In their defence, it is a difficult concept to grasp. My dad started his career shovelling gravel for a few dollars an hour. Now he’s a vice president making very good money. In his mind, anyone can replicate what he did by working hard instead of being lazy and asking for handouts.
I eventually got through to him one day when he was talking about hiring for a senior management position. He was interviewing all these people with fancy degrees and credentials. I asked why not promote one of his hard workers? He laughed and said the person needs to be more than a hard worker to manage multi-million dollar projects. But where would he be now if his old boss had thought the same thing? My dad has none of the credentials of the people he was interviewing. He’d still be shovelling gravel 60 hours a week for minimum wage if nobody gave him the opportunity to advance. How could he think hard work will be rewarded when he doesn’t even reward it himself? That’s when he admitted the world works differently now.
I read one story the young adult finally convinced his dad when he showed him a job posting for his old job. It payed less than when he had it, not even accounting for inflation.
I remember that story and can relate. It took showing my parents the cost of my tuition at a university now and comparing it to when they were 18, then doing the same for the yearly wage of a fast food worker, before they realized that cost inflation has out-paced wage inflation by a crazy amount and no, people can’t just sustain themselves through college to get a leg up in society.
I was searching for apartments a few years ago when I still lived with my parents. My Dad was frustrated with my search taking so long (basically accusing me of dragging my feet) asked me why I kept saying I couldn’t afford to live in any of the places near where we lived / my workplace (I live in one of the highest cost of living states in America). I made a bet with him that if he could find me an apartment that was within my budget of $2,200/month within a week, I would sign the lease and move out as soon as they would let me move in. If he couldn’t, he had to admit that finding an apartment in this area in this economy was not as easy as it was when he was my age (I was originally going to ask him to pay me $500 if he lost the wager, but he backed down from that so I took away any monetary incentive and just went for the moral victory instead).
Of course, three days after we made the bet, he came back to me and said “What happened to all the apartments that used to cost $800/month? These leases are more than what we pay for our mortgage!”. Somehow, he was still living in a reality so far removed from our own that he had no idea just how bad things had gotten.
There was something a while ago where people were worried in the 70s-90s (can’t remember the decade) where house prices had increased to 1.8x to 2.7x the Average annual income and were unaffordable.
So… yeah…
I’d love to see a source on this because it’s believable and insane
Outside the US college is sometimes stilll a good path. I’ve seen people blow it (useless degrees with no plan to get a job with it, etc.). but if you pick the right field it helps a lot.
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What’s stopping the average boomer? It’s not their age, it’s Fox “News”.
Lead poisoning may be a factor
Even still, weren’t their dozens of people shoveling gravel and only a couple of vice presidents? The pyramid structure of corporations imply that not everyone can go from the entry level work to the c suite. It’s an attrition and numbers game.
Plus, most companies now outsource their grunt work. The janitor cannot become the CEO anymore, because the janitor is a contracted worker, making minimum wage, not invited to the Christmas party, and prevented from speaking to anybody in a position of authority.
Oh, yes, the contractors, not-exactly-people existing only when convenient. And the conditions for them are usually bad even when their manager tries to improve those, because tops see no additional value in improving conditions for someone that doesn’t
existwork in the main corp
“The world works differently now” is cope. He doesn’t want to admit he pulled the ladder up behind him so it’s society’s fault.
You really think OP’s dad is running the show?
Running the show? What is that supposed to mean? Of course he’s not the king of the entire world but neither is anyone else.
Hank doesn’t look like a boomer anymore. Cotton does. Boomers are 70+ year olds now. Weird.
Hank is also mostly a product of his environment, yet a caring father that accepts his family for who they are. If all boomers were like Hank Hill, we’d all be happy.
I wouldn’t say he fully accepts Bobby given that he often remarks "that boy ain’t right "
Well, he ain’t.
It mostly comes from a point of not understanding Bobby. That boy might not be right in his eyes but he loves and supports him. Even if he should know more about propane and propane accessories.
That’s the situation for all of us: we are products of our environment, then we get to make some choices.
I’m 59; born in 1964. Unfortunately, I was born in the last year of the Boomers.
No shame in being a boomer.
Only shame in being an asshole
There’s no shame in being shameless
How about the fact that as the overall population becomes top heavy with the elderly and fewer young people … the economy won’t be able to sustain paying for older people because there will be too few young people driving the economy.
This isn’t meant to divide … this is an honest worry of mine because I’m middle aged and by the time I get old and feeble, the economy probably won’t be able to afford to care for people my age.
Unless you’re a billionaire, millionaire or the child of one, we’re all screwed.
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A video that gives a simplified view of the problem
I don’t disagree. Yet people on the top heavy side continue to disproportionately support the individuals who collectively make it more difficult to live comfortably at any age. Those at or around retirement age are in this situation almost purely as a result of their choices, and/or a colorful, almost deceitful, blindness.
I can’t blame any of them though. Many of us below 40 have had access to a million points of data via the internet over the years. So identifying these issues has been much easier for your average person. Of course on the other hand…
I think the big issue is we can’t seem to truly agree on a course of action long enough to make anything happen. So…I don’t know. Apart from us all pushing ourselves and people we trust into lower offices, I do not feel I am wise enough to suggest any solution.
It gets even better: the high cost of essentials - especially housing - in relation to salaries makes said young people refrain from having as many kids as they would otherwise have (basically 1 or none instead of 2 or 3) meaning the problem is going to get worse.
It suddenly got me that this may be seen as capitalism (regarded by some as apex idea of humanity) is driving humanity extinct. Quite a sad irony
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What kind of perspective does one need to have to believe it is good when there are no resources (money, people) to care for the elderly?
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I just wanted to reply “but those who aren’t rich would suffer” before I realised that’s not part of the perspective of rich people, probably…
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what we can automate we do really well making the rest paying less than before.
I love telling boomers how easy their lives were and how they didn’t need to work half as hard as today’s youth.
That is such a funny image of Hank - pissed off look and posture, beer in front of him, tie loosened. He’s got something to say to somebody
I’ll tell ya hwhat
Looks like the face of someone who doesn’t know what a jpeg is.
You surely mean jfeg
I just want a picture of a gatdang hot dog!
Where I’m from, they know. The news have done a good job of reporting on it, and they see the cost of houses, and whatnot be worse than before. It’s kind of new from the last 5 or so years, before that they didn’t get it. But now it’s pretty obvious so long as they watch the news or pay attention to their kids and grandkid’s lives.
It really depends though. In a lot of places, life for gay young people for example is a lot less shitty than it was for gay people 40 years ago
The funny thing is, that many boomers dislike exactly that fact about generations younger than them. They think because esp. Millenials and Genz learned to name and voice their feelings, they are weak.
It is incredible mental gymnastics, however a lot of boomers tend to blame this “weakness” for economical struggle of younger generations.
That all depends on where you live. That’s gone backwards in certain areas/states in the US the last few years.
Bloody gays, causing the rent to go up! 😠
It’s Rainbownomics!
They fucked around and are mad that we are the ones that are finding out before they died.
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Every generation has shitty and awesome people
Right, but different generations have experienced different levels of economic and cultural turmoil that have shaped their political and ethical ideologies.
People who embraced Reaganomics and the general back slide of civility have destroyed their ability to empathize with anyone outside of their small community.
Younger generations still display this type of learned behavior, but it’s a small minority when compared to the majority of boomers. I’m probably in the same generation as you, but I don’t really share your confusion about the schism.
I feel like GenX were the last gen to believe that everything would be fine if you just get a degree and do your time. We’re the last generation that had the privilege of not having to pay attention to politics.
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War, recessions and having a hard time happens to every generation.
Yes, but how society responds to those challenges is really what matters, and that’s not consistent.
Getting old does make you lose empathy
I’ve always been told that, but I don’t really believe it. The older I’ve gotten the more empathetic I’ve become, and this seems to run true with all of my aging friends.
my grandparents, it’s because they don’t think anyone’s listening or respects them so they go all in.
Eh, that may be true for your grandparents. But most of my geriatric patients tend to be highly influenced by conservative fear mongering.
The billionaires, corporations and lack of power for the common people are the issues to be addressed, not the elderly. Only a small percentage of people make all of the decisions that are making all of the generations have a fucking hard time right now.
I think that is a highly reductive way to describe it… The older generation has consistently voted away their rights, electing the people making “all the decisions”. The older generations have held more influence for longer than any other generation in American history.
Who do you think empowered the rich and the political class? Who do you think voted for and continues to vote for the people making all our lives miserable? How about you go and ask the average Medicare patient who made their lives so hard, I bet they won’t agree with your theory…
The difference is that they had the opportunity to elect people to make their own lives worse, and everyone after has had that choice made for them by people who should have retired decades ago.
Yes, but how society responds to those challenges is really what matters
One of the key ways American society changed its response to those challenges is it stopped enslaving young men to fight wars involuntarily.
It’s fucking terrifying to hear someone so opinionated about huge groups of people, say the words “my patients”.
What do you do?
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If you’re going to go by all of your generalizations, then you have to understand that the young don’t vote, that’s why the old make such a difference
Ahh if only it was someone’s responsibility to educate younger generations on the importance of voting…
corporations and lack of power for the common people (union busting, price-fixing wages, taking away rights, etc.) are what’s killing all generations.
Right, but you’re pretending that all this occurred in a vacuum? Did the corporations vote to elect the people who led the attacks on unions? Did corporations vote to elect the politicians who allowed taking away our rights?
These didn’t all happen at once, that generation decided these were ideas that would benefit themselves. And it did, they lived through the most economically prosperous times in America and got to retire before all their greed came crashing down around them.
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Seriously, you’re sticking up for the corporations and ultra rich who use extreme propaganda to influence everyone?
And who owns and operates those corporations?
You are operating under a false dichotomy, it’s not an either or situation. Yes corporations are negatively impacting our society, but that doesn’t negate the fact that the lion’s share of the profit created by those companies are going directly into a boomers pocket.
We are arguing about the cultural and ethical beliefs of generations. Bringing up corporations doesn’t inherently mean anything without context, and with context it doesn’t really improve your argument.
The elderly inherently share more blame for the status quo because they’ve had the most time to influence the status quo.
Found the boomer, guys
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Gen X?
1990?
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Just watched this episode yesterday 😂
Yoooo 😂 that is spot on!!!
I swear it’s their permanent face!
My mother trips over what’s left of her addled mind to performatively dismiss how the world was all exactly the same, as hard or harder, for her in the 70s. She hasn’t even entertained the idea that it might be exponentially worse for my generation on many different, measurable levels.
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Charles Sumner knows that to well but, there are times when it is worth it. In his case it was abolishing slavery.
