patrick.net

This is interesting...very much so.

I always felt a bit different, especially so from those just a few years after me.

I'm solidly GenX, my parents and almost all the older people in my family are Silent Generation. I can't think of any that qualify as Baby Boomers.

Growing up, my extended family was close. I knew what my grandparents and great aunts and uncles had been through during the great depression and WWII. I loved history so I listened to them. I also loved baseball and baseball history from a very young age and when I looked at a guy like Ted Williams career stats and saw two periods of several years where he didn't play...my curiousity was aroused even more.

In my studies and research had always hated the 60's and 70's. I couldn't figure out what the heck people were doing. The drug use was just nonsense IMO. What I did see is an older generation that had literally gone through hell. And wound up building a near nirvana. At least on the outside. And before anyone brings up race issues, outside the south and selected areas like east Texas and urban white areas on the "wrong side of the tracks", blacks were seeing unprecedented financial success...at least until the Great Society. I'm sure there was psychological trauma that boiled through at this time. But overall, we had one of the most prosperous forward thinking societies ever. A bit restrictive, but counterculture was doing a real good job addressing that.

But then the damn kids looked the gift horse in the mouth. Couldn't just take life on its own terms...work hard, enjoy your spare time, love and care about your family and your community. And out of all that crap...once the drugs and communes and screwing any willing cunt went away....it turns out that the Boomers were a bunch of greedy fucks who were so selfish that they couldn't even be bothered to properly raise their own kids.

Also FU to the Boomers for spawning horrible movies like Parenthood. Lets all work out our weirdness because I couldn't before I got married and have kids *sticks finger down throat".

Pick up the load GenXers and start having lots of kids. We need the taxes!

Blurtman says

Pick up the load GenXers and start having lots of kids. We need the taxes!

Having kids will only increase the consumption of tax revenues. For 22 years, the kids won't produce anything. And when they finally reach adulthood, they will still consume more than they produce because of the lack of jobs. Just look at the unemployment rate for Millennials.

How about we get the unemployment rate down to zero, and then you can bitch and moan about how we need more workers.

Just remember that every time the Boomers outsourced a job to Chindia, they also gave away the tax revenue that job produced. Same for H1B Visas. A job that would normally pay 100k+/yr and produce 30k/yr in taxes, now pays 40k/yr and produces 5k/yr in taxes due to lower tax rate, foreign tax deduction, etc.

Dan8267 says

Blurtman says

Pick up the load GenXers and start having lots of kids. We need the taxes!

Having kids will only increase the consumption of tax revenues. For 22 years, the kids won't produce anything. And when they finally reach adulthood, they will still consume more than they produce because of the lack of jobs. Just look at the unemployment rate for Millennials.

How about we get the unemployment rate down to zero, and then you can bitch and moan about how we need more workers.

Just remember that every time the Boomers outsourced a job to Chindia, they also gave away the tax revenue that job produced. Same for H1B Visas. A job that would normally pay 100k+/yr and produce 30k/yr in taxes, now pays 40k/yr and produces 5k/yr in taxes due to lower tax rate, foreign tax deduction, etc.

The stock market is booming. What you describe cannot be a problem.

Any posters above expressing remorse or guilt for acting in their own interest in their life, see a shrink ASAP.

If someone studied, worked, saved, borrowed, etc. he shouldn't feel guilty about it.

Most boomers I know were paid jack shit unless they became lawyers or doctors. This may explain why there are so many lawyers around, lots of guys got out of college with nothing to do.

The media was on about the "misery index" in the 70's, along with global cooling, Russia agression. Carter told us we were in a "malaise", etc. it's deja vu with Obama.

Our parents were thrifty but generally didn't know about mutual funds or investing. The houses our parents bought were the single payment they made out of income that wasn't consumed.

Many boomers are living with either their children or caring for an older parent, some cases both. In my and my friend's case, one of each applies.

A lot of boomers are paying for their own parents support simultaneously while supporting their children. That's a pretty common squeeze for them.

The Professor says

Sure we get options, but we never get to choose.

worse and worser

clambo says

Many boomers are living with either their children or caring for an older parent, some cases both.

And this is different that X/Y how?

Consider these track records of OURS:
http://patrick.net/?p=1230886
Consider the remedy: we need to remember these track records, AND we need to much more consistently keep our heads out in the light.

JH says

, but Reagan's policies are spewed daily from Fox News and everyone in Washington is too chicken shit to oppose them.

Than we need to stop being chicken poop and start acting like citizens of a great Republic. Fake it until we make it if we have to.

hrhjuliet says

Than we need to stop being chicken poop and start acting like citizens of a great Republic. Fake it until we make it if we have to

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what that looks like. Except the 99% march thing a year or so ago. But that just enraged Republicans more.

JH says

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what that looks like. Except the 99% march thing a year or so ago. But that just enraged Republicans more

It looks like a very organized and very solid boycott movement. Republicans can't touch that, Democrats can't touch that, police can't arrest you for it (yet) and free market advocates can't complain, Libertarians can't complain and neither can the Green party.
It's your freedom to choose.

Boycott the Made in China goods, or any goods made in a place that uses children or political prisoners. Boycott Monsanto, Phillip Morris, Walmart, Nestlé, Dow, Pfizer, Chevron, Coca Cola, etc. If they have a record that hits all three: human rights abuses, murder and pollution, then start with them.

Use less oil. Drive your car less.

Don't buy diamonds, or anything unethically mined.

Don't buy an overpriced home, and work with for sale by owner.

Use cash whenever you can.

Use open source

Buy less, buy necessities. If you have to buy, then buy fair trade.

Cut off the blood supply to the corporations you despise and the candidates they fund.

Or are you all too comfortable and chicken?

Really? Someone disliked the above? Why?

hrhjuliet says

Really? Someone disliked the above? Why?

Just did this today:
http://patrick.net/?p=1242076

I am generation X. Regarding prices at twice median income theory - there are some cities in bay area, where median income is around 95K such as fremont and dublin. So what you are proposing is that homes go for 190K. However, if you are in the market for a single family home rental, you are easily looking at 3K per month. So essentially, you want a steal - you want to buy a house for under 5.5 annual rents! You want a steal, morally that' no different than an "boomer" who wants to sell a house at 30 annual rents. Why not just do the fair thing and create a sale in the 15-20 annual rents range?

Fiurther, there's a "slight" logistical problem. At 2X income there would be a glut of qualified buyers competing for a very limited supply (if any since builders will not want to build and "boomers" will not want to sell). May I ask who determines who will get the house. Or are we gonna have a soviet style "propiska" where a government will assign you to a house and then you will be charged with a crime if you live elsewhere...

On a deeper level, I find some of the threads that have been blaming boomers by gen X and get Y to be somewhat misplaced. Gen X and Y were never deliberately oppressed by the power structure via broken treaties, land theft, bio deseases (native americanss), were not brought here and enslaved against their will (african americans). There populations have legitimate reasons to be angry. Boomers have never made a concerted organized effort to screw X and Y - heck most of the decisions that resulted in the screwing were purely incidental - most boomer "executives" had no foresight to look past next 2 fiscal quarters much less 20-50 years into the future.

Additionally, X and Y need to own up to some of the things that they have done. They didn't really fight demise of the unions. They wanted more "flexibility" in the work world which eventually manifested itself in lack of benefits and contract employment. These things sound much better on paper than in reality.

hrhjuliet says

Really? Someone disliked the above? Why?

Wasn't me, but your list is difficult for a middle class income with kids.

hrhjuliet says

Boycott the Made in China goods

Everything my kids own (and all my cheap clothes, too).

hrhjuliet says

Walmart

Just bought a nice sleeping bag from them for a summer camping trip. Would've cost me considerably more to buy from a local sports shop.

hrhjuliet says

Use less oil. Drive your car less.

Don't buy diamonds, or anything unethically mined.

Don't buy an overpriced home, and work with for sale by owner.

Done, done, and done.

hrhjuliet says

Use cash whenever you can

But then I won't get my glut of airline reward miles!!

Etc, etc, etc.

Again, I feel like a hamster on a wheel. In theory your ideas would help, if everybody did that. But we have a middle class who is squeezed. I think my responses/rebuttals are reasonable, and it would be difficult to convince enough of the middle class to, for example, pay more for their clothes.

dublin hillz says

Why not just do the fair thing and create a sale in the 15-20 annual rents range?

Sounds good to me. That would be a fair compromise: boomers ask 30+ and we ask 5-10.dublin hillz says

Fiurther, there's a "slight" logistical problem. At 2X income there would be a glut of qualified buyers competing for a very limited supply

Until everyone bought, settled down, and was not house poor. Then they would have a lot more budget room to spend spend spend. Exactly what it would take to get out of this recoverecession. The dust could settle at lower prices than it is today.

hrhjuliet says

Boycott the Made in China goods, or any goods made in a place that uses children or political prisoners. Boycott Monsanto, Phillip Morris, Walmart, Nestlé, Dow, Pfizer, Chevron, Coca Cola, etc. If they have a record that hits all three: human rights abuses, murder and pollution, then start with them.

And pretty much every corporation on the planet. You would have to live the Amish lifestyle.
Even my iphone is made in China, anyone who tries to take it away from me faces severe bodily harm. If we buy cheap low margin toys from China, and they use the money to buy expensive high margin Boeing jets and Disneyland tickets, we both end up being better off.

hrhjuliet says

Use less oil. Drive your car less.

I'll give everyone a little hint - PRIUS.

hrhjuliet says

Or are you all too comfortable and chicken?

Honestly, I don't know how I could do it in this day and age. I'm chicken.

hrhjuliet says

Don't buy diamonds, or anything unethically mined.

Can you have a word with my wife too?
Lie to her if you have to.

dublin hillz says

I am generation X. Regarding prices at twice median income theory - there are
some cities in bay area, where median income is around 95K such as fremont and
dublin. So what you are proposing is that homes go for 190K

Hence, part of the problem - you want to fit/meet the theory, then move. Here in Houston it's pretty easy to find some fairly nice homes in the $100K to $150K range, some even lower. But I have reason to believe that you'd never (almost never) consider moving. You and your family WANT to live somewhere in the SF area, or at least be in CA. And good for you. But there is a price to pay for making that decision and three of the prices are high priced homes, high cost of living and high taxes.

The conditioning for high rent/buy in SFBA starts in college - there are students living off campus sharing a 2 bd apt going for $2500 per month. 4 people splitting it at $625 per head start believing that this type of "living" is normal so when they graduate and find that in regular cities (not college towns) they can get a much more luxurious apartment for that price it cements this belief.

Call it Crazy says

dublin hillz says

The conditioning for high rent/buy in SFBA starts in college

I guess what they are NOT teaching in college there is critical thinking and math skills... Maybe Economics should be a mandatory course???

The students don't feel it cause their parents are often paying for it or they are getting student loans which when they are 18-22 may feel like free found money. And in cities like berkeley with artificially restricted supply (and hence higher rents for new residents) due to rent control, the housing is often old and poorly maintained, yet students put up with it because they want to live close to campus.

Every generation has challenges - boomers dealt with the draft, overt racism, homophobia etc... I could tell you stories of what I've personally been through that thankfully rarely occur today. My advice for my kids is basically what I've lived by myself: play the cards you've been dealt to the best of your ability and try to stay positive. As you think, so shall it be. If you think you can't, then you can't etc...; I came from a background of poverty and drug addiction and found that life is what you make it. I think most of what happens in life is basically neutral - we make events and circumstances positive or negative based on whatever spin we put on it. Often times I've been told by friends and relatives that some event that seemed like a catastrophe ended up being a blessing in disguise. For every perceived disadvantage your generation has there are innumerable advantages undreamed of by older generations. Overall life keeps getting better for all people - although progress is uneven and it seems like two steps forward and one step back. Even little things such as the fact that when I started my first engineering job (in SF) I came home from work reeking of cigarette smoke b/c several people in the office smoked. It was unhealthy and disgusting and today people throughout the country and in much of the world take it for granted that they don't have to deal with that. It's a little thing but it's an example of the progress we've made. My kids can't believe the kind of racist, homophobic, misogynist statements that were routine in the workplace (in SF!) and I'm in my mid 50s. The truth is you can have the life you desire and it is more possible now than it ever was.

Strategist says

And pretty much every corporation on the planet. You would have to live the Amish lifestyle.

Even my iphone is made in China, anyone who tries to take it away from me faces severe bodily harm. If we buy cheap low margin toys from China, and they use the money to buy expensive high margin Boeing jets and Disneyland tickets, we both end up being better off.

hrhjuliet says

Use less oil. Drive your car less.

I'll give everyone a little hint - PRIUS.

hrhjuliet says

Or are you all too comfortable and chicken?

Honestly, I don't know how I could do it in this day and age. I'm chicken.

I don't buy made in China, and I do not live an Amish lifestyle, not at all. Not boycott all corporations, just the few proven to have been a part of huge human rights violations. I can not feel comfortable buying anything from companies that make Nazi's look thoughtful and kind. I'm not supporting their evil doing. Everyone cries "I have to buy it because I am so poor" well if you are truly poor you wouldn't be buying a bunch of non-necessities in the first place.

Prius? Hybrid batteries are toxic to be mined and dangerously toxic on impact, and not easily disposed of. Better than an SUV, but not the solution.

Why support evil groups? Just because they have cheaper goods? Then we deserve an oligarchy and to be the generation that watches our Constitutional Republic die. We are self-entitled, apathetic and lazy. Well, at least our government is doing one job right: representative democracy. Our government and politicians are a perfect reflection of the general population.

p>russell says

My kids can't believe the kind of racist, homophobic, misogynist statements that were routine in the workplace (in SF!) and I'm in my mid 50s. The truth is you can have the life you desire and it is more possible now than it ever was

I'm glad we have progressed socially, but that does not mean that it's easier now, or that there is more opportunity. Happily, there are more opportunities for marginalized people, but now the marginalized is whole generation and the entire middle-class. The truth is the middle-class is dying and our country is now an oligarchy, and we the people don't do something to change this historical pattern towards civil war or totalitarianism now, then your grandkids will not only live in an environmental disaster, they will be serfs.

thunderlips11 says

It is no accident that now that we no longer manufacture, these policies have been nixed.

http://www.nam.org/Statistics-And-Data/Facts-About-Manufacturing/Landing.aspx

In 2012, manufacturers contributed $2.03 trillion to the economy, up from $1.93 trillion in 2011. This was 12.5 percent of GDP. For every $1.00 spent in manufacturing, another $1.32 is added to the economy, the highest multiplier effect of any economic sector. 1

Manufacturing supports an estimated 17.4 million jobs in the United States—about one in six private-sector jobs. More than 12 million Americans (or 9 percent of the workforce) are employed directly in manufacturing. 2

In 2012, the average manufacturing worker in the United States earned $77,505 annually, including pay and benefits. The average worker in all industries earned $62,063. 3

The footnotes are because they provided cites to stats.

I blocked a bunch of people, so I'm not sure if anyone already told you that anyone over 50 is considered a Boomer this year. People in there forties are part of Gen X.

hrhjuliet says

There are a few people under forty who owe home ownership to anything but the above three scenarios, and when we hear about the few who didn't follow the above it feels like hearing about a unicorn sighting.

Also, consider that statistics show that a the majority of boomers over 55 bought their home with ONE income. No one under forty can do that without being in the 1% or family money.

If you are talking Bay Area...you may not be far off the mark, but in more normal parts of the country what you are saying doesn't hold.

I "own" a home, am under 40 and it's not because of one of the 3 reasons you listed. Being in the 1% actually requires a fairly hefty income - you can make many times more than the median and not be in the 1%.

In Denver I was able to buy a modest house in a good area without going above the 3X multiple...If I lived in the Bay Area again, I couldn't touch anything worth buying. It sucks, but if you want to buy a house, it's probably time to GTFO. Denver is nice.

#1 Lots of boomers avoided the draft. Lots. And then they shit on the dudes who actually did get drafted. The only challenge most boomers had in the late 60's/early 70's is to figure out how big of an asshole they could be to dudes who got stuck fighting a shitty battle initiated by that fuck LBJ.

#2 Homos stayed in the closet. So fucking be it. Suck a dick behind closed doors rather than hold hands in public like a couple tinkerbells. Its less than 5% of the population. Hardly amounts to miserable life for most.

#3 Racism sucks no doubt. Thats a battle that was going to be won sooner or later though. Its no thanks to the boomers though...Blacks in the Army started that fight in WWII and Jackie Robinson along with a lot of other courageous, talented, and intelligent black baseball players won over more of America than any boomer ever did.

I have never voted Republican, so I guess I get complaining rights. :-)
Yes, I am complaining, and maybe I forfeit my right to complain in your opinion because I have hardly ever voted for a Democrat either.

What I really want is a revolution. I want to see less apathy and a lot more complaining, and even more action behind the complaining.

The coming 10-15 yrs will see an implicit confrontation between millennials and boomers, with 2 key battlegrounds:
- Do we build enough housing for millennials?
- Do we use 'helicopter money' to compensate for boomers shrinking consumption?
Logically we should go from "boomers dominate" to "millennials dominate".

Housing policies resulting in high prices will become unpopular as time goes by.

Call it Crazy says

I'm ready.... Let's Do This!!!!!

*

I'm guessing palming a metallic phallic object reassures you.
It won't help you.

Call it Crazy says

The weak ones always get eaten first, and you're real close to the front of the line....

Hey, but you're the one who is compensating :-)

Hey Juliet,

Seriously, I too want more action behind the complaining, starting with me. But quite honestly, where to begin?

I tried moveon and found it disappointingly candidate endorsement focussed and reliant on media pranks that were so ragtag that they were embarrassing. Also, age seemed very boomer oriented. Representus is another that Id like to try but so far low critical mass in the bay area.

By the time that I spend all that time trying to make meaningful impact on government, I begin to just want to roll all that time into my own family and say to hell with the other. Revolutionizing at the moment seems too lonely! :)

Not giving up, merely sharing my frustration.

Call it Crazy says

Not even close, just making sure I'm at the END of the line....

That's the point: Idiots like you sit on their guns and their truckloads of ammo feeling reassured that nothing can happen to them.

They typically get robbed blind by a statistician on the other side of the country, or a bankster that never got within range.

So, no, you're not at the end of the line. Not even close.

lahossain says

By the time that I spend all that time trying to make meaningful impact on government, I begin to just want to roll all that time into my own family and say to hell with the other. Revolutionizing at the moment seems too lonely! :)

Not giving up, merely sharing my frustration.

This is exactly what happened to my husband and me this morning. We had all these great ideas for change and were reading all these great ideas and then became frustrated and tired. Next thing you know we are planning to go have dinner at the Hay Market, make candels with the boys and tune out the world. So I completly get it. It is frustrating. We are like Jon Stewart said, "..not the Silent Majority as much as the Busy Majority or the Depressed Majority."

It's hard to be proactive when it feels like 95% of the population could care less if we become a plutocracy police state. Plus both parents working, sometimes two jobs, and all our money going to a mortgage or rent, some days it's hard to have any steam. I hear you. It's actually helpful to know we are not alone with our readiness to revolt conflicted with our readiness to go back to bed.

“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”
― Frank Zappa

hrhjuliet says

It's hard to be proactive when it feels like 95% of the population could care less if we become a plutocracy police state.

100% of the people would care if it was true. The 5% you mention are misinformed, and have no solution even if they were right.
Hey, we missed you.

Stop whining. That's why God invented basements.

hrhjuliet says

Since most of you over forty bought your home when a median home was twice the median income, I find your euphemisms patronizing, at best they reek of propaganda or spin doctors at play.

That crap got 13 likes?!

No I bought after waiting 11 long years and renting at the same fucking place... While the Liberals were touting and justifying high RE prices because of the "GOOD SCHOOL" districts. I bought my house after the crash. And I keep my income over twice your median income, because I work extra hard on my own fucking time to stay relevant in the field I chose to work in.

The more I read pathetic whinny crap like this, the more I'm convinced I'll stay relevant in any field I chose to work in. Because any suitable youthful replacements are too fucking busy whining about my abilities to do so, rather than honing in on their own professional chops to overtake my position.

Keep on whining Blueboy, my future depends on it.