Another out-of-the-park Trump nomination; Humptedy McConnell falls; British chest feeding u-turn; we don't hate NYT nearly enough; no free healthcare for illegals; FBI drone report to Congress; more.
Psalm 73 is one of the first psalms I memorized many years ago and I find myself reciting it regularly these days as it's so applicable to the evil in our times. "When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me. Until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin, how suddenly they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors..." vs. 16-19 NIV
Tara, please don’t clutter up the comments section with your advertisements.
And for all you loyal C&Cers, please never, ever purchase anything from these on line spammers…it will only encourage them to post more of their garbage!
Well, I’ve reported it several times, but here she is again. Maybe along with catching a drone, we could catch the “bot” and make the “senders” of the drones purchase all “her food” or drone her out of her mind. I need more coffee.
Just like those pesky political text messages, they keep changing their origin account (I believe), so you have to stop each one.
If you like, you can report it to the Substack account's (in this case, Jeff's) "admin" by clicking on the three dots by the spam post and click on report, type in the word "spam" and send.
It gets removed when Jeff or his admin delegate (if he has any) gets to it. But I have noticed that they do get removed in time.
McConnell and the other really old fogies you mentioned like Shelby, Feinstein, etc. were not Boomers. They are all from the Silent Generation. Boomers were born 1945 to 1964.
Are there useful distinctions to draw between early and late Boomers? Just an impression, but early Boomers seemed to adopt the work ethic of the Greatest Generation and became more driven, materialistic, and a little cutthroat. Late Boomers seemed to step into a pampered world with plenty of good jobs. We (meaning I), didn't need to work all that hard and adopted more of the peace, love, and freedom inspired by fringe Flower Power radicals half a generation ahead of us. Looking back, Laissez Faire made some of us lazy compared to our parents and older siblings. Thank God I got lucky and little of that rubbed off on my kids, but a growing chorus of Boomer criticism seems justified.
I can’t believe that at one time we had so much social cohesion and trust in our society that we were willing to have our names, addresses and phone numbers published for all to see. We were a different people back then.
Born in 1954 here. The first phone we had did not have a dial face. You picked up the receiver and the operator said "number please." And it was a party line with the neighbor. Good memories. Sometimes I want to go back.
And I was a boomer who sat on those three inch telephone books so I could reach the table to eat holiday dinners at my grandparents 🤣🤣🤣. I believe my year was the height of the boomer era (1957).
The telephone book was my booster seat at the dinner table. '63 here. Outer edge of boomerville. Getting the push button phone from Ma Bell was quite exciting.
You may be right on 1962. I would personally put the apogee at 1955. Definitely somewhere between the end of the Korean War and 1965 Immigration Act/start of the Vietnam War.
I'm a boomer and i laugh at the criticism. I'm still working the equivalent of overtime weekly. Just got back from traveling and loving South Korea as a solo adventurer; ignored the jet lag and went to work the next day. Some of us oldsters still have our brains and physical bearings. Hahahahaha
Step into a pampered world? Are you kidding. When I graduated college in 1981 there were few jobs. I did what many do and went on to graduate school. We didn't have the enormous student loans available. I worked my way throughout my higher education for living and spending money. My first ten years of or more after, we scratched by to pay off the loans we had and start our family. No cable, few restaurant meals or vacations. Get real!
I don't doubt that. I had to review my comment, and getting real, I used "seem" and "some" rather liberally. Nonetheless and henceforth, I shall qualify my comments with this disclaimer: "This comment springs recklessly from limited observations and personal perceptions. In no way is it intended as a definitive label for every reader."
I thiught your assessment was pretty spot on! My mom was born in 1950 and falls into the "lazy" category for sure - I've dubbed it the "easy button" generation - they've been marketed ALL THE THINGS to make life "easy". Sounds great, but zero hard work makes for a lazy person. My husband and I are very driven, goal-oriented folks - and between my mom and his parents, its absolutely shocking the lack of drive or initiative they have (late 60s, early 70s)
I'm sure it seemed hard, but those loans were pretty small by todays standards, and houses were a LOT cheaper in terms of annual income. True enough, the interest rates were high in the 80s, but once you bought a home, you could refinance as rates went down.
This is what young people compress into saying "OK boomer". I say that as a tail end boomer myself.
Hubby and I were born mid-60's and while technically he is a boomer and I am gen X, our 'growing up' experiences were much different from those born in the late 40's. This bundling people into ~20-year 'generations' by marketing folks doesn't take into account the rapid pace of change in the last 100 years. It probably makes more sense to break into decades.
But yeah, bought our home in 1990 with a 11 3/4% mortgage. Before we re-financed in 1993, our payment was over $1K a month, a lot of $ back then. But double income, no kids yet, and we could swing it. We both had good paying jobs with company cars. Incomes overall have NOT kept up, that I will agree with - but lifestyle creep has also been a factor. It never occurred to us to go somewhere for coffee unless we were traveling and stopped at a gas station. I had a job where I was on the road a fair bit, and had a favorite rural gas station I would stop and get my travel mug refilled for a quarter. Didn't get my nails done, go to the salon to get highlights, and going out to eat was a special occasion thing. Packed a lunch and ate it in my car, as did my hubby in sales. Both blessed to have been born into frugal families and continued those habits over the years which has gotten us through some lean times off and on.
by the late '80's it was virtually impossible to work one's way through college. Federal student aid had driven the cost too high. It has only gotten worse.
It's always a little sketchy to broad-brush a whole generation, but in market studies and other client projects, I have read a crap-ton of 'generation' studies. Some do differentiate the early boomers from the late boomers - those who came of age in the 60's, who had a different experience growing up, from those like my husband who was born in 1963.
The most quantifiable numbers are in retirement savings and debt. The 'silents' were/are savers, and were much less likely to be in debt. In a study I read as part of research I did for a financial advisor client writing a book back in 2016, the boomer generation had 30% less savings and 40% lower asset values than the silents did when they reached retirement age. Thus, boomers are more reliant on social security, which was never intended to be the sole source of support. Boomers embrace of the good life meant less in savings and now we in the younger generations are expected to feel sorry for them and pay more in taxes to support them with all the other socialized programs needed to supplement their social security. Of course this is generalized too, there are plenty of well healed boomers filling up the luxury retirement living communities, but as a whole, they are poorer than the previous generation whose habits of thrift were borne of the great Depression.
Silents are also the last generation to have pensions in great numbers, most pension plans got rolled into 401k's in the 80's that Boomers then raided. I had a client for several years who helped boomers who had no savings other than their 401k's, use them as a vehicle to buy businesses. If the business failed, their retirement funds were gone. Many of these were execs laid off in a downsizing or whatever who had made healthy 6 figure incomes for a decade + and yet had NO savings and a load of consumer debt. Yet had a 'dream' of being a business owner despite no clue or skills to run a business - being a hot shot in a corporate jungle is nothing like the jack of all trades skills needed to be a small business owner. I felt unethical about helping these people and left the client. Many did fail.
Right on point, Donna. Jeff’s readers are an exception to the social class of late Boomers. We seem to be conservative if not Christian, and either is all the difference in the world. We escaped, survived, or recovered from the social impact of rock-n-roll, drugs, free love, color TV, TV dinners, microwave ovens, central heat and air, wall-to-wall carpeting, power lawn mowers, and two-car garages in tidy owner-occupied suburban homes. The Greatest Generation was our greatest blessing. It’s not at all unfair to say we grew up in a softer world than that of our parents and certainly grandparents.
I’m personally offended when whippersnappers like Joe Rogan mock Boomers, but the criticism has merit. The majority of early Boomers voted for Biden, and late Boomers weren’t much better. We’ve grown comfortable and complacent. We didn’t need jobs at 15, and in our child-raising years had plenty of time for hobbies, entertainment, and vacations. We need to own at least some of the blame for what Gens X and Y and Millennials inherited: failing public schools, indifference to immorality, brutal national debt, endless wars, Mitch McConnells, Barry Soteros, and Soros DAs. All of that seeped in on our watch. But we’re also tremendously fortunate to still be around to do something about it. November was a good start.
Comfortable and complacent pretty much sums up MOST Americans regardless of the generation. When most 'poor people' still have smart phones, flush toilets, running water and access to some level of nutrition via food stamps or WIC or the numerous food pantries in our local churches and non profits, they are living a better life than my parents (born in the 1930's) were born into. Running water was a pump out back brought in in buckets and the toilet was an outhouse until my dad was in elementary school. Meat was only for Sunday dinner for my mom unless her dad managed to shoot a rabbit, squirrel or deer. They both slept outside on a porch in the heat of summer, there was no A/C and fans were a luxury. And so on.
My parents, aunts and uncles all lived much better lives than my grandparents, and their (mostly boomer) and gen X children for the most part did do better than their parents at least from a standard of living standpoint. It's a fine line when you want the best for your kids between coddling them and making them work for everything they want. It was a constant conversation with my hubby and I (born in mid 60's) over where to draw the line. We did make our millennial kids do chores from a young age, work after school jobs, and have a savings account, but they did get new clothes (vs hand-me-downs from cousins), we took annual vacations, and went out to eat on occasion, things that were very rare events in our childhoods. Neither of ours kids are 'entitled' but their idea of hardship is still a far cry from true hardship. Many of their peers/friends came from homes where the word NO was a rarity, and a few of them are still dependent on help from mom and dad even in their late 20's, and yet complain about how bad off they are while sipping on their Starbucks and looking at their new iPhones after voting for Harris. Not all, but too many of them. My friend is still helping her tattooed, new car driving, pink haired liberal daughter financially who constantly complains about 'the rich' and the unfairness of life. I would have cut her off a decade ago.
Why am I not surprised? And why would I not be surprised to find out that in numbers the Boomers did more to push America over the cliff than any other generation? And was it not the Boomers who raised self-indulgent offspring in prodigious numbers.
One of my greatest solaces is that there are many, many guys and gals in the younger generations fight back with brains and courage. These among those 'coming up' are the hope of those yet to come.
We could likely be said to be responsible for America’s downhill slide, but it was my parent’s motto, they wanted their kids to do better than they. That meant college or good paying factory jobs. I am an upper middle of the BB’s. My husband is at the top oldest. When he graduated high school, it was the era of the last great manufacturing jobs here in Michigan. It was the last of get into the auto plants and you could work until retirement. It was also the era of Vietnam and many young men ended up there. Husband went over just as Tet was getting started. Who knows how many of the BB’s were scarred by being in Nam. It was the beginning of the huge push for college over vocational training. What a load of crap that turned out to be, but we were young and stupid and didn’t realize what our government was doing back then.
Yes, our state R women's club, made up of mostly X, Boomers and Silents hosts a day at the state capitol for HS conservative students every year and these active young ladies do help restore faith in our future.
I've read 2 books about Generations. It's fascinating. I have 3 siblings - the oldest was born in 64, and the rest of us are Gen Xers. The boomer brother has had financial problems his whole life, but he lived mostly frugally with 2 kids and a wife who didn't work. The rest of us put almost the max in 401k. We'll all retire before our Boomer brother does because he's now raising 2 grandkids.
Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation is a really good book that summarizes both the good and bad of my parent's generation. Been 20 years since I read it but it has stuck with me all these years. These people faced adversity most of would have crumbled from with fortitude, courage, hard work and sacrifice. Notions that are now either distorted or gone from our current 'me, me, me' culture. No, they weren't perfect, a lot got 'swept under the rug' and not talked about, but do think we ignore the lessons from this generation at our peril.
There were 5 children in my family, all baby boomers, and every one of us are hard workers. The first 3 in our family paid our own way through college and the last 2 didn’t go beyond high school but worked hard in the jobs they’ve held. The work ethic was instilled by my parents. We were not coddled, did not have a luxurious lifestyle but we’ve all paid our own way and contributed within our communities. Interesting there were no cell phones or as many distractions as there are today.
That was my thought exactly. The younger boomers are not necessarily as bad as the older ones. They still have much to contribute, witness RFK Jr. Or anyone in their 60s.
I read and forgot most of Brokaw's book, but I think it refers to the virtues of the farm-boy hard-work ethic and Depression Era frugality. I don't think he included "blind faith in government," but it probably should have.
So, I haven't taken a deep dive into Tavistock, but the concept of govt-funded "social engineering" should scare the living daylights out of a free people.
I'm surprised so many here take offense at social criticism. Obviously, society in general doesn't reflect everyone's experience, so please don't assume it reflects mine. For the record, I was born in the late '50s, grew up blue collar with a stay-at-home mom, went to work straight out of HS, scraped along for ten years starting a family, went back to college full time while working full time, paid off my student loans a decade later, retired on my own earnings, and inherited nothing. I worked like a dog too, m'dear.
Also McConnell is elected Statewide by ALL Kentuckians, not by a District (as mentioned by Jeff) that's strongly and safely Republican...just to be CLEAR who's guilty for boomeranging this Rino fossil into the Senate for perpetuity
I would say the State GOP is controlled by RINO lapdog Repubs who then GateKeep for their Primaries and also solicit all manner of Progressive donors and would remorselessly activate plenty of non-Republican voters against a real conservative in a general election should some maverick ever upset "their" guy in a close hard-fought primary. County GOP reps need to break the stranglehold at state level, Precinct and District/Caucus GOP (grassroots workers and advocates) need to control their County GOP and we need a populist activated coalition to MAGA the local Party to put the elitist-old boy donors and RINOs where they belong...on a leash that's held firmly by the base rather than their monied pals in Dem Party and the AMoral power-brokers
Matt Blevins almost primaried McConnell out in 2014. He ran for governor and won, served from 2015 to 2019. He was beat by Andy Beshear in 2020, the year of the corrupted elections…
The GOP has always been an 'enabler' party. The tip off to me was that they, R and D alike, all attended the same guidance meetings (Bilderberger, CFR, Tri-Lateral, UN focus groups for Agenda 21 terrorism, etc.). And it is flagrantly apparent now that both parties facilitated and unified in the promotion of C19 Health Terrorism.
One can legitimately argue one party was/is worse than the other, but they were both riding the same choo-choo, riding it in first class while the rest of us were stuck in stinking, sweaty third class.
I've often had this argument as to which is worse. The party which is more up front, open about what they are doing? Or the deadly party which conceals itself like a deadly adder in waiting? Over the years, I tend to thinks that both parties are just as bad, only in different ways. It's like there is vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream, but nonetheless ... it is still all ice cream.
Should we require an annual cognitive test starting at age 70 in congress? Term limits? How many terms? Would there be a limit on how long they had to be out of office before they could run again?
Kentucky should be ashamed that they continue to elect this fossil. Not only is he failing, mentally and physically, but he’s rude and arrogant to constituents.
It's not so much their exact birth years but when they came of age. The 1960's and 70's saw the US (and much of the world) toss aside the social conventions and mores that bound Western Civilization for four hundred years. Anyone born from about 1935 to 1960 was heavily influenced by this hedonistic movement, and many accepted it unthinkingly. The old-fashioned ideas that we are accountable to God, we will be judged, and that we exercise self-control were tossed aside like dirty underwear. It was one of the most selfish mass actions in history with zero consideration of the long-term effects on society.
This is where the Boomer hatred originates. It's not just that younger people don't like the old coots, but the destruction wrought by their unthinking, selfish hedonism. There has been no apology or even acknowledgement of what they caused. They divorced and abandoned their kids at the drop of a hat to "find" themselves. They acted as perpetual children, putting their own wants and desires first, and are called the "me generation" for a reason. They somehow twisted selfishness into a virtue, thus defying 2000 years of Christian morality. Plus their bitter refusal to hand over power to the next generation just adds fuel to fire. Last off, their stubborn and absolute refusal to even consider that opinions they formed forty years ago just might not be valid today. It's a closed-mindedness that defies explanation, particularly when *everything* their generation celebrates has made things objectively worse.
I'm 63 so I'm technically part of the Boomers but as a generation I'm the first to admit that they are a miserable lot who just happened to be born when America was booming. They got incredibly lucky and squandered their kids and grandkids inheritance on deficit spending, Mediterranean cruises, and luxury BMW's. They demanded their grandkids, with their entire lives ahead of them, take an experimental injection to protect them even though their days are numbered. Because they rejected God, they acquired none of the wisdom that comes with gray hair, but still live as if they are selfish, irresponsible teenagers.
And of course there are exceptions and not everyone from this age group acts like this. But stereotypes are generally true, and they certainly are in this case. I'm so thankful Trump is turning this over to the next generation and putting this geriatric lot out to pasture.
Really insightful comment Jeff C. I'm Gen Xer and remember the self-help, 'get in touch with your inner feelings' garbage. I thought Boomers were bad until Millennials came along. At least Boomers for the most part worked in high school if not earlier, or did they? Helen Andrews wrote a wonderful book about Boomers, essentially mini-biographies about the most famous ones: Bill Clinton, Steve Jobs, Aaron Sorkin, Al Sharpton, Camille Paglia, etc and their lasting negative legacy on our society.
The “get in touch with your inner feelings” was nowhere, absolutely nowhere in my community, even once in college. Could you and I have come from a red vs blue State? Or could it be rural vs urban?
Aussie boomer here. I take exception to your tirade. The people you refer to were a minority in my experience. I’m 76, still married, 57 years, and we worked and helped both kids buy their own homes. Most of our friends are the same. I notice you except yourself from the boomers you despise too.
Hey you guys, I appreciate that a lot of people (particularly those in rural environments) didn't experience this. But a lot of us did, particularly in the cities and suburbs. The idea of mom at home raising kids and the family attending church together on Sunday was quite literally tossed aside by this generation without a moment's contemplation.
The statistics don't lie. Divorce rates exploded. The number of single parent homes exploded. The rate of kids being shuttled between divorced homes (seemingly as an afterthought) exploded. The number of kids coming home from school to empty houses exploded. Church attendance plummeted. These are objective facts, I didn't make them up.
Just because it didn't happen to you or you didn't do it doesn't make it go away. The traditional family structure was destroyed by this generation quite literally to satisfy their own selfish wants, and with zero shame. The idea of making the best of things (which people have done for millennia) was rejected because the parent's feelings were deemed more important than the kid's happiness. This was a social earthquake and none of these people stopped to think just maybe they weren't entitled to shirk their commitments, maybe they weren't entitled to destroy other people's lives, just to satisfy some whim. Maybe their "happiness" wasn't the most important thing in the world.
And no I didn't come from a broken home with a chip on my shoulder. I'm happily married now with two grown boys. But I've seen the havoc wreaked by this generation to my friends and acquaintances. Christmases spent at two different homes because their parents hate each other and are too infantile to act pleasant to each other. Boomers repeatedly missing their grandkids special occasions because it conflicted with their umpteenth visit to Cabo San Lucas. Splurging $70k on a new Mercedes when their grandkids are in crap public schools. It never even enters their mind to skip the car and offer to pay the kid's tuition.
This type of behavior would have been unheard of a couple generations ago. It was *entirely* normalized by this generation. Entirely, they started it. They were the most spoiled and selfish generation in history. Then when someone points it out they get all huffy and defensive.
I appreciate that you guys aren't like this and thank God there are some great people who came from that generation. But let's not lie to ourselves and act as if this didn't happen. It clearly did, and that's not just an opinion but an objective fact backed by solid evidence.
I actually really really appreciate what you’ve described and also agree these are facts! Among many, and I think more discourse with even ore details would be based (to use a young generation term). I’m also born the same year. I saw much of the same. My parents themselves fought off the Catholic Church, not conveying the significance of God to us kids. tons of things you mentioned I absolutely witnessed with my life experience. But they stayed together. My mom’s second marriage. For decades I was a dem, living out what they initiated… But now I see the problem of those ways and never even looked at it the way you put it. Thank you. The others who say you’re painting with a broad brush are perhaps stung by the insight. Or are of the many who didn’t get touched by it in their life. Two things can be true. Anyway, just wanted to support you here.
I was extremely fortunate that my parents were traditional and withstood the cultural pressures of the time. Many of my friends weren't so lucky though. And to this day I still see it causing upheavals in their lives.
The only way this stops is if we tell the truth about it so it doesn't propagate further. The "boomer hate" isn't all just jealousy and whining as so many boomers love to claim. The generations that followed are angry at how they behaved, and even worse, they are still so self-absorbed they can't see it.
And again, some people cannot distinguish between a generalization and a specific claim. If I say men are generally taller than women, finding a woman that's taller than a man doesn't invalidate the *generalization*. But people have been conditioned to think like this, I think on purpose, to stop them from seeing what's really going on in the world.
"It clearly did, and that's not just an opinion but an objective fact backed by solid evidence."
I don't care what subject is being "discussed" ( a nice word for what usually takes place ) . BUT.............. That one sentence above always causes me to immediately leave the conversation !
Something must have conditioned you that way, with that kind of strong ‘shut up’ feeling from what he wrote. We all do try to be open minded here at C&C… I feel ya. I think the topic is interesting. I think a lot of what are stated as facts are probably facts. I witnessed and experienced much of that personally.
MAN you paint with a broad brush! The old saying that one fly spoils the ointment applies. Just because a fraction (yes, only a fraction) is awful you tar the lot.
Many of us boomers did not reject God or give up their Christian faith, try to live our Biblical values and saw the Covid sham for what it was. You are generalizing here and I don’t see nor have experienced what you describe at all. The way you are raised makes a huge difference in how you live your life.
💯🎯 Jeff! From a 66 yo Boomer who sees it in the tragic family situations of my generation’s friends, and relatives…at the center a complete rejection of God and His moral laws, including sacrificing their unborn children…💔😢
Abortion in the beginning was used so women could cheat on their spouse… this is before PP. It lead to loose morals within marriages. Once PP got hold of it, it also added the genocide of certain groups of people that you still see today. Now, it is government funded and the door is wide open to kill every possible baby it can. There is no God there… just satan’s minions.
I actually think the generational division stuff is stupid. It makes no sense to me at all. I don't know why anyone indulges in it as it's a made-up thing that's meant to divide us.
But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have set Lord Yahweh as my refuge,
That I may recount all Your works.
— Psalm 73:28 LSB
What a wonderful way to start the comments!
Amen!
SPAM
Not 'Jay Valentine' again, is it?
😂
Psalm 73 is one of the first psalms I memorized many years ago and I find myself reciting it regularly these days as it's so applicable to the evil in our times. "When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me. Until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I understood their final destiny. Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin, how suddenly they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors..." vs. 16-19 NIV
Speaking of Yahweh...
https://www.unz.com/article/the-devils-trick-unmasking-the-god-of-israel/
I read the article. Pretty dumb.
Well, don't give up, you don't have to be "pretty dumb"forever if you don't want to be.
Rea Biglino's "The naked Bible"...
Blasphemous article.
Go burn a witch at the stake... you'll feel better.
Thanks for the excellent link
You bet... interesting, eh? I wish more of the simpering sheep here would wake up to it.
Tara, please don’t clutter up the comments section with your advertisements.
And for all you loyal C&Cers, please never, ever purchase anything from these on line spammers…it will only encourage them to post more of their garbage!
That's a SPAM bot.
Can it be blocked?
Well, I’ve reported it several times, but here she is again. Maybe along with catching a drone, we could catch the “bot” and make the “senders” of the drones purchase all “her food” or drone her out of her mind. I need more coffee.
Looks like Jeff Childers removed it!
You can block this one but they probably just keep generating new accounts. I don't know how Substack deals with them.
Just like those pesky political text messages, they keep changing their origin account (I believe), so you have to stop each one.
If you like, you can report it to the Substack account's (in this case, Jeff's) "admin" by clicking on the three dots by the spam post and click on report, type in the word "spam" and send.
It gets removed when Jeff or his admin delegate (if he has any) gets to it. But I have noticed that they do get removed in time.
I think the best tactic is simply to ignore the occasional post.
And report them.
Maybe Jeff took care of her.
I tried reporting those douche bags... but they just sign up under a new name and continue...
Best to just pray for them...
(To be run over by a beer truck)
Tara, Mary, Kim. Her name is Legion like the devil.
I don’t see the spammer, Tara did she delete it?
So today we're back to Tara.
Better name than Janice. 😀😀
McConnell and the other really old fogies you mentioned like Shelby, Feinstein, etc. were not Boomers. They are all from the Silent Generation. Boomers were born 1945 to 1964.
Anyone born after 1965 thinks everyone older is a Boomer.🤦🏻♀️🙄
Correct. A Boomer is defined as those babies born between 1947 to 1964. Technically Mitch nor Nancy are Baby Boomers
Are there useful distinctions to draw between early and late Boomers? Just an impression, but early Boomers seemed to adopt the work ethic of the Greatest Generation and became more driven, materialistic, and a little cutthroat. Late Boomers seemed to step into a pampered world with plenty of good jobs. We (meaning I), didn't need to work all that hard and adopted more of the peace, love, and freedom inspired by fringe Flower Power radicals half a generation ahead of us. Looking back, Laissez Faire made some of us lazy compared to our parents and older siblings. Thank God I got lucky and little of that rubbed off on my kids, but a growing chorus of Boomer criticism seems justified.
I was born in 1962, the absolute apogee of American civilization.
If you don't believe that, search for an image of the 1962 Corvette.
I rest my case. And get off my lawn.
Me too - late boomer here. Grew up with corded, dial telephones and a three-inch-thick telephone book.
I can’t believe that at one time we had so much social cohesion and trust in our society that we were willing to have our names, addresses and phone numbers published for all to see. We were a different people back then.
Born in 1954 here. The first phone we had did not have a dial face. You picked up the receiver and the operator said "number please." And it was a party line with the neighbor. Good memories. Sometimes I want to go back.
three-inch-thick telephone book and the Sears and Roebuck catalogs/catalogues
The paper generation, lol
And I was a boomer who sat on those three inch telephone books so I could reach the table to eat holiday dinners at my grandparents 🤣🤣🤣. I believe my year was the height of the boomer era (1957).
I sometimes muse how we used to call a place and ask to speak to a certain person; now we call a certain person and ask, "Where are you?"
The telephone book was my booster seat at the dinner table. '63 here. Outer edge of boomerville. Getting the push button phone from Ma Bell was quite exciting.
Exactly. Put your dog on a leash, pick up its poop and stay out of my flower beds!
😂😂😂
You may be right on 1962. I would personally put the apogee at 1955. Definitely somewhere between the end of the Korean War and 1965 Immigration Act/start of the Vietnam War.
PREACH!
With side pipes, convertible top, and a stinger hood! C2's are the best Corvettes imo! https://www.catawiki.com/en/c/423-classic-cars
I'm a boomer and i laugh at the criticism. I'm still working the equivalent of overtime weekly. Just got back from traveling and loving South Korea as a solo adventurer; ignored the jet lag and went to work the next day. Some of us oldsters still have our brains and physical bearings. Hahahahaha
Good for you, fellow Boomer.
I assuage my tears at being hated on sun-soaked Southern European patios.
Waiter! Another round of Aperol Spritzes, por favor!
We camp off the grid for a month all over Wyoming every summer. Glorious. 76 and 78. We do have a 20 ft camper now.
Hahaha. Let me know your next trip, I'll join you.
Step into a pampered world? Are you kidding. When I graduated college in 1981 there were few jobs. I did what many do and went on to graduate school. We didn't have the enormous student loans available. I worked my way throughout my higher education for living and spending money. My first ten years of or more after, we scratched by to pay off the loans we had and start our family. No cable, few restaurant meals or vacations. Get real!
I don't doubt that. I had to review my comment, and getting real, I used "seem" and "some" rather liberally. Nonetheless and henceforth, I shall qualify my comments with this disclaimer: "This comment springs recklessly from limited observations and personal perceptions. In no way is it intended as a definitive label for every reader."
I thiught your assessment was pretty spot on! My mom was born in 1950 and falls into the "lazy" category for sure - I've dubbed it the "easy button" generation - they've been marketed ALL THE THINGS to make life "easy". Sounds great, but zero hard work makes for a lazy person. My husband and I are very driven, goal-oriented folks - and between my mom and his parents, its absolutely shocking the lack of drive or initiative they have (late 60s, early 70s)
I'm sure it seemed hard, but those loans were pretty small by todays standards, and houses were a LOT cheaper in terms of annual income. True enough, the interest rates were high in the 80s, but once you bought a home, you could refinance as rates went down.
This is what young people compress into saying "OK boomer". I say that as a tail end boomer myself.
Hubby and I were born mid-60's and while technically he is a boomer and I am gen X, our 'growing up' experiences were much different from those born in the late 40's. This bundling people into ~20-year 'generations' by marketing folks doesn't take into account the rapid pace of change in the last 100 years. It probably makes more sense to break into decades.
But yeah, bought our home in 1990 with a 11 3/4% mortgage. Before we re-financed in 1993, our payment was over $1K a month, a lot of $ back then. But double income, no kids yet, and we could swing it. We both had good paying jobs with company cars. Incomes overall have NOT kept up, that I will agree with - but lifestyle creep has also been a factor. It never occurred to us to go somewhere for coffee unless we were traveling and stopped at a gas station. I had a job where I was on the road a fair bit, and had a favorite rural gas station I would stop and get my travel mug refilled for a quarter. Didn't get my nails done, go to the salon to get highlights, and going out to eat was a special occasion thing. Packed a lunch and ate it in my car, as did my hubby in sales. Both blessed to have been born into frugal families and continued those habits over the years which has gotten us through some lean times off and on.
by the late '80's it was virtually impossible to work one's way through college. Federal student aid had driven the cost too high. It has only gotten worse.
It's always a little sketchy to broad-brush a whole generation, but in market studies and other client projects, I have read a crap-ton of 'generation' studies. Some do differentiate the early boomers from the late boomers - those who came of age in the 60's, who had a different experience growing up, from those like my husband who was born in 1963.
The most quantifiable numbers are in retirement savings and debt. The 'silents' were/are savers, and were much less likely to be in debt. In a study I read as part of research I did for a financial advisor client writing a book back in 2016, the boomer generation had 30% less savings and 40% lower asset values than the silents did when they reached retirement age. Thus, boomers are more reliant on social security, which was never intended to be the sole source of support. Boomers embrace of the good life meant less in savings and now we in the younger generations are expected to feel sorry for them and pay more in taxes to support them with all the other socialized programs needed to supplement their social security. Of course this is generalized too, there are plenty of well healed boomers filling up the luxury retirement living communities, but as a whole, they are poorer than the previous generation whose habits of thrift were borne of the great Depression.
Silents are also the last generation to have pensions in great numbers, most pension plans got rolled into 401k's in the 80's that Boomers then raided. I had a client for several years who helped boomers who had no savings other than their 401k's, use them as a vehicle to buy businesses. If the business failed, their retirement funds were gone. Many of these were execs laid off in a downsizing or whatever who had made healthy 6 figure incomes for a decade + and yet had NO savings and a load of consumer debt. Yet had a 'dream' of being a business owner despite no clue or skills to run a business - being a hot shot in a corporate jungle is nothing like the jack of all trades skills needed to be a small business owner. I felt unethical about helping these people and left the client. Many did fail.
Right on point, Donna. Jeff’s readers are an exception to the social class of late Boomers. We seem to be conservative if not Christian, and either is all the difference in the world. We escaped, survived, or recovered from the social impact of rock-n-roll, drugs, free love, color TV, TV dinners, microwave ovens, central heat and air, wall-to-wall carpeting, power lawn mowers, and two-car garages in tidy owner-occupied suburban homes. The Greatest Generation was our greatest blessing. It’s not at all unfair to say we grew up in a softer world than that of our parents and certainly grandparents.
I’m personally offended when whippersnappers like Joe Rogan mock Boomers, but the criticism has merit. The majority of early Boomers voted for Biden, and late Boomers weren’t much better. We’ve grown comfortable and complacent. We didn’t need jobs at 15, and in our child-raising years had plenty of time for hobbies, entertainment, and vacations. We need to own at least some of the blame for what Gens X and Y and Millennials inherited: failing public schools, indifference to immorality, brutal national debt, endless wars, Mitch McConnells, Barry Soteros, and Soros DAs. All of that seeped in on our watch. But we’re also tremendously fortunate to still be around to do something about it. November was a good start.
Comfortable and complacent pretty much sums up MOST Americans regardless of the generation. When most 'poor people' still have smart phones, flush toilets, running water and access to some level of nutrition via food stamps or WIC or the numerous food pantries in our local churches and non profits, they are living a better life than my parents (born in the 1930's) were born into. Running water was a pump out back brought in in buckets and the toilet was an outhouse until my dad was in elementary school. Meat was only for Sunday dinner for my mom unless her dad managed to shoot a rabbit, squirrel or deer. They both slept outside on a porch in the heat of summer, there was no A/C and fans were a luxury. And so on.
My parents, aunts and uncles all lived much better lives than my grandparents, and their (mostly boomer) and gen X children for the most part did do better than their parents at least from a standard of living standpoint. It's a fine line when you want the best for your kids between coddling them and making them work for everything they want. It was a constant conversation with my hubby and I (born in mid 60's) over where to draw the line. We did make our millennial kids do chores from a young age, work after school jobs, and have a savings account, but they did get new clothes (vs hand-me-downs from cousins), we took annual vacations, and went out to eat on occasion, things that were very rare events in our childhoods. Neither of ours kids are 'entitled' but their idea of hardship is still a far cry from true hardship. Many of their peers/friends came from homes where the word NO was a rarity, and a few of them are still dependent on help from mom and dad even in their late 20's, and yet complain about how bad off they are while sipping on their Starbucks and looking at their new iPhones after voting for Harris. Not all, but too many of them. My friend is still helping her tattooed, new car driving, pink haired liberal daughter financially who constantly complains about 'the rich' and the unfairness of life. I would have cut her off a decade ago.
Why am I not surprised? And why would I not be surprised to find out that in numbers the Boomers did more to push America over the cliff than any other generation? And was it not the Boomers who raised self-indulgent offspring in prodigious numbers.
One of my greatest solaces is that there are many, many guys and gals in the younger generations fight back with brains and courage. These among those 'coming up' are the hope of those yet to come.
We could likely be said to be responsible for America’s downhill slide, but it was my parent’s motto, they wanted their kids to do better than they. That meant college or good paying factory jobs. I am an upper middle of the BB’s. My husband is at the top oldest. When he graduated high school, it was the era of the last great manufacturing jobs here in Michigan. It was the last of get into the auto plants and you could work until retirement. It was also the era of Vietnam and many young men ended up there. Husband went over just as Tet was getting started. Who knows how many of the BB’s were scarred by being in Nam. It was the beginning of the huge push for college over vocational training. What a load of crap that turned out to be, but we were young and stupid and didn’t realize what our government was doing back then.
Yes, our state R women's club, made up of mostly X, Boomers and Silents hosts a day at the state capitol for HS conservative students every year and these active young ladies do help restore faith in our future.
I've read 2 books about Generations. It's fascinating. I have 3 siblings - the oldest was born in 64, and the rest of us are Gen Xers. The boomer brother has had financial problems his whole life, but he lived mostly frugally with 2 kids and a wife who didn't work. The rest of us put almost the max in 401k. We'll all retire before our Boomer brother does because he's now raising 2 grandkids.
Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation is a really good book that summarizes both the good and bad of my parent's generation. Been 20 years since I read it but it has stuck with me all these years. These people faced adversity most of would have crumbled from with fortitude, courage, hard work and sacrifice. Notions that are now either distorted or gone from our current 'me, me, me' culture. No, they weren't perfect, a lot got 'swept under the rug' and not talked about, but do think we ignore the lessons from this generation at our peril.
There were 5 children in my family, all baby boomers, and every one of us are hard workers. The first 3 in our family paid our own way through college and the last 2 didn’t go beyond high school but worked hard in the jobs they’ve held. The work ethic was instilled by my parents. We were not coddled, did not have a luxurious lifestyle but we’ve all paid our own way and contributed within our communities. Interesting there were no cell phones or as many distractions as there are today.
Similar to how I grew up, a '50s baby. Many of us followed in the Greatest Generation's footsteps. Too many rode their coattails.
That was my thought exactly. The younger boomers are not necessarily as bad as the older ones. They still have much to contribute, witness RFK Jr. Or anyone in their 60s.
All just brainwashed differently by the Tavistock Institute.
"Greatest Generation" indeed.
I read and forgot most of Brokaw's book, but I think it refers to the virtues of the farm-boy hard-work ethic and Depression Era frugality. I don't think he included "blind faith in government," but it probably should have.
So, I haven't taken a deep dive into Tavistock, but the concept of govt-funded "social engineering" should scare the living daylights out of a free people.
Speak for yourself, mate! I worked like a dog all my life and I’m not thrilled about having ancient fossils described as Boomers
I'm surprised so many here take offense at social criticism. Obviously, society in general doesn't reflect everyone's experience, so please don't assume it reflects mine. For the record, I was born in the late '50s, grew up blue collar with a stay-at-home mom, went to work straight out of HS, scraped along for ten years starting a family, went back to college full time while working full time, paid off my student loans a decade later, retired on my own earnings, and inherited nothing. I worked like a dog too, m'dear.
They are not boomers, they are antiques
Also McConnell is elected Statewide by ALL Kentuckians, not by a District (as mentioned by Jeff) that's strongly and safely Republican...just to be CLEAR who's guilty for boomeranging this Rino fossil into the Senate for perpetuity
Well who IS guilty then? I’ve wondered this for a long time. Is the state GOP corrupt?
I would say the State GOP is controlled by RINO lapdog Repubs who then GateKeep for their Primaries and also solicit all manner of Progressive donors and would remorselessly activate plenty of non-Republican voters against a real conservative in a general election should some maverick ever upset "their" guy in a close hard-fought primary. County GOP reps need to break the stranglehold at state level, Precinct and District/Caucus GOP (grassroots workers and advocates) need to control their County GOP and we need a populist activated coalition to MAGA the local Party to put the elitist-old boy donors and RINOs where they belong...on a leash that's held firmly by the base rather than their monied pals in Dem Party and the AMoral power-brokers
Matt Blevins almost primaried McConnell out in 2014. He ran for governor and won, served from 2015 to 2019. He was beat by Andy Beshear in 2020, the year of the corrupted elections…
The GOP has always been an 'enabler' party. The tip off to me was that they, R and D alike, all attended the same guidance meetings (Bilderberger, CFR, Tri-Lateral, UN focus groups for Agenda 21 terrorism, etc.). And it is flagrantly apparent now that both parties facilitated and unified in the promotion of C19 Health Terrorism.
One can legitimately argue one party was/is worse than the other, but they were both riding the same choo-choo, riding it in first class while the rest of us were stuck in stinking, sweaty third class.
I've often had this argument as to which is worse. The party which is more up front, open about what they are doing? Or the deadly party which conceals itself like a deadly adder in waiting? Over the years, I tend to thinks that both parties are just as bad, only in different ways. It's like there is vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice cream, but nonetheless ... it is still all ice cream.
State, as in Florida? Or State, as in USA? No question from this Trump supporter that the USA GOP is right up there with the Dems in corruption.
Should we require an annual cognitive test starting at age 70 in congress? Term limits? How many terms? Would there be a limit on how long they had to be out of office before they could run again?
The problem with Mitch retiring is Kentuk has a Dem governor who would probably appoint one of his own.
Amen, WPWilliam.
Kentucky should be ashamed that they continue to elect this fossil. Not only is he failing, mentally and physically, but he’s rude and arrogant to constituents.
Worse...
Our kids, ages 20, 23, and 25 call us Boomers even though we were born in the 70's!!!
Gen Xers are the best! 💪
Yes we are!
They showed up big for Trump in November.
⬆️ Yes!
I yell at my son I AM NOT A BOOMER YOU MILLENNIAL!! As The early “millennials “ are trying to distance themselves from the later ones. 😂
Exactly!!😅
They just rarely hear of Gen “X”
Hahaha 😂
It's not so much their exact birth years but when they came of age. The 1960's and 70's saw the US (and much of the world) toss aside the social conventions and mores that bound Western Civilization for four hundred years. Anyone born from about 1935 to 1960 was heavily influenced by this hedonistic movement, and many accepted it unthinkingly. The old-fashioned ideas that we are accountable to God, we will be judged, and that we exercise self-control were tossed aside like dirty underwear. It was one of the most selfish mass actions in history with zero consideration of the long-term effects on society.
This is where the Boomer hatred originates. It's not just that younger people don't like the old coots, but the destruction wrought by their unthinking, selfish hedonism. There has been no apology or even acknowledgement of what they caused. They divorced and abandoned their kids at the drop of a hat to "find" themselves. They acted as perpetual children, putting their own wants and desires first, and are called the "me generation" for a reason. They somehow twisted selfishness into a virtue, thus defying 2000 years of Christian morality. Plus their bitter refusal to hand over power to the next generation just adds fuel to fire. Last off, their stubborn and absolute refusal to even consider that opinions they formed forty years ago just might not be valid today. It's a closed-mindedness that defies explanation, particularly when *everything* their generation celebrates has made things objectively worse.
I'm 63 so I'm technically part of the Boomers but as a generation I'm the first to admit that they are a miserable lot who just happened to be born when America was booming. They got incredibly lucky and squandered their kids and grandkids inheritance on deficit spending, Mediterranean cruises, and luxury BMW's. They demanded their grandkids, with their entire lives ahead of them, take an experimental injection to protect them even though their days are numbered. Because they rejected God, they acquired none of the wisdom that comes with gray hair, but still live as if they are selfish, irresponsible teenagers.
And of course there are exceptions and not everyone from this age group acts like this. But stereotypes are generally true, and they certainly are in this case. I'm so thankful Trump is turning this over to the next generation and putting this geriatric lot out to pasture.
Really insightful comment Jeff C. I'm Gen Xer and remember the self-help, 'get in touch with your inner feelings' garbage. I thought Boomers were bad until Millennials came along. At least Boomers for the most part worked in high school if not earlier, or did they? Helen Andrews wrote a wonderful book about Boomers, essentially mini-biographies about the most famous ones: Bill Clinton, Steve Jobs, Aaron Sorkin, Al Sharpton, Camille Paglia, etc and their lasting negative legacy on our society.
The “get in touch with your inner feelings” was nowhere, absolutely nowhere in my community, even once in college. Could you and I have come from a red vs blue State? Or could it be rural vs urban?
Aussie boomer here. I take exception to your tirade. The people you refer to were a minority in my experience. I’m 76, still married, 57 years, and we worked and helped both kids buy their own homes. Most of our friends are the same. I notice you except yourself from the boomers you despise too.
Hey you guys, I appreciate that a lot of people (particularly those in rural environments) didn't experience this. But a lot of us did, particularly in the cities and suburbs. The idea of mom at home raising kids and the family attending church together on Sunday was quite literally tossed aside by this generation without a moment's contemplation.
The statistics don't lie. Divorce rates exploded. The number of single parent homes exploded. The rate of kids being shuttled between divorced homes (seemingly as an afterthought) exploded. The number of kids coming home from school to empty houses exploded. Church attendance plummeted. These are objective facts, I didn't make them up.
Just because it didn't happen to you or you didn't do it doesn't make it go away. The traditional family structure was destroyed by this generation quite literally to satisfy their own selfish wants, and with zero shame. The idea of making the best of things (which people have done for millennia) was rejected because the parent's feelings were deemed more important than the kid's happiness. This was a social earthquake and none of these people stopped to think just maybe they weren't entitled to shirk their commitments, maybe they weren't entitled to destroy other people's lives, just to satisfy some whim. Maybe their "happiness" wasn't the most important thing in the world.
And no I didn't come from a broken home with a chip on my shoulder. I'm happily married now with two grown boys. But I've seen the havoc wreaked by this generation to my friends and acquaintances. Christmases spent at two different homes because their parents hate each other and are too infantile to act pleasant to each other. Boomers repeatedly missing their grandkids special occasions because it conflicted with their umpteenth visit to Cabo San Lucas. Splurging $70k on a new Mercedes when their grandkids are in crap public schools. It never even enters their mind to skip the car and offer to pay the kid's tuition.
This type of behavior would have been unheard of a couple generations ago. It was *entirely* normalized by this generation. Entirely, they started it. They were the most spoiled and selfish generation in history. Then when someone points it out they get all huffy and defensive.
I appreciate that you guys aren't like this and thank God there are some great people who came from that generation. But let's not lie to ourselves and act as if this didn't happen. It clearly did, and that's not just an opinion but an objective fact backed by solid evidence.
I actually really really appreciate what you’ve described and also agree these are facts! Among many, and I think more discourse with even ore details would be based (to use a young generation term). I’m also born the same year. I saw much of the same. My parents themselves fought off the Catholic Church, not conveying the significance of God to us kids. tons of things you mentioned I absolutely witnessed with my life experience. But they stayed together. My mom’s second marriage. For decades I was a dem, living out what they initiated… But now I see the problem of those ways and never even looked at it the way you put it. Thank you. The others who say you’re painting with a broad brush are perhaps stung by the insight. Or are of the many who didn’t get touched by it in their life. Two things can be true. Anyway, just wanted to support you here.
Thank you Rebecca, and God bless.
I was extremely fortunate that my parents were traditional and withstood the cultural pressures of the time. Many of my friends weren't so lucky though. And to this day I still see it causing upheavals in their lives.
The only way this stops is if we tell the truth about it so it doesn't propagate further. The "boomer hate" isn't all just jealousy and whining as so many boomers love to claim. The generations that followed are angry at how they behaved, and even worse, they are still so self-absorbed they can't see it.
And again, some people cannot distinguish between a generalization and a specific claim. If I say men are generally taller than women, finding a woman that's taller than a man doesn't invalidate the *generalization*. But people have been conditioned to think like this, I think on purpose, to stop them from seeing what's really going on in the world.
"It clearly did, and that's not just an opinion but an objective fact backed by solid evidence."
I don't care what subject is being "discussed" ( a nice word for what usually takes place ) . BUT.............. That one sentence above always causes me to immediately leave the conversation !
Translation : MY facts are the truth . Shut up !
Something must have conditioned you that way, with that kind of strong ‘shut up’ feeling from what he wrote. We all do try to be open minded here at C&C… I feel ya. I think the topic is interesting. I think a lot of what are stated as facts are probably facts. I witnessed and experienced much of that personally.
Did you grow up in the USA? Just curious if that also, geography, saved you a bit?
Thank you! My thoughts exactly! I wonder if it was more of an “urban thing,” because my experiences have been just the opposite.
MAN you paint with a broad brush! The old saying that one fly spoils the ointment applies. Just because a fraction (yes, only a fraction) is awful you tar the lot.
Agreed! Jeff C must have been exposed an entirely different environment than some of us.
Many of us boomers did not reject God or give up their Christian faith, try to live our Biblical values and saw the Covid sham for what it was. You are generalizing here and I don’t see nor have experienced what you describe at all. The way you are raised makes a huge difference in how you live your life.
🎯, and thank you! Agreed!
💯🎯 Jeff! From a 66 yo Boomer who sees it in the tragic family situations of my generation’s friends, and relatives…at the center a complete rejection of God and His moral laws, including sacrificing their unborn children…💔😢
Правда. Это правда.
Truth. This is truth.
The Boomers have been a curse over the land. And the root of this curse is rejection of God in favor of the gods of hedonism.
DISCO......
Later Jay
Abortion in the beginning was used so women could cheat on their spouse… this is before PP. It lead to loose morals within marriages. Once PP got hold of it, it also added the genocide of certain groups of people that you still see today. Now, it is government funded and the door is wide open to kill every possible baby it can. There is no God there… just satan’s minions.
👍🏼😂
🤭
Yeah!!! We don't want to claim those guys.
And what's wrong with boomers?I suggest that at least some of us are a wealth of
wisdom and experience that just might be useful to the know it all 50 somethings out there. So there!😁
I actually think the generational division stuff is stupid. It makes no sense to me at all. I don't know why anyone indulges in it as it's a made-up thing that's meant to divide us.