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Are baby boomers to blame for debt crisis?
CNN ^ | 2011-07-29 | Ed Hornick

Posted on 07/30/2011 10:32:57 PM PDT by rabscuttle385

Baby boomers -- those born between 1946 and 1964 -- have been described as "the pig in the python" and the "sandwich generation."

They lived well, grew up in relative abundance and, some say, expected their Social Security, health care and government support to be there as they grew old.

Now, as the future of the country's economy is up in the air, is this group of 80 million aging Americans -- many of whom are sprinting toward retirement age -- the ones to blame for the nation's shaky economic system?

(snip)

Thomas Firey, a senior editor at the conservative Cato Institute and member of generation X, said it's unclear as to what's going to happen to Social Security.

"Under current law, what's supposed to happen is once the trust fund runs dry, the benefits are to be cut by roughly 25% to bring it back into balance. Each year's income will equalize the outflow," said Frey..."But no one expects that to happen. (So) are we going to raise taxes on current workers? Are we going to get rid of the tax?"

But criticizing baby boomers is not necessarily a politically wise thing to do, especially when it comes to their voting behavior.

(snip)

Jerry Shereshewsky, the self-described "chief grown-up" at the firm GrownUpMarketing, is a baby boomer. The 65-year-old said it's not his generation group to blame, it's Congress'.

"It was not a secret that this largest cohort in American history was going to get older every year," he said. "The fact that Congress has not done a very good job of keeping up with what is really happening in the world: life expectancy, better medical care. You give people a lot of cake and ice cream, they're going to eat it."

(Excerpt) Read more at articles.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: biggovernment; boomers; debt; fedzilla; gagdadbob; globalists; medicaid; medicare; nwo; onecosmosblog; rapeofliberty; republicrats; socialism; taxes
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To: eyedigress

As do I..that’s why it was chosen. ;)


61 posted on 07/30/2011 11:47:29 PM PDT by berdie
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To: Lazlo in PA; All
I was born in 1939. We had an ice box and no AC or TV. Phones were party lines and when my sister was calling home from Maryland she would write and tell us the time and day she was calling.

Milk and ice were delivered in horse drawn wagons along with the junk man that when down the alley blowing his horn and you would take stuff out that he could pick up. (not garbage). Parents worried about Polio in the summer and one time our house was quarantined because one of us kids had either measles or chicken pox...The doctor came to the house and put the sign on the door. My father couldn't come home for over a week...

Compare that to what we live with today and I'd say everyone is too blame....Kids want to start out today with a house the size that it took there parents 30 years to pay off...how many TV, phones, a/c and computers are in the homes of those that want to blame those born before 1960. I had 2 sisters and 1 brother and we lived in a 2 bedroom home in Detroit when it was the 4th largest city in the country.

Brother slept on a day bed in the dining room and 4 months out of the year my grandmother lived with us. Mother and her brothers took care of their mother, no nursing homes for her. I slept in a crib until I was 5. We were typical middle class of the day.

Our generation is not the one's that need all the goodies that those born after the 60's want and have...

Just what the government promised in the 1940's...But the government added more and more receipents to the SS rolls. It started out as strichly a small pension for the elderly. In those days there were still old people homes, not the greatest place to live and most that did were elderly women...Men died first, just like today.

To those that complaine about SS quite paying it, tell the government to go to hell and see how long you stay out of prison...we didn't make the rules.

Some sound as stupid as ex senator Simpson that call the elderly greedy geezer and he has sucked off the taxpayers all his life. As senator, with a lush retirement plan, all the graft he could aquire during his tenure as senator and he never had to pay SS. The taxpayers, you and me gave his his lush life....A few of the freepers on this thread sound just like him...he was a rino after all....

62 posted on 07/30/2011 11:48:49 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: rabscuttle385
You - and the rest of your generation - voted for them.

Rabby, may I gently point out that your blaming an entire generation for the situation that we're in, as you just did, is a fundamentally collectivist position?

63 posted on 07/30/2011 11:52:26 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: rabscuttle385

Not me. My first vote was for Lyndon LaRouche. ;-)


64 posted on 07/30/2011 11:53:45 PM PDT by TigersEye (No dark sarcasm in the press room ... Hey!, Barry!, leave them bills alone.)
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To: lonestar
***War on Poverty, Poverty won...***

LOL The war on drugs, drugs win.

your right the house where all spending starts was in democrat hands for 40 years until Gingrich and the republicans finally got the house and the corrupt democrats crimes became so public, they got voted out and some went to prison..

65 posted on 07/30/2011 11:53:53 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: lonestar

Yep, his religion was a BIG part of his campaign. He wasn’t trusted because of his religion, not because he was a democrat...his crooked father also was a part of the equation...


66 posted on 07/30/2011 11:55:55 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: eyedigress

You said it much better than I and in less words...:O)


67 posted on 07/30/2011 11:57:59 PM PDT by goat granny
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To: goat granny

Well said Goat Granny.

I was trying to formulate a post that said that.

Thank you.


68 posted on 07/30/2011 11:59:36 PM PDT by berdie
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To: goat granny

I’m on your side Honey. These flippant kids that don’t understand the teachers are setting them up is not good.


69 posted on 07/31/2011 12:01:40 AM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: goat granny

Baby Boomer are to be blamed for everything.

EVERYTIME one turns around: they WANT something new.

Forget Gen-X; they can be lain directly upon Baby Boomer’s feet.

Baby Boomers could have long ago mitigated the circumsatnces. But they didn’t.

Know why?

Because Baby Boomer are stupid; they breed stupid.

Is it any wonder that today there is a stupid problem?


70 posted on 07/31/2011 12:04:15 AM PDT by raygun (http://bastiat.org/en/the_law DOT html)
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To: rabscuttle385
If Gore had been elected in 2000 and gone nuts like Obama, it's quite possible that the Tea Party would have arisen to challenge him and the other statists eleven years ago.

What generation do you think most TEA Partiers are? That's right, boomers.

71 posted on 07/31/2011 12:07:26 AM PDT by TigersEye (No dark sarcasm in the press room ... Hey!, Barry!, leave them bills alone.)
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To: raygun

Could you parse that a little better. Your lack of English is coming through.


72 posted on 07/31/2011 12:07:48 AM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: raygun

“because baby boomers are stupid, they breed stupid.”

*chuckle*...you take it from there.


73 posted on 07/31/2011 12:08:35 AM PDT by berdie
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To: raygun

Yea! You get the RADAR!


74 posted on 07/31/2011 12:11:23 AM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: eyedigress

That is the crux of the problem. Lack of education and teachers that teach indoctrination.


75 posted on 07/31/2011 12:12:11 AM PDT by berdie
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To: raygun

Tell me the Eisenhower plan on Russia. Get back to me ASAP.


76 posted on 07/31/2011 12:13:05 AM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: Psycho_Bunny
The .Com bubble....the housing bubble....

Those are Congress's fault particularly Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd because they sponsored the bill that removed provisions in laws enacted after the Great Depression that where designed to limit risk to those who specifically invested in the stock market and housing lenders.

In other words if you made an investment that had lots of risk and your investment tanked, no bailout for you.

Most of the Congressional "stimulus" spending is payback to campaign donors.

77 posted on 07/31/2011 12:13:26 AM PDT by Victoria_R (Believers in VERY small government: Count Mountjoy/Benter in 2012!!!)
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To: berdie

I had some really good teachers. I was lucky I guess. I made it through the basics and before I knew it the Pentagon was asking me questions.


78 posted on 07/31/2011 12:15:38 AM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: berdie

:O)


79 posted on 07/31/2011 12:15:44 AM PDT by goat granny
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To: raygun

you speak so sweetly, s/ Your just ignorant that’s all...


80 posted on 07/31/2011 12:18:12 AM PDT by goat granny
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