This is the age of war between the generations (Retiring Baby Boomers Threaten us with Bankrupcy)

The Times Online ^ | 06/03/2010 | Anatole Kaletsky

[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.

[Gene Eric]

>> Nope, Barry is a member.

What year was he born?

[Amberdawn]

As a generation x’er, I hope the baby boomer generation remembers that by legalizing abortion, we lost millions of potential citizens and taxpayers who would otherwise be employed and paying into medicare. I WILL NOT bear a higher burden to support them in their old age. My parents are 72 and 79 respectively and they are the only people I will support.

[Gay State Conservative]

SS was a fraud from the start.Its final collapse will occur because an enormous group of boomers will,on average,live into their 80's....those same boomers not having had *nearly* enough *productive* kids themselves.

In 1950 something like a dozen productive people were responsible for supporting the "average" retiree for,perhaps,5 years.Today,maybe two or three *productive* people must support the "average" retiree for,perhaps,15 years...plus they must support an individual with some phony "disability".

[victim soul]

The Elephant in the Room was never mentioned. The Boomer generation stole life from their posterity through abortifacients, back up abortion when birth control failed, and self sterilzation.

Just google European birth rates.

“A nation that kills its own children is a nation without hope.” John Paul II

[SeekAndFind]

At 51 years of age, I will work another 10-15 years before retiring and asking for Social Security.

I reckon you must be fortunate because you either : A) Own a thriving business; or B) Have an employer that's stable and profitable and value your experience enough to let you work till your mid 60's.

A lot of companies practice AGEISM. When times get tough, the ones who usually are let go first are the older employees ( they think of them more as a cost ). And even during good times, companies also want to maximize profit by (you guess it ) RESTRUCTURING. Most common casualties --- OLDER WORKERS ( those above 50 ).

Let's say you get laid off at age 58 or 59 and you're trying to look for another job .... Good luck finding a company willing to hire you at that age (yes, even when you're willing to lower salary expectations ). I've encountered too many people with these stories to be optimistic.

To make a long story short --- Nowadays, even if you want to work till your mid 60's, it is increasingly getting harder to do so BECAUSE of the way business is conducted in these United States. We don't live in stable times anymore.

[BenKenobi]

There’s just not enough of us to keep the whole show running.

But at least the boomers will crush the system and then whine about how they were robbed of their ‘fair share’.

Hey boomers how about giving us kids a freaking chance rather then shutting us out?

[nomad]

It was also the baby boomers that had their money stolen to fund the Ponzi Scheme that is/was Social Security and all the other social safety net programs that in reality were the welfare society of the Progressives. Think of what they could have done with it on their own without that leftist theft.

[thulldud]

But modern medicine has added fifty years onto the life span, often in the process keeping alive many of us who ought to have died.

And modern 0bamacare will fix that little difficulty.

[moose-matson]

I don’t owe my dad (or any other boomer) this money...the country that took it out of every check since (in his case) 1968 does. I say keep that bargain. You want to walk away. That speaks to your character.

[Theophilus]

I don’t owe my dad (or any other boomer) this money...the country that took it out of every check since (in his case) 1968 does. I say keep that bargain. You want to walk away. That speaks to your character.

• You don't owe your dad but I do?
• The country owes your dad? Who are the country? We are the country!
• We did not make these B.S. deals, our grandparents did. I'm not walking away from something I never agreed to and I'm damn sure not going to lay it on my children. Do you want to steal from my children to support your dad? What does that say about your character?

[RobbyS]

The crisis will not come until most boomers have passed over the 65 mark. in say 2020. By that time a very large number will be over 85, and taking care of the totally disabled among them will be a very expensive task. By guess is that
we will gradually slip into the Dutch-Belgium method of “putting them down,” like dogs and cats, with or within the approval of the relatives.

[redgolum]

The boomers, and the generations before, we lied to.

SS would never work long term, and with the chosen decimation of the next generation it can't work for much longer. There is no money.

And for those who claim “Don't you know the young should take care of the old?”, well you are correct. But how many kids did the boomers have? I will look after my own family, but asking me to bail out some of those who chose to have no kids so they could vacation in the Bahama's rubs a bit raw.

[redgolum]

You are right. That is one of the reasons most companies want a form of socialized medicine.

[algernonpj]

We should put the blame where is belongs: socialists who want to replace God and family with big government.

Yup ... the enemy within which has been slowly, and steadily eroding the US, with the help of various useful idiots and bought off politicians - Goldwater, McCarthy and Birch were correct.

[moose-matson]

Our country made a contract with our parents. My parents held up their end (I don't know about yours). You want to skip out and not honor that contract....heavy on the ‘not honor’ part.

[Colvin]

early 60’s something. Like me.
I feel like having tears tattooed on my checks over this fact.

[Theophilus]

Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.

[Theophilus]

nobody wants to face the fact that a civilization CANNOT survive if its population starts to shrink

Amen, and this is why abortion is not merely a "social" or "moral" issue. It is the primary cultural/fiscal/economic/technological/security issue of the ages. If you'll just sacrifice your children, you can enjoy so much more wealth and time in your life right now! If you foolish enough to get married, you can have a magnificent royal wedding that costs more than a down payment on a house. If you are foolish enough to work, you can save/invest so much more for an early retirement. You can go around to world to so many exotic places on vacations and eco-vacations; eat in the best restaurants; shop in the best stores; patronize the arts; explore every sexual fantasy/perversion, save the world/environment; maintain the physique of an 18 year old, and get a PHD. Life is too short to waste being a "breeder".

[j-damn]

I “inherited” what was left of this country after the boomers and THEIR parents got done ruining it, thanks. You know, they still aren’t done ruining it, so they’ll be nothing left by the time someone from my generation takes the reins.

Just when did the Boomers protect THIS country? And HOW, exactly? Vietnam? No, half of them sabotaged the war effort and ensured it went down as a loss?

The Cold War? No, that was geezers like Reagan who finished that off.

The boomers have precipitated and presided over the total ruination of this once great nation, both physically and morally. Thanks, jerks.