believer;664441 wrote:You all act is if I'm oblivious to "the numbers." I'm not that stupid folks. I know the numbers and what they mean.
believer, I'm sorry if it seemed like I was implying that you didn't know the numbers. That wasn't my intent. It merely seems that your attitude is as if they don't matter, and that the situation is just the same as it has always been. It's not, and that's what the numbers are saying, which is why I brought them up.
believer;664441 wrote:Just don't sit around and boo hoo and hand me the "whoa is we" crap. You Gen X and Y-ers are generations of whiners. *sniffle*
I only say this because it's been said several times in this thread: It's "woe."
Not giving you a hard time. Just always been a stickler for having discipline in writing, penmanship, and communication.
Careful, though, believer. Painting an entire generation with such a broad brush is, it seems, what you resent if the younger generations are doing it about yours. Not once have I "whined" in this thread. I've observed. I've raised objection. However, not once have I said that we are owed anything here. I even said we WEREN'T. I do blame the Boomers, but no exclusively. They, as every generation to this point, have perpetuated the problem. That includes the Gen-Xers, and even to a small degree (small only because of age), the Gen-Yers.
believer;664441 wrote:O-Trap, not ONCE did I ever say anything close to your statement that too many people (IE: us greedy Boomers) take the position that we just need to sit back, collect our checks when it's our time, and not try to fix the problem. Not once.
In regard to my statement about sitting back and collecting the checks, that was not directed at you in particular. There are people I know, even pre-Boomer and post-Boomer who talk like that (or do it, if the case warrants). I was only suggesting that such a mentality is a problem.
If one adopts a passive attitude toward it, that is the natural response, though. So what needs to change first is the passive attitude toward the problem. Again, this isn't directed at you. It's directed at every generation, administration, and party affiliation that has allowed this problem to grow, unchecked and for the most part unaddressed. That, again, even includes GenX, and to some degree, GenY. Both have caused further problems economically.
believer;664441 wrote:And spare me the Scriptures. I know who's in control.
I know you do. So do I. And he wouldn't have spared us any Scripture if he didn't think we would need it from time to time. Just because we know who said it and what it says doesn't mean we always live like we recognize how true it is, and that's been going on a LOT longer than the Social Security problem. It's simply an appropriate principle in the face of a wait-it-out-passively attitude.
believer;664441 wrote:If you read between the lines there are two main points I'm trying to make:
1. When gubmint inflicts socialist entitlement programs upon its people they establish a social contract and it is very, very difficult to reverse it once it's in place. Hence the dangers of socialism. Yet for some inexplicable reason, you Gen X and Y-ers thought BHO was the shit and were a major influence in putting the current batch of idiots in charge.
Indeed, many Gen X and Gen Y voters played a HUGE role in getting the current administration and Congress into power. Again, though, saying that was purely generational is too broad a brush, as there are many, many Gen X and Gen Y voters who knew such a talking-head group of yutzes were not fit (or in some cases even interested) to help the country. I, and many I know, didn't want the current administration in office, so the blame, and lack thereof, DOES cross all generational gaps.
believer;664441 wrote:Yet you blame Boomers for voting in big spending politicians. Suffice to say we're all to blame. With SS and Medicare in such dire financial circumstances, you would think the morons in DC would have shit canned ObamaKare before it even hit the Congressional floor but not BHO-Reid-Pelosi Crew. They wanted to take good care of us. So it not only passed but it, as usual, was packed full of unnecessary pork. So WTF??? Is there any wonder the Tea Party movement took place?
Yes, the Tea Party started out as a wonderful thing. People spanning all party lines who were simply tired of being spent out of global power as a nation. I, for one, was thrilled when it began.
Unfortunately, when partisan politics gets a hold of something, it usually alienates too large a subscriber base, and it ends up being one more circle-jerk segment of that party.
believer;664441 wrote:If the clowns in DC want to spend us to oblivion, why is it I'm taking so much shit from you guys for wanting my confiscated SS money back? I did my part. I paid as required by law. Now you're telling me I'm greedy for not sacrificing that confiscated labor for the greater good. What is this...reverse socialism?
If I knew that my paying into Social Security and getting even 0% back would be enough to fix this problem, I would still be royally pissed, but I'd be willing to do that, because I want to choose to put the good of many above the good of just me and mine. It should still be a CHOICE, but I would be willing to do that.
However, suppose the option was available for me to get 50% back, and as a result, the United States would then likely fall out of being an economic world power, lowering the wellbeing of the nation as a whole. Am I selfish for putting myself above everyone else?
Well, yeah.
Doesn't mean it's not my right to be, and I guess that's my point. If you're able to get 100% back, country-be-damned, you are COMPLETELY within your rights to do so, and that IS how it should be (the rights part). Doesn't mean it's not selfish, as it's pretty much the definition of selfish, but that doesn't mean you don't deserve it, nor does that mean I really blame you for it.
believer;664441 wrote:2. I get tired of hearing you Gen X and Y-ers moan & groan. You act as if you're the only generations to face tough issues. You're all victims of the Boomer Greed. LMAO The Boomers gave you your computers, video games, designer jeans, cell phones, shiny cars, the Internet, HD TV's , and all the rest of the materialistic crap you enjoy. You were raised in a situation where if you lived just a block from school you got bussed, teachers weren't permitted to spank your asses for getting out of line, parents who use corporal punishment on disobedient Gen X and Y-ers were subject to visits from the child protection agencies, learning how to recycle was more important than learning math, etc., etc. You are easily the most pampered and sheltered American generations ever. And now that you have to face reality, all is doom & gloom.
And this attitude is one that bothers me.
Technically, Gen Xers did a lot of this (remember, Gen X is typically the generation born in the '60s and '70s). They're in their 40s and early 50s now. The Internet wasn't really available to the public at large until the mid- to late-'90s, and can be attributed as much to Gen X as to the Boomers. Most of what you mentioned, while created in large part by the Boomers, was never directly experienced by the youngest generation, because Gen X improved them considerably. Boomers gave the world pong and Atari. X took that to the level of Playstations. Boomers gave us cell phones. X made them pocket computers (that are better phones as well). Boomers have laid a good foundation for a lot of these things, but the X generation made unimaginable strides ... which is the way with every generation.
And about some of those complaints you have with the youngest voting generation, Generation Y, that can be turned around. Who created the culture where kids are bussed a block away? Who put all the rules in place preventing teachers or parents from putting their hands on students? Who has lobbied for the last 20 years to give recycling such esteem?
These are realities we've grown up with, yes. They were created by prior generations. We had no choice but to grow up that way.
We've been raised in schools where kids don't get back at bullies by beating them up. They shoot and kill them. We've been raised in a culture that solicits us with commercialism and sex at absurdly young ages (largely through commercials that the Boomers and Gen Xers are creating). STDs are far more prevalent in middle schools and high schools than they've ever been in prior generations. We've been raised in a culture where getting a decent job is, as a rule, impossible without going into a five- or six-figure debt for a four-year degree (never has any other generation had such a hard time getting a good, sustainable job without a college degree, statistically). Learning to work on a car has been replaced by learning to work on a computer (more parts than a car, generally), because that's where society is. It's not better or worse. It's just different. We have advantages prior generations didn't have, and we have disadvantages that prior generations didn't have. THAT is just the way of things. It was the same when you were young. It was the same when your parents were young, and so on.
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