Blurry dividing lines. Here's a response in a letter from PATTY NYE from Illinois . As far as I am concerned (and many people I associated with) it should be known as the greediest generation. Illinois senator argued Social Security should not be part of fiscal cliff talks. "I think this is the greediest generation." Where to begin. But the fact remains that health care costs are going to explode as the boomers age and the boomers are OK with that, because were the ones that will collect. Even today arguing against taxes is a good way for politicians at any level of government, and in every jurisdiction, to get elected, from Tea baggers in America to Mayor Rob Ford in Toronto. In addition, the Holocaust claimed the lives of millions of German Jews and others. 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. Alan Simpson spent half a century in government service, including three terms as a senator representing Wyoming in the U.S. Congress. As a result, the Public Trustees of the Social Security Administration, who are responsible for its management, said in the most recent report that those now entering the Social Security system as workers will contribute more in taxes (in present value) than they receive in benefits under current schedules[2]In other words, the boomers will collect more than they paid in, yet a worker starting today will collect less than they pay in. Are the Baby Boomers the greediest generation ever? We did it, and we did it deliberately, not caring what the long-term costs would be, or who would bear those costs. But we are not ashamed of ourselves, which speaks volumes for just how steeped in bad behavior we have become. The story goes Durbin compared Social Security to a milk cow with 310 million teats and called senior citizens the greediest generation ever for their reliance on it. Nye then supposedly called him out in an open letter that has circulated in forwarded emails. Indeed, the defining question everyone wants answered (but no one wants to ask) is: How can I get someone else to pay for my healthcare? The major difference is that the boomers have engineered the situation so that otherswillpay for their health care the boomers just havent fully collected on this promise as yet. Every year on Veterans Day, we baby boomers look around and see fewer and fewer members of the Greatest Generation . She also tells it like it is! In fact, Simpson, who called Social Security "300 million tits on a cow," says his critics are members of the "greediest generation." Simpson told the hometown rag, the Casper Star-Tribune: "I've never had any nastier mail or [been in "[2] The term was further popularized by the title of a 1998 book by American journalist Tom Brokaw. She also tells it like it is! Tony Shepherd is a businessman and a former head of the Commission of Audit. Anyone can read what you share. But Simpson said that while every interest group that testified before his committee agreed that the mounting federal debt is a national tragedy, they would then talk about why government funding to their area of interest shouldn't be touched. Simpson's remark became the basis for a caustic anonymous rebuke that was widely circulated on the internet: Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming, Co-Chair of Obama's deficit commission, calls senior citizens "the Greediest Generation" as he compared Social Security to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats. Thats very difficult for people to accept. The Greatest Generation, also known as the G.I. Here's a response in a letter from PATTY NYE from Illinois . Climate changes all the time it cant be our fault! runs the excuses of the first. He didnt, however, say that senior citizens were the greediest generation ever (at least in the email). 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. Whatever the (unknown) truth is, the amounts are staggering, especially as they are in addition to other explicit and implicit liabilities. Members of this generation are known as "Great Patriotic War" veterans, such as poet Yuri Levitansky who wrote about the horrors of the war and Vasily Zaitsev, a war hero who would later be detained for two years as a victim of the post-war atmosphere of paranoia. The Audit Commission recommended a single asset test for the aged pension including the value of the family home above $750,000 for couples to be phased in over 15 years giving time to plan and adjust. 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. Sen. Richard Durbin says that "Social Security does not add one penny to our debt.". Yet, the fact remains that the boomers, as a generation, made promises that they knew (or should have known) could not be kept. To add insult to injury, you label us "greedy" for calling bullshit on your incompetence. [4]Shackford, Scott; $2.8 Trillion in Unfunded State Pension Debts: Congressional Republicans Look to Block Federal Bailout, 27 Sept. 2012, http://reason.com/blog/2012/09/27/28-trillion-in-unfunded-state-pension-de, [5]Healey, Thomas, et al; Underfunded Public Pensions in the United States: The Size of the Problem, the Obstacles to Reform and the Path Forward, Harvard Kennedy School for Business & Government, http://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcbg/publications/fwp/2012-08. . The dole, refugees, single parents and foreign aid are not the problem. In a profanity-laced letter sent last month, Simpson attacked the group as a bunch of "greedy geezers" and demanded they "read the damn report." Several news . 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. So how large is the U.S. fiscal gap? 1. The Wall Street Journal. One bridge collapsing through neglect is a local problem, but having 75,000 others in the same risk category can only be attributed to a deliberate policy of neglect. Durbin, a Senator from Illinois calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared "Social Security " to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats. The good news is that the American people seem to realize this. But President Obama has proposed $250 for every . There is a good chance that members of Generation Q will spend their entire adult lives digging out from the deficits that we the "Greediest Generation," epitomized by George W. Bush are leaving them. In his book, Brokaw explores the stories and characteristics of this 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. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin defended the filibuster, claiming getting rid of it "would be the end of the Senate as it was originally . The same is true of defense spending, although we can no longer afford endless wars we cant win. Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU 1. For too long, we have doubted, scoffed at, and chosen to ignore the warnings of climatologists and geophysicists. 4. Spread the love. In theory, it has been invested in U.S. Treasury bonds and bills, backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Enjoy it while it lasts my friends. She says they've earned the title of the "greediest generation . . 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. Our slogan has gone from "free love" to "free blood pressure medicine.". "I think this is the greediest generation." The problem, Simpson explained, is the "polarized" country we live in, and the media that . Most of these 'children of the Great Depression' fared unusually well in their adult years". Our . Commentary: Baby boomers out, 'cuspers' in. The Social Security System in the United States is a ticking time bomb, underfunded, and overly generous. The Greatest Generation paved a golden road for the Greediest Generation. "People I've known, relatives (saying), "'You son of a bitch. ", I chatted today with Kotlikoff (a boomer himself) about the reaction. Maybe I should have added a question mark, he said. Here's a response in a letter from . Camarillo, Alberto M. (1 October 1971). The city of Toronto had, in the 1960s, a rapid transit system that regularly won awards for being the best in North America. Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming, Co-Chair of Obama's deficit commission, calls senior citizens "the Greediest Generation" as he compared Social Security to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats . In that book he said, "'it is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced.'. [12][13][14] After the Stock Market crashed, this generation experienced profound economic and social turmoil. "Salaries of Members of Congress: A List of Payable Rates and Effective Dates." In July, Baby Boomers should vote for posterity and not for themselves. He argued that these men and women fought not for fame and recognition, but because it was the 'right thing to do "Just vicious. "The Greatest Generation" got its name from a book by the same name. Our rate of domestic investment was also in the 10 to 15% range in the 50s and 60s. He said, First shoot the lawyers. He should have said, First shoot the accountants.. We were suitably embarrassed that old people were eating cat food or scavenging garbage cans for food, so we reallocated resources to the elderly. Getting overall spending under control inevitably means spending less on Medicare and Social Security. Most of us spent our youth and middle age looking out for No. Henry Kissinger Comments on Trump: 'He Puts America First'-Mostly Fiction! An early usage of the term The Greatest Generation was in 1953 by U.S. Army General James Van Fleet, who had recently retired after his service in World War II and leading the Eighth Army in the Korean War. Alan Simpson, the Senator from Wyoming calls senior citizens the greediest generation as he compared "Social Security " to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats. Elder followed 167 individuals born in California between 1920 and 1921 and "traced the impact of Depression and wartime experiences from the early years to middle age. The World War II generation of the Soviet Union was further decimated by the war. We called up Blyth to talk about what alt-work means for the future economy, his thoughts on universal basic income, and whether the Baby Boomers are officially the greediest generation in human . As a group, we baby boomers have made no comparable sacrifice. by senior futurist Richard Worzel, C.F.A. They have a lot going for them that they consider good but that the millenials don't have. And this is not to imply that other generations are or were angelic in comparison to the boomers, because thats not true, either. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. One member of this generation, Hirohito, would become Emperor in 1926, when Japan was already one of the great powers. 1. In the Senate, Boomers remain the majority (68), and their numbers have risen slightly from the last Congress (66) and the prior one (65). By 2020 the federal debt, which is now 60% of GDP, will exceed the 90% level, which economists Ken Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart view as the critical value needed to spark a financial crisis. Why? Former U.S. senator Alan Simpson summarized the argument well: seniors fighting Social Security benefit cuts were nothing more than "greedy geezers" stealing from young people "who are going . The means test for aged care does not include the full value of the family home. We can't grow our way out of this mess. Meanwhile, the Guardian (the . The book says that the Treasury Department commissioned a study by two economists of the United States' long-term liabilities, for inclusion in the 2004 federal budget. 22 They spank their kids. The Greatest Generation, also known as the G.I. A 2012 study by Harvard University[5]said that estimates of unfunded public liabilities could range as high as $4.4 trillion. It surprises and frankly angers me that a well respected journal like Forbes would endorse a column in their pages entitled Are Baby Boomers The Greediest Generation. "Research note on Chicano community leaders: the GI generation. Retirement in America is no longer feared as a time of destitution, but anticipated as a time of comfort and leisure. 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. This article is more than 10 years old. Marian Salzman: For 30 years, baby boomers dominated politics, culture. [36] Surviving members of the German World War II generation would go on to experience the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the creation of the European Union. She wonders if after asking for a range of personal freedoms, they are now asking for the . France, the United Kingdom, Greece, and other countries are making the painful choices needed to protect their young people and their economies. "We had the greatest generation I think this is the greediest generation," he said. [1] They were shaped by the Great Depression and were the primary generation composing the enlisted forces in World War II. "Hey Dick, let's get a few things . The angry letter to Simpson surfaced on the Internet in early 2011 but in its original form was anomalously signed. The hot issue of the moment is Social Security, and the newest entitlement program is a prescription drug benefit for the elderly. 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. January 23, 2018. Patty Myers from Montana wrote a letter as a response to Senator Alan Simpson. Thats not likely to happen. 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. Story Highlights. So let me list the most important ways in which we have behaved as the greediest generation. 43 years ago, I made enough money on silver and gold minicontracts to afford a getaway A-frame in the woods AND to pay for my ex-wife's law school . We are called the Sandwich Generation for a reason, because weve found ourselves serving, and in many cases, supporting our parents, our children, and even our grandchildren. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. I grew up in the shadow of what Tom Brokaw called " The Greatest Generation .". Additionally, those alive in 1918 through 1920 experienced the deadly Spanish Flu pandemic. American boomers chose not to do that with Social Security. Countries such as Sweden have rolled back company and personal taxes to encourage investment and jobs in an economy that was going backwards. But, he added, if the boomers insist on getting theirs, were going to take everybody down, including ourselves., This is a BETA experience. To redeem these IOUs, the government would have to: 1) raise taxes; 2) cut spending; or 3) borrow an equivalent amount of money on the open market at a time when U.S. government debt is at the highest peacetime level in history. Laurence Kotlikoff, an economist and fiscal expert who with Scott Burns wrote the excellent and scary book "The Coming Generational Storm," calls this "fiscal child abuse.". Its made no such promises for most of its official Treasury bills and bonds. Simply warning them that fiscal catastrophe looms may not be enough to bring them around. "[5] The initials G.I. "Hey Dick, let's get a few things straight!! "We had the greatest generation," Simpson said. During the war, nearly 12.5 million members of this generation served in the war and 4.3 million were killed or wounded. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS 2. Congressional Research Service. [2]http://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/, A Message from the Public Trustees, fromA Summary of the 2013 Annual Reports, Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, as read 7 July 2014. I am now 63). The sad truth is that there are not nearly enough bridges to nowhere in the budget to close the fiscal gap. But the number of Gen Xers has ticked up over the last few Congresses, from 16 in the 115th to 20 in the current session. The story goes Durbin compared Social Security to "a milk cow with 310 million teats" and called senior citizens the greediest generation ever for their reliance on it. [8] The first half of the generation, born between 1901 and 1914, are sometimes referred to as the Interbellum Generation. It is you and they who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers. In comparison, the Canada Pension Plan, which was established in 1965 by the government of Canada, was headed down the same path as the SSA until 1996. Votes. You can update your choices at any time in your settings. These future liabilities arent captured by the official debt measure, which receives all the press attention. He spoke to Congress, saying, "The men of the Eighth Army are a magnificent lot, and I have always said the greatest generation of Americans we have ever produced. The Great Depression also greatly influenced literature and witnessed the advent of comic books, which were popular with members of this generation with such characters as Doc Savage, The Shadow, Superman and Batman. Generation" was first used in 1971 by Alberto M. Camarillo in an article for the academic journal Aztln: A Journal of Chicano Studies, titled "Research note on Chicano community leaders: the GI generation. The book expresses the belief that this generation is the greatest ever produced by society. In the intervening five years, I've had no reason to change my mind. But that same year, Medicare took effect to provide medical care for the elderly, and Social Security adjustments steadily reduced poverty among them. 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. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. Simpson caught plenty of flack for the comments at the time. It was wrong 21 months ago, when Durbin said it once before, and it's . Nor can we inflate or borrow or tax our way out of it. 3. 24 . Critiques about generations often begin by noting the lack of agreement around birth years. Business employs 80 per cent of the workforce and is the only true generator of wealth and jobs. Wagner, a likely 2018 candidate for governor . ", George H. Soule, Prosperity Decade: From War to Depression: 19171929 (1947), Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 18:10, Military history of the United States during World War II, List of last surviving veterans of World War II, "Is It Time to 'Pass the Torch?' Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com, Former senator Alan Simpson hypocritically referred to modern Americans as "the greediest generation. But we didnt know! Not true: the boomers didntwantto know and did want unreasonably low taxes, and voted that way. To the contrary, everything I've seen since then merely confirms my earlier conclusions. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it. Despite the hardships, historians note that literature, arts, music, and cinema of the period flourished. As a baby boomer myself, I can be blunt: We boomers won't be remembered as the "Greatest Generation." Anyone can read what you share. Thats a formula for disaster. Yet Mother Nature wont be put off; she always gets paid. Heres the excerpt: Anyway, have a look at it and if you should choose, you might communicate with me. It used to be that each generation sacrificed so that their children would have a better life. Its the same with any system in America. Somehow, I think that the fear of Puffin's censors was that Dahl's books might be too relevant, rather than too little. In practice, though, all of this money has been spent by Congress, and the SSA has been left with worthless IOUs. Not just going fishing: Higher mortgage debt levels are keeping Baby Boomers in the workforce for longer, Ahuri research shows. Brokaw wrote that these men and women fought not for fame or recognition, but because it was the "right thing to do". And now that their warnings are clear enough, and blunt enough, and the results are obvious enough, that we can no longer ignore them, we are hiding behind excuses, either pretending were not at fault, or claiming poverty. We bring young children to fancy restaurants, then dont supervise them, ignoring how they annoy other diners. Weve reached a point now where its like a milk cow with 310 million tits! This material may not be reproduced without permission. The Greedies, the Silent Gen (can't blame them too much but they didn't mind going along for the ride) and Leading Edge/First Wave Boomers. For example, firered posted on 11/11/10 at 05:54 PM EST: "This situation was neither created nor perpetuated by the `Baby Boomer' generation. Now the people who made those promises are long gone from office, or at the very least, approaching retirement. By Nicholas D. Kristof. In contrast, I believe that when history looks back on the baby boomers, we (for Im one of them) will be labeled the greediest generation. Supervise them, ignoring how they annoy other diners fared unusually well in their adult years '' its... 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