend time with him because he has no friends. Most worthless piece of shiat I can think of, and in my line of business he's the rule, not the exception. And his fellow Baby Boomers are falling over each other to steal him away from the company because of his "experience".

Meanwhile my wife is among the elite top 10% among CPAs in that she passed all exams on the first try and she can't get a job because she doesn't have enough experience.

Fark you, Baby Boomers. Fark you to hell.

Kuroshin: HotIgneous Intruder: Kuroshin: You work, make your money, get old and retire.

Yep. However, the "get paid for doing nothing" scam has pretty much systematically dismantled, ergo, all the boomer still working. The plutocrats didn't think their cunning plan all the way through.

Since the Boomers were the ones who were all-for dismantling those systems, all in the name of personal enrichment, I'm fine with them reaping their just rewards. After all, isn't it the Boomers who go on and on about how investing for the future is so important? What happened?

Oh. Right. The house of cards wiped out their nest egg. Sure is a pity that so much work has been done to destroy the social safety net. Could have been useful. Sow the wind, and all that...

Trouble with that way of looking at it is that just deserts are an individual issue - not a collective one.
What about all those boomers who fought tooth and nail against the dismantling of the safety net - should they take their lumps along with those who started voting GOP in 1980? The greatest irony on that would be that those who didn't go along with the rape of our social systems are probably of modest means, and would suffer if the net was jerked out from under them - whereas those who enthusiastically cheered it on probably did so because they are relatively wealthy, and stood to benefit. So as individuals, you want to make the innocent suffer, and let the guilty walk away relatively unharmed.
Not exactly justice - but collectivist thinking rarely is.

stiletto_the_wise: It's sad to look around me and see 30-and 40-somethings in entry level jobs and 50-somethings just barely starting to climb the corporate ladder. Something's really wrong.

True that. I'm not entry-level, but when I spoke to the higher-ups about moving up they said "Wait your turn."

I quit the next day.

As a borderline Boomer/Gen-Xer (I prefer the GenX label), I'm currently spending more per month making up for my Silent Generation mother's pension/SS shortfall as I am contributing to my own 401k. So you'll have to wait for my job, kiddies.

/Go 'way, I'm busy

bingethinker: Hey, give me a pension I can live on, I'll quit tomorrow. But I'm not going to live on Ramen for the last 30 years of my life just to give a job to some ignorant, snotty 20-something who thinks he's better than me just because he's younger.

I'd argue the 20-something doesn't think he's better than you. He just thinks it would be nice to be given a chance to prove he can kick ass.

I'm convinced at this point that the USA will be in decline until the Baby Boomers start dying off en masse. I don't think my generation (Gen X) will be able to to fix things because we grew up watching the selfishness and self-absorption of our parents' generation -- we're just too cynical and demoralized at this point.

I think the younger generations have potential -- but the non-stop stupidity and overwhelming interference of baby boomer politics is undermining their foundations. The question at this point is about how much more damage will the Boomers do on their way out. I sadly, think it will be a lot.

bingethinker: Hey, give me a pension I can live on, I'll quit tomorrow. But I'm not going to live on Ramen for the last 30 years of my life just to give a job to some ignorant, snotty 20-something who thinks he's better than me just because he's younger.

There is a reason young punks think they're better than you. Think about it, bingethinker

bingethinker: Hey, give me a pension I can live on, I'll quit tomorrow. But I'm not going to live on Ramen for the last 30 years of my life just to give a job to some ignorant, snotty 20-something who thinks he's better than me just because he's younger.

Typical Boomer self-centeredness. GIVE ME a pension! Young people should work at Starbucks because I failed to save for my retirement!!

Do you really think he is going to let you live in his basement?

They could just die, that would solve the problem as well.

Incog_Neeto: They could just die, that would solve the problem as well.

They will. So will you. Welcome to humanity.

jso2897: Incog_Neeto: They could just die, that would solve the problem as well.

They will. So will you. Welcome to humanity.

I think he meant die as in, die right now. Or at least by the end of the week.

SoCalSurfer: This should be required reading for everyone over 50

After they read Logan's Run.

Plastic Trash Vortex: jso2897: Incog_Neeto: They could just die, that would solve the problem as well.

They will. So will you. Welcome to humanity.

I think he meant die as in, die right now. Or at least by the end of the week.

It's been done. (new window)

bingethinker: Hey, give me a pension I can live on, I'll quit tomorrow. But I'm not going to live on Ramen for the last 30 years of my life just to give a job to some ignorant, snotty 20-something who thinks he's better than me just because he's younger.

Isn't it your generation who decided that a pension wasn't a good thing?

Methinks you have a problem identifying whom you should be mad at.

BTW: never turn down someone's idea before you hear it out. I have several awards in my office because I listened to the ideas of folks younger than myself (and hell yes, I acknowledged them... best way to achieve loyalty is to make sure everyone knows that you'll give credit to those for whom it's due).

stiletto_the_wise: bingethinker: Hey, give me a pension I can live on, I'll quit tomorrow. But I'm not going to live on Ramen for the last 30 years of my life just to give a job to some ignorant, snotty 20-something who thinks he's better than me just because he's younger.

Typical Boomer self-centeredness. GIVE ME a pension! Young people should work at Starbucks because I failed to save for my retirement!!

Typical hipster, participation trophy generation, entitlement attitude. GIVE ME your job, go retire and go away.

That is why they don't have jobs, they aren't creating anything. Just gimme gimme gimme.

Hate the boomers all you want, but at least they created things.

browser_snake: Lawnchair: One job that 20-somethings do readily that 40-somethings shouldn't and 50-somethings can't. Reproduce.

A lot of the Mediterranean countries are in a negative-feedback loop. 20-somethings not having steady jobs, declining birth rates, declining economy, no jobs for 20-somethings.

That's actually a good thing, not bad. Any ecologist can tell you that delayed fecundity is a stabilizing factor and tends to lead to a decline in population.

And then you get Japan, which is about to implode because there aren't enough young people to take care of the old people.

tenpoundsofcheese: Hate the boomers all you want, but at least they created things.

Like unbridled corporatism, wage repression, an anti-labor attitude, and a system that punishes people who don't win the vagina lottery?

You used to at least be interesting, tentonsofderp.

What do you do?

"oh I'm just waiting for my parents to die"

Plastic Trash Vortex: jso2897: Incog_Neeto: They could just die, that would solve the problem as well.

They will. So will you. Welcome to humanity.

I think he meant die as in, die right now. Or at least by the end of the week.

A lot of people will die before the end of this week. Maybe you. Who knows?

Kuroshin: jso2897: Kuroshin: HotIgneous Intruder: Kuroshin: You work, make your money, get old and retire.

Yep. However, the "get paid for doing nothing" scam has pretty much systematically dismantled, ergo, all the boomer still working. The plutocrats didn't think their cunning plan all the way through.

Since the Boomers were the ones who were all-for dismantling those systems, all in the name of personal enrichment, I'm fine with them reaping their just rewards. After all, isn't it the Boomers who go on and on about how investing for the future is so important? What happened?

Oh. Right. The house of cards wiped out their nest egg. Sure is a pity that so much work has been done to destroy the social safety net. Could have been useful. Sow the wind, and all that...

Trouble with that way of looking at it is that just deserts are an individual issue - not a collective one.
What about all those boomers who fought tooth and nail against the dismantling of the safety net - should they take their lumps along with those who started voting GOP in 1980? The greatest irony on that would be that those who didn't go along with the rape of our social systems are probably of modest means, and would suffer if the net was jerked out from under them - whereas those who enthusiastically cheered it on probably did so because they are relatively wealthy, and stood to benefit. So as individuals, you want to make the innocent suffer, and let the guilty walk away relatively unharmed.
Not exactly justice - but collectivist thinking rarely is.

You're talking about a minority. A minority who have had a chance to prepare. A minority who likely have children and grand-children. Some form of family network they can work within in order to scrape by. It's not unreasonable to expect the elderly to go "Old Country" when their own lives become untenable - care for the litters, keep up the house, earn their keep by providing much-needed support to the younger generations who are trying to make ...

Take comfort in knowing that everything you say about the boomers was said by them about their parents. And so on. The old have always grumbled and biatched about the young, and the young have always whined and sniveled about the mean old world their elders have left them - it's the way of the world.
You ain't unique - in any way, shape, or form.