After WWII, the nation gave birth to a remarkable generation of workers. They had better health than their ancestors, who often died young or suffered the crippling effects of disease. They had better educations than their ancestors, too. More folks finished high school and went on to college than at any time in the past. This created a strong, healthy, skilled workforce that helped the nation become the richest and most powerful in the world. The country’s wealthiest citizens amassed huge fortunes thanks to the hard work of American labor.
Now, the bill has come due. The nation made a contract with its workers. Stay on the job until you reach retirement age, help us make the airplanes and cars and pharmaceuticals and all the rest, and when you get too old to work, you will be taken care of. No handouts, mind you. Instead, the government will help you save for the future by deducting a portion of each paycheck and putting it away into a retirement account----
What would the CEO of Exxon do if Congress passed a law confiscating the money in his pension plan, so that it could be used to pay Halliburton for its work in Iraq? Would he bow his head meekly and say “It’s all yours. Dick Cheney needs that money more than I do.”? Hell no! He would raise a shit storm. So why, when the Boomers object to having their pension fund---Social Security---robbed, are they called Babies?
“Baby Boomers Could Force Economic Catastrophe” Fox News headline
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/...
“Baby Boomer Generation: As Selfish in Near-Death as They Were in Life” Debbie Schlussel
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/...
“You haven't heard, the Baby Boomers don't plan on dying”. Rush Limbaugh
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/...
“But as far back as the 1980s, America started amassing debt at more alarming levels, and our leaders began to realize that a larger challenge was on the horizon. They knew that eventually, the Baby Boom generation would retire, which meant a much bigger portion of our citizens would be relying on programs like Medicare, Social Security, and possibly Medicaid. Like parents with young children who know they have to start saving for the college years, America had to start borrowing less and saving more to prepare for the retirement of an entire generation.” Obama, 2011
http://www.cfr.org/...
Look at that last sentence. The “parents” are federal government officials---like Obama. The “children” are the Boomers. Sorry, the Baby Boomers. Too naïve, too greedy, too helpless, too nonproductive to have any say in their own fate or in the running of the government----
I am 52 years old. I am a physician and a mother and I am no one’s baby.