Just a commendation on the best article ever posted here at one of the best sites the magic of the internet has ever produced. This should be required reading for absolutely every citizen of the United States.

Tempted as I am to leave them, I have erased the remainder of my comments about everyone's favorite generation.

As I enter my 7th decade I have a little broader view of current events.

The decade of the 30's was a decade of industrial stagnation and the start of goverment bailouts. This did little for the economy but appeased the people.

We then entered the 40's with a very unstable world. As we entered the wars in Europe and Asia we ramped up or industrial production and retrained our workforce to support the "War Effort" as it was said at the time. Our biggest industrial competitors at the time were Europe and Japan, we then destroyed their industrial capacity as a product of war. This left us with the only country with industrial capacity to rebuild Europe and Asia.

This of course created the boom of the late 40's and early 50's and the population growth we call the baby boomers. These folks were born into a country of great prosperity at the time.

In the rebuilding of the industries of Europe and Asia they of course were rebuilt with modern machinery. Our countries industrial capacity was built with machinery and plants they were built in the pre-depression period of 1880 to 1920. These plants were a generation or two older in technology.

As Europe and Asia ramped up their production with more modern plants their production there efficiency increased also. As our plants aged they were less and less efficient. This created greater and greater profits for them and smaller and smaller ones for us. We then started a huge movment to move our industrial production offshore. With our natural resources dwindling this was a double blow to the old industries of our country and created what we call the "Rust Belt".

This caused a reduction in the higher paid skilled workers and they were replaced with what is called a service industry. Service industries don't produce any goods that we can sell only ones we consume. This created a larger and larger balance of payments problem. We consumed and didn't produce. Add to that the billions that were sent on trying to reform the world through wars it has left us in a position of declining wealth.

This declining real wealth was covered up by inflation and credit. In our national budget and the consumer budget. There comes a time when this cannot go on, then it collapses. This is what has happened now.

The baby boomers are victims of their time. They grew up in a fairy tale world. This world was not realistic and now they have the pain of living in the real world. Only with little to show for their working years. As with little prodcution and all spending there is nothing for the future.

History has revealed that contries rise and fall with time. They fall because they don't live in the real world, as Rome found out. I don't know how this will all play out and will never know because of my age. I would suspect either a war will be started(as in the 40's) or we will have another depression. In any way our country will be restructured whether we like it or not. Our notion that we will reform the world in our image will fail. We cannot be the world policeman to cover all slights and conditions that we don't approve.

We have spent our capital that we accumulated during the previous
two hundred years. Now, we face the reality of trying to rebuild our national capital in a much different world. Today, we have competition and some very old production capacity as we see in Detroit and the auto industry. This will have to be replaced with modern plants. Our competitor, Japan, has done this on our own soil.

We cannot rebuild our capacity to generate goods and capital by generating bailouts buy the government. This only creates inflation and capital dilution. This is the price we pay for not pegging our currency to a standard(Gold or Silver). Every dollar we print makes all the existing dollars less in value, in my book this is called inflation.

Many countries have tried to pay their old debts with inflation, but this has only brought them to the reality the basic reform is what was really needed. This reform has returned them to the real world and it will do the same for us, but not without some real pain which the so called baby boomers will bare.

Clyde

I'm skeptical of blaming an entire generation for these problems. Hopefully, others are too (I am not a boomer).

Almost all of these problems were caused by decades of easy money. The blame should really be placed where it is deserved: the Fed and the banking system. How on earth can regular people be blamed for not saving when the ENTIRE system promoted credit and speculation? The fact is that the boomers who saved and lived within their means have seen their living standard erode substantially over time. With twenty years of easy money, one almost had to speculate and borrow.

This coupled with the fact that our political system is broken (i.e. the inability to reduce the role of the Fed and the banking system), left little chance for anything but what happened.

Great article!

You point out many issues and problems, but this
country still has stamina. But I wish people would vote the clueless "Berries" out of office.

For example: There are many of them (in both parties) who didn't see any of this coming.
Why are they still in office?

Please go out and vote!

I could take exception to a lot of the author's generalizations, but I think all readers are able to think this through for themselves. Much of what he has to say is thoughtful, but I was taken aback by the last sentence. Why would I want to give more free money to the legislators who have spent it so foolishly for so long in the past?
We have been reduced to electing and re-electing people whose only talent is selling themselves to voters. This current election cycle has been the most tiresome in memory. No real in depth discussions of our problems and their solutions. No face to face conversations about goals and principles. No exploration of common ground. Just slick advertising filled with half truths, misrepresentations, and outright lies.
If the Baby Boomers are to blame, it is because we haven't demanded more from our leadership.

Awesome

I would love to shake the hands of the authors of this enlightening article. Job well done! I hope enough people read this and have the mental acuity to recognize its truths. It needs to be copied and pasted in other web sites and blogs.

Thank You

JPM

So you had to open the can of worms called social security, eh?

A cursory googling of social security deductions and the amount of earnings they were based on over the past decades reveals the following:

1.    Tax rates as a percentage of taxable earnings:

In 1937, the rate was 1%
In 1960, 3 %
In 1970, 4.8 %
In 1980, 6.13 %
In 1990 and later 7.65 %,

The rate for the self-employed is double the employee's percentage (since 1984) and currently stands at 15.3 %. The rates include the mandatory Medicare deduction, which has been rising alarmingly fast.

Details on the following link:
ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/taxRates.html

2.    Earnings base used in computation:

1937: $ 3000
1960: $ 4800
1970: $ 7800
1980: $ 25 900
1990: $ 51 300
2000: $ 76 200
2008: $102 000

As this summary shows, the amount of earnings subject to taxation has also increased consistently over the decades. For earnings in 2009, the base will be $106,800.

Details on the following link: ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/cbb.html#Series

I am no social security expert but have been paying my fair share for the past 25 years. It seems to me that the problem does not lie in the payments made, but in what is being done with these mandatory deductions. It is a pay as you go system, and some go so far as to call it a Ponzi scheme. Boomers like myself are not going to see benefits anywhere near current ones being paid. I for one would happily have saved a good percentage of the above without the kind assistance of Uncle Sam……

Okay, lid back on the can of worms.

This article was very well done. However, I believe that it addresses symptoms, rather than cause. Root cause of the US's economic problems resides with establishment of the Federal Reserve System, in 1913. This "system" is parasitic in nature, and has transferred wealth from the productive sector to private bankers & their cronies for 95 yrs, now. (The original US$ has lost more than 95% of its value, over this period). The US Constitution having been thrown under the bus, Govt was free to "prosper" as the biggest crony. Fiat currency fractional reserve systems are the ultimate "free lunch"--until the inevitable economic collapse occurs. Such systems mandate that economic gains be privatized, and losses socialized. (The Fed-crony politicians/bureaucrats enjoy the fruits of ever-increasing & automatic tax revenues, courtesy of inflation created by the central banking system and the income tax. Ever-growing Govt enables politicians to buy votes with ever-increasing goodies to be provided by the taxpayers). As Clyde indicated in his posting, the US DID HAVE a manufacturing base--prior to 1913. Subsequent to 1913, another story... . Unfortunately, the "greatest generation" never protested the growing fascism & enjoyed the "benefits" of the growing welfare state. Hardly surprising that their children--the "boomers"--are likely to choose a Marxist to lead them, this Nov 4. Capitalism & free markets died in 1913--when the US's socialist economy collapses, the event should not be blamed on any one generation.

Best macro-economic explanation of how we got here that I've seen yet - brutally honest and a dose of bitter, but necessary medicine - thank you.

I do have one critical comment though. Given the current global predicament, the suggested Cure is truly worse than the Headache, meaning that allowing a wave of creative destruction to destroy major financial institutions and the underpinnings of our bastardized free-market system, will have global, long-lasting negative implications. The financial aid that Third World counties depend on from First World countries is a direct result of the latter's ability to generate wealth. Allowing homeowners by the 100's of 1,000 to lose their homes, further depressing home prices and delaying the recovery of the home construction industry will lead to a death spiral of job losses across all industry sectors.

I am not at all suggesting that the derivative ponzi scheme was correct or justified - I completely agree with the author that it is fully to blame for the current state of affairs. But I do believe that we have some tough choices to make between two extremes and we have chosen the lesser of two evils – bailing out the financial system. In order to make meaningful structural changes, we have to stop thinking of our politics in 4-yr chunks, but alas, that is how our system is set up.

I think Clyde makes some very good points, above, BUT, I have a hard time stating that boomers are victims. Their faults are unlike ANY previous American generation. My folks weren't the kind to coddle me and make me "feel" good. "Everyone is a Winner" was never heard. If you are first place you are a winner. My Dad kicked my butt, made me save, made me pay, taught me about human nature and now I am a 1960 born boomer with a house, no debts, three kids of my own, and disgusted with our current political climate. After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the intellectually dishonest social security plan, I about puked when Obama told me that the solutions was that I have not paid enough and need to pay more. I am sick and tired of living around people that are unwilling to sacrifice themselves, and eager to ask everyone else to pitch in. It is frankly, financial NIMBAism (not in my bank account). I have thought long and hard about the errs of the boomers and the common thread which runs through it is a disgusting, quiet selfishness. How else do you explain giving yourself benefits based on indebting the future generations. It is disgusting. The $8 Trillion drug bill in 2004 is a great example.
Be honest, folks. You are not thinking about others. You are thinking about yourself. If you are thinking as a politician, you are thinking about your votes, fahgetabout my grandkids. If you are thinking as a constituent it is about your government subsidized perks.
I don't buy expensive coffee drinks because it is a waste of money. I prefer to buy the coffee beans at $11/ pound and drink unlimited coffee for two weeks. I may, however, have to make an exception and begin frequenting Starbucks just to twist the knife a bit in that old boomer that asks me how I want my coffee served. Slowly, with pain, thank you.


Thanks for writing a lot of the truth.

How old are the writers of this article? Boomers are not the only consumers in this country. I have seen plenty of Gen X'ers and Gen Y'ers who seem to think they're immediately entitled to everything Boomers worked years for, but without sacrificing anything or paying any dues whatsoever. Certainly neither of those groups can claim the title of "Greatest Generation."

If the last 8 years was capitalism then give me socialism!

The Federal Reserve is an abomination but its hard for me to see how it is a socialist oriented entity. If anything, it seems like an organization dedicated to keeping the 'rich' rich with its preoccupation with growing the stock market.

The transfer of our manufacturing base overseas was a short-sighted boondoggle. The fact that 'financial services' has replaced manufacturing as a percentage of GDP explains almost everything you need to know about the current debacle.

As for the boomers, the only generation that could have been worse, if given a chance, would have been their children!

This country NEEDS a depression in the worst way.

This article and analysis hit things right on the head. I know so many people including friends that thought they were all wealthly because they were able to borrow whatever, whenever they wanted. Two are homeless now. They are all boomers born in the late 1950's and early 1960's. Furthermore, nothing in my college education shed any light on what the realty was about financial responsibility. I was amazed in the early 1990's when I entered college in my early 30's (that was when I could afford to go) and saw parking stall after parking stall filled with new or nearly new automobiles, the lastest and greatest gadgit in their hands and credit cards flying in book stores, bars and food courts. I thought that I was probably one of the poorest people to ever go to a state university. I discovered that along with car payments and plently of credit debt they all had student loans too. My grandmother called this "robbing peter to pay paul". I'm very thankful that I was way too naive to believe that I could ever pay back tomorrow what I didn't have today. I am a baby boomer but most of the students that I attended school with were 12 to 15 years younger that me so this attitude has extended onward and I see it in my daughters friends and associates. There is no idea that anything needs to be planned or saved for. I hope that the popped balloon teaches a long term lesson and as a nation we turn our attitudes around.

Bravo on a well overdue commentary. I am a baby boomer, born 1950, and am extremely disappointed with my generation. As Bill Bonner stated the boomers have "graduated from pot to white wine" but still are living in a chemically altered state of reality.
I was in Air Force ROTC in college, circa 1968, and was spat upon by an enlightened young woman who informed me that I was a "war criminal and baby killer". The fact that I was seventeen at the time and had not left the country let alone fired a shot in anger never entered her mind. I served from 1974 until 2005 where I was somehow transformed from a war criminal to a hero. (The boomer definition of a hero is someone who will go where they won't go themselves.) I am told often that I should be so proud of my two sons serving in the military. I am sure somewhere, as Jack Nicholson once said, the boomers are of the mindset that "...you want me (my sons) on that wall, you need me (my sons) on that wall" so their sons/daughters do not have to defent "that wall".

Great, terrific and awesome article. I don't think anyone can argue with this. The terrible fact is that America has been placed on the brink of disaster by one generation and they still don't want to take responsibility for it. All they want is to continue to sell out future generations so they don't have to deal with the mess they made. Typical and Disgusting!!

PS Keep up the geat work. I would love to see you guys do more with PBS and other news casts. You seem to be one of the few that have a clue.

I read the article and I read the comments, please correct me if I am mistaken. We don't have a 60 billion dollar trade deficit, we do have a 60 billion dollar per month trade deficit.
Social security is already a farce. The government took all the money collected by the trust and gave IOU'S. Therefore every check that goes out now is just an amount added to our budget deficit.
We are not the smartest, most productive workforce in the world or we wouldn't have a trade deficit.
Our military and defense is total trash. The enemy actually flew an airplane into the pentagon. We sent troops to Irac without adequate personal armor in humvees without armor. We invaded a country of 20 million with the greatest military force on the face of the earth that costs almost 1/2 the annual federal budget to maintain, and look what we achieved.
Read the pre amble to the constitution, the constitution, and the amendments and you will see that we behave as if our constitutional values apply to us, but do not apply to our behavior toward other nations, sects,or tribes.It is no wonder we are subject to terrorist attacks, we ask for it.
Solutions: Drop a couple of nukes on Washington when congress is in session and the president is in town, or continue to suffer Chronic wasting disease until the inevatable implosion. Like Jesus said," Enough of this sh't, I'm leaving."

You might also give credit to Boomers for the personal computer, cell phones, wireless internet, nanotechnology, digital cameras, and a host of other innovations. We joined the Peace Corps, fought in VietNam, marched in Civil Rights demonstrations, and built businesses and families that fueled the greatest technological and economic expansion the world's ever seen. We're not all greedy and evil.

I'm 5 years older than the first boomers. Many of the rules that govern our economy and polity were shaped by boomer wants and desires. Much has been accomplished on the boomer's watch. But, while boomers have had it pretty good it appears the string has run out. Their houses, investments, pensions are shrinking. Their retirement and old age will be a challenge. The economy will not throw off enough surplus wealth to take very good care of them.

Frankly, the thought of legions of 75 year old boomers residing in the back seat of old SUVs is not a pretty thought. Boomers may learn frugality in their dotage. The political conflict between producers and retirees may be acrimonious. Resources will be scarce until the economy is rebuilt.

The Japanese and much of Europe face similar problems. I think it is true that boomers have not been responsible. Boomers asking their children to be responsible, in their stead, may be difficult. Family values? We'll see.

Maybe government should supply free tocacco and alcohol with medicare.

This article provides the best high level explanation of how we got here that I have ever read. But, I need to make some corrections about McDonald's.
There are 31,000 stores worldwide. Over 50% of those stores exist outside the US. A percentage of the gross sales outside the US flows back to the corporation in Oak Brook Illinois. That is right, Big Macs are actually helping to lower our staggering trade deficit.
The vast majority of customers in the US pay with the cash in their pockets so they are not borrowing to cover their sub $5.00 average check.
One third of McDonald's franchisees started out working in the restaurants and it was there that they learned how to make a profit. Part of the reason why you are not reading about McDonald's owners going belly up is that the Corporation has never lowered the minimum requirement of 25% down on the purchase of restaurants and will not allow financing to extend beyond seven years. In fact, the corporation often forces higher down payments when they have concerns about post debt cash flow.
Almost everything in the restaurants, from the seats and tables to the toasters and fryers are manufactured in the US and constant purchase, maintenance and replacement of those items supports tens of thousands of jobs outside of the restaurants.
While McDonald's is an icon of Americana around the world it far from a symbol of American fiscal irresponsibility.

I think this article should be expanded with a political science perspective in the "Bowling alone"/"Rights Talk" mode. I think the decline in civility and the concern of others would be perfectly reflected by the blatant economic self interest that this generation has committed. "All for me and none for all".

This generation has committed the economic equivalent to an animal eating their young.

I would guess they are Boomers also. Generation X and Y do have plenty of faults as well. However, for the most part, 34 year olds are not in positions of power.

The Boomers did not create all the situations at hand. The main point of the article is the lack of collective will to act when they had time. Instead, the collective choice was to "party on".

Plenty of Boomers don't agree with the collective choices of their generation, as you can tell by these comments and your own. The hard part, and I say this as a Generation Xer, is realizing that the mass of the Boomers will not be changing course despite excellent articles like this.

My antidotal experiences tell me that the most Boomers will continue to stick with the "head in the sand", I sacrificed (kinda) so give me what I'm owed (free health care and SS from 65 on). Seriously, I can't get some of the more open minded ones to even *acknowledge* the burden they are transferring to younger generations.

I don't really look forward to a prosperous future. My children and I will be left a radically changed and poorer country that will require real sacrifice in a background of Boomers demand their "due". It would not surprise me that by the end of my life we will see serious declines in standards of living and not just "I can't afford cable TV".

I worked at a McDonald's at 15 years until I was about 20. One of the best run corporations I've ever had the chance to be a part of. I take my kids there on a regular basis to eat (gasp!). I completely the management track as a professional career if someone is so inclined.

100% Spot On.

Send to every politician and every baby-boomerin the country.

The bailout and the greed and avarice are harbingers of blood in the streets.

You said:

"It appears that the fools are the Americans who lived their lives according to the rules. The anger is building. I don't think the politicians running this country realize what true anger looks like. They're used to Americans being herded along like passive sheep."

Exactly. I'm not going to be a fool again and I'm not going to pay for others indolence or greed. I'm fighting mad and I don't mean just shaking my fist.

We've built a house of cards and it will collapse...so sad.

Notice that the reverse mortgage, refinance, and "take on more debt" infomercials with T & A or Faux reputability (Robert Wagner) are back with a vengeance.

...just...one...more....hit...don't...care...if...the needle...is...dirty....

Pay down debt, buy emergency supplies and a gun or two. When the riots come the police won't be able to help you and the national guard will be a week away.

Excellent article...thanks.

when I bought my first house in 1973 for $28,000,the payment was about 25% of the family income...thats reasonable...I rode through that area a few days ago and it looks like a shantytown,yellow crime tape and all..

The point is,even if I wanted to,I couldn't have stayed in that house.The next one cost $89,000 and the next $130k,but they weren't much nicer than the first,just better surroundings..

As a Peak Boomer(1957), it is what it is. The cycle of credit(read some of the other stuff on this website) has spun out and is about to reset. Perhaps a diatribe on nature vs. nurture would be more appropriate. Sometimes the words say more about the author than the subject.

Generational correction, yes.

I'm certain the old folks who lived through the depression preached frugality; but children often don't listen.

Besides, too many of the depression generation saw FDR as a savior rather than a destroyer of liberty, true prosperity, and individual responsibility.

"Such systems mandate that economic gains be privatized, and losses socialized. "

Well said.

Unfortunately, these kinds of realizations are often above the ability of the masses to process; their perception and what they are told through media is more real than what is right in front of them.

Frightening times indeed...

which may or may not be valid. But I think the author is guilty of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Had the government not been involved deeply in the mortgage markets in the form of the GSE's Fannie and Freddie, which took all the risk away from providing mortgages, none of this would have happened - period!

Yes, we would NOT have grown as fast or as much but the growth we would have had would of been solid growth and not the ponsi scheme growth we had.

What is ironic about this article is the 60 trillion in unfunded mandates our current system is obligated to provide- SS, Medicare and Medicaid. Lets not leave out all the public pensions that add hugely to this number.

The funding crisis is coming and it is going to dwarf this one.

If Obama does win, it will be fun watching him and his "scalpel" try to deal with it.

That's why the data point at them, but the real culprit is consumption vs. future useful creativity (Oh, f.u.c.!!)
There is no feedback mechanism in the current capitalist market which moderates consumption except complete failure of the capitalist system. In fact, the tools of the system are all pointing the wrong way in a closed environment. Every politician, CEO, banker, and almost ever citizen is now screaming for us to 'FIX' "The Economy", but if we actually DO manage to inflate our way out of this and 'fix' the fantasy to match last year's spreadsheets, our planet will die.
I'll say that again, and I don't mean it to be scary, but to be the inevitable truth of overconsumption in a failing ecosystem: If we fix the economy, everyone and everything on this planet is going to perish from rising temperatures and loss of water.
Now, there's a timeline and many possible avenues that MIGHT change that path, but we aren't taking any of them at this point.

Everything you say is true. BUT, while the boomers are truly self-delusional optimists, I see no difference in the following generations (mine, I'm 51 so almost a boomer) and the kids brought UP by the boomers. America is completely TOTALLY a land of self-delusional optimists.

So, if the people that run American are boomers, and the self-delusional peasants are the same, and the following generations are no better… Uh, WHAT exactly CAN change? Who will be the agents of change? You guys? The statistically abnormal “savers” that “followed the rules” and didn't party with the rest of the extroverts? Dudes…. Like, sorry dudes, you missed out. And the party was great. You got and cash left dudes? Like, we could run down to the store and get some more debt, Dudes! Parties not over yet, Dudes! People on this site still got money, Dudes!!! Party ON DUDES!!!

What WILL happen is the nobility boomers will extract every dime from the dumb-asses savers that stupidly played by the WRONG rules. THAT'S reality. There ain't gonna be no truth, justice, and the (mythical) American way, because John Wayne – like American morals – WAS a myth. So, the people on here had better NOT be waiting for a “good” “moral” ending for all this, or ya'all gonna be TOTAL screwed, DUDES!!!

Boomers never carried over the lessons from their Depression era parents? Why not? Mine did.

Teach a man to fish as they say. And unfortunately, the majority were not taught.

Before you cast stones at a sense of entitlement, check your dependence on Social Security and pension. Pension for the Gen X and beyond does not exist. We are to be self sufficient, and trust in future payments by a bankrupt government are not to be trusted.

One more Dennis Hopper/Ameriprise commercial with a Harley might make me ill.

The mess was made, and we will clean it up, one bad loan at a time.

"Boomers like myself are not going to see benefits anywhere near current ones being paid."

And I won't see any at all as I foot the bill for whatever you get. As a thirtysomething Gen X, I have written off SocSec as a monthly expense versus any plans for something material in the long run.

My mom was a boomer and a saver with a pension. Anything else from the government is gravy. Thankfully, the saving gene was passed down. Lessons from the Depression were passed on to her, and passed on to us.

The lesson here is support yourself instead of the promise of future entitlement from the government. Don't believe the hype.

David S, I've been working since age 13, paying taxes, living responsibly and rearing children who also live responsibly. Yes, I am a 1947 baby boomer and have seen MANY irresponsible people from all age groups create huge debt. The Boomer generation may be an age cohort, but they are not all the same. Stereotyping traits is very dangerous. I worked two jobs, saved my money, worked my way through college, got a job and lived like a pauper to save money and buy a double house. It was a complete wreck, but I fixed up the rental side and lived in the wrecked side until I could afford to repair it too.
I continued to work, had children, lived within my means and made my children live within MY means as well. It wasn't until my kids were in Jr. High, that I sold the double house, and was able to finally afford a 1200sq ft house of my own in a middle class area. Most of the neighbors were young newlyweds with infants! How on earth could they afford this so soon when I worked so long and saved to hard? Even their cars were fancier than my used Reliant! It was easy....the younger folks just took on huge debts!!! I asked one of my young neighbors who bought a new BMW to go with the new house, "when did he expect to pay off the mortgage?" He said, he never expected to pay it off at all! Just sell the house at some future date and move into an even better one! This is the crux of the problem and it has nothing to do with age cohorts!!

I continued to work, pay taxes, social security, and contribute to my community and give to charities. I retired when my health failed, and yes I retired into this financial chaos. I have some savings, though not for long as additional taxes will be needed to bail out the younger folks who wanted everything immediately, and expect responsible people like me to pay for it. Greed and lack or responsibility are in all age groups.

Right on Joan!

Greenspan admitted to one mistake - thinking the banks and businesses would act responsibly with all the free money he printed. No mention of expectations that he would act responsibly. I suppose expecting any Fed to resist the easy thing of printing money and the popularity garnered is way too much to expect.

Ever consider running for President?

"...75 year old boomers residing in the back seat of old SUVs..."??? Kurt, you are a visionary! Now, if our 'leaders' were only visionary enough to fund an 'Old SUV Upgrade' bailout plan, in advance, for the year 2025!

long, winded, no new prospective and rather shallow...one of the first articles I have really been disappointed with on this really rather good website....alot of wasted prints space....falsely provocative and very shallow.....

What a bunch of gargage! Wall street's greed, ceo's greed, Bank's greed, bears greed, home builder's greed, mortgage company's greed, no free market policing by the current administration; Those are the quilty persons responsible!

Death moderates consumption.

Colonies of bacteria consume resources until they die off in droves.

Human history is little different, at some point people starve or simply kill each other off in a big war.

I think you are missing the point.

The overall point is what you said, greed and lack of ethics. The basis is the boomer and beyond consumption and go into debt to consume mentality.

Of course not all boomers fit, some are savers, some are ethical. As a society we have lived on debt, greed, consumption, live today - pay tomorrow.

The bill hasn't fully come due and we keep pushing into the "future" with tax and spend and go into more debt; it can't be sustained.

What a stupid, vapid article. Probably written by one of those spoiled kids raised by a Boomer.

Just what we DON'T need at this moment in history: generational rage. Particularly given our penchant as a country for delusional distractions during crisis.

And Greenspan is no Boomer.

Great perspective, thank you.

Seven decades is a good perspective.

"History has revealed that contries rise and fall with time. They fall because they don't live in the real world, as Rome found out."

Exactly.

All Hail Caesar

If there was a “Greatest Generation” then surely we must now have found the “Selfish Generation”

As a 35 year old, I don't claim to know the solution to any of the multiple crises beginning to affect us - but I am nonetheless surprisingly hopeful for the future.

I am hopeful because I can see the charade is up on our massively corrupt, morally bankrupt and fiscally dead system.

I am hopefu its destruction will force changes that no one from the Selfish Generation can muster the courage to face. Pick any of the following time bombs that sit currently unresolved– deficit spending, entitlement spending, energy independence, immigration, tort reform, climate change, campaign finance, medical insurance.

I am hopeful because in 10 years I will be able to buy a multi-million dollar house from a retiring Baby Boomer who will sell it to me for what he paid for it 15 years ago. He will sell it to me because he has no choice, no savings, and needs the money to fund his retirement.

I am hopeful that some upcoming crises will force meaningful action on climate change and energy policy.

I am hopeful that some upcoming crises will force changes to shameful agricultural subsides, ethanol subsidies, and other pork spending.

I am hopeful that discontent with Congress will lead to incumbents actually being voted out of office and gerrymandering done over the past decades will be reversed – effectively ending enshrined incumbency.

So really from my point of view there are lots of reasons to be hopeful although I do accept the path is full of hardships. I have known for a long time social security will not be around when I retire, so I have been saving for my own future and will be able to support myself at a standard of my choosing. I may be “a spoiled kid of a baby boomer”, but my generation will be the one to fix these problems. Sadly, I know it will be expensive personally but that it must be done and there will be sacrifices required.

In 50 years I am hopeful that my generation will not be called Gen X or Gen Y but that we will have earned a much more noble title as we deal with the Selfish Generation's legacy of decadence.

We need REALITY.

I think this article points to some of it; though it is making Boomers mad (I'm in that group, by the way).

Just think of post WWII consumption, television, T.V. dinners, Suburbia, Malls, Supermarkets, etc., etc., etc., all constructs of the past 50-60 years.

Our lifestyle and societal coscience is what is leveraged; it's not just debt or policy or politics.

I agree 100%. This article should be posted at every voting booth on November 4th and be required reading before voting.

It couldn't hurt.

I had real estate agents push that idealogy on me:

"Your equity will go up, and then you can sell the house in 5-7 years and move up to another mortgage in a bigger house, and keep doing it until you retire then take your one time exemption."

Basically, encouraging me to use debt leveraging. Then, as soon as I was in the house, the banks would call and mail and encourage me to leverage the equity with a home equity loan for "improvements to increase the home value" or pay for college or buy a car or go on a vacation.

And now the banks are getting $700 Billion of taxpayer money for bonuses and acquisitions.

Good thing we have avoided the "crises" (*cough*)

Penicillin was not an American 'discovery'. Fleming (British) discovered it, and Chain (German-born Brtion) and Florey (Australian) made it practical. I am looking at a photgraph of the three taken otside E. R. Squibb in New Brunswick, NJ in 1946 right now.

What the Americans at Squibb and Merck and and several other US companies did was to industrialize a laboratory process and treat millions of people. Not a trivial effort, but not 'discovered'.

Article is pretty much spot on except America did not invent the automobile and higher taxes are not going to solve our problems. The politicians will take any revenue from higher taxes which will be less revenue than if we had lower taxes and spend us to oblivion. Will we need to do with less entitlements ... yes .. I am all for it and prepared for it. The problem is not low taxes it is too much governement spending on entitlements and every other fradulent program.

We have no one else to blame but ourselves ... we keep voting the morons back in office. You want to do something about it ... vote against all incumbents as I did this year.

Maybe people will take a few minutes and listen to Ron Paul, but no one wants to listen to the truth. In ancient days people use to stone to death those who brought the truth which was usually bad news.

Smart people often develop technology regardless of those around them. Giving the Boomers credit for technological development is fair, however, most of the great advancements in hardware and software are largely a result of the generation that developed "Bell Labs" (gutted completely now) and their kin and the MASSIVE inertia from their force. Look at the current trends in engineering and it is appalling. In 2020 the US engineering community will look like England's 50 years ago. England, invented everything, the leader of industy, until the US came along and the 20th century released our creative onslaught. Today? Why be an engineer when you can practice law and sue your way to prosperity?
My point is that giving boomers credit for technology is appropriate, but needs to be weighed properly. The longterm damage that we have done in gutting our engineering and industrial base (which is again, nothing more than short-sighted selfishness, immediate gratification) will haunt us for a long, long time. Why is there no middle class? Largely, because we gutted industry and technology. And wealth transfered away from Us.
It was just a few years ago that every tech analyst used the SOX as the leading indicator for technology. Seen it lately? It has a big hole in it, scratching out new, new lows. It has clearly, changed its trend when looked at over multiple decades...this is generational.
I am hopeful that the gen Xers will rise to the occasion. Generally, there are Americans that will, when given the framework, rise. If we sit around and defend our mistakes and cast blame elsewhere, it should not be long before we end up with a Congress that is completely incapable (check), and a populous that has lost so much hope that they want the government to "fix" their problem. sigh.

I have seen no finer editorial on this topic than this one. I shall copy it, print it, and hang it on the wall,

I am a 60 year old self-employed father of two grown daughters, and the grandfather of two. My wife and I have lived well within our means, for almost 40 years, eliminated all debt, and saved feverishly to avoid becoming a financial burden to our children. I sleep well at night, thank you, but take no satisfaction in watching those trapped by the siren song of easy credit.

My children have grown weary of listening to me beat this very drum during the nightmare known as the Bush presidency, warning them that my generation has acted with unparalleled greed to leave them heirs to the greatest public debt in world history. Fortunately, they have adopted rational personal finance, and will survive.

Frequent letters to my elected representatives asking them to act as adults managing a household budget have done little more than improve my typing skills.

Those like Paulsen, Greenspan, and Bernanke who say they never saw this coming must be listed as accessories before and after the fact. The bailout is simply another nail in our coffin: the irresponsible use of the funds for weekend getaways and bonuses already underway.

Regardless of who wins this election, Americans need to pay slightly less attention to their right to accumulate unlimited wealth, and more attention to ensuring the health of this great nation for our posterity. It is not too late, but prudence, self control, and sacrifice are essential, and it starts from the bottom.

We get the government we deserve. I hope your generation deserves better than mine.
I see it starting, but the revolution is slow to start when you have to compete in an imagined field of competition.
As a friend of mine said recently, "We are rare and unpopular, since we remind others of their natural limitations.
However, one can not preach natural limitations since one has nothing that trumps the imaginary things that most others want."
This is the mission for your generation: To find more value in natural limitations and sensible living than in fantasies and consumption.

Good luck with that. Your children's future depends on it. Yours has already been consumed by my generation and its overlords.

We actually had a presidential canidate in Ross Perot who essentially ran on an economic reform platform that would have addressed many of these issues. But, Americans have not shown the willingness to suffer through the hard economic times such reform shall demand..shame on all of us!

I take a different perspective, having worked in R&D for a couple of decades now.

Technological advancement isn't advancement if it destroys the very planet you live on. Teaching everyone that technology will "come up with something" is like teaching them we can drill our way out of a hole or buy our way out of bankruptcy.
"We cannot solve the problems we have created with the same thinking that created them." --Sometimes, you have to go backward in order to start over, and that is where leadership truly is necessary. Anyone can run screaming into the fray if they have everyone following them. It takes real leadership to turn a bloodthirsty battalion around before they destroy every last hut and drill every last oil field and net every last fish in the oceans.
Bring on General Volker...
Or the FairTax. Humans need some humility and some humanity.

Oh, yes, The Greatest Generation:

the people who continued to have no problem after WWII with with a "whites only" USA,

who sent more than 50,000 of their children to die in Vietnam because, well, they were not sure then and have never really been sure,

thought it just dandy to pay women significantly less for the same job as their male counterparts,

abandoned their elderly parents in horrifying institutions, and were the only generation in human history who so readily warehoused its own parents,

couldn't begin to deal with the global crime crisis they created in this and other countries due to their ridiculous drug laws -- a global fund for terrorists, really,

ushered in a period of stagflation after their own party-on time in the 50s and early 60s,

voted en masse for Ronald Reagan, who, along with his pals, taught the country that not spending, not having deficits and debts was unpatriotic,

and, lastly, had the biggest, bestest retirement of any generation in, well, history...on the backs of their children...you remember us, the greedy boomers, the ones who fought the Greatest Generation about equal rights, Vietnam, etc.

And, PLEASE, when you speak of the depression can we have a little common sense. Who do you think really suffered during that time? What would you do? Would you try to shield your children as much as possible? Would you go hungry so your children could eat? Of course you would. And so did our GRANDPARENTS, the parents of the Greatest Generation. And did our Grandparents pay for this? You bet they did. Never before had children so willingly dumped their parents into institutions the way the Greatest Generation did.

Same goes for WWII. No, the Greatest Generation didn't rush to fight WAR II. The country had a DRAFT and they had to use it.

I've had it with this constant defaming of my peers. Are we perfect? No, certainly not. But to suggest we are somehow less than our parents is a joke. Our parents did not fight for the rights or betterment of any group. They had a dam good ride touring the country in their RVs, globe trotting in their leisure suits...and who they heck paid for this? We did.

And when they grew too old to care for themselves, did they all get taken to the nursing home/dumping ground? No, their greedy Boomer children are taking care of them...at home.

Cheers,
Susan

Wendell Berry wrote about this in the '70's ("The Gift of Good Land"), but it was about farmers. Every new machine, every new 'program' was just a little bit more than the present family farm could afford, so each new idea required them to go a little further into the future debt plan to 'compete' with the other farmers.
If anyone wants to know how that turned out, look up the term "Farm Aid".

In my opinion there is no question this article _could_ have been one of the best... To make it great, there should never be blame on an entire group of a specific people, but rather with the mindset of whoever happened to partake in such stupid consumption.

No doubt the recent mother of all bubbles had plenty of participants, way beyond boomers.

Plenty of blame to go around-- I am in my mid- 30's and I have seen plenty my age behave more foolish than any boomer I have witnessed.

The detailed behavior patterns this article summarized is spot on-- the blame however need to be more rounded and inclusive.

I would like to see demographic stats of recent foreclosures and I bet your would see more 30 somethings that the article suggests.

However it is difficult to argue that the majority of the policy creators that permitted such obscene consumption were the boomers themselves.....but this raises a different point, does not place blame.

In any circle of industries, Government, Business, Art, etc.. I firmly believe it crucial to have not only have balance of ideologies and views, but of generations. ie... too many recent grads created the dot.com bubble, too many old cronies created the banking fiasco---

USA has some of the best mix of population across any measured demographic (age, color, race, religion, etc)-- The more we accept and exploit this greatest of wealth, the better off we would all be.

I agree, but the general American public absolutely does not understand cause & effect and lag time when it comes to economics. We could have the most savvy, proactive leaders with the best long-term solutions. But if it is a short-term pain for long-term gain solution which has not taken hold by election time they will be out on their butts and some future political jokers will take credit for their sacrificial leadership. It's time for the American public to rise up to become more than media-biased sound-bite informed, politically apathetic appointers of our country's leaders. I am also tired of caustically-biased Republicans and Democrats who swallow 99% of their party's spin and are incapable of having an objective conversation about important issues.
I apologize for sounding more than a little disgusted by politics-as-usual and will be relieved when the silliness recedes after the election tomorrow.

True moral courage comes with the risk of sacrificing your career for that which is right. Careerists are not risk-takers; thus, lacking that courage. (a great argument for term limits, btw..)

Yes, I agree. I would like to see more true public servants in politics.
I wish that I could rewrite my last post, it is too harsh for my comfort, sorry minyans.
I do think that the American public bears ultimate responsibility and needs to de-couple from what is influencing their votes currently and become much better educated to objectively identify and choose our leaders.

Agreed.

Serving in Congress should be like Jury Duty; random sample from districts from the roles of those who vote. Serve 2-4 years then go home, done.

You wouldn't have time to become arrogant and disconnected or corrupted; when you left you couldn't lobby or join a board because you'd be back at your 9-5.

Jeff - don't feel bad, we're all a little upset at the collective laziness, greed, and insanity. The slackers and power/money grubbers aren't worried about other people or worried about the future so they aren't here being upset about it.

Cheers,
Eric

Excellent op-ed piece. Even if you disagree with some of the specifics, I think the whole tone of the article is very accurate.

America doesn't "make" anything anymore. Much of our manufacturing has moved away to places where there is cheaper labor, materials, less environmental restrictions, etc. Is it all bad? One could argue that by moving the steel industry out of the county, we have cleaned up our environment. or did we just shift it to another part of this small globe?

We are now the "Burger King" of the world - how do you want your burger? we are a service-oriented country. Kinda like the "second ship" in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series :)

Are we now in the fall of the next Roman empire? Have we turned the corner, and are now heading downhill into oblivion?

America truly needs dynamic leadership, with those qualities to turn the decline around. UNFORTUNATELY, I cannot think of ANYONE who currently fits the bill. There is NO ONE in politics in this country today who could be that person. If there was, we would not continue having elections where it has been roughly a split in the voting. And I'm not talking 50-50 or even 60-40. Some countries do actually achieve this, except is it usually by dictatorship. That's NOT what I am talking about. We need someone who can genuinely stand up and take the reins. The US has had people like this in the past. Until we have that again, we will continue to founder along at the rate we are going.

In the 1980's the experts said we did not need manufacturing jobs in an information economy, so the manufacturing jobs went overseas to slave labor.

In the 1990's the experts said we did not need information jobs in a service economy, so the information jobs went overseas to slave labor.

In the first decade of the 21st century the experts said we did not need service jobs in a finance economy so the service jobs went overseas to slave labor, or the slave labor simply came here illegally.

Then in 2008 the finance economy collapsed because from day one the experts were simply fools paid by the architects of the greatest swindle in human history to strip mine the US economy by bribing elected officials and trotting 'professors' with 'theories' in front of cameras to discuss 'globalization'.

Now there are nothing but printing presses frantically printing money.

I haven't read any of the comments but I just want to say this is the best op ed article I have seen here on the 'ville and where it truly belongs is the New York Times! I have harbored similar feelings and literally through something at my flat screen (bought on credit) Tv when they announced that Capitol one was reaching their hand into the cookie jar. Why bail out a predatory lendor that shouldn't have any exposure to the real estate market anyway? It is absurd much like the rest of this mess the boomers have spread across the world.

I am glad your out there my friend and let me assure you others are thinking the same way. I am a generation xer and the discussion I have with my friends is how can we get production back in this country. We aren't as concerned with jobs as actual production if robots can build something thats fine with me but we need to produce it right here at home and sell it to the world. The jobs will come first we need the production.

OH did the little flower child have her feelings hurt? Your generation protested a war that they should of won. Your generation demanded equality for women at the expense of children, Your generation spent yourselves and us into oblivion and now we see the boomers lining up behind one last salesman for the biggest gamble of all. They are going to hope the slick guy with the quick smile and a million promises can bail out the country. Well just like the credit card, The big house, and free love you are about to learn its not all its cracked up to be! Good luck Boomers your nursing homes are going to be government run right now the county only requires a bath every three days I wonder what it will be when there are 40 million more of you taking up beds and telling the nurses how it used to be. Enjoy the Mac and Cheese and don't expect many visits from kids you never taught to write thank you notes.