General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Excellent rant from a Millenial to GenX and Boomers [View all]frazzled
(18,402 posts)where according to a 2007 estimate, "the median income for a household was $125,814, and the median income for a family was $155,539." And where in Boston Magazine's yearly "Best Places To Live", Wellesley "ranks first in the United States in percentage of adults who hold at least one college degree." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellesley,_Massachusetts. This speech was not given in Detroit or on the South Side of Chicago, or even in Cleveland or Omaha. The students of Wellesley High, though certainly faced with a different future than their parents (and what generation is not so challenged?), are not exactly the millenials I'm most worried about.
No, current economic conditions, long in the making, mean that you won't perhaps be able to buy the house you grew up in. I'm a boomer, and I couldn't either: we had two kids before we were able to afford a 1400 square foot house with a single bathroom to share between four people. And we took on the debt of our millennial kids' college educations, which I don't regret for a second, but we will be paying it off the rest of our lives.
Every generation has its ups and downs. I can't imagine having being part of my father's generation: he grew up during the Depression and, after being drafted, had to fly 60 missions dropping bombs in the South Pacific during World War II, which haunts him to this day. And then even though he got an advanced degree in chemistry and pharmacy, he ended up having to tear apart junked cars all his life, because in those days, the big pharmaceutical companies did not hire Jews. And you know what he told me when I visited him for father's day? He said: I'm so lucky that that I just missed "the Notch" for Social Security. You see, he's nearly 96: he was born in 1916, and had he been born a year later his Social Security benefits would have been significantly less. He lived through more than most of us would have endured ... but he got his little lucky break, which allows him to live out his final years with some dignity.
We Boomers are in a curious situation: we are caring for our parents from the so-called "Greatest" generation, and we are worrying about our children of the Millennial generation, both at the same time (and as we face very uncertain retirements ourselves). Cut us some slack. Not all of us created the conditions that form the basis of what you face today. It's never good to paint any group of people with a broad brush. We're all humans, each generation facing its unique issues. We should embrace those who came before us and those who follow after us. It's good karma.