Boomers Versus the Rest

[katty]

more: http://www.newsweek.com/id/180042

Probably no political platitude is more invoked or more ignored than this: let's do it for the kids. Everyone recognizes the moral power of making sacrifices today for our children's well-being tomorrow. That's why most politicians embrace this promise, as Barack Obama has. "We know we have to get spending under control in Washington so that we're not mortgaging our children's future" was a favorite campaign line. Just last week, in an interview with The Washington Post, Obama again promised to overhaul "entitlements." But alas, politicians don't always practice what they preach.

Generational tension, and maybe generational war, is an inevitable part of the Age of Obama. It's known that America is graying. In 1960, only one in 11 Americans was 65 or older. Now it's one in seven, and by 2030, it's expected to be one in five. What's less understood is that the political system favors the old over the young in this fateful transformation. We risk becoming a society that invests in its past.

The plight of the U.S. auto industry provides an ominous warning. For years, the Big Three and the United Auto Workers constructed an ever-more-generous system of early retirement and retiree health benefits for their employees. But ultimately, the costs became oppressive.

[HereSince1628]

1. It pisses me off that the media is working so hard to cut us off from this administration

I know I can't see for all the tin-foil but, it makes me wonder just which think-tank wonks have decided that the solution to the nation's problems is taking boomers out to the American Rapids and sending them on a special sight-seeing tour of Niagra Falls.

[katty]

2. yes, I hear you on that

[bemildred]

3. Oh bullshit, it's the rich versus the rest of us.

What a load of crap.

[Uncle Joe]

4. I agree, bemildred, I've also picked up on the latest corporate media propaganda tactic.

Three different pundit puppets mentioned it on Inauguration Day, claiming Obama isn't really a baby boomer, he's now of what they refer to as the newly created "Generation Jones."

Generation Jones used to be referred to as Baby Boomers; 1946-1966.

Apparently they claimed, only Bush and Clinton were now of the Baby Boomer Generation.

I believe this is more corporate media propaganda to divide and conquer the American People by generation.

I also believe the driving motivation behind this, is because the corporate media don't want the American People divided by class as the courtesan, upper tier corporate media class are vastly outnumbered and a division by class wouldn't suit their narrow self-serving agenda. This is why the first question they usually asked President Obama during his campaign was almost always related to not letting the tax cuts for the wealthy expire, this was their primary concern.

[bemildred]

5. It's divide-and-rule politics, it has no basis, it's completely pulled out of their asses.

You pick some arbitrary date boundaries and stuff everyone into one of your imaginary pidgeonholes and pretend they are all similar. It's drool, dishonest pernicious drool. But safer for them than overt bigotry.