Millennials Painfully Aware of How Much Needs Fixing in Wake of "Most Selfish Generation"

[EEO]

This is probably one of this site's best stories...


Millennials Painfully Aware of How Much Needs Fixing in Wake of "Most Selfish Generation"

WASHINGTON (The Nil Admirari) - Earlier today, American millennials reflected on how many things needed to be fixed in the wake of their parents, which they concluded were members of the "Most Selfish Generation" in American history. Millennials realized the Most Selfish Generation was giving them "a colossal mess to clean up" due to its refusal to pay for anything it uses, its conscious decision not to invest in any future projects other than military expenditures, and its embrace of social conflicts meant to distract Americans while the super-rich rob everyone else in broad daylight and exacerbate economic inequality.

And...

Hathaway continued, "They just don't want to pay for anything, except perpetual foreign war. At some point you have to wonder what all those external wars are protecting. You know, other than a hollowed-out shell with massive war-related debts and a bunch of undertaxed super-rich oligarchs that watch the rest of America bicker over scraps from a shrinking economic pie."

Please share it if it resonates with you.

[guillaumeb]

1. What simplistic silliness.

The 1% who actually run things are doing so in a way that also condemns most of the bottom 90% to a life of perpetual debt. How are the actions of a tiny group of greedy sociopaths somehow reflective of everyone from age 50 up to 67?

[BillZBubb]

5. There is nothing simplistic or silly about it.

The 50 and up voters, the white ones at least, are consistent right wing voters. The older, the more so.

The tiny group of greedy sociopaths you mention tell the selfish generation what it wants to hear and gets their votes. If it wasn't for the greedy generation, there would no longer be a republican party.

[Warpy]

7. 50 and up? That's simplistic and silly

There are far too many outliers to suggest any one generation (or four, actually, in the 50 and up demographic) votes in a bloc one way or another.

[BillZBubb]

9. Lots of polling data says otherwise.

Here's an example (one of very, very many):

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/11/05/as-gop-celebrates-win-no-sign-of-narrowing-gender-age-gaps/

[Warpy]

13. Take a statistics course.

You can do it online at Khan Academy.

Much of the data are within the margin for error. In any case, it's nearly half and half, which is a far cry from everybody over 50 voting GOP.

[BillZBubb]

17. I've forgotten more statistics than you'll ever know buddy.

Most of the data is outside the margin of error for those over 65. And also those over 50 for whites.

And that is from multiple sources, not just Pew.

NOBODY makes the claim "everybody over 50" votes GOP. That's a bullshit comment.

[Warpy]

19. It shows

which is why you need a refresher.

[spooky3]

23. Note that the years chosen were off year elections

The voting segment of the population in non presidential election years tends to lean more Republican than the segment in pres election years.

[LiberalElite]

8. 65 and liberal Dem voter here and so are all of my old friends and my

this is simplistic ageist bullshit.

[BillZBubb]

10. Anecdotal evidence is worthless.

The data says the over 65 crowd is the MOST reliable and consistent right wing voting bloc by a large percentage.

[guillaumeb]

11. There are many greedy people in every age group.

It is ridiculous and reductionist to arbitrarily decide that any particular generation "caused" the current situation. An obvious attempt at division based on age. The right wing is very good at that type of division, whether based on age, or color, or class.

Sad to see this type of simplistic nonsense at DU.

[BillZBubb]

12. That's not the point.

The point is the over 65 group votes overwhelmingly right wing, especially whites. They have for some time. The 45-64 group isn't far behind.

That doesn't mean a great number of boomers aren't progressives, just that they are not representative of that group.

[spooky3]

22. News flash! <60% is hardly "overwhelming." And

Voters are not a random sample of the population. Etc.

[spooky3]

21. If you had said "men...are consistent right wing voters"

You would immediately get replies here pointing out the sexism of that statement. Yet according to the poll statistics you linked to, male voters as a group are as likely as voters over 65, and more likely than slightly younger voters (and both of these age groups obviously include right leaning men) to favor Republicans. And your statement says nothing about likelihood so could be reasonably construed as implying closer to 100% than the polled percentage of <60% of men and people over age 65 voting "right wing."

[yurbud]

34. I'm over 50, white, and to the left of Bernie on some issues.

[Dont call me Shirley]

35. Thanks! I'm not taking the blame for a few uber-rich sociopathic psychopathic assholes!

[RandySF]

2. BS

My son is only 9 but everyone I know in my generation (X) worked their asses off in an ever-declining economy to give them the luxury to whine.

[leftofcool]

26. + a gadzillion.

This is just more horseshit to blame on Boomers. We worked our asses off so our own kids could have something and our grand kids as well. We didn't ask for free anything.

[GeorgeGist]

3. On their watch but ...

most of them lost too:

Average Senior Is Living on 57 Percent of Full Pay

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100806426

[RandySF]

4. If you want to see selfish

Come to San Francisco and watch the millenials make living here impossible for almost everyone else.

[beltanefauve]

18. THIS

[alarimer]

32. Yes, all those libertarian techies of the "sharing" economy

Apparently, sharing includes driving up the rents so teachers and cops can't afford to live in the city.

[msongs]

6. millenials = self obsessed people who can't tell the current weather w/out a cell phone or tablet l

[leftofcool]

27. And there is is!

Not to mention they want free college, free health care, free housing.

[Igel]

14. It works like this.

Many millennials were handed much more than they could handle, and it became much less than they wanted.

They look around and see messes. They don't want to clean them up. The Helicopter Generation should have. How selfish, not leaving the world perfect.

It means they won't have everything they want. And this is intolerable, now as it was when they were growing up.

[Fearless]

16. Handed what exactly??

[RandySF]

20. If they don't like the mess they see

then tell them to stop taking pictures of their food and do something about it.

[Fearless]

15. Agreed wholeheartedly!

[markpkessinger]

24. By casting this as an intergenerational conflict . . .

. . . this article falls squarely into a trap laid by the 1%. I am 54, and thus fall into the tail end of the baby boom generation. I, too, was sold a bill of goods. I have never been able to amass any savings to speak of, and in one job after another watched as traditional pension benefits were eliminated in favor of the fraud of 401(k) plans. As for retirement, I don't anticipate being able to retire. (My only solace is that, as a diabetic, I probably won't have too many years beyond 65 to worry about.) Yes, millennials have some valid gripes, but so do millions of the rest of us. Rather than pointing fingers, millennials might think about making common cause with those of all generations who have been completely sold out by the 1%. Just sayin'.

[brush]

31. Bingo! Way to get to the heart of the matter. Millennials aren't the only one with complaints

They should be looking at all the obstructionist repugs and their 1% clients.

The boomer generation has always been a dichotomy — during my college years us student activists would set up tables to pass out info in the student union mall and stare across at the young repugs and their ilk with tables set up.

Those young repugs are now the aforementioned obstructionist repugs and their 1% clients.

Millennials most likely have the same split in their generation.

[m night shanahan]

25. BOOM!

[MichMan]

28. What generation doesnt want to pay?

What generation thinks music, news sites, and movies should all be "free"? It isn't the boomers

[MuseRider]

29. Oh goody

more pointless bs to fight about. Good lord kids, as you age you yourself will be stunned to find there are just as many in your generation as in all generations before you. You will look back fondly at your younger years and realize that the policies, greed and selfishness that you fight against and are upset about now can be found among your own. No age group is all good or all bad and to continue this conversation will just draw up sides and split us all up....most likely the point of the article. Be smarter than this. If you want to prove yourselves to be better then here is your chance. Generational wars are stupid as hell

[virgogal]

30. Young people have been hurling insults at the previous generation forever.

Par for the course.

[m night shanahan]

33. "Baby boomers ruined America: Why blaming millennials is misguided — and annoying"

Alexander S. Balkin, Salon:

Readers of this post have no doubt seen articles admonishing millennials for their perceived apocalyptic effect on the workforce, society, family and everywhere in between. The seemingly endless list of complaints about millennials begins with lazy and pampered, and ends with “selfies.” The accusations, guilt and fear-mongering are unfounded and – even worse – are mostly blame-shifting. Frankly, I am tired of it. What makes the millennial-bashing even more unbearable is the generation that is slinging the mud: the baby boomers.

Baby boomers came of age in an era of unprecedented prosperity. They were raised by parents who had survived poverty, war and the true sacrifice of a generation burdened with great moral struggles. As a whole, they experienced economic and physical security. Baby boomers received, by today’s standards, inexpensive and widely available education, preparing them for a thriving and open job market. Success at the beginning created a strong foundation for financial and personal success on a level the world had never known.

This led to America’s greatest asset: the middle class. So what did they do with all their good fortune? From the time the baby boomers took over, the United States has experienced an economic environment plagued with unfounded asset and real-estate bubbles and collapses. The bubbles were caused by blind greed on the part of investors, and a blind eye on the part of regulators. The baby boomers forced the financial and banking system out of relative security to high-risk systems.

The perfect example of this was the 2008 collapse of the toxic housing debt market. In government, baby boomers ballooned the defense budget beyond the point of reason. They then raided government programs to pay for their mistakes. Regarding the environment, baby boomers left the United States reliant on coal (cough, cough) while eroding the advanced nuclear energy infrastructure built by their parents. We can thank baby boomer leadership for a nation that has no sound policy on foreign affairs, the environment, energy, social welfare, human rights, terrorism, technology development, education, debt, etc. The point being, baby boomer leadership has provided America with a government that is the most partisan and self-serving the union has ever seen, and remains entirely reactive to the world around it.

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/20/baby_boomers_ruined_america_why_blaming_millennials_is_misguided_and_annoying/

[raccoon]

36. No, it was the 1%--boomers or otherwise--who did all that. nt