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This is the age of war between the generations (Retiring Baby Boomers Threaten us with Bankrupcy)
The Times Online ^ | 06/03/2010 | Anatole Kaletsky

Posted on 06/03/2010 11:15:13 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Yesterday was my 58th birthday. If I were a Greek worker I could retire. Although pension payments in Greece normally start around 61, special provisions allow anyone to retire at 58 if they have been in employment for 35 years. That, as it happens, is how long I have been at work. My index-linked pensions from the Greek Government would be worth 75 to 90 per cent of the average salary in the country, guaranteed for the rest of my life by the State.

If you want to know why Greece is going bankrupt and why the euro seems to be on the verge of disintegration, look no farther. The best argument I have ever heard for a break-up of the euro was this observation in a German newspaper: “The Greeks go on to the streets to protest against an increase of the pension age from 61 to 63. Does this mean that Germans should extend the working age from 67 to 69, so Greeks can enjoy their retirement?”

This, however, is not another article about self-indulgent Greeks and self-righteous Germans. The battle over bailouts in Europe is only a sideshow compared with the great social conflict that lies ahead all over the world in the next 20 years. This will not be a struggle between nations or social classes, but between generations — and it is a conflict that, in Britain, begins in earnest this year. The end of the Second World War in May 1945 marked the start of the baby boom, which lasted until the mid-1960s. Now, 65 years later, the corresponding retirement revolution is about to shake up our society, economy and political institutions.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: babyboomer; bankrupcy; generation; moralabsolutes; prolife
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To: Goldsborough
but the Boomers have been actively destroying this country since they were teenagers and young adults.

Damn! I never get credit for anything. I was born June 29, 1945, a little too old to be a boomer.

21 posted on 06/03/2010 11:39:17 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (No Romney,No Mark Kirk (Illinois), not now, not ever!)
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To: Goldsborough

No no. It was very clearly enunciated by Glenn Beck: there were the guys who went to the moon; and there were the guys and gals who went to Woodstock.


22 posted on 06/03/2010 11:39:32 AM PDT by I am Richard Brandon
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To: tet68

I totally agree. If they want me out of the Social Security system, pay me back all the money I had to pay into it, all my life, with interest.


23 posted on 06/03/2010 11:40:07 AM PDT by RC2
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To: rhombus
Are you telling us you won't be accepting social security? After being forced into the system?

Well, of course! Principles, you know.

24 posted on 06/03/2010 11:40:46 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (No Romney,No Mark Kirk (Illinois), not now, not ever!)
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To: Graybeard58

I qualify, suckah.....spring of 1947; proudly suckling for a year now.

25 posted on 06/03/2010 11:41:03 AM PDT by ErnBatavia (It's not the Obama Administration....it's the "Obama Regime".)
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To: donna
Taxes were collected for the first time in January 1937

My dad paid in from inception until he died in 1974 and never received a dime.

26 posted on 06/03/2010 11:42:28 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (No Romney,No Mark Kirk (Illinois), not now, not ever!)
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To: Graybeard58

Well if that’s the case, you should be able to deduct your FICA as a tax deductible contribution to the Gov. And from one baby boomer to another... thanks.


27 posted on 06/03/2010 11:42:38 AM PDT by rhombus
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To: Goldsborough

I would guess that you have no respect for your parents or grandparents or any others. Social Security was forced on the people and they have been taxed for it ever since its been around.


28 posted on 06/03/2010 11:43:33 AM PDT by RC2
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To: SeekAndFind

and, Shazasm, we have just instituted Nationalized Health Care, complete with Death Panels. What a coincidence!


29 posted on 06/03/2010 11:46:17 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: RC2
It’s not the Baby Boomers that are running it and tearing it down.

Eh? What is that you say? Baby boomers are usually defined as people born between 1946 and 1964, meaning the people between ages 45 and 64 today. Right now they are in the prime age range for power and influence- they have as much now as they ever will have and . Like it or not it is members of the boomer generation making all the big decisions that are running the country to the ground.
30 posted on 06/03/2010 11:46:59 AM PDT by Flying Circus
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To: tet68
I am a Boomer myself payed in the Max all of my working career, along with my employers, I need 12 years of Socialist Security to get that back without interest.

As the Man said F me now I will definitely F you later, my Platoon Sgt.

31 posted on 06/03/2010 11:47:52 AM PDT by Little Bill (Harry Browne is a poofter)
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To: Flying Circus

>> 1946 and 1964

I thought it was 1945-1955


32 posted on 06/03/2010 11:49:06 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Your Hope has been redistributed. Here's your Change.)
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To: Flying Circus

Not to worry. They’ll all be gone soon and you and yours can tear this country apart. But remember, there’ll be no one around to ask what to do.


33 posted on 06/03/2010 11:51:27 AM PDT by RC2
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To: RC2

I don’t blame the Boomers. Rather, I blame our irresponsible government who allowed the liabilities to become massively underfunded.

I also don’t begrudge Boomers taking their share of SS. However, it should be acknowledged that the Boomers’ kids (of which I’m one) will have a much lower standard of living as their FICA payments will have to increase dramatically to fund their parents SS payments. This whole situation is a real mess and speaks volumes to the incompetency of government.


34 posted on 06/03/2010 11:51:48 AM PDT by VegasCowboy ("...he wore his gun outside his pants, for all the honest world to feel.")
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To: RC2
The issue of what and what not the boomers are is way bigger than social security. You were the vector of cultural rot.

The "ME" generation has forever asked "What's in it for me?" Why would that change now? Sacrifice is an alien concept to the vat majority of your cohort and always has been.
35 posted on 06/03/2010 11:53:25 AM PDT by Goldsborough
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To: VegasCowboy

Yep, I agree. If you offered the children of the Boomers double or triple the payments, I bet they would be the first ones in line to collect it.


36 posted on 06/03/2010 11:55:43 AM PDT by RC2
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To: SeekAndFind; 185JHP; 230FMJ; Albion Wilde; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; An American In Dairyland; ..
This author overlooks one very important problem:

The United States, the industrialized European nations (UK, France, Germany, etc.), Japan, South Korea and Australia have combined to kill OVER 130 MILLION babies in abortuaries since the end of the Baby Boom. This is the reason that these programs are going broke, they were all designed based on the presumption of normal population growth and when that didn't happen the entire model started to collapse and we are just now seeing it.

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37 posted on 06/03/2010 11:55:51 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: Goldsborough
vat=vast

Then again, a certain percentage of your number want a VAT too.
38 posted on 06/03/2010 11:56:47 AM PDT by Goldsborough
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To: SeekAndFind

Did they tell you 1 in 3 Greeks are government employees?


39 posted on 06/03/2010 11:58:00 AM PDT by dragnet2
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To: Goldsborough

Man, you are really full of hate for the older generation aren’t you? Too bad......you’ll miss them and you’ll find out one day what it’s like to be in their shoes.


40 posted on 06/03/2010 11:58:39 AM PDT by RC2
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