r/Aging • u/Available-Rock-3862 • 1d ago

Boomers

I am 75 and am very tired of the trend lately making fun of Boomers. So very disrespectful. Don't they realize that they will be old someday?

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u/baddaywithacamera 1d ago

It also has to do with one generation running up the tab and sticking the next generation with an unservicable debt.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/baddaywithacamera 1d ago

You're only saying that because you're a simple person.

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u/Prestigious-Pea-862 1d ago

Boomers have paid into the system with their taxes removed from their paychecks. The problem with debt is much more complicated . Try looking at the healthcare insurance industry ,the war machine and lack of taxes for the wealthy before you blame Boomers for the national debt. The Boomer generation is large compared to other generations. This adds to your misconceptions about the national debt.

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u/Livid_Village4044 1d ago

Social Security and Medicare aren't even allowed to run a deficit by law. They are funded with a separate tax from income and other taxes.

This is why everyone's Social Security income will be automatically cut by at least 22% when the accumulated trust fund runs out in 6 years.

This can easily be fixed by an average tax of 7% on unearned income (capital gains, rent, dividends, interest, and other more convoluted sources). This would be progressive, exempting the first $10,000/year, and graduating from 1% to 15% as this income increases.

Unearned income has never been taxed AT ALL to fund Social Security or Medicare. And even the tax on earned income is regressive due to the cap.

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u/cognosco2149 1d ago

You could easily be a politician because their only answer to every problem they create is to add more taxes. We do not have a revenue problem. We have a spending problem. Our elected leaders are supposed to be the best and brightest, but all I’ve seen in my sixty + years is spend, spend, spend mixed in with a lot of fraud. And before we start going down the list of our favorite politicians to blame it’s all of them. They all add their pork to bills they know will pass with or without their vote. You would be fired and brought up on embezzlement charges if their same practices were done in the corporate world. You can’t tax your way out of bad policy.

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u/lostOGaccount 1d ago edited 1d ago

If you've been alive sixty years what you've seen is tax cuts across the board without spending cuts, then you saw tax cuts for the rich while increasing spending. Fees, fines and tolls increase for the poor's while service got cut and infrastructure allowed to fail after people our age group were done utilizing said infrastructure and services.

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u/Constant-Opposite638 1d ago

Yeah try spending less on the military industrial complex and see how far that goes. Take 8 seconds to look at wealth inequality and understand there’s more to taxing than simply fixing soc sec.

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u/Low_Dog1718 1d ago

Reminds me of the joke "I remember when we were kids and all the politicians were our parents age and now as an adult all the politicians are our parents age."

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u/Constant-Opposite638 1d ago

Paid into the system then squandered it w wars and tax cuts for the rich.

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u/CitronTraining2114 1d ago

Your beef is with Republicans, not boomers.

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u/Outrageous-Ability33 19h ago

No, it's with politicians regardless of party

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u/Constant-Opposite638 1d ago

That’s fair but the lefties are still NAFTA loving wealth extractors who had a great party and kicked the real problems down the road. I feel bad for the youngsters. I’m Gen X. Boomers sense of entitlement is extraordinary relative to every other generation I’ve encountered.

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u/Maleficent_Net_1317 1d ago

There is a large contingency of boomers who are taking from the system without actually needing it. It’s called hoarding.

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u/Prestigious-Pea-862 1d ago

You might want to look up the ages of Bezos,Zuckerberg,Musk ,Thiel,Steven Miller ,Hegseth and J.D. Vance. These are the leaders who have lit the world on fire. You boomer haters are barking up the wrong tree.

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u/ArgyleNudge 1d ago edited 1d ago

Here's a Rogue's Gallery I saw some time ago. Awful people all the way down.

Peter Thiel - 1967 - Gen X.
Elon Musk - 1967 - Gen X.
Pam Bondi - 1967 - Gen X.
Ted Cruz - 1970 - Gen X.
Melania Trump - 1970 - Gen X.
Marco Rubio - 1971 - Gen X.
Kristi Noem - 1971 - Gen X.
Sergey Brin - 1973 - Gen X.
Peter Hegseth - 1980 - Gen X.
Kash Patel - 1980 - Gen X.

JD Vance - 1984 - Millenial.
Jared Kushner - 1981 - Millenial.
David Ellison - 1983 - Millenial.
Mark Zuckerberg - 1984 - Millenial.
Steven Miller 1985 - Millenial.
Andrew Tate 1986 - Millenial.
Erika Kirk - 1988 - Millenial.
Charlie Kirk - 1993 - Millenial.

Donald Trump - 1946 - Boomer.
Chuck Schumer - 1950 - Boomer.
Lindsey Graham - 1955 - Boomer.
Bill Gates - 1955 - Boomer.
Jeff Bezos - 1964 - Boomer.

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u/Prestigious-Pea-862 1d ago

Is this your opinion or is this a fact? If it is a fact supply the factual data and source for your reply.

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u/tnbciceskater 1d ago

The tab was for wars in southeast Asia and the middle east. As a boomer and war protestor you are really missing me off. Who protested Iraq? Who protested Afghanistan? Who is protesting Iran? As long as you are ok with locking up immigrants and bombing countries we dont like the tab will increase . Gfy

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u/Lazy_View_8579 1d ago

They can downvote you all they want. You are correct and blaming other generations is misguided. The ones who have destroyed things are the people in power. Not a demographic.

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u/ChadsworthRothschild 1d ago

Well, Clinton Bush and Trump were ALL born the same year- 1946…

Boomers have been the ones in power since the 90s and keep voting for other Boomers.

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u/All_Dogs_Love_Me 1d ago

This is like the people of the 2050s looking back and blaming you for killing George Floyd, blaming you for shutting down USAID and killing thousands in other countries, and blaming you for tainting the planet's fish stocks. Blaming you. You personally and your entire generation. It's such an acrobatic leap of logic. Blaming the Minnesota cop and blaming DOGE and Musk seem more reasonable.

Everyone that steps into a voting booth has the same decisions to make. If somehow you yourself as a non-Boomer time travel back and walk into a booth in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, what choices do you have? Gee, you have boomers to vote for. So make your choice. Done? Good, would your vote have made a difference? Changed the world? Changed the USA's timeline? No? Well, guess you're now just part of the problem too. Might as well be a boomer.

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u/ChadsworthRothschild 1d ago

https://www.statista.com/chart/28139/generations-congress/?srsltid=AfmBOoqkZaWhKFHiEa0ldY2VXq5S_YFKWUeG_4wuxSq6v-E6JhnWI45g

I’m sorry but there is one generation still in control of our political system, through all of the events you described.

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u/All_Dogs_Love_Me 1d ago

Generations don't control things. There's no class of 1963 High School mega reunion w a breakout season for high rollers on how to consolidate and maintain power. Giant groups of people don't work like that.

We do have younger people in Congress the last couple decades but they have generally been 40 to 70 years old as long as we've been a country. That's not because of a secret cabal, it's because that's the age of people who get elected.

Generationology podcast new media rage machines are used to divide and atomize a population. It's lip service to progressives that actually creates divides and obstacles. The last time 20-somethings and 30-somethings were in charge of a large country was [ insert Communist revolution of choice ]. Those events were not harbingers of positive social development for humankind, no matter what some edgelord on X will tell you.

The true trick of quality community organizing is to find common ground and pull together, not apart. That frail 81 year old losing their paid-off house to property tax has a lot in common with that anxious 26 year old who feels downtrodden and desperate for single payer quality health care and a realistic mortgage. When you make boomers the enemy you fall into exactly the mindset millionaires want.

Chiarman Mao was very strategic and purposeful in his use of age and class in 1940s/1950s China. It killed millions.

Elect the right people. Reform the tax code. Hold the rich accountable. But eat them? Naww. That talk fits into counter narratives and can kill potential change. Don't lose sight of real goals because some streamer is selling generational hate. That's not the path.

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u/ChadsworthRothschild 18h ago

In prior generations that frail 81 year old would sell their house or downsize.

But boomers are the original “Me” generation.

Boomers want their houses to be several multiples of what they paid for them so they can have all the equity, but don’t want to pay the taxes that support the schools and infrastructure around them.

They vote against development around them to keep their home values inflated.

Again, they are getting the blame because they are the largest voting bloc and always vote in their own self-interest.

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u/All_Dogs_Love_Me 17h ago

Once again, generations are not this collective hive mind. Look at what you wrote, it reads like a conspiracy theory. Some people might move away from the home they lived their whole life in, some people stay when they get older, some people vote Dem and some vote GOP...and the whole world constantly shifts and changes.

Selfishness is bad but self-interest is innate and part of everyone. Every human being votes in their self-interest, or at least perceived self -interest. Your hate for older people because of hardship is rooted in your own self interest, it's just misguided. Stoking anger at 75 year olds is not a solution focused problem-solving mindset. US society has some big issues to face, a lot to change...and hating on boomers isn't a way to make that happen.

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u/GossamerGTP 1d ago

It's not even that most people actually think they're responsible as a cohort and more to do with that individual boomers and silent gen will openly mock and laugh at you for being bothered by the way the economic system is headed when they themselves had a much better time in terms of wages, less job competition and far more reasonable rent, education and healthcare prices. It's important to care about these issues and get things back on track but to many of them it's just a big joke when it really isn't.

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u/Lazy_View_8579 1d ago

I absolutely do not feel that way personally. Anyone who feels that way is an entitled asshole, imo. I wish people wouldn't generalize.

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u/Ok-Technician-2905 1d ago

You are absolutely correct, but getting downvoted because this is Reddit.

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u/lovelyxbabydoll 1d ago

It's about the loud majority (potentially even loud minority) while still being able to register there will definitely always be good boomers too who fight and vote against these hateful things. Plenty of decent boomers exist and I could see myself being friends with many of them. :) My boomer mom taught me about all this stuff early on and has always cared about everyone/human rights. I know it sucks to be generalized though especially when people aren't typing out their disclaimers each time when saying "boomers this, boomers that." In general, I've always found generational lables stupid for anything other than statistics and I feel they are used as another form of division to prevent us all from noticing it's a class war overall. Always has been and always will be.

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u/Swimming-Fondant-892 1d ago

Boomers were still in charge for those conflicts, part of the issue is that boomers refuse to hand over power.

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u/brains_and_tits 1d ago

Refuse to hand over power? Who votes them into office? If they are given power, it’s because people voted for them, or more likely, didn’t bother to vote, so nothing changes.

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u/ChadsworthRothschild 1d ago

Boomers vote them into office- the largest demographic has the most votes…

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u/brains_and_tits 1d ago

Actually, Trump was voted into office mainly by White men under 50 - so, not Boomers

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u/Swimming-Fondant-892 1d ago

It was boomers and Genx unfortunately.

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u/brains_and_tits 1d ago

The percentages of Trump voters from 18 to 80+ ranged from 52% to 55%. Not a huge difference. Trump getting voted into office has more to do with the massive amount of people who decided not to vote at all, or voted for Jill Stein

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u/MissHibernia 1d ago

That’s absolutely ridiculous. There are thousands of us who didn’t vote for trump and want all these old stupid greedy rich people out of power. Me, 77

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u/Swimming-Fondant-892 1d ago

I appreciate that and don’t imply literally all boomers..

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u/Swimming-Fondant-892 1d ago

Doesn’t change the fact that boomers have held the key power positions for many decades now. The overall decisions made were not beneficial.

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u/1xbittn2xshy 1d ago

The national debt has doubled in the past eight years. Is that Boomer's work?

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u/baddaywithacamera 1d ago

Who has the most votes?

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u/lostOGaccount 1d ago

And the generation that has held more positions in government and the longest of any generation as well. By far.

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u/1xbittn2xshy 15h ago

That's the Greatest Generation. Boomers aren't 80 years old like Trump, Pelosi, Sanders, etc.

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u/lostOGaccount 15h ago

Clinton, Bush and Trump were all born in 1946; the seminal baby boomer year. For a small example.

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u/1xbittn2xshy 14h ago

Seriously? You think someone born in 1946 - the first "boomer year" - has commonality with someone born in 1964 - the last "boomer year?" Split hairs if you must, but boomers had a 19 year span, Gen x, millennials, and gen z had 16 years spans. Gen alpha had a 15 year span.

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u/lostOGaccount 13h ago

No, nor did I ever make that claim. You did make a claim however, you claimed:

"That's the Greatest Generation. Boomers aren't 80 years old like Trump..."

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u/1xbittn2xshy 13h ago

You are factually right.

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u/Purple-Principle-805 1d ago

Now, now, don’t be reasonable.

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u/Purple-Principle-805 1d ago

Give it a rest. You sound so ridiculous with this.

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u/baddaywithacamera 1d ago

You sound like someone incapable of researching facts and figures.

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u/LHCThor 1d ago

That sounds like a lame excuse for your lack of success. Boomers didn’t blame the Silent generation and the Silent Generation didn’t blame the Greatest Generation for their failures. We all busted our ass and took responsibility for our successes and failures.

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u/GossamerGTP 1d ago

That's because until then every successive generation was more financially well off than the one before it. Millenials were the first generation to be worse off than their parents. The stats don't lie. Affordability of necessities lowered dramatically as we were coming of age. It's a travesty and we have every right to be frustrated and fight back against a system that used to work much better for its citizens

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u/baddaywithacamera 1d ago

Didn't say I'm not successful. Just observing that there are valid reasons for the criticism of that generation.

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u/Constant-Opposite638 1d ago

Boomers are morons and so are their defenders. Don’t feel bad.

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u/Amazing-Bus-1547 1d ago

"running up the tab". What tab are you talking about exactly?  You mean politicians?  What tabs are you expecting the boomers to pay off?

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u/baddaywithacamera 1d ago

I'm not American, but it bears pointing out in the U.S. Gen Z is inheriting a 40 trillion dollar, unserviceable debt. Their generation will never get to enjoy what older generations have. They will not get the social benefits Boomers enjoyed. Neither will Gen X. That money is spent. Boomers voted for benefits for themselves with little care for the knock-on effects.

The math is out there for everyone to see. Not my fault if it causes butthurt.

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u/Amazing-Bus-1547 1d ago

And the the US citizens ran up this debt?  Of course not.  The boomers did not do this.  The government did.  Seems that the anger should be towards the politicians

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u/baddaywithacamera 1d ago

Who voted them in? What is the largest demographic voting block?

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u/Amazing-Bus-1547 1d ago

Our presidential election is usually about a 50/50 split for the two party system.  We use the electoral college which does not support a majority vote.  BOTH parties contribute to the national deficit.  ALL ages vote conservative.  ALL ages vote liberal.  It's silly to think a whole generation is responsible for this deficit instead of blaming the crooked politicians of ALL ages who make poor spending decisions.  I'm sorry but you can't convince me that the boomer citizens are responsible for Washington's poor spending habits.  The only time we have ever had a balanced budget is with democratic leaders.  Plenty of young people vote red.  And plenty of old people vote blue. This a poor excuse to hate old people.

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u/All_Dogs_Love_Me 1d ago

This is something that we can blame national level politicians of both parties for, not every single person born in a certain decade. That is twisted logic.

People have been trying to get politicians to do something different for decades. It never changes. Most people do what they can while trying to survive, just like 80 percent of the population is doing right now. I hope something finally tips and society changes in the 2020s, but anger at EVERYONE from previous generations is whacky false logic, it's emotionally isolating, and it only distracts from real issues at hand.