The brilliant Harvard professor, Niall Ferguson, describes the traditional intergenerational compact as our most important social contract and one that is being broken in Western economies. Here's a response in a letter from PATTY NYE from Illinois . And we are about to enter old age with a singular goal in mind, namely, extracting as much as possible from our kids and grandkids. Its more a matter of degree than sustainability. Because of Germany's tortured 20th-century history, its struggle to forge policies to support its veterans is in many ways unique", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greatest_Generation&oldid=1140969066, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 18:10. Here's a response in a letter from . A 2012 study by Harvard University[5]said that estimates of unfunded public liabilities could range as high as $4.4 trillion. In America, this has been ameliorated somewhat by Obamacare, which sensibly (for an insurance scheme) includes the young and the healthy in the insurance pool. What cuts in YOUR retirement and health care benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or, as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies? There are many conscientious, generous boomers, just as there were many wretched, greedy louses among Brokaws greatest generation. We have an ageing population, increasing life expectancy, an aged pension benchmarked to average male weekly earnings (the highest possible index) and the family home excluded from the asset test. By Nicholas D. Kristof. It was wrong 21 months ago, when Durbin said it once before, and it's . The solution is not to force the elderly to get by on cat food again. The monies collected from payroll taxes (called contributions) were handed to the provincial governments in exchange for their worthless IOUs, which could never be successfully cashed because it would have created a financial and political crisis. He's been a senator for more than 40 years, during which, if he's as good at his job as many of his . Yet today Torontos traffic gridlock is rated as being among the worst in the developed world, even worse than that for New York City or Los Angeles. [25] Living members of this generation are either in their 90s or are centenarians. My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud 4. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you morons propose to change the rules of the game. . But showing them exactly how much they will have to pay in taxes to support the status quo might change their attitude. This article is more than 10 years old. In 1935, Hitler instituted military conscription. Why? Thats not likely to happen. In aged care we recommended including the full value of the family home in the means test. Yet, the fact remains that the boomers, as a generation, made promises that they knew (or should have known) could not be kept. [6]AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch database, as cited by yahoo! Anyone can read what you share. The Social Security mess was created by the Greatest Generation and the Boomers were left holding the empty bag.. Dick Durbin, a Senator from Illinois calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared "Social Security " to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats. [1] They were shaped by the Great Depression and were the primary generation composing the enlisted forces in World War II. I write from D.C. about tax and retirement policy and planning. It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators who are "greedy". Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Our deficit in 2016 is estimated at $37.1 billion. I wanted to know . You may opt-out by. (I know, since Im the editor responsible for the column.). Returning German veterans found their country carved up into four zones of occupation; later becoming West Germany and East Germany. This Montana Senior Nailed It! As it is, the rate of U.S. domestic investment was only 1.9 percent last year! In 1990 the U.S. Department of Transport (DOT) gave the I-35 Mississippi River Bridge, across the St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a deficient rating, citing significant corrosion. Poor Broder. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and your ilk pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age 67. It is you and they who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers. When that happens, count on boomers to strenuously object at the ballot box. The lost gutter generation. My assertion will infuriate many boomers, and I will undoubtedly get nasty messages from people who will cite all the wonderful, selfless things that they or we have done, or how we had no choice but to do what we did. And the day is fast approaching when we will be held responsible for the financial debacle ahead of us. [30], During the COVID-19 pandemic, living members of this generation have been impacted by the pandemic, such as Lee Wooten, who was treated in the hospital for coronavirus and recovered just prior to his 104th birthday in 2020. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. Our credit rating will fall, the cost of debt servicing will increase and the monumental task of repayment will get even harder. And now that the bills are coming due, the boomers are looking for ways to renege on the promises theyve made, as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker did when he tore up the retirement deals the state had with civil servants, and curtailed civil servant bargaining rights because (it seems to me) civil servant unions were better at negotiating than decades of elected officials. The good news is that the American people seem to realize this. Story Highlights. Canada is in much the same boat, with bridges and tunnels in Montreal collapsing or being reported as being under threat of collapse as the highest profile examples. If the Senate continues to block expenditure reform and Treasury assumptions on growth, unemployment, terms of trade, productivity and inflation are not realised, national debt will continue to rise. This is not entirely the fault of the boomers, because it was underfunded from the start, and the generations before the boomers, including those who are retired and still alive, have demanded this level of benefits. In 1998, former news anchor Tom Brokaw wrote a book called The Greatest Generation. Op-Ed Columnist E-mail: nicholas@nytimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/01/opinion/the-greediest-generation.html. The Baby Boomers should not expect future generations to pay for their current benefits. . The memory of their service provokes guilt as well as pride. In an effort to prepare for the assumed Allied invasion, the Japanese government prepared to submit this generation to "Operation Ketsugo", in which the Japanese population would fight a war of attrition. Here's a response in a letter from PATTY NYE from Illinois . Published Apr 30, 2019 + Follow by futurist Richard Worzel, C.F.A. At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers? Even in the mid-1980s, around 70% of Soviet industrial output was directed towards the military, one of the factors in its eventual economic collapse. LinkedIn and 3rd parties use essential and non-essential cookies to provide, secure, analyze and improve our Services, and (except on the iOS app) to show you relevant ads (including professional and job ads) on and off LinkedIn. We suggested that the superannuation tax concessions be tightened because they did not appear to be working to encourage more people to be self-funded. Most of these 'children of the Great Depression' fared unusually well in their adult years". Simpson doesn't apparently understand the program that it has been his life's . Simply warning them that fiscal catastrophe looms may not be enough to bring them around. In 2020, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson compared this generation to current generations and indicated his desire for them to show the same spirit of national endeavour, in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. ". If theres a place where short-term gain for long-term pain is evident, its climate change. [6]Were the CEOs of 2010 more than eight times better than the CEOs of 1980? She says they've earned the title of the "greediest generation . This is typical of the kinds of decisions that boomers have made: spend money on what we want right now, and to hell with the consequences later. Spread the love. Our top domestic priorities should be to ensure that all children get health care and to get our fiscal house in order. The Social Security System in the United States is a ticking time bomb, underfunded, and overly generous. But that same year, Medicare took effect to provide medical care for the elderly, and Social Security adjustments steadily reduced poverty among them. Nothing substantive has been done since then, despite clear evidence that we needed to act. Finance, http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/ceos-more-350-times-average-worker-afl-cio-144537573.html, viewed 7 July 2014. We cut off other people in traffic, because we dont care whether its our turn or not, and text and phone while we drive, putting other peoples lives at risk. They were shaped by the Great Depression and were the primary generation composing the enlisted forces in World War II. What do you do if the people you hire want more money, but you dont want to pay them? In 1980, a typical American CEOs pay was 42 times that of an average blue-collar workers pay. I think she is a little ticked off! Neither can I. In his book, Brokaw explores the stories and characteristics of this generation. In that book he said, it is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced. He argued that these men and women fought not for fame and recognition, but because it was the right thing to do.[1]. 43 years later and they are still underwater. When we boomers fully retire, our kids will need to pay each of us, on average, $50,000 in todays dollars to cover our retirement benefits. The number of Silent Generation senators has fallen from 19 in 2017 to 11 now. A 2012 report, produced for the Republicans of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, estimated the unfunded pension liabilities of 49 state governments alone at $2.8 trillion dollars. And while almost all the elderly now have health insurance under Medicare, about 29 percent of children had no health insurance at all at some point in the last 12 months. Since the letter reproduced above isn't credited to any particular person (other than an "unknown fellow in Montana"), and a number of different people have claimed authorship, there is no particular attribution for us to verify as correct or incorrect. We boomers should be the first to use this tool. One of them attributed the greediest generation quote to Dick Durbin and the follow-up letter to an Illinois woman named Patty Nye. Pope Francis Orders White Women to Have Children with Muslim Migrants-Fiction. The Greediest Generation. The over generous super provisions are another wealth transfer from the young to the old and should be tightened while not discouraging thrift and self-sufficiency (two words slipping from our lexicon). Support the status quo might change their attitude be enough to bring them around into... And planning in aged care we recommended including the full value of the & ;. A typical American CEOs pay was 42 times that of an average blue-collar workers.. 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