Our claim to fame is living way beyond our means for the last three decades... Baby Boomers have been occupying the White House for the last sixteen years. The majority of Congress is Baby Boomers. The CEOs and top executives of Wall Street firms are Baby Boomers. The media is dominated by Baby Boom executives and on-air stars. We have no one to blame but ourselves for the current predicament. Blaming Franklin Roosevelt or Lyndon Johnson for our dire situation is a cop out. Baby Boomers had the time, power, and ability to change our course. We have chosen to leave the heavy lifting to future generations in order to live the good life today.
Of
course, not all Baby Boomers are shallow, greedy, and corrupt. Mostly
Boomers with power and wealth fall into this category. There were 76
million Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1963. They now make up 28%
of the U.S. population. Their impact on America is undeniable. The
defining events of their generation have been the Kennedy
assassination, Vietnam, Kent State, Woodstock, the 1st man
on the moon, and now the collapse of our Ponzi scheme financial system.
They rebelled against their parents, protested the Vietnam War, and
settled down in 2,300 square foot cookie cutter McMansions with
perfectly manicured lawns, in mall infested suburbia. They have raised
overscheduled spoiled children, moved up the corporate ladder by
pushing paper rather than making things, lived above their means in
order to keep up with their neighbors, bought whatever they wanted
using debt, and never worried about the future. Over optimism,
unrealistic assumptions, selfishness and conspicuous consumption have
been their defining characteristics.
...
Early in the 1st Reagan administration, Americans saved 12% of their income and household debt as a percentage of GDP was 63%. In 1980, the oldest Baby Boomers turned 34. They entered their prime earnings and spending years. This is when something went haywire with our great country. Deficit spending became fashionable for government, corporations and individuals. Dick “deficits don’t matter” Cheney was probably in his glory as the country ran up deficits of money, morals, and brains. The Boomers and our government chose to try and borrow and spend their way to prosperity. As we now know, Mr. Cheney’s advice about deficits not mattering was about as good as his belief that you can fire a shotgun in any direction without implications. The Boomer generation has freely made choices over the last quarter century that has brought us to the brink of a second Great Depression.
...
What the data proves is that Boomers love to shop and eat, whether they have the money or not. The top 100 retailers in the U.S. have 250,000 stores that generated $1.7 trillion of sales last year. How could America function without 31,000 McDonalds, 35,000 KFCs, Taco Bells, & Pizza Huts, 15,000 Starbucks, 7,000 Wal-Marts, 2,000 Home Depots, 4,000 K-Marts/Sears, and 8,000 Blockbusters? There are 91,000 shopping centers in the United States. The Advertising industry spends $275 billion per year to convince you to spend money you don’t have for things you don’t need. This generation lacks self control, morals, a work ethic, and savings ethic. Based on the recent actions of our government and corporate leaders, we seem to lack any ethics at all. It is immoral for the Boomer generation to run up $53 trillion in unfunded future liabilities in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to leave as our gift to future generations, while we live it up today. Optimists like to point out that Europe and Japan have much worse unfunded liability problems than the U.S. That is like taking pride in being the best looking horse at the glue factory. In the end, we’ll all still be glue.
The 25 year Boomer borrowing and spending binge is coming to an end. The hangover will be really bad. The Federal Reserve and Treasury are trying to keep the frat party going, but everyone is passed out on the floor.
...
(excerpts)
http://seekingalpha.com/article/103202-the-shallowest-generation
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