February 07, 2008

You know what the big story will be with this election? We'll have our first Gen X vs. the Baby Boomers & Retirees war


Obama vs. McCain, a 46 year old vs. a 71 year old. Generation vs. Generation. "X/BB 1 - Let's get it on".

Unfortunately, in order to get elected and to get Boomers and retirees to vote for him, Obama has to run on a "don't worry we'll protect your social security and medicaid/medicare" platform. But after he's elected, and he sees the basic math, and that this timebomb that's been neglected for a generation is blowing up on his watch, he'll be forced to take serious action, for the first time since Reagan.

He says he'll just raise taxes on wage earners, by eliminating the $102,000 ceiling, and everything will be fine. Not a bad idea, if it wasn't such a bad idea. Like most Democrats, he thinks if you have a problem, just raise taxes!

A true Gen X vs. Baby Boomer Social Security Battle Royale would go the exact opposite direction - letting earners opt out of this Ponzi scheme, while at the same time raising the retirement age to 72 or 75 and beyond, and continuing to raise it with increased life expectancy data, while means-testing payments and holding benefit increases to income inflation not price inflation.

And the even bigger problem of Medicaid/Medicare is gonna entail even more pain to solve. Slashing benefits, eliminating the prescription drug wet kiss, raising premiums, and again ushering in means testing. Or going the way of socialist Europe with sky-high taxes and Hillary forced healthcare. Either way we're $52 trillion in debt when you add in entitlement promises, and whoever is president in 2009 is gonna have to deal with this mess.

We've been talking about the coming X vs. Boomer war and the entitlement bomb for years. Obama / McCain is the first X/BB battle. First of many. Get ready.

70 comments:

Frank R said...

The problem with Gen X is they're mostly stupid, lazy, spoiled, and believe they're entitled to handouts. So they vote for Obama who is an even bigger socialist handout-promiser than Hillary.

The election will have 1 of 2 outcomes: Hillary wins and in 2010 the republicans will sweep Congress and have a 2/3 majority in both houses, then in 2012 a republican will be elected President.

Outcome 2 is McCain wins, is a one-termer and is defeated by Hillary in 2012. In which case we have 8 years of hell instead of 4. So I'm starting to hope Hillary wins and we can get this thing over with sooner.

Anonymous said...

I'll put my money on X

Anonymous said...

McCain is not a baby boomer. The oldest baby boomers are just 62.

Anonymous said...

John McCain is not a baby boomer. He was born in 1936. Baby boom generation is from 1946 - 1964.

blogger said...

Good point - Obama is barely an X and McCain is a bit too old to be a boomer.

But I hope you get the jist - it's the Earners vs. the Retirees. A 25 year age gap between the two candidates is big. And what we do with this time bomb will dominate domestic policy for some time to come.

Anonymous said...

Ha! You think Obama is going to take the nomination Keith? You're nuts! The Clintons are not a pair of hacks and just because they are hated by us is not going to stop them from taking this election.

Besides, the Bilderberg Group have already selected Hillary for president.

That's Vice President Obama to you.

Anonymous said...

what's McCain's position on importing prescription drugs from abroad? PhRMA owns a lot of Congressmen but if Obama could take that and shove it down McCain's throat it just might work...

plan b: SOYLENT GREEN!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

McCain is of the "Silent Generation" those born between "Greates Gen" and "BB" 1924 to 1942 roughly. fm the book "The Fourth Turning"

Anonymous said...

Keith, I like your blog and thanks for your effort, but tired of being painted with the dirty brush.

Don't expect all of us boomers to make it past the typical "18 months and out" from the end of working. The only ones that get to draw SS and all for a long time, are the ones that had high paying, easy work, with no toxic crap and daily injury. They made enough to build pensions, savings, and pay for great med care in their retirement. They make the news, but I'll bet you'll see life expectancy drop off, as is happening in other countrys.

The bulk of us don't have a pot to piss in and won't go any farther then our own dad did.

We paid the taxes and SS for 50+ years and won't get back a 1/10 of what we put in. We also tried desperatly to keep our x kids out of the shitty, dangerous work we did all those years (now handled by a generation of immigrants that you all want to hate).

Kinda pisses me off each veterans day when I get up, pull on my boots, and go to work seeiing all the genxers with the day off. It's ok I understand, it's just some of the payback for all the killing . Don't ever forget, it was your grandpas that sent me there, while they sent your daddy to college.

Our motto was:
"Payback is a M..... F....."
we didn't realize itd go both ways.

It just doesn't matter and you'll probably get a turn in your barrel also. Nothing I can say will help you.

this ugly shit comes at a bad time for me, too.
amf logged out forever.

Anonymous said...

Donations by hedge funds

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Anonymous said...

Goldman Sachs donations

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Goldman Sachs 2008 Presidential Race Donations

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Anonymous said...

Citigroup Donations 2008

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Anonymous said...

Keith, here's my take on the whole gen X or Y versus the boomers thing;
It's all about expectations. Youth always expects great things to happen. But expecting change and improvement to come from the establishment isn't enough.
I was hoping we'd all have personal jet packs by now, but maybe that wouldn't be good for the auto industry and the auto industry is going to do what is good for them.
I assumed we would have world peace by now.
What do you think the arms manufacturers would do if they were told there was going to be no more occupation of Iraq, and the politicians were going to dedicate their time to promoting peace? Would they just say; "oh well, we will just have to shut down our business and stop making money"? No, they would lobby, and say they think that such and such country may be a threat. They would do whatever it took to stay in business.
The thing of it is, that having expectations isn't enough, and voting for President isn't enough, you have to get active. Spend some time and energy writing to your Congressman.
Let them know what you want and think.
Right now the coal and gas industries are lobbying to get tax breaks for them added to the bailout package.
Nobody is out there lobbying for you.

Also remember that the baby boomers were a product of Americans joining a fight against some pretty bad sh*t that was going on.

Anonymous said...

McShitsdtain loses in November.

Hussein Obama and Hitlery/Bill take over the machinery. Whats wrong with a 40 something first-term Senator with no foreign policy experience taking over a country at war? What, Me Worry?

Obamas' plane (AF-1) mysteriously goes down (like Ron Browns that flew into a cloud-shrouded mountain) shortly after inaguration with Jesse and Al aboard and Hitlery becomes President with Bill as co-President (save the country money by not having a VP, Bill will work for Free to help out his wife and a grateful nation..). The country swoons at the new power couple.

Vini, Vende, Vinci! Heil Hitler, oops, I mean Heil Hillary...

blogger said...

Let me strip this one down for ya.

The Baby Boomer generation (through its leaders) has run up a $51 TRILLION debt that their kids and their kids' kids kids kids kids will have to pay for.

This is unethical to its core, and it must be reversed.

Strip it down to an individual level. Take a parent who runs up a $100,000 gambling debt, has no way of paying for it, then tells his son he has to pay for it.

That's what the Boomers have done to their kids.

That said, I think most Boomers are sick that this happened too. But the majority didn't have the courage or ethics to do the right thing at the ballot box these past 30 years, and now we're screwed.

Gen X will come into power, and then Gen Y, and this Ponzi scheme will end. Benefits will be cut, the Boomers will still get most of what was promised, but Gen X and Y are absolutely screwed, as they pay the debts of their parents.

If you're a Boomer and defend this, I question your ethics and morals. If you're a Boomer who is pissed and realizes this was wrong, then I applaud you.

Anonymous said...

You're young and healthy Keith and don't realize what it would be like if you were neither. SS and Medicare/Medicare may not seem that great an idea, but it is all relative. My grandmother, an immigrant from Europe with an 8th grade education, widowed in her 50's,lived to be 90. She worked as a maid and nanny and lived very frugally. She did recieve Social Security, and once, to our amusement, a half wheel of free cheese, and she worked into her 70's. Social Security really did make a difference for her. Not everyone has the opportunity or the mental abilities to make it on their own. Having desperate hordes of humans is a recipe for an unstable social situation. A safety net, and education is necessary to keep everyone steady. You live in Europe, but go somewhere where people live in huts, and you might feel a little differently about things.

Ed said...

Obama is the one proposing to lift the SS cap to "SAVE" Social Security and allow gramps to play golf 24/7 on my dime. Obama also wants "FREE" socialized medicine. He wants amnesty for illegals.

If that's bold new Gen-X thinking, thanks but no thanks, I'll stick with the old guys/gals for now.

Keith, you often complain about people getting caught up in a Dem/Rep war and missing the bigger picture. And rightly so. But you do the same thing with this fixation on boomers vs. gen x/y.

Ed said...

Frank, I agree with you. Which is why given a choice between McCain, Obama and Hillary, I choose Hillary without hesitation.

You're a little optimistic by thinking the GOP will sweep in 2010. My best hope is the 40-50 Dem majority in the House and 5-6 Dem Majority in the Senae in 2008 will be cut to a 10-15 Dem majority in the House and a 2-3 Dem majority in the Senate.

Either way the next 2-8 years the US will complete its transformation into a Spanish speaking France.

Anonymous said...

Someone called it earlier. Gen X will be doubly screwed- will have to pay for the geezers to take retirement benefits and live a long long retirement then get nothing for themselves as the retirement age raises to 80.

I'm a Gen X and trying not to be bitter. I can forgive the fogies now and take some lumps. But I'd like a bit of compromise and acknowledgement from the Boomers to try and meet halfway.

-Big Cheese

Metroplexual said...

Keith,

You need a course in demography. I have had one so I will enlighten you. Boomers are born from 1946-1964. Obama at least has the right answer for what were you doing during the vietnam conflict: playing with his GI Joes in his backyard.

blogger said...

Man, some of you need to wake the f*ck up.

I want everyone to have great healthcare. I want everyone to have cushy retirements. I want everyone to have comfortable wonderful retirements.

But here's a newsflash:

WE DON'T HAVE THE F*CKING MONEY TO PAY FOR EVERYONE TO HAVE THOSE THINGS.

Get it?

It was a ponzi scheme. It was an illusion. It was a big lie.

Now, you can keep your head in the sand, or you can admit the truth and deal with it. I choose the latter.

The reaction I'm seeing from some of you shows exactly how we got in this mess - people want Big Daddy Government to take care of them, even if Big Daddy spent all the money on hookers and coke.

What happened in New Orleans should give you a glimpse of the capability of Big Daddy Government to take care of retirees going forward.

He can't. He's broke. And now Gen X and Gen Y are going to have to clean up the mess caused by the Boomers.

And that's the way it is. Whether you want to hear the truth or not.

Anonymous said...

As a Boomer who's going on SS in 7 months, I have to say I'm amazed by the fiscal stringency the X'ers have suddenly discovered. Through no fault of my own, I've been paying into SS for over 50 years. That's right, I started earning at the age of 10. What were you X'ers doing at that age? In fact, my generation has steadily raised its own SS tax over those years. Maybe if I hadn't been paying so much, I'd have had enough left over from my paycheck to build a private retirement account. Instead of watching out for my own future, I was busying paying to raise you into a life of perpetual indolency.

When you've cut off our SS, what do you X'ers want us Boomers to do in our twilight years? Die by the millions in the streets, cold, sick and hungry? Will you just step over our bodies? Sounds like you can't wait to be rid of us. Wow! Talk about selfish!

Anonymous said...

"A true Gen X vs. Baby Boomer Social Security Battle Royale would go the exact opposite direction - letting earners opt out of this Ponzi scheme, while at the same time raising the retirement age to 72 or 75 and beyond, and continuing to raise it with increased life expectancy data, while means-testing payments and holding benefit increases to income inflation not price inflation."

All of these ideas have problems; First, "life expectancy" doesn't mean that people are physically or mentally able to do work; means testing is hard since the "cost of living" is different for different folks;

Unknown said...

The whole generation war is stupid. I'm in generation X and would like to see the possibility of opting out of social security, but at the same time I still think people who've paid into it all their lives should get what they've been promised.

The us vs. them mentality is destructive. While we fight over whose generation is lazier the government will rob us all blind.

Anonymous said...

"Sounds like you can't wait to be rid of us. Wow! Talk about selfish!"

the problem is, "end of life" care is too expensive;

since there will be approximately 90 million elderly here, I agree with the bush administration's observation that "quality of life for the elderly" will depend on how well the elderly can take care of each other.

Anonymous said...

Do anything you want to Social Security...just keep you hands off my federal pension!! Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha!!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

McCain is not a baby boomer. The oldest baby boomers are just 62.

February 07, 2008 4:23 AM

Thats right. McCain is fossil remains of the Permian Extinction.

Anonymous said...

When you've cut off our SS, what do you X'ers want us Boomers to do in our twilight years? Die by the millions in the streets, cold, sick and hungry? Will you just step over our bodies? Sounds like you can't wait to be rid of us. Wow! Talk about selfish!

February 07, 2008 1:08 PM

It is called The Ice Flow Solution. Strap Granny to the floating berg and wave bye bye. Gen X & Y will have no problem with this. They may even give us a baloney sandwich and chips for the trip.

Anonymous said...

Keith, I agree that some president will eventually have to admit that the Socialist Security and medicare systems are bankrupt and actually deal with the problem.

But I'm not sure I understand why you think that the next president will be forced to do so. Do you think we going to face such a fiscal crisis in the coming five years that the next one-termer will not be able to avoid pawning the problem off once again just like the last 12 presidents?

Anonymous said...

letting earners opt out of this Ponzi scheme, while at the same time raising the retirement age to 72 or 75 and beyond, and continuing to raise it with increased life expectancy data, while means-testing payments and holding benefit increases to income inflation not price inflation

Gee, now why couldn't we boomers have gotten that deal, instead of spending the past 2 decades (our peak earning years) paying the maximum possible into the system to support the WW2 generation, who paid comparatively little into the system? You X'ers seem to think there's something new here, but there isn't. I started my working life in the early 80s, and all of us 20-somethings back then were talking about the same thing, how SS was a pyramid scheme and we were just gonna have to pay in and not get anything out. Why not try and do some research before you spout off about how the boomers plundered the system? You'll see that boomers are going to be the first generation to lose out on the system, getting back less than they put in (when compared with simply banking all their payments over the years in treasury bills), versus the WW2 generation for whom the system was a better "investment" than any other asset class they might have purchased instead.

Anonymous said...

Here's a chart (part of a larger paper that is fairly interesting) analysing the "rate of return" people get from their SS "investment":

http://tinyurl.com/2rcc9d

The graph slumps right into the baby boom generation and is really bad by the tail end of the boom (people like me, born in the early 60s). It tails off from there. Late boomers have more in common with X'ers than not if you look at the grim payback figures. And it should be clear who really made out on the system, which is off the chart to the left.

X-er said...

You have it right, it is a baby boomer vs. a non-baby boomer, unfortunately Obama is a baby boomer.

Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. Obama was born in 1961. He is all boomer.

Saving Social Security is a boomer policy. More government is very boomer. The idea the government can solve all of our problems is a deeply held belief of the baby boomers. It is rare to find a boomer whose first reaction to a problem is not, "the government should do something about this."

Now McCain is part of a group called the Silent Generation. This group was born during the Great Depression and has a totally different outlook on life. They had an easier time with the job market and grew up in a post WWII world where America was the Economic engine of the world. They still see the world this way, even though the boomers have destroyed it.

The one thing with McCain is he is a psychopath. Listen to his speech patterns. They are very telling.

For the shameless plug I know a little something about whose a boomer and who isn't. Come on over to The Worst Generation Ever. After all it was inspired by a post you did here (almost a year ago) that asked if the Baby Boomers were the worst generation. It seems the answer is, "yes".

X-er said...

Just to add on. After seeing some of the other comments.

Boomers won't wake up to the sh1t storm until the are in it over their heads. The problem is by then half of the ones who created it will be dead. Why is that a problem? Because we won't be able to shove their faces in the mess and say, "thanks a lot".

Most x-ers realize that we are royally screwed. The ones who don't will figure it out in the coming recession / depression.

Anonymous said...

Dear Emmy,

Don't try and talk sense into the savages on this blog. They're a soulless, selfish lot whose only concern in life is money. That is, until they find themselves in a bind and then they scream for help. Most of them have benefited greatly from the social safety net. Their ignorance shows both the success and flaws of such programs.

They decry the greed of the housing bubble but are blind to the greed in themselves that causes them to resent so strongly making a contribution to the greater good.

I've engaged these types in debate in person and they all see the taxes they pay as going to "welfare". They're too ignorant to realize that providing a social safety net is not that expensive, a small price to pay for a civilized, stable society.

They're the types who would step over a person starving in the street and would shit on their excess food rather than share it with that starving person.

Anonymous said...

Blowback towards the baby boomers by the Gex X/Y is right around the corner.

Fuck 'em. Let 'em eat DIRT.
They fucked it up, and now let 'em SUFFER.

Anonymous said...

Didn't Hussein Obama find out recently that he is Shotgun Dick Cheneys' long-lost woodpile cousin?

If true, that should immediately disqualify him from any future public service based solely on his gene pool.

Heil Hitler!, I meam Hillary...

Anonymous said...

Yes, government can come up with some crazy ideas, like providing a stopgap for the poor. Of course when they came up with Social security, the agreement then was that people died in their 60s. Ask General Motors, their retirees were supposed to die 2 years after retiring.
Yes, SS and medicare is a debt time bomb. Politically nobody can touch it. Remember Bush tried and failed and he had a republican House and Senate,
As for the outrage from gen X and Y, yeah right, I didn't hear anything from them last week when shrub came up with his $3.2 TRILLION budget to finance the invasion of Iraq.
In the grocery store I overheard a guy asking a girl if she had voted in the primary and she said; "what's a primary?"
Ask a Gen X to show you where Iraq is on the map.
Gen X is asleep! Gen X is in a ritalin induced stupor!

Anonymous said...

As a Gen-X'er, I'd like to ask the Boomers one question:

Did you really believe the promises of politicians?

(HA HA HA HA)

I have always known that they were lying thieves, and will not mortgage my future to pay for a long-dead politician's empty promise!

The really interesting question Keith should be asking:
What method of tax evasion will Gen-X prefer?

I'm deaf to the pleadings of a morally bankrupt generation, who counted on taking their retirement from my wallet!

Anonymous said...

Im a Gen Xer, and if the baby boomers EXPECT me to pay for their stupidity, all I have to say is fuck you!

I default.

Just like Im doing to my mortgage.

Anonymous said...

you boomers are hilarious and pathetic. Boomers will go down as the "worst generation". The selfishness with which this generation has lived is unprecedented. It is seen everywhere you look when you observe the boomers. An unwillingness to make tough decisions on the economy and take a recession, the selfishness of the CEO's of your generation, outsourcing everything, the selfishness to spend the entirety of the Social Security Trust Fund, the selfishness to run up unprecedented deficits, selfishness to continue to ruin the environment, selfishness to avoid taking tough steps to make sure future generations have enough energy to live . . . the list goes on and on. It is even evidenced by your attitudes toward your own body. Rather than accept aging as natural, you resort to botox and doctors.

We X'ers are left with problems that are almost impossible to rectify without massive pain. And we know it. We are the first generation in many that will have worse lives than their parents - this is already supported by many studies showing our incomes (on average) below levels of previous generations.

So forgive us if we treat you badly as you age. You treated us badly throughout our lives. Our generation has been marked by apathy when we were younger and innovation as we aged. I think our future will be marked by a combination of both as we deal with a declining empire, declining economy, impoverished elderly as inflation eats their savings and an energy crisis. The innovation will be reserved for the economy and the energy crisis. The apathy will be reserved for the elderly and the empire.

Anonymous said...

MCCain is from the 'Silent' generation (born 1925-1945) - as is Ron Paul.

The Silent generations has NEVER had a president elected from among their ranks - all we have ever had is Greatest Generations and Boomers for the last 50 years. And a Gen X president will not get elected until the population is truly desparate - we are nowhere near that yet.

Hillary will find a way to get in.

Anonymous said...

Heard one baby boomer complaining today that her Dr. copay will go from 88 cents to $5 in NJ! Boo-hooo! She retired 20 years ago and goes to the doctor everytime she hiccups! She siad she was promised she would never have a copay raise and plans to get in her new Lexus and go complain to whoever will listen. Gag.

Anonymous said...

Not so sure about genx vs BB. The BBs can guarantee a win by dominating hillary.

It will likely come down to super delegates and the AARP group will have a lot of influence there to swing it to hillary.

Anonymous said...

Just Announced Romney bails out...

The Old tired ploding party hack Glue horse from Arizona, John Hero McShitstain has become the candidate of Doomed George Bush's failed and shamed Republicrat party to lead the USA going forward.

He simply cannot and willnot win.

Come November the choice is simple, a first term Senator with no foreign policy/war experience or a patently corrupt ward healer hillbilly acused felon and her sex-fiend lying ex-president spouse.

Inspiring, isn't it?

No Wonder the rest-of-the-world is placing their investments elsewhere?

America is Doomed. Ramen noodles anyone?

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 7:11 said;

""It is seen everywhere you look when you observe the boomers. An unwillingness to make tough decisions on the economy and take a recession, the selfishness of the CEO's of your generation, outsourcing everything, the selfishness to spend the entirety of the Social Security Trust Fund, the selfishness to run up unprecedented deficits, selfishness to continue to ruin the environment, selfishness to avoid taking tough steps to make sure future generations have enough energy to live . . . the list goes on and on. ""

See there you have it; you expect your elders to do the responsible thing. You assume that they will do what is right to make things better. But you are a lamb walking to the slaughterhouse, blissfully assuming that the system is looking out for your interests.
What are you going to do about the issues before you? You want change? You want something different? It's up to you to do something, because nobody else is going to do it for you.

Anonymous said...

The Baby Boomer generation (through its leaders) has run up a $51 TRILLION debt that their kids and their kids' kids kids kids kids will have to pay for.

How do you figure the boomers are responsible for running up debt? Hey did you look at the demographics of those housing gamblers in the 60 minutes special? Or poster-boy Casey Serin, how old is he again? Face it, X'ers wanting everything right now helped fuel the mortgage and credit-card debt bombs.

As for generational war at the ballot box, well, bring it on. Surprise, you're outvoted, just like we were by the WW2 generation. What's that, you're leaving the USA? Well good bye, good luck, and good riddance! We'll replace your sorry asses with plenty of Chinese, Indian, and Mexican immigrants who still think the USA is a great place to live (which it is).

Anonymous said...

ruprecht, thank you for your response to my post. I'm not sure I was saying the system would take care of me. In fact I don't think it will. X'ers are just getting to the point where they can start making a difference in leadership. Myself and others like me dominate the X'er mindset. The dominant mindset is:
- Family is important
- Kids are important
- American empire must end
- We must make sacrifices to preserve the future for our kids
- Innovation and sacrifice are necessary to deal with energy challenges
- The boomers are corrupt and horrible
- Truth in politics is important
- Free trade works only if it is fair

This will lead to politicians who think long-term instead of short term and do not pander. It will lead to fewer entitlements and more apathy towards the elderly and the poor, with more support for children and those who add something to the world. It will lead to less projection of U.S. power around the world.

Short term pain long term gain.

Anonymous said...

ruprecht, I just read your post about X'ers being asleep. It is a valid point. Many in our generation are asleep. But the key is not to look at the masses of a generation, but the leadership of a generation. They are the ones who will set the future direction. This is true of any generation not just ours. From that perspective, the well educated, active leaders in our generation are VERY awake. We know exactly what is going on. After having worked hard for the last 10-20 years, many of us have made or are making our fortune and are just now looking at leadership in the political realm. I have many friends (and I consider myself) in this boat. The overwhelming feeling amongst us? ANGER. Change will come from these individuals and it will be substantial. Mark my words.

Anonymous said...

I'm gen-X and speaking to the Boomers:

Why am I responsible for promises YOUR politicians made? I've wanted out of SS since my first paycheck at 16 years old, but don't have a choice. I must either cough up your retirement money or be thrown in jail. You can sugar-coat it, but at its core SS is extortion.

The obvious solution would be for you to move in with your kids, just as hundreds of previous generations had before 1935.

But that isn't acceptable to the Boomer mentality. They would rather steal money from their friends' kids (using govt to do the dirty work).

I'm having a difficult time deciding what to do now. I can stay in the US and be your slave, or I could get out. Get another passport and rescind my American citizenship. Or move to Australia or NZ and start a new life.


Boomer-Think:
We have the most inefficient healthcare system in the world and the Boomer solution is to stick a massive single-payer bureaucracy on top. Obama/Hillary-care.

Boomers are either dumb or narcissistic. You didn't see the flaws in the existing system and you're incapable of designing long term solutions.

Every Boomer solution has been to rape the current situation for maximum personal gain. SS, Medicare, illegal immigration, war in the ME, oil, dollar. Every problem goes directly to the core of your heart: get what you can now and fuck everyone else.

Anonymous said...

Obama is not a Gen X, since the cut off date is 1964. But like he says, "You're Gen X'able enough".

Anonymous said...

Kieth,
Why, oh why, do you keep saying that Baby Boomers caused this?

Medicare/Medicaid/welfare were created or vastly expanded under LBJ.

The oldest baby boomers were maybe 20. Since you have to be 25 to get in the house of reps and 30 to get in the Senate, there were 0 boomers in congress when the US's fate was sealed.

I am technically a boomer, but I was still working on stringing two words together and getting potty trained when all the bad stuff went down.

If you have to blame a generation, it would be folks born from 1890 to about 1930. But how can you blame people that had little more than a single vote out of all the votes cast for their president, congressman or senator?

Get over the generational war fixation, dude.

Anonymous said...

I say it again, Hillary will pick Obama as VP to get:

- Black Vote
- Women vote
- Hispanic vote
- Asian
- Dems vote
- Independents vote
- Gen Y vote
- Gen X vote
- Tech vote
- Anti-war vote
- Anti-Jesus freaks vote
- Union vote
- Edward's vote
- Gay vote
- And everyone else who hates Bush/Cheney vote, which is about 70% of the country and 100% of the world.

When you can't make a decision because delegates are equally divided, you pick both candidates to run on the same ticket. Win-win. Simple.

Enjoy the wash, Republicans.

Anonymous said...

I'm another Gen X who will do whatever it takes to shield my assets from the selfish Baby Boomers. Working on my Swiss citizenship as we speak. I don't need American citizenship when even the flag is Made in China and our president goes for a stroll holding hands with the Arab prince, like two fagots, while oil price went from $8 to $90 / barrel. You can keep your bankrupt and corrupt country, irresponsible Baby Boomer warmongers.

Anonymous said...

Osama is not a generation X, he is still an optimistic boomer. Audacity of Hope, more like Audactiy of Debt. McStain is silent generation, almost boomer. McStain is the next president because the democratic party can not get their act together and get a moderate candidate, like Edwards. A black or a woman for president, what a choice. When generation x and y really get their turn, it will be like Nazi germany to the previous entitled generation. Oh, you had all the money and where the chosen people until now. Generation Y will really dish it out as they are as bad as the boomers but their prosperity was based on debt not post WWII real prosperity. Y has the most intolerance for boomers, they truly do echo them.

Anonymous said...

Youre way off. This entire charade is to make room for Michael Bloomberg. McCain will go down to sickness and Obama will be taken down in scandal (C'mon Keith, the British tabloids are already spreading this Obama scandal!!!).

All of what you are wtaching in this election is a set up to try and create a Michael Bloomberg option.

Anonymous said...

guy n. cognito said...
what's McCain's position on importing prescription drugs from abroad? PhRMA owns a lot of Congressmen but if Obama could take that and shove it down McCain's throat it just might work...

Cindy McCain supports importing prescription drugs from wherever she can get them.

Brilliant idea Repubs elect the PTSD case and his pill-popping wife.

Can anyone say Manchurian Candidate?

Anonymous said...

I've just realized why there is such a big push to get everybody to quit smoking. The Boomers want to make sure that the Gen Xers don't die young and can't subsidize the Boomers retirement.

Come on Xers. F*ck the Boomers. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Anonymous said...

Obama is a bitter black Marxist.
Hillary is a bitter female Marxist.

Both are crappy options.

And then we have the bipolar open-borders pro-war liberal RINO, McCain.

Now that Romney dropped out, his delegates are free to vote for whomever they want, and several have been saying they're now for Ron Paul all the way. Of course, the media will not admit that Ron Paul has at least 42 delegates and probably many more than that.

Ron Paul has outlasted Thompson, Giuliani, and now Romney. He just got about 20% in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Alaska. With Romney's abdication, these states are now Ron Paul territory. He still has money coming in, and is in the black, while both McCain and Huckabee are almost broke.

Maybe, just maybe, GOP voters in the remaining states will look at the nut job McCain and the self-righteous evangelical liberal Huckabee and decide that Ron Paul is worth voting for after all.

We can always hope.

Anonymous said...

hillary clinton will win the nomination. everyone must not forget the super delegates that Bill Clinton put into action after his face off with Jesse Jackson. He is now calling in favors probably as we type. Barack Obama has already let the world know he is not going to go after Mrs. Clinton he is leaving that to the GOP. They will reem her. And Mr. McCain will win and that is the way everyone wants it an old white man in office. The more things change the more they stay the same.
Don't hate just call it like it is.

Anonymous said...

McCain is of the "Silent Generation."

Obama is a "Boomer."

No Gen-X is out there yet. Give X five years.

Anonymous said...

Weaponry will determine the winners and the losers in the coming years. Get your guns while you still can legally.

Anonymous said...

damdifino, where did you work at 10 years of age to have to pay SS tax? I mean what state?

I think the minimum in the US today is 12...14...15, depending on state. Unless there are some states that allow people to work at 10, nobody today can say the same as you.

Believe it or not, I have met people in their early 20s who say they have been working since they were 8 or 9...but when questioned, it was actually riding along in their dad's mail truck or something. Then it turns out they actually didn't go to a job for pay until after college. Nice...

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, in order to get elected and to get Boomers and retirees to vote for him, Obama has to run on a "don't worry we'll protect your social security and medicaid/medicare" platform
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Ya, the old people will not believe him. No vote for you!

Anonymous said...

He says he'll just raise taxes on wage earners, by eliminating the $102,000 ceiling, and everything will be fine. Not a bad idea, if it wasn't such a bad idea. Like most Democrats, he thinks if you have a problem, just raise taxes!
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He's from CHICAGO, you idiots!! That is what they do here!!!!

Stroger’s new plan: Cut budget, hike tax

City tax hike puts cap on CTA bailout

Stroger backs Cook County vehicle stickers for all
Vehicle sticker plan draws suburban fire


For the distinction, Chicagoans can blame high taxes of almost 80 cents a gallon, along with a special fuel recipe required to protect air quality.

Groundbreaking Bottled Water Tax Raises Dustup in Chicago

Chicago Cigarette Tax Hidden Consequences

I could go on, but you all get the point. We don't need dirty Chicago pols in the WH!!

Anonymous said...

Gen X will come into power, and then Gen Y, and this Ponzi scheme will end. Benefits will be cut, the Boomers will still get most of what was promised, but Gen X and Y are absolutely screwed, as they pay the debts of their parents.


.....and **OBAMA** will change all of that?? HA!

Anonymous said...

This Gen X versus Boomers battle is just a cynical distraction. An issue to get people to turn on each other rather than examine the system which has created this mess.

A government is only as honest as its money. The US has no money, just a fraudulent credit system run by a self serving cartel. Boomers and others paid into the SS system for over 40 years. First , the government plundered the SS trust fund to fund operations. Then Greenspan and Boskin revised the CPI to systematically defraud SS recipients by understating the inflation which our fraudulent credit system creates.

Our monetary system is a racket. People might wake up when the dollar collapses, but it will be too late.

Anonymous said...

Make no mistake, there is a Generational War coming, and it won't be pretty. More and more Xers are waking up to the fact that we've been had, and the whole system is one giant scam.

We've all become slaves to government spending.

Future commercial: "Hi, I'm from Generation X, and my children were born into slavery. And so was I. We must dismantle the system that turns us all into plantation workers by stealth, and embrace liberty by rejecting the Ponzi scheme called Social Security. What security? It's social insecurity!"

Anonymous said...

Keith, your outlook that government just doesn't work is only partially true. It works a lot, not always well, and this last housing bubble was an extravaganza that cost our financial stability dearly, the government was out to lunch. Bush was a terrible steward of finances, Mr CEO, himself, and Katrina was exemplary of his poor management. First, it happened in a southern state, where the culture down there does not seem to support a reasonable, productive government, coupled with an administration that purposefully eviscerated departments FEMA, EPA, for example, and rendered them incompetent. "Heck of job, Brownie" to a guy who ran horse shows. Yikes. But Bush rendered these department impotent on purpose. Nobody should be in
charge of something they don't believe.
If you think people think can get a cushy retirement from $1000/mo, think again.
If you think that Medicare is okay without money for medicine, on a pension that right now is likely to
go bust, or be rendered useless by inflation, you haven't talked to families who have seen someone die, or worse yet- and I mean this- live an encephalopathic existence,for example,surviving a medical emergency brought on by not
affording their medicines or not seeing a doctor in time, and then needing 24 hour care for the rest of their bed bound lives. It is not Cadillac quality medical care that will prevent these events.
Who will pay? What you don't understand that in a way is that there will be a price to pay no matter what. It needs to be managed properly. Tough job.
There is phenomenal excess in the American existence. In and of itself, who cares if the majority of American rent a little apartment or live in a big house?. That bubble popped.
The concept that some people get and some don't doesn't stand the test of time. You need, whether you like it or not, some noblesse oblige. You got to give the peasants something, or they will come storm the castle.

Anonymous said...

I saw that Bushes budget cuts Medicare. I haven't been able to find out how those cuts will go down.

The good way: rank treatments by a benefit/cost ratio and cut off the list when you run out of money. Our society will not be missing much if we stop doing heart bypasses for 80 year olds, or heart surgery on patients dying of cancer (happened to a loved one of mine).

The bad way - also the way it's been done so far: cut reimbursements to doctors and hospitals.

We should see which way prevails soon.

Anonymous said...

thanks baby boomers for making us a path of wet mud and barron wasteland that we follow after it was all consumed by your generation. good luck to all of us, we're gonna need it! Corrupt CEO's who see american workers as just an extra expense, speculating on the housing market hoping some young couple will get screwed with the enflated price, banking on that extra 20,000 dollars every two years on refinanced property. Yeah THANKS! Now we live in an over inflated buyers market where people are in reverse across the board. This is it, it's either downhill from here or we take a stand!! This outsourcing and running america dry must stop, the end of this "modern day" is near. Foreign investors will stop backing the us dollar and then watch us fall.