patrick.net

thunderlips11 says

Boomers grew up in the greatest boom of history, and figured that if they just got rid of the "restrictions" holding society back, things would be even better.

You're welcome.

This stupid pitting one generation against another is the great innovation of your generation. A true first !!

You must be so proud.

marcus says

THe boomers had ZERO impact on policies at this time. Things changed yes, for the worse. But to blame a group of people born in a certain time window for it ?

Bullcrap. Reagan was elected on "government is part of the Problem." It's morning again in America.

We've gone down this road before. Boomers didn't elect him. His election was more attributable to the older generation, and the strong media campaign against Carter, painting him as incompetent largely because of inflation, the hostage crisis, and a failed rescue attempt.

Sure, too many boomers bought into the aw shucks charm of Reagan (I didn't). But you know damn well what percentage of boomers voted against Reagan. And now you want to generalize about boomers. And blame them for not preventing Reagan. Fucking moron.

IF boomers are to blame, it's for being too politically apathetic. Something which later generations are also guilty of.

Don't you have enough insight about yourself to not generalize your feelings about your parents onto an entire generation ? I'm vicariously embarrassed for you.

marcus says

We've gone down this road before. Boomers didn't elect him. His election was more attributable to the older generation, and the strong media campaign against Carter, painting him as incompetent largely because of inflation, the hostage crisis, and a failed rescue attempt.

Nope. We've been down this road. I've shown you 84 with Mondale and especially 2000 with Bush when seniors went more for Gore. Clinton was the most economically right-wing democrat we elected since the turn of the century; his whole campaign was built on moving the Democrats hard to the right.

Boomers have been right-leaning 1980 onwards. This may slowly be changing. They were the largest voting bloc in US History.

2015 will be the first time since about 1976/1980 when the Boomers are no longer the largest age cohort in the United States - that's almost 40 years.

I've posted articles from the NYT that clearly explains the 35-55 year old crowd was responsible for the Republican takeback of the House in 1994.

thunderlips11 says

Millenials wish they had it so bad. Between 1969-1979, the US created millions of jobs, one for every boomer. In fact, the US created more jobs in the 70s than it did between 2000-2015.

Reality, from someone that was there: Someone born smack dab in the middle of the baby boom turned 25 or 26 in 1980, when interest rates were up to 20% and we were in the midst of the worst recession since the depression (didn't see another one so bad until 2008). You say all the jobs were great, which is a lie, there had been horrific inflation in the 70s and wages did not go up as much as prices. This time interval (the 70s) the key time that single wage households started the huge shift to being two wage households.

You entirely forget to blame the boomers for this, the single biggest correct claim you could have made, that absorbing them into the economy was tough. But it's hard to blame them for the fact that there are a lot of them.

thunderlips11 says

Boomers have been right-leaning 1980 onwards

Even if you were right, and it was 53% or something (and 40% of this 53% are fundamentalists or ex-southern democrats) , so ? You want to blame us all based on that ? Fuck you ! You ignorant fucking cry-baby.

marcus says

Don't you have enough insight about yourself to not generalize your feelings about your parents onto an entire generation ? I'm vicariously embarrassed for you.

thunderlips11 says

his whole campaign was built on moving the Democrats hard to the right

This is also a lie. He did move us to the right in some ways, but that was not what his campaign was about. His campaign was about defeating Bush Sr.

marcus says

This is also a lie. He did move us to the right in some ways, but that was not what his campaign was about. His campaign was about defeating Bush Sr.

* Welfare Reform
* Financial Deregulation ("Innovation")
* NAFTA
* H1-B Visa

You believe these things were part of his 1992 campaign ?

#1 Certainly was.

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/10/us/the-1992-campaign-the-ad-campaign-clinton-getting-people-off-welfare.html

The Clinton campaign yesterday began broadcasting its second commercial since the Republican National Convention. The campaign said it purchased $1 million of broadcast time in 10 states for the 30-second advertisement, but it refused to name the states. It said about a third of the money would be spent in the South. ON THE SCREEN Opens with these words against plain background: "The Clinton Plan. Welfare to Work." Switches to image of Gov. Bill Clinton in a jacket and tie leaning on his office desk. As Mr. Clinton discusses welfare, the camera zooms in for a close-up, and these lines appear on the screen: "End welfare as we know it," "Provide education, training and child care," and "Those who are able must go to work"

TELEVISION SCRIPT (Mr. Clinton speaking): "For so long Government has failed us, and one of its worst failures had been welfare. "I have a plan to end welfare as we know it -- to break the cycle of welfare dependency. We'll provide education, job training and child care, but then those who are able must go to work, either in the private sector or in public service. "I know it can work. In my state we've moved 17,000 people from welfare rolls to payrolls. It's time to make welfare what it should be -- a second chance, not a way of life."

https://www.youtube.com/embed/XObcP69dhCg

I don't see the welfare reform that Clinton was going for as leaning right. Welfare needed reform. In fact the most left wing thing you could do is eliminate welfare entirely, except for the disabled, and guarantee jobs for everyone.

Reality: http://www.4president.org/brochures/billclinton1992brochure.htm

It would be refreshing to see you admit you are wrong just once.

Oh, forgot another legacy of Right Wing Clinton Democrats:

The Prison Industrial Complex.
http://www.salon.com/2015/04/13/the_clinton_dynastys_horrific_legacy_how_tough_on_crime_politics_built_the_worlds_largest_prison/

The explosion of the prison system under Bill Clinton’s version of the “War on Drugs” is impossible to dispute. The total prison population rose by 673,000 people under Clinton’s tenure — or by 235,000 more than it did under President Ronald Reagan, according to a study by the Justice Policy Institute. “Under President Bill Clinton, the number of prisoners under federal jurisdiction doubled, and grew more than it did under the previous 12-years of Republican rule,combined,” states the JPI report (italics theirs). The federal incarceration rate in 1999, the last year of the Democrat’s term, was 42 per 100,000 — more than double the federal incarceration rate at the end of President Reagan’s term (17 per 100,000), and 61 percent higher than at the end of President George Bush’s term (25 per 100,000), according to JPI.

This is key:

Just before the New Hampshire primary, Bill Clinton famously flew back to Arkansas to personally oversee the execution of a mentally impaired African-American inmate named Ricky Ray Rector. The “New Democrat” spoke on the campaign trail of being tougher on criminals than Republicans; and the symbolism of the Rector execution was followed by a series of Clinton “tough on crime” measures, including: a $30 billion crime bill that created dozens of new federal capital crimes; new life-sentence rules for some three-time offenders; mandatory minimums for crack and crack cocaine possession; billions of dollars in funding for prisons; extra funding for states that severely punished convicts; limited judges’ discretion in determining criminal sentences; and so on. There is very strong evidence that these policies had a small impact on actual crime rates, totally out of proportion to their severity.

marcus says

It would be refreshing to see you admit you are wrong just once.

Why would I concede a point I have good reason to believe? Note I'm not saying that every last Babyboomer voted Republican, but the overall leaning of that group was "Cut my taxes, put the Darkies in Prison, Borrow to pay for it - but keep abortion legal".

thunderlips11 says

Boomers kicked the ladder out behind them after they climbed it.

Yeah but greedy Gen X'ers helped.
I remember when I was in my 20's corporate America was ran by young people. They didn't own the shit but they were put in product development and new designs. The Boomers were washed up and being tossed to the side all throughout the 90's. It was those 20 to 30 something assmunches in the 90's that streamlined business and made a contest out of a race to the bottom for the middle class.
They worshiped money. It was this generation that turned banks into what they are today where money goes in but it doesnt' come back out. But it does go in a lot of pockets in performance bonsues.
The Boomers may have only benefited by owning the companies that the twerties of the 90's, while they not only put them seleves out of work. They destroyed the whole middle class with their bullshit.
That is why companies today wont let a kid under 30 years old anywhere near an important descision.

thunderlips11 says

put the Darkies in Prison, Borrow to pay for it - but keep abortion legal"

"yeah, because I'm such a simpleton that I reckon, derrr, if it happened, it's the boomers fault, because,...you know,...boomers."

One of the interesting things about the Trump phenomenon is it shows how many people like simple answers to complicated issues.

I can't think of a more overly simplistic and stupid inference about America's problems than "it's the boomers."

Sure there are a lot of self involved, stupid, and or asshole boomers, just like there are in every other generation. But one thing I NEVER NEVER NEVER heard from boomers was this kind of cry-baby generalized blaming of other generations, which they easily could have done in the seventies, and more so could have done in the 80s. Reagan was a member of the so called greatest generation.

You only romanticize the 70s and 80s because you weren't an adult then.

marcus says

Sure there are a lot of self involved, stupid, and or asshole boomers, just like there are in every other generation. But one thing I NEVER NEVER NEVER heard from boomers was this kind of cry-baby generalized blaming of other generations, which they easily could have done in the seventies, and more so could have done in the 80s. Reagan was a member of the so called greatest generation.

Wow, you'd never know the Boomers are infamous for their disregard of their Great Prosperity creating, WW2 Winning Parents.

Tenpoundbass says

That is why companies today wont let a kid under 30 years old anywhere near an important descision.

Mitt Romney a Gen-Xer in his 20s/30s when he was in his prime years as a Debt Vulture?

How about Michael Milliken?
You think the Gen X'ers were making the majority of executive decisions at LTC Management in the late 90s?

The very model of a Raiding Executive enshrined in Hollywood is "Gordon Gekko".

Boomers benefited from the greatest Cut Taxes, then Borrow and Spend Explosion right at the peak of their careers in their 30s-50s. They benefited from the greatest run up in Stocks. They benefited from the greatest upswing in Military Spending since WW2. Outsourcing kept prices for consumer goods were flat, and they didn't care about skyrocketing home and college costs because they either had their degree from the highly subsidized 60s-70s tuition era, or they already brought a house.

Indiana Jones says

My generation, Gen X, is in far worse financial shape than our parents were at the same age. Millennials are even worse off than we are.

True points.

thunderlips11 says

Low cost state-subsidized tuition - rolled back the moment the last boomers were done with college.

Rent control - eliminated the moment the boomers became homeowners.

Defunding of America's Cities - began the moment the boomers moved to the burbs (Ford to City: Drop Dead)

Deindustrialization of America - lead by 1970s MBA boomer execs who lead outsourcing projects beginning in the 80s.

All true.

Additionally, Boomers...
1. Held orgies and introduced AIDS to the world and then waged a propaganda war to convince younger generations that sex would kill them or ruin their lives.
2. Killed off half of all life on the planet during their 40-year reign. Yet, they claim environmentalism as their contribution to the world.
3. Refused to fight in war, but had no problem starting several unjustified wars and countless unrecognized wars (police action) during the past 40 years.
4. Proudly engaged in far more drug use than any other generation, and still do, when you count the legal narcotics they take today. And also waged a War on Drugs killing countless innocents.

marcus says

This stupid pitting one generation against another is the great innovation of your generation. A true first !!

It's obvious there is a large imbalance between generations and how they benefited from the environment.

Why don't you just admit it?

Heraclitusstudent says

It's obvious there is a large imbalance between generations and how they benefited from the environment.

I disagree. Life and times are what they are, they are the cards that you are dealt, what you do with the hand is up to you. There are LOTS of opportunities out there but you DO have to do something to make them happen. Oh, and sometimes you will fail, it's okay, pick yourself up and try it again or look for the next opportunity. Want to know the best way to fail? It's a successful way (to fail) that has worked throughout all of history. Sit in one spot and whine about how tough your life is.

Sorry, life has handed me a LOT of ups and downs but I've always gotten up, dusted myself off and tried again. Quit you're bitching and moaning and look for your next chance to make yourself and your life better.

Here's a hint to get you started: Year Round summer attire...

Heraclitusstudent says

It's obvious there is a large imbalance between generations and how they benefited from the environment.

mmmarvel says

Quit you're bitching and moaning and look for your next chance to make yourself and your life better.

Heraclitusstudent says

It's obvious there is a large imbalance between generations and how they benefited from the environment.

Why don't you just admit it?

For one thing, I was in the second half of the baby boom. The first half was better situated in many ways, by the time my cohort was entering the work force there weren't nearly the corporate opportunities for GOOD entry level jobs that there were 10 years earlier or 10 years later. Plus there was a terrible recession in 1981, and a lot of uncertainty the couple years before that. Sure, I observed that things were better for the early boomers, but I've never whined about it. In fact I've hardly ever mentioned it to anyone.

As for real estate, sure, the luck of timing, with among other things interest rates steadily coming down, has been great for homeowners.

Actually there have been a lot of technology opportunities for those so inclined that did not exist in the years boomers entered the workplace. I did some programming in college. Fortran, with cards, it sucked. I hated that. I did programming later too, with C++ and Java. Much cooler. The higher level tech opportunities that followed in the 90s and since have been awesome.

So no. I really don't see it. You sound like a bunch of cry babies. And some of this stuff is too laughable to believe.

Dan8267 says

Refused to fight in war, but had no problem starting several unjustified wars and countless unrecognized wars (police action) during the past 40 years.

America lost a about 200 thousand boomers in Vietnam, and very few from any other generation. All the generalizations are absurd. As if Dick Cheney or GWB represents me? Wtf ?

Lots of poor souls in California has serious Daddy issues.

Boomers were owed a winning war by their parents, who instead of making shells and shelters were off fucking up ( procreating, not messing ) a whole booming generation of winners. We were lucky to have inherited the world given the perpetual state of heat our parents survived...

thunderlips11 says

Wow, you'd never know the Boomers are infamous for their disregard of their Great Prosperity creating, WW2 Winning Parents.

Dan those photos just scream that you have serious Daddy issues.

marcus says

As for real estate, sure, the luck of timing, with among other things interest rates steadily coming down, has been great for homeowners.

Hey Marcus,

It's disingenuous to brush off the housing market luck as playing a minor role. Perhaps it's at the very core of the problem. It's a chunk of wealth building that many Gen Xers and later will never see. Remember that the next time that you go to the polls. Land use policy is embedded in so much of what we vote for--and people smugly look the other way.

http://www.newgeography.com/content/004888-pikettys-wealth-driven-inequality-virtually-all-housing

I don't blame Boomers for being "greedy," but I do consider that many of them are in absolute denial of the fortune bestowed them and that many are now in positions of power exercising the tone-deafness to the issues of later generations. But I'm quite aware most everyone is in this "game" for their own families first and then maybe a little bit for society. They're not in it for the next generation, they are in it for their kids and grandkids, which will make Boomers take every last cent off the table that the system allows them.

They have benefited so greatly from the status quo--and the great misfortune for the later generations is that they are remaining in political power and remaining one of the most powerful voter blocs ever in American history. Maybe the best we can hope for is early onset senility--in which case we can vote for them in their last living years, helping reverse some of the unintentional damage they did by voting "short term greedy.":)

On another note: my big beef with the boomer generation is that they are gobbling up real estate, right next to the chinese, in the Bay Area. I cannot tell you how the dominant purchasers in my neighborhood are empty nesters from other places in the US swooping in to SF to pick up 2+ million dollar flats. Empty-nesters from out of town snatching up second (third, fourth) homes and displacing the working families in that neighborhood--a scenario that naturally leads to deep resentment. And taken a step further, empty-nesters from out of town converting their new found investment properties into short-term rentals.

I introduce to you the landlady of my dear retired lady neighbor. (http://www.antievictionmap.com/sleazy16/#/charles-manning-sharon-manning/) This neighbor often complains that she's now the last long-term renter standing in this income property owned by this landlady, Mrs Manning. And Mrs Manning won't even make minor improvements--we think that Mrs Manning wants nothing more than to get this long-term renter out for good so that she can convert that unit into another short-term rental.

I realize that Mrs Manning doesn't typify the boomer generation. I'm not suggesting that in the least. Again, my point was that Boomers, I'd bet, are much much more able to play real estate (as in, buy a second home) in their harvest years than preceding generation's middle and middle-upper income families. Hell, the latter are struggling to get their first and only modest starter house, which many perhaps realize can be nothing other than a dream.

marcus says

You sound like a bunch of cry babies. And some of this stuff is too laughable to believe.

You guys are so defensive, you can smell the shit with that perfume.
Look, this stuff is simple: this is not about this individual, me or you, or me whining, or not taking my chances. This has nothing to do with that. Individuals all do what they can.

The difference between a boomer and a millenial is this:
- Average boomer buys real-estate at a time it was cheap. Lives in a normal/nice house all his/her life. Spends 20% of wage on mortgage or rent. Sees his/her equity grow up steadily all his/her life. Huge urban sprawls were built to house that generation. Now these very same people (homeowners) actively oppose building enough units to house the next generation. Average boomer benefited of globalization, stock boom etc... affording cheap crap built by chinese slave labor in off-shored factories.

- Average millenial comes of age in a much more competitive environment. Is buried in student debt, insurance costs. Live in high school room till 30, then rent or buy a 1 bedroom apartment, costing them 45% of their wages they pay their seniors - thanks to the actions of these same seniors.

Yeah they can program in Java and interact with smartphones. Thank you so much!
That you call them "cry-babies" because some dare to complain or find it unfair, is very disingenuous to say the least.

marcus says

America lost a about 200 thousand boomers in Vietnam, and very few from any other generation.

And tens of millions of boomers burned their draft cards.

I've got nothing wrong with people being against going to war, as long as they are also against sending other people to war.

marcus says

All the generalizations are absurd.

Self-contradicting statement.

Without generalization, no book could ever be written on any subject matter.

Counter-examples to your absurd statement that "all generalizations are absurd", ...
1. The equation a^n + b^n = c^n has no non-zero solutions for n greater than 2.
2. Matter is attractive according to the equation F = G * m1 * m2 / r^2.
3. No particle with mass reach the speed of light.
4. Particles can only decay into tuplets whose combined mass is less than the parent particle.
5. Usable energy decreases over time.
6. All life requires energy to function.
7. Mass extinctions are followed by rapid evolution as species compete to fill vacated niches.
8. War is hell.
9. Poverty and inequality are the prime causes of violent crime.
10. It is human nature to be nice when it is expected that the behavior will be reciprocated, and it is human nature to be mean when it is expected that the behavior will not or cannot be reciprocated.
11. Most parents love their children.
12. Most children trust their parents.
13. Pride comes before a fall.
14. People who have shot up schools should not be granted a gun license.
15. Convicted child rapists should not be allowed to assemble near schools.
16. Women who are highly educated and have good career prospects are less likely to appear on Girls Gone Wild.
17. CIC's posts are moronic.
18. Americans are wealthier than most other people in the world.
19. Giving children crack or alcohol harms their future.
20. People with high incomes are more likely to fly first class.
21. People with college degrees make more than those with high school diplomas.
22. People without even high school diplomas make even less and are more likely to be homeless.
23. Men want more causal sex than women.

You know, I could go on forever. Have you realized your wrong, yet?

FortWayne says

Dan those photos just scream that you have serious Daddy issues.

Don't get too turned on FortWayne, my daddy is a member of the Silent Generation, not the Boomers. And he's awesome. He raised four extremely smart, good looking, and successful kids on a single income. I love my parents and respect them because they are lovable and respectable.

And, of course, not every Boomer is a selfish scumbag, but enough are to make the generation as a whole deplorable. One should not judge individuals based on groups. One absolutely should judge groups based on the aggregated actions of the individuals in it. Like it or not, the Boomers have made their legacy, and it's not a good one. They broke the fundamental social contract that each generation would make the world a slightly better place for the next generation. The Boomers have dismantled Progressive Reforms, broken Unions and the power of labor, dismantled the American economy, sold off infrastructure to China, polluted the Earth like a toilet, killed off half of all wildlife on the planet, made their children and grandchildren poorer than they are, introduced torture as a legal means of the government enforcing its will, created tens of millions of terrorists who want to kill us, removed almost all transparency from government, destroyed anti-trust laws, caused the Second Great Depression, and bankrupted our nation. That is your legacy.

Our legacies will be to rebuild what your generation has destroyed.

Ironman says

FortWayne says

Dan those photos just scream that you have serious Daddy Mental issues.

There, fixed that one too!

CIC has serious Bambi issues.

Ironman says

Aren't those the two next generations?

You missed my point. I wasn't clear enough.

Kids and grandkids vs. the next generation (meaning by in large everyone else other than specifically your kids and grandkids!)

Ironman says

as their first house and saved their money, instead of blowing all their money on iCrap! Millenialls want to go right out and buy McMansions as their first houses but didn't save any money to put towards them.

Dude, you have no data to substantiate. Icrap is cheap relative to the costs which are saddling the youngest generations. And while we're at it, I bet the older generations love their icrap as much and more than the younger ones. Look around at all the retirees on the plane next time--they've all got their icrap toys too. At least the younger generation is using it for their job in most cases. I have a smart phone because my company requires it--as do most of my peers.

As to your second statement about McMansions, what do you make of the tiny living movement that's been embraced out of necessity by the younger generations?

You should take a deep breath and count to ten before you make your reactionary statements.

CIC, do I have to remind you of our conversation and the advice I gave you in it.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/X6WHBO_Qc-Q

CIC, you went full retard. Never go full retard. Never.

Ironman says

Why should the boomers have to take care of ALL of the next generation. What are you a Socialist too?

Many people vote their conscience and against their own short-term financial interests, which is why you have plenty of bleeding heart wealthy liberals, thank god.

All I know is, after listening to people like you, I'm hell bent on taking away your medicare and your SS--the kind of socialism that you all love. You can bet I will vote for means-testing and caps. You said you don't like whining. I predict the next generations eventually are going to get off our/their asses and realize that trying to rationalize with the likes you is impossible. When it's game time, it will simply be class and generational warfare--because these days they are looking about one and the same.

Bring it on.

Dan8267 says

marcus says

All the generalizations are absurd.

Self-contradicting statement.

Without generalization, no book could ever be written on any subject matter.

You couldn't figure out from the context, that "all THE generalizations" referred to yours and TLips generlaizations about boomers. The vietnam one was just one example. But they are all ridiculous.

Dan8267 says

Additionally, Boomers...

1. Held orgies and introduced AIDS to the world and then waged a propaganda war to convince younger generations that sex would kill them or ruin their lives.

2. Killed off half of all life on the planet during their 40-year reign. Yet, they claim environmentalism as their contribution to the world.

3. Refused to fight in war, but had no problem starting several unjustified wars and countless unrecognized wars (police action) during the past 40 years.

4. Proudly engaged in far more drug use than any other generation, and still do, when you count the legal narcotics they take today. And also waged a War on Drugs killing countless innocents.

Each of these is an absurd indictment of everyone born during the interval which defines boomers (the only thing that actually defines us).

The global population went from 3 billion to 7 billion in the past 55 years or so. The fact that we didn't prevent so many species (and human languages too) from going extinct, this is somehow our fault ? Really ? What have you done so far to help reverse this trend ? Let me guess. You think giving $50 to Sierra Club once or twice a year will make a difference. That's thinking like a boomer.

Each of your generalizations is equally stupid. What, you really think the boomers are a bunch of Karl Roves ? I guess your logic skills, or lack there of have been reduced to this kind of thinking: "Karl Rove is a baby boomer, therefore most boomers are like Karl Rove."

Really ?

Dan8267 says

Have you realized your wrong, yet?

You're trolling game needs work.

Marcus, if you want to go by each of my statements and provide evidence that's it's wrong, go ahead. I've got plenty of evidence to back up each one. You want to poo-poo statements calling them generalizations, then my analysis applies. On the other hand, if you want to get into specifics, then man up, bitch. In a war of evidence, you have no chance.

Dan8267 says

Don't get too turned on FortWayne, my daddy is a member of the Silent Generation, not the Boomers. And he's awesome. He raised four extremely smart, good looking, and successful kids on a single income. I love my parents and respect them because they are lovable and respectable.

Ditto, my old man is a Silent also. He did his job everyday, almost never called in sick, came in at 3AM for emergencies - but he was also fortunate. He entered the workforce in the late 50s where young people were in demand. He lived in an age where if you were reliable and dutiful you didn't need a degree to go from mail room to stock room to stock room manager to chief facilities manager running an entire Chemistry R&D Complex; he dropped out of college after his freshman year but ended up making nearly 6 figures in the early 90s when he retired.

Today, they wouldn't consider somebody from the stock room for any kind of management facilities job, no matter how entry level the position, no matter how many years of reliable service and gumption, without a college degree and probably a shitload of unpaid internships at famous places. Think how spoiled lazy HR People must be. Back then most of the workforce only had a HS Diploma (if that), and they had to separate the wheat from the chaff without the cruch of "At least eventually got a 4-year degree".

thunderlips11 says

Ditto, my old man is a Silent also. He did his job everyday, almost never called in sick, came in at 3AM for emergencies

The silent generation is underrated. They are far better than the Boomers. My dad worked a lot of overtime.

thunderlips11 says

he dropped out of college after his freshman year.

My dad also left college before graduating and joined the navy during Vietnam.

thunderlips11 says

he dropped out of college after his freshman year but ended up making nearly 6 figures in the early 90s when he retired

My dad didn't get that far, but today he has a nice pension and social security that provides more than enough for a comfortable living. But his hard work enabled all four of his kids to make six figures straight out of college. That's what I mean by each generation making things a little better for the next. The Silent Generation and older ones appreciated this social contract. The Boomers burned it.

I don't know what Gen X's legacy will be. We created the Internet -- ARPANET wasn't really the Internet -- but outside of STEM, I see little contribution from Gen X. On the other hand, they haven't been selfish and destructive like the Boomers either.

I have more hope for the Millennials. They may have been spoiled by their Boomer parents, but they've seen tough economic times and are the most educated generation ever. So I think they might yet turn out pretty good. My biggest worry is that many of them still romanticize the Boomers and the 1960s. If you want to look at a generation for inspiration, the the progressive generation of the early 20th century is the one to emulate. The progressive reforms are among the most impressive in world history.

Ironman says

These are the traits that are so much more beneficial than a college degree. Unfortunately, most Millenialls can't come close to that level of work ethic.

Have you read some of @rin posts about how his company hires?

Ironman says

No, most of the time I'm not interested in Rin's fantasyland posts. What does his company do?

Obviously not making strap-on dildos or you'd know, being their biggest customer.