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A few weeks back I wrote a post entitled “Boomer Rant,” the inspiration for which was a piece by Erin over at Existential Ergonomics called “The Boomer Mentality,” which detailed the grasping materialism and petty shallowness of the various Boomer caricatures she and her boyfriend experienced during a visit to Yellowstone National Park. Both Erin’s lighthearted post and my more strident polemic about that larger-than-life generation generated a stream of comments from outraged Boomers, all of whom played the part of victim well. As I noted in my post and in multiple comments, “Boomers are either the heroes or the victims of their stories—they are never the villains.”
What was interesting in the resulting discussion was the lack of any concept of a social contract existing between one generation and the next. That broken and/or missing social contract was the heart of the complaint both Erin and I brought in our respective posts: where is the sense of obligation—and even just empathy—to the plight of Millennials, et. al.? Not a single Boomer commenter—even the ones that do not fit the negative Boomer stereotypes—would come out and say, “You know, you’re right—the Millennials and Gen Xers and Zoomers have had and will have it harder than us. We had our own struggles, but we enjoyed pretty good economic conditions for most of our lives.”
That failure or unwillingness to acknowledge the struggles of younger generations makes any sense of social contract impossible for the Boomers. Remember, these are people who are gleefully boasting about how they will not leave their children anything, taking out reverse mortgages and blowing their fortunes (and pensions and Social Security payments) on RVs and casinos and luxury vacations. Meanwhile, they’re the same people that complain about how expensive spaghetti noodles have gotten and will penny-pinch on stupid things, like the water bill—the living embodiment of “penny wise and pound foolish”—or their own children. They’re the generation that tips 10% on a $500 tab.
Again, my point with this hyperbole is not to Boomer bash, per se, but to note the very concept of a social contract between generations—an implicit understanding of the obligations of each generation to the other that has existed in some form in every society in every age—is dying, if not non-existent. That does not bode well for the future of the nation. Indeed, it breeds radicalism and desperation.
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The Portly Politico 
Please check your email-info on Brian.
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Thanks, Audre. I’ll respond to you via e-mail and reach out to Brian shortly.
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Yes!!! This, 100%! I hadn’t even made the connection about not a single Boomer reading–even the good ones–proving our complaints frivolous or inaccurate. It’s perplexing and disturbing to me that so many 60-, 70-, and 80-year-olds don’t care about the well-being and future of their offspring. And ever those who do help their kids seem unwilling to acknowledge that we need a help not because we’re lazy, but because we live in a different world than they grew up in.
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Yes! It’s an admittedly small sample size, but of the self-identified Boomers who commented on my “Boomer Rant” post a couple of weeks ago, as well as on your “Boomer Mentality” piece, none of them acknowledged the comparative difficulty younger generations faced.
In fact, it was the opposite—without exception (as I recall), they all defended themselves, as if I’d attacked them personally.
What’s interesting is that I think I made it fairly clear that “not all Boomers” possess these pathologies, but it seems that all of them took it personally. I get it—I take umbrage at times when there are Boomerific pieces complaining about Millennials. But even then I recognize the common foibles and shortcomings of our generation.
Boomers simply will not do it (outside of my Dad and, by extension, my Mom). It’s bizarre, but it also tracks with the generation’s overall mentality.
To be fair, I should sympathize with them—not all of them had it easy; many of them suffered the scars of the Vietnam War; medicine was not as advanced then as it is now. I also can’t help but notice the huge number of Boomers—including the “good ones”—that indulged in loose sex, rampant drug use, no-fault and/or frivolous divorces (often including children, who suffered the consequences), casual abortions, etc. These are the same ones that poor mouth now because they’ve had to start over two or three times in their lives because they kept gorging themselves at the social trough, then were astonished and outraged when a bill showed up.
Some of these things the Boomers had foisted upon them by their parents’ generation. Some of them they created themselves. We have one benefit they lacked: hindsight. We know the terrible costs of the Sexual Revolution, The Pill, drugs, free love, flag-burning, Marxist university professors, violent protests, no-fault divorces, etc., etc., etc. We know because we are the ones paying for them—not, for the most part, the Boomers, who are pushing all of these costs and debts onto future generations.
After all, the party has to keep on going, because even in their twilight years, they’re children forever.
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I completely agree–the behavior is bizarre, but it tracks. I know a few of those Boomers who made poor life choice and had to start over several times but are still doing okay (arguably better than me), and I do empathize. Yet, Dr. Z and I talk often about how our generation could never afford to make the mistakes the Boomers did. I think Millennials like you and I are so overly frugal and conservative in our actions because we know that we may never be able to require from one false step. The Boomers thinks it’s hyperbole, but–at least for me–it’s a very real fear.
Have you heard of the 100-year-mortgages they’re talking about lately? Buy a new home today for your own enjoyment, and than foist the debt and home maintenance costs of your children and grandchildren who never agreed to anything. The call it “Unlocking Generational Wealth” but it’s really passing the buck and, ultimately, setting up homes to be foreclosed upon and snatched up by BlackRock. Instant gratification. Children forever, indeed…
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YES! I often think about how one small misstep—even something like getting romantically involved with someone who is overly chaotic in their personal life—could totally destroy years of hard work and scrimping. But the Boomers seemed to be able to get away with it. Even the ones that are really struggling are pulling down (on average) four times what they paid into Social Security, which likely won’t even be there for us. I worry, too, about making one misstep and ending up destitute.
Good Lord! That is insane. That is the opposite of “Unlocking Generational Wealth.” Paying off your fifteen-year mortgage in ten years and having a home to pass along to your children (either to live in or, if they wish, to sell) is the more ethical and financially-savvy approach.
100-year mortgage! That makes me mad, lol.
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Yes, absolutely!! We’re doing everything right, and it still always feels like we’re one event–whether a mistake, or something beyond our from–a place of destitution we can never recover from. And this is while making every sacrifice in life to create a financial safety net.
I’ve probably mentioned this before, but I greatly fear that the FOMO members of our cohort are going to beg for communism and vote for our already-taxed retirement savings to be taxed again on the way out. There’s no way to prepare for that, but I’m worried it’s coming… “I didn’t save, but they were privileged to be able to save, so I’m entitled to their money”.
The 100-year mortgage makes me mad, too! It’s bad enough that the Boomers are taking reverse mortgages and stealing back the generational wealth. It’s something else to “dine and dash” and leave your kids with the hefty bill and repercussions. So wrong!
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Everything just feels so tenuous—and we’re not being lazy!
Oh, man, yes. I am NOT a socialist or communist by any stretch of the imagination, but I think we’ve wielded those terms so loosely—and I will be the first to take my share of the blame for doing so—that we’ve smothered reforms that could have maintained a more equitable system without enforcing radical egalitarianism. The problem is that, because we’ve allowed capitalism to become excessive or pathological at the expense of everything else, we’ve bred those “FOMO members”—basically, an underclass who likely will take it out on the rest of us. At this point, I’m advocating for a radical voluntarism in which all those who are able should make real sacrifices for the benefit of future generations (and that includes us, I’m not just putting that on the Boomers).
Ugh, yes. Very, very wrong.
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Most Boomers are going to Hell. Let them have their fun.
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lol, I suspect that is why they are partying so hard—they’ve gotta get as much out of their deals with Satan as possible before he collects.
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