I don't know what people were thinking to bank roll this old has been hag, but I think it's a syndrome or a psychological problem that affects a disproportionate amount of baby boomers. That they just plain don't want to grow up, and will do whatever is in their power to convince themselves they're still young. Thus we get Madonna woefully misinformed that she is somehow some kind of cougar, the flabby armed McJager performing at the super bowl, and morons whose pinnacle of life was 1968 and just plain can't get over the fact that it's not only over, but their lives since have been pretty pathetic.
But the reason I bring this up, isn't so much Madonna or lame Viagra variant commercials where boomer males are playing guitars and windsurfing, but there is indeed a more fundamental power shift occurring.
First was the obvious ass kicking Obama delivered to the heiress entitled Hilary Clinton. If there was a person who personified the centralized power the baby boomers had, it was Hilary Clinton. And out of nowhere a rookie nobody freshman senator comes and usurps the role. Gen X was coming online, and for better or worse, remember the shenanigans of Bill Clinton and wonder just what a political operator Hilary had to have been to tolerate Bill's indiscretions and not dump his ass, and ended up exerting their power.
Second is this housing crash and subsequent credit crisis. If there is a generational, generalized culprit to blame for the housing bubble and the idiocy that occurred, it was the baby boomers. Though there were certainly younger salesmen and mortgage brokers to blame, at the head of practically every financial institution leading the way was a baby boomer. Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Countrywide, you name it. Even every boss I had at smaller banks whilst working in banking was a baby boomer; the one who had 1 in every 2 loans go into default. The one who approve a $25,000 loan for a guy THAT AFTERNOON WITH NO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS. The one who told me "no, the Federal Reserve figures are wrong." All of them boomers and all of them making grave errors. And such a distaste and disaster has the housing crash left in America's mouth, there is now a managerial and power shake up in the financial services industry, just in time for some of the older Gen-X'ers to take the help or at least start poaching some executive and senior management positions.
And thirdly, a slumbering giant is slowly waking up as the younger generations get wise to this social security farce. Shaking off the laced kool-aid we were fed in college about socialism and social security and medicare and medicaid, more and more members of the younger generations are going online and pulling readily and easily accessible data on just how much they can expect to shell out and are waking up. Across political spectrums I see this. Doesn't matter if they eco-terrorists, marxist Obama supporters or you evil right wing puppy kicking republicans. Anybody under 40 when you mention social security makes some joke about Santa Claus and the easter bunny and them mumbles some curse words under their breath.
In any case, it won't be an immediate handover of power, it will be long and dragged out. And matter of fact, given how long it's taking Madonna to retire, we my younger American friends are in for a battle as long and contested as the Battle of Somme.
15 comments:
Much like chanting, the boomer generation is completely drugged out on monotony.
They still listen and rave about the freaking "Stones". I mean to tell you, those guys haven't learned a new lick in over forty years and haven't gotten one bit better.
The Boomers are a generation locked in a moment in time much like Lazarus and Kirk ... miserable and struggling between two dimensions in time and space.
This social Gregorian chant that these fools cannot break out of is clinging like lint to fleece jacket and it's getting very 'pitchy'.
They won't retire because they don't know what else to do. That is the curse of a one dimensional generation, they cannot see past the end of the hash pipe, or perhaps past their own sense of righteousness.
60 million baby boomers can't be wrong now can they?
AAAAaaaaand Obama is not the answer ... I can tell you that for sure comrade.
I'm a baby boomer, born in 1952, and I think that you're pretty much right. Of course, it doesn't apply to 100% of the baby boomers (I listen to Mozart, not the Rolling Stones), but we are, on the whole, a supremely disappointing yet obnoxiously self-congratulatory generation.
mostlym,
yes, i know many boomers that are upstanding outstanding americans. unfortunately, like my generation, there's just too many turkeys and not enough eagles.
Social security and medicare are pretty much going to bankrupt us because of the boomers.
The greatest threat to America is a four-letter word:
A.A.R.P.
These selfish jerks have the nerve to run ads with children reciting their policy wishlist, as if there will be anything left for their grandchildren when they're done ravaging the carcass of government.
Their latest "Divided we Fail" ads are a transparent attempt to shape the issues of the election under the guise of bipartisan cooperation.
well I'm a boomer.
1951.
the only Stones CD I have is Beggar's Banquet.
it sits on the shelf with Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Tchaikovsky. you get the idea.
I'm ashamed of the self indulgence I saw even back then when the boomers were popularizing pot, 'finding themselves' and boinking all the liberated women. now the level of narcissism makes me shudder. I don't know any boomers other than myself who held on to all the good values and goals we had. that stuff is too much work, best continue the practice of mortgaging the next generation's future in exchange for present day fleeting luxuries.
be prepared reader, equip yourself to be as self sufficient as is reasonably possible. learn how to do 'stuff' so you don't have to shell out thousands for someone else to do a hack job anyway.
that's how I did it.
I'm on pension, own rental property and do home renovations having done it for myself for the last 30 years.
standards are slipping, don't let the socio- political- economic- tsunami hit you.
Your bird analogy is all mixed up. Or at least, Ben Franklin would think so.
That picture has answered the question of what oral copulation in hell will look like.
I'm a late boomer (59)...Yes my generation made mistakes but the upcoming generations are no better...A bunch a shaky nintendo freaks with no vocabulary/opinions or ingaging dialogue. Lazy, super selfish and rude. Must have everything at the very beginning fresh out of school and ultra materialistic/narcissistic.
Of course the rebuttal will be: "Well it's the boomer parents fault we are like that", proving that one thing never changes: Blaming ones parents for ones weaknesses.
As far as the music scene goes: I'm a heavy metal fan...Last week I went to the "Masters of Metal" concert featuring: Testament, Motorhead, Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath with Dio) & Judas Priest. All bands 20 year old or more with most performers over 40 and some in their 60's. The 20,000 seats were sold out and the age group was 55 all the way down to 14. Most were under 25...Let me see: Our music stinks but for the first time music among generational groups come together?
Today's new music sucks like hell...Many kids will tell you that.
Now you kids go to work, we did'nt build your wealth and prosperity so you can just destroy it with your constant bitching and your idiocies like global warming.
Getting back to the other post about Madonna, why do all of these so called enlightened "celbritards" continually associate Adolph Hitler, and the Nazis; The National Socialist party, with "Right Wingers?"
The Conservative/Libertarian movement has as much to do with Socialism-turned-Fascism as, to coin a phrase, a fish has to do with a bicycle.
Frankly, if the 1968 convention were going to be recreated in all its original glory, the (rather laughable) protestors that are currently carrying on would be running screaming through clouds of tear gas while Denver cops on horseback were hitting them on the head with billy clubs.
You can see how standards have degenerated even at political protests.
Given the eventual outcome of the Somme, you might have chosen a better analogy, since the British didn't actually, you know, win.
One thing on Hillary though, remember, she won the popular vote of the Democrats in the primary, not Obama; it was just the way the Democratic party elects their candidates, Obama got it.
This is one of the reasons why Hillary's supporters are so steamed about her losing. She didn't technically "lose" vote-wise.
Hey late 50's boomer - glad you can point to all your great music as your contribution.
Thanks for the choking national debt, by the way.
And for the crumbling infrastructure while billions were pissed away on meaningless social programs that have fixed nothing.
"A bunch a shaky nintendo freaks with no vocabulary/opinions or ingaging dialogue"
That's *engaging* dialogue, there. Sorry, my shaky Nintendo freak compulsions kick in sometimes.
I'm confident in my vocabulary and I've got more than my share of opinions, although I will concede the point that many people my age don't. It's a bit of a stretch to imply that Nintendo has something to do with it, though. It's certainly nothing compared to experimenting with drugs.
I like to call this the "Boomer" economy, not the "Bush" economy
The old are actually LESS in favor of social security than the young.
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