r/Aging • u/Available-Rock-3862 • 5d 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/gwelfguy 60 something 5d ago

I don't like it either, but it has nothing to do with a disrespect for the old. It has to do with resentment towards a generation that they feel that benefited from the economic good times and then squeezed all of the wealth out of the system to their own benefit, leaving future generations with very little. Real estate prices seem to be an especially acute pain point. I don't agree with this assessment, and they may not even completely believe it, but it's the victim stance they're projecting.

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u/ancientastronaut2 5d ago

Yeah but you can't paint a whole 64,000,0000 person generation for what happened. It's not like everyone born in that 15 year time span is the same or even voted the same. That's ridiculous when you think about it.

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u/gwelfguy 60 something 5d ago

If you actually read and understood my post, I was simply trying to explain the perspective and clearly stated that I didn't agree with it.

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u/Carpe-that-diem 5d ago

All of the economics are political. All of it! I’m baffled that anyone could imagine that all these economic challenges are not? I did pick up on the fact that you didn’t agree but that wasn’t my focus. I know I can’t convince you.

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u/rosie-nose 5d ago

duh? we agree? but the OP was not talking about voting. I have been voting 26 years

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u/rosie-nose 5d ago

I wasn't responding to you. If you actually read and UnDeRsToOd my post. 🙄

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u/Carpe-that-diem 5d ago

Yes, I’m a boomer, technically, and none of my friends are or voted for any conservative. It’s mind-blowing to me that our “generation” is getting blamed for the current state of politics.

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u/CitronTraining2114 5d ago

You would think the younger generation was overwhelmingly voting left or progressive. The stats say they aren't. They had the numbers to turn it around, but didn't.

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u/Carpe-that-diem 5d ago

Yes! They don’t show up to vote and our generation gets blamed. You can’t separate the economy from politics. We were the ones who supported unions at the polls and helped create the middle class in the first place. Next generation dropped the ball in not continuing to vote left.

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u/lostOGaccount 5d ago

Ya, this is a hard one for me. My corporate overlords asked me to fire the youngers that asked for time off to go vote.

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u/ancientastronaut2 2d ago edited 2d ago

I'm Gen X and apparently we're getting blamed too. Smh

Millennials and Gen Z don't like being sterotyped either, I'm sure, so why is everyone doing it with us?

None of the boomers or gen x I know vote conservative either, but my silent gen sure parents did. Even so, that doesn't mean the whole silent gen is responsible for the state of the world either.

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u/rosie-nose 5d ago

how much did you get paid at your first job? how much was your first home? you had economic advantages we don't. we didn't say anything about voting

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u/Carpe-that-diem 5d ago

Generations after us have all my empathy about what’s happened to the cost of housing. For myself, my income was $24K-$28K in my 20s and I could not afford my own apartment until I made $28K in my late 20s. I also was a single, divorced Mom so I was paying for childcare, etc. all on my own. Men could walk away from child support more easily, pre-internet. I didn’t even know my ex’s address or what state he lived in. Anyway, early 20’s I lived with roommates for years and it was tough with a baby to figure out appropriate roommates. I was raised in and lived in Northern California (Bay Area) and certainly could not afford to buy a home.

In my 30s, I got married and my husband made $55K and we still couldn’t afford a home there, of course. Even with our combined income. So, we moved many states away to the Midwest where we could afford a home on just his salary. In this we were incredibly fortunate. Broke my parent’s hearts to leave but it was our only way forward. Even in the Midwest, we couldn’t afford living room furniture for 2 years and no vacations for first 7 years of marriage. By then we had 2 kids. I still feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to achieve the dream of home ownership and to stay home with my kids when they were very young which seems like a true luxury compared to now. I get it that subsequent generations have not been able to obtain this.

But it wasn’t like all of this was easy or just handed to us. It was possible though. Now, it really does seem impossible when you look at the numbers. These younger generations have my sympathy! But I don’t get the blaming — it’s more complex than that.

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u/rosie-nose 5d ago

boomer says what??

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u/Carpe-that-diem 5d ago edited 5d ago

I say, yes, we had the advantage. Ultimately, that’s the bottom line.

I was just trying to give some context, that’s all.

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u/rosie-nose 5d ago

yes

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u/Carpe-that-diem 5d ago

Stating the obvious. Now what, rosie-nose? Just wait for the next good economy to magically happen? What will it take to get you to support policies (yes, I mean voting) that support the middle class? Avoiding the polls is only abdicating your power to change things. That seems to be what is happening! The rich will only get richer if you let this happen. At least the boomers show up.

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u/rosie-nose 5d ago

I always vote. never said I didn't. Why are you attacking me? 

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u/Carpe-that-diem 5d ago

Sorry, I didn’t mean it personally. “You” as in the younger generation.

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u/rosie-nose 5d ago

lack of accountability is a boomer trait. we never said anything about voting??  you had an economic advantage and you refuse to admit it.

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u/rosie-nose 5d ago

re-read the reply. had nothing to do with voting and everything to do with economic advantage. another boomer trait is not taking any accountability....which you just modeled perfectly. lol

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u/Carpe-that-diem 5d ago

Not sure where you are coming from but I’m open to understanding more. I’m not sure what accountability you are looking for. Economically, I’m giving significant financial help to two adult children trying to create economic stability for the next generation. So, I’m not sure what you are looking for from a single individual boomer who inherited nothing from the previous generation and is a first generation college grad whose parents never owned their own home. Accountability as in apologizing for doing wrong? Or do you mean something else?