Don't Blame the Victim

I was reading in Politico forums the reactions people of all stripes had about the tax rate/ unemployment benefits compromise between Obama and Republican leaders when the comments of one poster got my blood boiling. He started by saying

I'm an old fart and I don't understand you younger generations and I suppose you won't understand this.

And went on from there. I'm copying here what I ranted there because it captures much of the reason I started this blog. To all Baby Boomer friends and family that I love, none of this is directed toward individuals. The original poster attacked what he sees as the failures of people younger than him and I questioned his logic in the face of decisions made by policymakers of his generation. My response:

Holy smoke. Are you really saying that the current mess we’re in is somehow the fault of YOUNG PEOPLE?

Do you realize that the average age of a US Senator is 60 and the average age in the House is 55?

Do you realize that for half or more of their careers Baby Boomers and their employers paid about HALF the FICA rate that Gen X and their employers have paid from their first day of work? Does ANYONE think Gen X will have the same level of SS and Medicare benefits when they retire as Boomers will? Nope, we’ll have to work longer, pay in a greater portion of our income and get fewer benefits than our elders.

And what age group voted themselves the biggest increase in entitlements with the prescription drug coverage in Medicare without raising rates during the majority of their own working years to pay for it?

Under which generation’s watch did the sense of entitlement grow from “let’s make sure the elderly and poor don’t starve for lack of food or die from lack of basic shelter and medicine” to “I should be able to keep my house and standard of living in retirement or unemployment regardless of whether or not I saved for it?”

Who RAISED the Millenials that, even before the economy tanked, preferred to live with Mom and Dad into their thirties and that believe having all the latest electronics and unlimited texting and internet access are basic rights regardless of whether they have pursued the training and education for jobs that pay enough to sustain such a lifestyle?

Under which generation’s watch did unions go from a necessary tool to protect workers to being just as greedy as corporations and demanding contracts that brought the US auto industry to its knees?

Under which generation’s watch did education in this country go from the world’s best to US students ranking 25th in math skills?

With the oil crisis in the 1970s you would think our country would have had the collective will to establish a coherent energy policy that would have made us LESS dependent on foreign and polluting sources by now. Sorry, we Gen Xers were a little busy with grade school in the 70s to solve that problem. Gen Y wasn’t even born!

Which generation turned a blind eye over the last 25 years while the number of people in the US illegally rose to tens of millions such that no matter how we solve the problem now it is going to be painful for everyone?

Don’t you dare accuse “young” people of causing this mess. Generation X is smaller than both Baby Boomers and Generation Y. People my age are getting royally screwed.