Baby Boomers What's Your HONEST Answer To You BROKE The System?

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Speaker 1: Baby boomers, how do you feel about the criticism leveled

at your generation for supposedly having destroyed the economy and

the housing market for the younger generation? My father, as

a quintessential baby boomer born in the 50s, used to

have the mentality that young people just aren't willing to

work as hard. He was the first person from his

working class, car factory working family to attend university, and

I wouldn't say he was ever really handed anything. However,

a couple of years ago, my partner and I were

in the process of buying a house and he gawked

when I told him how much our mortgage would be.

He said we were buying outside of our means, but

then I asked him to please find one at the

price he thought was acceptable. He took that as a challenge,

as he always would, and came in hours later saying

he'd been looking at house prices and they're all ridiculous.

He and my mother bought their first flat together in 1980.

At the time, their total income was around £ 11, 000, and

the flat cost £ 25, 000. Our mortgage is close to six

times our combined income, and that's much better than most

of our age. He changed his opinion after that, and

in the last local elections, he asked his candidate what

their policy was on the rising house prices. Props to

his dad for changing his outlook, plenty of others would

simply just double down. Story 2. I'm a baby boomer, 1946. Yes,

I worked hard and took a lot of crap my

whole working life, but so do young people nowadays. At heart,

I have always been a socialist, environmentalist, and accepting of

all gender orientations. Frankly, I don't think I was an outlier.

Most of the people I associated with had the same leanings.

We always voted as far left as was available, go Bernie,

and saw civil rights laws take hold, as well as

protections for the handicapped, protections for the environment, and the

ending of the Vietnam War. We hated Reagan and the

Bush family. I don't feel I destroyed the economy for

the younger generation. I just lived my life honestly with

an eye out for those who didn't have the luck

that I did. I understand why some younger people blame boomers.

People my age blame the older generations for the sad

state of affairs of the 1960s. So I can tolerate

the criticism. But it is misguided. The problems of today

weren't caused by the vast majority of boomers. They were

systemic problems caused by an under-regulated capitalist economic system and

a political system that is archaic and does not respond

to the changing times. I personally understand the anger of

younger people and I encourage it. I feel I would

be hypocritical if I took offense since I was once

angry at my parents' generation for their conservative political and

religious views. Story 3. Giving generations certain characteristics is a

divisive tactic to cause trouble between them. If we're divided,

then we are conquered by groups with only their interests prevailing.

I am a baby boomer and I never subscribed to

or acted like the usual depiction of my generation and

neither do my friends. I've lived a long time and

I've seen power and riches seekers of all generations trying

to divide the general population so that they can benefit

and become richer and more powerful. Look at how divided

we've become because of fighting about woke, DEI, women presidents, racism, ageism,

and immigration, to name a few. All of these supposed

dividers influence people to separate and form camps that distrust

each other. Meanwhile, a lot of our freedoms, values, ability

to generate wealth, education, and health are being eroded and monetized,

so the general health and welfare of our nation goes

down while a certain powerful few rise astronomically. Hopefully, a

lot more people will see the light and stop believing

in division and start working together to make a more

perfect union, as the preamble to the U.S. Constitution challenged

us with. Story four. Well, to be honest, the generation

before us was worse. We baby boomers didn't put lead

in the gasoline and in the paint cans. That all

happened before we got here. I gotta be honest, the

greatest generation wasn't that great. They cheated on their wives,

beat their kids, and screwed over everyone in business, and

then they'd go to church, the hypocrites. Things got worse

under Reagan and his cronies. They're the ones who deregulated

and caused damage. The rich robbed from the poor and

trickled down proved to be BS. So yes, baby boomers

deserve criticism, but we didn't start the fire. Our nation's

downward trajectory is mostly a matter of class warfare, and

that's been happening for generations. Story 5. I'm technically a

baby boomer, or is it Gen X, and have been

a socialist my whole life, a real socialist, that is,

voting for left-wing parties in my country, and politically active

in women's and animal rights movements. For the last few years,

I have participated in movements to promote basic income policy,

so I do not feel attacked personally. That said, I

truly believe that all civilized countries should have an age

cap on critical executive and judicial positions. Everyone should be

forced to retire at 70 at the latest. If you

want to be involved after that age, fine, go do

some mentoring of younger cohorts. Wisdom comes with age sometimes,

but at a certain age, you become too distant to

understand the needs of younger generations and you should make

a place for them. Too many of my generation are

stuck in the past and think they know it all.

And you know what? I work at a university and

I learn as much from the young people as they

learn from me. Story 6. My parents are aware on

one hand, but blind on the other. My parents were

never rich, but retired really well with their pensions and

social security. When I brought up the fact that my

pension will be a fraction of theirs and social security

may not be around when I'm at retirement age, my

mom just focuses on how good she has it, not

offering sympathy or any awareness. She once defended her pension

and social security, saying she worked hard for both, and like,

I didn't? Story 7. I am a late baby boomer. 1960.

I get that the leadership of my generation did some

bad stuff, but all I ever did was work 40

to 60 hours a week for almost 40 years, support

my family, and finally got to retire in peace. I

am a hardcore liberal who never voted for a Republican.

It upsets me when I get personally blamed for something

the super rich and powerful of my generation did. I

get that I had opportunities that many in later generations

did not have, but that was not my fault. Story 8.

My first reaction is that nobody ever asked me what

we should do. I'm one of a couple of 100

million voters and I'll accept that fraction of the blame.

My second reaction is, when the problem still exists in

20 years, will younger generations accept their portion of the blame?

The problem is in the laws, rules, and regulations. If

anyone asked me if housing and healthcare are important, I'd

say yes, and I'd give a detailed plan for fixing both.

But I'm not a politician, just a worker and a voter.

For my part, I'm taking action by building a retirement home,

putting a small cottage on a piece of raw land.

Soon the house I live in will go on the market,

and when I'm gone, there will be one more house

than there was before. Story 9 I'm a baby boomer.

I work hard so I could pay my kids' way

through university, specifically so they wouldn't be saddled with education

loan debt, which would have inhibited their ability to buy

a house. I wanted my grandkids to grow up in

a house. First of all, the modern economy wasn't actually

architected by baby boomers. We weren't in power during the

Reagan years. Baby boomers are the first generation of the

modern consumer economy. We bought a lot of stuff. I

don't know how or if that matters, but it is

interesting in some way as we pass on all that

stuff we collected to our kids. The increase in property

taxes was halted in California, at least. This pushed up

house prices because baby boomers weren't pushed out of their

houses when they got older, and that changed the supply

and demand dynamics. This also made education much more expensive,

which impacted the younger generations greatly. But again, baby boomers

are not the architects of that. It happened before we

were in power. We just never fixed it, and that's

our bad. When we were young, we leveled criticism at

our parents' generation, much as millennials do now. Time will

tell if they are any better than we were. I

look at J.D. Vance, and I wonder about that. Story 10.

As a teacher from Texas, I just chuckle. In my

first few years, I was down to eating beans by

the end of the month. Youngsters seemed to think we

all were able to buy houses at $ 20, 000. But I

didn't own my first home until I was 40 and

only then because my dad left me an inheritance. But

I worked and lived frugally and saved what I could

those first 20 years. I made do with mom's hand-me-down

sheets and gran's quilt. I don't think zoomers would make

do as it doesn't fit their aesthetic. I think part

of the problem is many of them grew up in

homes that reflected the economic prosperity of the time and

parents near the top of their earning. So that is

their expectation, not the crappy, furnished, roach-infested starter apartments with

three other roommates that most of us old-timers started out in.

Story 11. Baby Boomer here. I have said this before

and I will remind the younger generations of this until

I pass away. I voted for Jimmy Carter. Twice. I

voted for Ross Perot over Bill Clinton. I voted for

Al Gore. Yay. Many millions of us voted for better

candidates than we ended up with as presidents. That same

can be said of local politics and members of Congress.

Why do we have such very old people in Congress?

Because the voters who would like to replace the old

people do not go out and vote. Baby boomers, sometimes

motivated by these painful losses every four to eight years,

we tend to get out and vote. We know how

badly a bad president can wreak mayhem on the economy.

Dear God, some parents lost their kids in Bush's wars.

You don't think those parents get out and vote every

chance they get? I don't think the younger generations have

been taught in high school that their vote is crucial.

It's not something that can be put off. It needs

to be a sacred Tuesday, and if they have to

take the day off from work to go vote, then yes,

it's that important. I was really lucky because I got

to volunteer at a polling place when Obama ran the

first time. I got to be part of the process

and hand out ballots and check voters off the list

based on name and address. It was an unprecedented day

because there were lines of voters, and I'm telling you, youngers,

that never happens, never. In my state, which is so

laid back, everyone assumes the Democrats will win and maybe

they show up, maybe they don't. But because so many

people knew a black man's chances are not always so

great in America, even in a blue state, they showed up.

And because the Obama campaign was so modern, texts, Facebook posts,

and live streaming, they met the younger generations on their turf,

their phones. So the older people showed up because they

know prominent black men often get shot in America. The

younger generation showed up because the Obama campaign met them

on their phones. So, youngers, you don't get to blame

all the baby boomers. Many of us got Obama elected.

If you are blaming all of us, that means you're

blaming Al Gore. I can't think of another politician who

has done more to get climate change on the front

page than him. Are you going to throw him into

the baby boomer doom wish dumpster fire too? So stop

being so paranoid. Life is difficult. The opposition is sneaky

and devious. That is all many baby boomers can tell you.

you for sure. Accept it and then go vote. Vote

like your lives depend on it. Always. Story 12. What

you're seeing is pretty obvious. Ignorant and ageist bigotry. We

were famously quoted as saying, don't trust anyone under 30,

which of course we did not adhere to. We were

also being given the swell choice of being sent to

Vietnam to terminate, be terminated, or go to prison, which

is a little different from being out of work. People

are mistaken if they think any particular generation is ever

in charge. The powers that be change in age, but

their motives remain the same. The wealthy and powerful have

been in charge since well before the Roman Empire. Younger

people have the worst voter turnout of any age group,

and the ones who don't vote complain as much as anyone.

Maybe it is the worst they have ever seen, but

it is going to get a lot worse as this

is intentional. Right now, unemployment is 4.2%, it has been

over 7% or higher 7 times since the 50s, and

was over 10% when I got out of school. I

had to do manual labor, then retail, then an entry-level

insurance job, and finally got a good job in my mid-20s.

The position of the White House is that you voted

for massive federal layoffs, a trade war, massive and expensive deportations,

and hundreds of billions in higher taxes in the form

of tariffs. JFK said a rising tide raises all boats.

The wealthy folks supporting Trump are not in favor of

improving the prospects of the majority of the population. They

view their greater opportunity as being in an economic decline

so they can buy assets for pennies on the dollar,

reduce labor costs, reduce interest expenses, and see gains in

the value of bonds they hold. The bond market is

larger than the stock market. Remember this quote by Trump

in 1996, quote from 1996 about a potential crash in

the real estate market? I sort of hope that happens

because then people like me would go in and buy.

You know, if you're in a good cash position, which

I'm in a good cash position today, then people like

me would go in and buy like crazy. 10 of

the last 11 recessions began during a Republican administration. This

is not a coincidence. It is policy. Story 13. I'm

one of the younger baby boomers. I don't recall ever

weighing in on what gets built or doesn't get built

or what the market does. Nobody ever asked me what

interest rates should be. I do the same stuff most

everyone does. I go to work, come home, make dinner,

watch TV, and go to bed and do it all

over again five days a week. I've lived in a

few different cities, with Los Angeles being the one I

lived in the longest. Housing has gotten expensive over the

past 20 years and what caused it to get so

crazy in the past five years? I'm not sure. Will

it stay like this? Probably not. Story 14. I'm Gen

X and I recognize this as just another page of

the culture war. The people with the actual power have

to keep finding new ways to get us fighting amongst ourselves,

because thinking people get wise to the old tropes, racial

minorities and queers, over time. And if we stop fighting

each other, we'll go after Musk, Trump, Thiel, Vance, and

the like, and then they'd be in trouble because there

aren't very many of them. All you need to start

a culture war is an angry population, youth, that's uncommitted

to its values, if it even knows what it values,

and a large enough cohort in the target group, baby boomers,

that conforms to a bad stereotype, entitled, ignorant, clueless, victim-blaming, boom, war.

But baby boomers are not a homogenous group any more

than black folks, queers, or anyone else are. And the

average baby boomer had no more control over the conditions

that created youth poverty than the average white person had

over the conditions that created white supremacy. And just as

there are white folks that are working furiously against racism,

there are baby boomers who are and have always worked

against wealth inequality. The subsection of baby boomers that supports

ending wealth inequality is one of the most politically powerful

allies young people can have. They need to quit stereotyping

people based on age. I mean, they hate it when

baby boomers do it to them, so. And mobilizing with

allies of all ages to fight the real enemy. Story 15.

I'm not a baby boomer, but I'm super close, and honestly,

lumping everyone into a category, baby boomer, millennial, Gen Xer, etc.

is ludicrous. That being said, I'm not sure what personal

responsibility I, or we, are supposed to have. I've always

voted Democrat, and as far as I know, I never

did anything to specifically impact the economy one way or

the other. The real villains here are big corporations and

the politicians who work for them. My parents' house increased

in value exponentially from when they bought it, and I

have benefited from that greatly. But I did nothing to

make that happen. It just occurred over the course of

decades in which I had no hand in policy beyond

my vote. Blaming baby boomers or labeling Gen Xers as lazy,

all that stuff is kind of dumb. Story 16. I'm

curious why the blame is laid at the baby boomer generation.

Capitalism is to blame for the rising cost of everything.

I'm on the side for affordable living and blame politicians

for not taking actions. I had a conversation with a

coworker and he argued against me, stating it's a free

market and blaming the population for paying ridiculous amounts for homes.

His statement was that the people can reset the market

by not buying any home listed over $ 300, 000. The problem

with that is real estate investment firms are outbidding new families.

I believe politicians should ban REIs from investing in family homes.

Story 17. It will be funny if the next generation

blames millennials and Gen Z for not boycotting Amazon or

not stopping tech billionaires or letting Trump happen. Many of

them did not vote after all. This might be unpopular,

but I think every single person here would have done

the same back then. Who wouldn't buy a house if

they could? Who here would give up ordering takeout or

ordering stuff online all the time? It's not a generational thing,

it's a human thing. There's always a spectrum. There are

always people fighting for minorities, equal rights, and the environment.

Young people sometimes sound like they invented those things. Story 18.

I think it's not fair to lump all people into

one group. Do Gen Z, Millennials, etc. appreciate the names

and labels assigned to them? Why would you accept a

flat-out assumption about someone you've never met? It's another attempt

by those that control the narrative to push a culture

war so you don't pay attention to the class war

that's really behind all your misery. There are terrible people

in each cohort. There are also wonderful people in each cohort. Personally,

I think outrage projected at the billionaire class of wealth

hoarders would be in all of our best interests. Story 19.

My mom, a baby boomer, was paying her student loans

off until the mid-90s. She graduated in the early 70s.

She worked for 40 plus years and doesn't have much

cash for her late life. She doesn't own her home.

I help her with bills. I think the baby boomers

bought it all for a song. Cliche really only applies

to primarily white, upper middle class men. Most folks in

that generation and every generation work too hard for too

little for too long. but it's telling that the stereotype

isn't qualified. In my experience, it's the white upper-middle-class children

of the folks who bought it for a song that

pushed the narrative the hardest. It's almost like they feel

entitled to something. Story 20. I'm a baby boomer. I

think that criticism needs to be directed to baby boomers

and every member of other generations who voted for Republicans

during the last 50 years. In that time, they destroyed

pensions and unions, deregulated utilities and communications, encouraged a for-profit

healthcare system, wrote a tax code that allows corporations to

maximize profits while paying little in taxes, and brainwashed millions

of people into thinking those are good things. When I

started working, companies offered pensions, affordable health insurance, and salaries

that pretty much kept up with inflation. That's all gone.

Investors and executives take all of the profits and it

didn't need to be like this. I bet 50% or

more of baby boomers are just like me. I personally

did pretty well until my health insurance company dropped me

when I had cancer. Before the ACA, they could do that.

I ended up having to sell my house so I

could afford to continue treatment. I'm still relatively okay living

in a tiny 1,000 square foot house, but still working

in my late 60s. Most of my friends and family

are also still working. We have no choice. There is

no safety net. The GOP destroyed it. I have marched

starting in the late 60s until now and voted for

politicians that would help people. Shame so many others didn't.

And if you're enjoying the video so far, don't forget

to hit that subscribe and like button for more videos

just like this. Story 21. I'm a baby boomer with

an MA in economics. I have owned four houses, one

at a time of course. All of them were in

the area of Akron, Ohio. Take a look at the

prices there. There are safe, decent neighborhoods all around the

city and the surrounding smaller towns. Akron is not unique

in this. There are many other smaller, less popular cities

in the US that are actually great places to live.

That might be something to consider just on a personal level.

I understand that the job a person wants may not

be in one of those towns. I also understand that

other towns and regions might seem to have a lot

more to offer. Who dreams of living in Akron, Ohio?

I'm sympathetic to people who can't afford to buy a

house in one of the more happening towns. I just

don't understand why in the world would people blame me?

The problem isn't that the baby boomers bought all the houses.

The problem is a combination of population growth and zoning laws.

The U.S. population has increased by 100 million. From about

$ 240 million to $ 340 million since I bought my first

house in 1986. That's a huge increase in demand for housing.

A little less than half of it comes from immigration.

My comment is not an argument against immigration. I'm just

stating the reality. The biggest problem is zoning laws. Minimum

lot sizes, minimum house sizes, limitations on multifamily dwellings, etc.

These limitations are especially impactful in the places where a

lot of people want to go. There's a lot of

analysis from every side of the political world and it

all converges on that. So how do I feel? I

feel bad for many people who can't afford to buy

a house in the city that they want to live in. Personally,

I never considered moving to a city where I could

not afford a house. The downside is that I live

in a place where winter really sucks. The upside is

that the houses were affordable and I can even afford

a little travel trailer to spend some of the winter

in a nicer place. It took a long time to

get to that place and I had to work pretty

hard so I'm certainly not going to feel guilty. For

what it's worth, I'm not preaching at anybody. I'm just

putting this out there in case it's helpful to somebody.

Story 22. Some of it is just frustrated and misguided

people lashing out. Baby boomers are one of the most

diverse age cohorts. They are white, black, Asian, Latino, gay, straight, LGBTQI, poor, rich, conservative, liberal,

born in the US, immigrants, etc. The 73 million baby

boomers are not a monolith and do not operate as

a group. For those frustrated with jobs and the economy,

most of the decision makers in the business world today

are not baby boomers but younger generations. Some are mad

at baby boomers for owning homes that they bought when

homes were affordable. If baby boomers are lucky enough to

have purchased homes when they were affordable, they cannot afford

to move because replacement housing is so overpriced. It's like

resenting someone whose grandparents purchased a home in 1945 for

like $ 7, 000. They didn't do anything to screw you. Prices

rise over time. However, there are also malign entities that

come onto Reddit prior to major election cycles to stir

up division between different groups of Americans. In the face

of so many challenges to democracy, strong multi-generational coalitions are

needed to fight the authoritarian forces. When you see videos

of protests, notice how many gray heads there are. We

need a band together to restore democracy. Hate between groups

is used to weaken opposition to the right-wing coup underway.

Story 23. Any criticism at the level of generations is useless.

First off, no generation destroyed the housing market in my

small European country, and I'm pretty sure that things are

totally different in, say, Southeast Asia, so the generalization doesn't

hold anyway. Second, no single person ever did anything like

that on purpose, and nobody could have single-handedly prevented it,

so who are you talking to? Third, in every generation

you have schmucks and you have lots and lots of

decent hard-working folks who just want to get by. It's

like calling the Pharisees hypocrites. You're not convincing me that

a few thousand people 2,000 years ago were all being

hypocritical every single day, all day long, and nothing else.

The same goes even more for talking about literally billions

of people. It's BS, hate-mongering, evil, and stupid. Story 24.

Tail end, baby boomer here, but by the time us

youngers came into adulthood, the party was over. I still

have my kids living at home and they are well

into adulthood. My silent generation slash traditionalist generation father can

understand why the kids aren't out on their own as

soon as they graduate from high school. I've given up

explaining to him why. The opportunities are different. The economy

is different. No one in their right mind can expect

the old nose to the grindstone method is going to work.

Wages haven't kept up with the cost of living and

you've got a whole cohort of a workforce willing to

work for pennies on the dollar keeping those wages low.

Many positions are filled using networking who-knows-who methods versus applying traditionally.

Go ahead and blame my generation for what is wrong.

I haven't raped the aforementioned benefits the original poster is

talking about. Story 25. The real issue isn't that things

were better, easier, or more affordable when they were 20

and 30. The issue is they elected, voted, and supported

politicians and policies which have protected their interests at the

detriment of their children and grandchildren. consistently kicking the can

down the road and stealing from future generations. And now

that they're older and retired and well-off, they have a

decidedly screw-you-I-got-mine attitude about everything. Climate change? Screw you. Housing density?

Screw you. Higher taxes? Screw you. Subsidize lower incomes with healthcare?

Screw you. Bring back pensions? Screw you. On-the-job training so

an entry-level position doesn't need five years of experience? Screw you.

Help us fight big corporations? Screw you. But if our

government was in a crap show of deranged mental patients

with memory and cognitive issues who might prioritize the younger generations,

screw you, etc. And the wealth transfer being predicted 10

years ago when they pass on the inheritance is looking

less and less likely by the day. Story 26. I

am 68. I bought my first house in 1981. It

was 12.5% interest, and I was paying $ 1, 000 a month

when I was making $ 12 an hour, basically half my income.

There wasn't a whole lot left for food, and there

certainly wasn't anything for dental. The house was just a

bare-bones starter house, nothing fancy. Nothing the current administration is

doing or has done has made it any easier to

afford a house and a stable life on a middle-class income.

I do think most baby boomers understand how hard it is,

because it was hard for us too. The only thing

that made it possible for me was that I did

a four-year stint in the military, and that got me

a GI Bill loan, 12.5% instead of 16%. The current

administration and the MAGA crowd, along with the elite Democrats,

are not making it any easier to be in the

middle class. Vote for your best interests, not just what's

popular or what some politician tells you will be. And no,

cutting the government will not make anything better, that's just

the rich folks trying to have more. Story 28. First,

how and to whom is that criticism expressed? Not all

baby boomers are responsible for today's mess. You're talking about

a bunch of elite entitled politicians who rig laws, etc.

I've been poor all my life. I've never owned a

house and I never will. I just answered a post

where the title blames baby boomers for the actions of

one pervy old man. Like pervy old men didn't exist

before baby boomers. But hey, baby boomer bashing is a

thing now and you're not with it if you don't partake.

People of all generations, since the baby boomers, and I

might add because of the baby boomers, understand that you

can't judge people by how some others of that same

demographic behave. Most understand you don't do this with black

people or Muslims, etc. But from what I've seen, they

can't stretch their young brains to generalize the principle of

stereotyping to old people, aka baby boomers. So once again,

I'm going to say it. No one person is representative

of any demographic, including baby boomers. And if there is

any one person who possibly could be responsible for the

condition of the world, they are not your parents or

grandparents or more than likely not anyone you know. If they,

your baby boomer relatives, don't understand some things about the

world today, that doesn't mean they set you up to fail.

Story 28. I have tremendous sympathy for younger generations and

the mess they've been left. What's important to keep in

mind is that we had maybe two or three media

sources at best and that information was more tightly controlled.

That being said, many of us fought against poor economic policies,

stupid wars, and anti-human and civil rights legislation. We tried

as hard as people do now to make a better country,

and like now, we were fighting against a huge corporate oligarchy.

We made huge progress in so many ways until freaking

Reagan came along. I'm so sorry, young ones. Many of

us tried very hard. Story 29. Actual baby boomer here,

although at the tail end considered Generation Jones, I guess.

I had a very dysfunctional childhood. We were very poor,

as were our neighbors. I was raised and neglected by

a single, substance-fixated mother. We did get welfare checks to

pay the rent and government surplus food for part of

the month. I often went hungry. We didn't have a

car or a telephone. We had a black and white TV.

I left home and have been on my own since

I was 16. I don't take it personally when young

people complain about baby boomers having a gilded life and

leaving only crumbs, since that certainly doesn't describe my life.

Story 30. It's hilarious scrolling through this thread of 1,000

millennials and zoomers crying that they can't own a house

because the cards are stacked against them, and they're clearly

demonstrating they don't even understand how the housing market works.

Housing prices do not rise perpetually upward, they rise and

fall in tandem with supply and demand. They're impacted by

interest rates set by the Federal Reserve, among other things.

They're impacted by regional differences. Claiming that boomers made housing

prices too high reveals such a stunning ignorance of even

the basics. I think I'm being trolled. Housing prices are

sky high right now because there is a lack of

inventory on the market. There is a lack of inventory

on the market because interest rates are higher than they've

been since the 90s. When interest rates are higher, homeowners

tend to stay put rather than sell because they can't

get as much for their money on a new mortgage.

People are also reluctant to sell when the economic outlook

is grim as it is right now. Inflation, job losses,

it's risky. So with what little inventory is on the market,

sellers can ask ridiculous prices. People being pinched in the

ever-rising rental market want to buy but are being priced

out in many cases. Demand is higher than supply. Normally,

housing markets go in 10-year cycles. Unfortunately, we're not in

normal times anymore. Policy decisions during lockdown ran inflation up

to record levels. And now an oligarch administration that understands

as much about economics as the people in this threat

is looting the treasury and making catastrophic decisions that are

sending the economy over the edge. It is possible that

a major recession is coming, which should lower prices and

interest rates. Supply will be higher than demand. But this

administration is so unpredictable, we might just have to wait

it out. I just can't believe a bunch of supposed

adults have themselves convinced that boomers are conspiring to manipulate

the housing market to keep them out. Do they understand

how mentally ill they sound? Or is it just a

consequence of two generations who were so pampered as children

that they literally don't understand that the free ride ends

when you reach adulthood? There is no more pouting until

mom and dad give you what you want. Yeah, things

are messed up now for a lot of reasons, but

for goodness sake, stop throwing tantrums like a bunch of

toddlers because you can't have what you want handed to you.

Story 31. I'm not a baby boomer, but I will

comment for my dad since his English is bad. Here's

what he said. Not every person from the baby boomer

generation lived in the United States during the good times.

My dad migrated, legally, with his dad in 1992 and

was paid scraps trying to survive. He only made $ 6

an hour and worked 14 hours a day to make

ends meet. He managed to buy a property with two

of his older brothers and save material that the construction

company threw away to build his own house. He is

still paying the mortgage and we struggle to make ends

meet in today's economy. I helped pay some of his

bills so that he would not become homeless. I love

him because he invested in his family with his heart

a lot. Story 32. Yes, we baby boomers all conspired

to wreck things for our own children and grandchildren. That

was 100% our intention. Come on, give me a break already.

I was having a similar conversation with a Gen Z

person earlier today who completely understood me when I said,

Humans are a mess. Gen Z blames Gen X. Everyone

blames the baby boomers. I guess, being a baby boomer,

I should blame the silent generation, and they can blame

the greatest generation. Nobody intentionally wrecked anything, so there's really

no blame to assign to anyone. Maybe the better question

is this, how exactly did baby boomers screw up the

economy and the housing market? Maybe you're referring to ultra-financially

wealthy but morally bankrupt baby boomers, but please don't lump

us all in with those schmucks. Story 33. I'm a

baby boomer from the UK. I was born in 1959,

so I'm 66. Normal people don't really affect the trends

which lead to increasing house prices or poor job prospects.

In any generation, it's politicians and those with agendas who

shape the future. Growing up in the 1960s and 70s,

I was fortunate to benefit from post-war enlightened improvements like

free public healthcare and funded tertiary education. Did I and

my contemporaries, ordinary people who are the vast majority of

the population, quote, pull up the ladder? to stop access

by the next generation? No, we didn't. I would suggest

that what happened to the extreme in the US is

that capitalism became the religion of politicians, leading, in the UK,

to the sell-off of publicly owned utilities like water, railways, electricity,

and gas companies, now run for profit and having to

produce growth for shareholders' standards of service dropped and prices rose.

This and other trends away from the public good and

towards private enrichment caused higher costs to the general consumer

and inflation, a word never heard by most people before

the 1970s. Greed and government's lack of investment in services

for working people have led to the shocking social and

economic divide that we are suffering today. I didn't vote

for this. What right-thinking person would vote to worsen the

lot of their fellow man or woman? No, capitalism and

corruption in politics, which leads to lower taxes for rich

people and power for corporations, has led to this. That's

my simple view. Am I wrong? Story 34. Greedy schmucks

ruin the economy the same way greedy schmucks did in

the late 1800s and the late 1920s, which precipitated laws

against greedy schmucks trying to command the economy. The greedy

schmucks populate every generation because humans are greedy, self-interested schmucks,

and they've persisted in overcoming the legal barriers to accumulating

as much wealth as possible. To lay the blame at

the baby boomer generation's feet for the economy is as

absurd as blaming the previous generation for the Great Depression.

The upcoming generation will blame the current generation for the

AI takeover and an even crappier economy that is happening

now on their watch. It's just history's endless succession of greedy,

power-hungry schmucks and frightened, narrow-minded people looking for scapegoats. Story 36.

I'm the first to acknowledge that I have had a good.

I was just lucky to have been born when I was.

I had no say in it. My first house cost

three times my earnings. I had free education, free healthcare

in the UK, and a healthy pension. I've paid off

my house and don't have to worry about my future,

but this wasn't because I am a financial mastermind or

genius investor. It's because the governments of the time had

fiscal policies and other regulations and laws that allowed me

to achieve this. Us baby boomers don't hold secret meetings

where we plot how to accumulate more wealth and conspire

against other generations and gloat over how our master plan

is progressing. So don't blame us for just being lucky.

Blame the government and just wait for us to pass

away so you can inherit everything. I am not one

of those baby boomers who think young people don't work

as hard or don't want to work. I appreciate how

tough it is and despair for my nephews and nieces

who are doing it tough. But it's not in my

power to lower house prices or create more jobs or

pay higher wages. Story 36. I am a baby boomer

who was born in the mid-1950s. I was fortunate to

spend most of my working life with younger generations as

a college professor. There were and remain a lot of

us baby boomers, a huge cohort. who didn't vote for

or want this stuff. It's much easier economically when I

was in my 20s. I knew only one person who

bought a house before they were in their 30s. A

few bought condos. My personal friends were mainly professional people

with advanced degrees. All of us had student loans because

of the Reagan administration cuts and rising interest rates. But

the loans were not anywhere near as bad as they

are now. It was still possible to work your way

through undergrad. Pell grants covered state college tuition and most books.

You could work in the summer and cover dorm costs.

They started to pass away in the late 90s and

early 2000s because, you know, all these people were supposedly

not paying student loans. Housing is utterly out of control.

It's stupid. What your baby boomer parents don't tell you

is that they had starter homes, a duplex with their

first baby or often a rental. Most everyone I know

who bought their first place had a small house. McMansions

hadn't started yet. I guess it started in the 80s, 90s?

I think maybe my generation forgot they started out small,

but they could afford small. Now you can't even afford small.

Story 37. Baby Boomer here. I don't worry about it.

My husband and I have always done the best we

knew how to make the world more fair, and the

younger generations around us know that. We are trusted and

respected by our own kids, nieces, nephews, our own friends

in that generation and that next younger generation, any who

know us. We have everything in common with them. We're

old school liberals, as are our friends of all ages

doing our best to do right. There are no young

people in our family or friendship groups who don't have

a good work ethic. They're in a tough economy that

they have to figure out and they're doing the best

they can. We've gifted our kids over the years to

help them get started. Just a few years back when

our youngest and her husband were looking to buy a home,

they had savings and two incomes but there was hardly

anything livable to be had out there that wasn't prohibitively overpriced.

My husband and I have never had to buy in

such a market. Of course we'd help. We've had to

assure them that it's okay to take money from us

because they view us as self-made and worry we won't

spend enough on ourselves now we're retired. We've had to

explain that it was much easier to get started in

our day and that we will spend it on ourselves.

It's just been more fun to help them with home

purchases and home improvements. Also, we are not interested in

leading a lavish lifestyle while they struggle. These younger people

in our lives and us, the ones we know, we

are on the same team. We recognize racism, sexism, classism, homophobia,

and ageism as our common enemies. I do accept resentment

against baby boomers in general. I can only agree with

the charge that we didn't do enough with the economy

we were given back in the day, and that we,

who knew better, allowed our economy to become what it

is by not pushing against it harder. It can't be

easy for younger people to see baby boomers enjoying a

retirement if they can't imagine they'll ever see one themselves.

I don't worry about the resentment because it doesn't come

at me from people who know me, but I am

still sorry that my generation didn't do better. Story 38.

I do not think there is anything special about being

a baby boomer. Most of us did not intend to

do damage and some of us care. We just are

clueless as to how to fix it. Many of us

would rather blame you for the obvious problems you are facing.

I do not. However, you can blame us for many things.

You too will have to answer to the generations coming

after you. What will you say to them? Do you

really think this world is going in the right direction?

As for the criticism leveled at us, there is far

too much power held by billionaires and it is biting.

You will be asked, what did you do to stop

it and other things? Money rules? What will you say?

That is all our fault? If we could not stop it,

what are you doing to change it for the future generations?

Tell me what you will say when asked about climate change.

Why was it left to happen? I do not have

the answers. Most of us are people with not too

much power. The only way we are going to get

it with things like climate change and less power with greedy,

arrogant billionaires is when it is forced. The weather may

do this all on its own. I wish you well

and I'm sorry it is like this. Story 39. It's

just part of late stage capitalism. The so-called baby boomers

just happened to be born in that part of the

timeline a little before the end. Really, I think it

could have been any generation if that set of human

beings were alive in that particular part of the timeline.

I don't blame them. We are just as human as them.

We probably would have done the exact same thing. Seeing

the mistakes is kind of easy now. Hindsight kind of

works like that. I do believe that many of them

have guilt and that's fair, but they shouldn't be made

to feel shame. I believe the guilt of those I

speak of is why so many of the next generation

ended up coddled and taken care of, which of course

is a downward spiral. This was all just inevitable given

enough time, just as the correction that will also inevitably follow.

And if any of these stories got to you too,

here's more for you. YouTube thinks you're gonna love this.

I'll catch you in that video.