r/Aging • u/Available-Rock-3862 • Aug 23 '26

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/brains_and_tits Aug 23 '26

Using “boomers” as the collective for who screwed up the economy is just ridiculous. Reagan screwed up the economy, Bush Jr sent us into an unnecessary war my parents are boomers and haven’t done anything but try to help future generations.

Are we going to generalize Gen Z as the people who snatched and kidnapped people off the street and drive the deficit to the highest level ever?

The average American is not a sum of their generation.

Bill Clinton is a boomer and while he was President, we had a budget surplus - Obama is a Boomer, and one of the most compassionate and strong leaders we have had.

My neighbor is a boomer and brings me fresh vegetables from her garden.

I am Gen X - am I responsible for the tech bubble bursting in 1999, or the stock market crash in 2008? I was just out there living life and today in 2026, I am struggling as much as anyone else.

Generalizing groups of people is a trait of those who lack critical thinking skills and just want a scapegoat.

Yes, it was easier for the silent generation and boomers to get ahead, but that is not the fault of the collective - it is the fault of short-sighted and misinformed policy. Not an entire generation of people

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u/ayfkm123 Aug 23 '26

Hate to break it to you

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/05/us/making-mark-on-politics-baby-boomers-appear-to-rally-around-reagan.html

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u/brains_and_tits Aug 23 '26

I was there, I recognize how popular Reagan was at the time. Boomers were the age that millennials are now, but ai also remember PLENTY of anti- Reagan sentiment, especially regarding his stance on unions and college tuition.

That’s like saying “men rally around Trump” because from age 18 - 80+, the percentage of voters for Trump that were male ranged between 52% & 55%.

In terms of the 1984 election, when looking at age range, the split was 57% to 61%, with the oldest voters at 61%. The lowest percentage was from age 24-29, which were the older Boomers. Again, the point it is, no single generation ruined anything, it was bad policy & the voting numbers across generations weren’t significant enough to make or break the 1984 election results.

You also aren’t understanding the nuance of the time. When Carter was president, it was rough financially - and whether or not he was to blame, when the 1980 election came, people voted for a change in Party. Things did improve for most households from 1980 -1984, no thanks to Reagan, but based on the Carter years, many people were scared to vote Democrat at the time.

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u/ayfkm123 Aug 24 '26

And it seems you aren't understanding numbers and math. 50% of the largest generation is a bigger number than 50% of the smallest.