Post: #1

As is so common with the neo-cons, leftists of every type and especially (why tho?) college-educated intellectuals, this guy has a moment of clarity, identifies the problem correctly, and then firmly places it on the people who are trying to solve it. Nassim Taleb in his Intellectual Yet Idiot essay described how people like this professor cannot think past first order effects.

The article starts off good....

I'm so, so, so sorry: A Baby Boomer apologizes on behalf of his generation

Quote:My generation, the Baby Boomers, was to live the life purchased for us by the boys of Normandy, the Ardennes, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and other killing fields. White marble crosses and Stars of David in these places testify to the enormous price of that purchase. And live we did. What a party we threw ourselves. So, as I reflect on the goodness of the job my generation has done, I apologize. I apologize for it all.

I apologize that we Boomers bankrupted this great nation. We made all manner of promises to ourselves while leaving you the bill. Herbert Hoover once quipped that “blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.” He was only partially right; it’s far worse than that. I’m not talking about $22 trillion in treasury debt or even the exponential rate at which it’s growing. I’m talking unfunded liabilities.

Were one to add today’s treasury debt to the unfunded Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid promises we’ve made to ourselves on your behalf — valued somewhere in the $120 to $200 trillion range depending on assumptions about discount rates, life expectancies, etc. — the total would exceed the market value of the United States of America. (I think that prior to pulling the most powerful lever in the world, every U.S. citizen should be made to write $120,000,000,000,000 in a box on his or her voter registration form.)

In accounting terms, we have a negative net worth. In everyday terms, we’ve already spent or committed everything we have, everything, to support our generation’s lifestyle, now and in retirement. And it’s no accident. Just because we don’t care doesn’t mean we don’t understand. By the time the bill comes due, we’ll have the distinct advantage of being dead. So, if you think paying off your college loans is going to be tough, I have a shovel-ready infrastructure project to sell you.

...but then descends into finger pointing to deflect blame away from himself and his generation.
He offers no solution, which is the definition of whining.

Quote:I apologize that the Trumpists’ and, on the world stage, their fellow travelers’ nationalist fervor threatens to morph into xenophobia, race baiting and thinly disguised Jew-hatred. Charlottesville, the Yellow Vests Movement, as well as the Labor Party and its grand cyclops, er, leader, Jeremy Corbyn raise questions as to whether humans are really the highly evolved life-form we like to think we are.

Papamarcos was a visiting professor at CUNY’s Baruch College, professor and dean of the Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St. John’s University, professor and dean of the business school at Norfolk State University, and is now a clinical professor in the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary.

Post: #2

Papamarcos, what a gay name sounds like a Filipino smurf.

Post: #3

I'd say he didn't identify much of anything correctly. This article is filled with what my 9th grade Civics teacher would have called "glittering generalities." If I was still teaching I would give this effort a C+ and consider it generous. There are many many complicated intertwining reasons for our unhappy state today. A lot of them began a long time before there was such a thing as the Baby Boom Generation. This year the youngest Boomers turn 55 and the oldest 73. Soon folks like AOC will run the country. Calling for the mass mutilation of white males a la Sara Jeong has its counterpart in the constant pounding of Boomers and them ((())) on sites like this. In the meantime the Matrix marches on as undefeated as ever. Saving your blame and invective for a precious few hated groups is a pathway to defeat. BTW Papamarcos is a Greek name

Post: #4

The one point he wrote which I thought he wouldn't:

He admits that the younger generations only learned from the Boomers.

As for his waffling that they celebrate something other than academic achievement: it wouldn't solve the problem if they did, because if an employer had any idea about whether the 'A' grade on a university record means they can actually do the job they applied for, they wouldn't have ridiculous shit like IQ tests and other stupid "creativity" or "problem solving" tests.

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #5

What would be interesting was some kind of self reflection, why are we the way we are, what factors made us?

Being raised by a TV and monopolized radio did that. Low information society, combined with the means of mass propaganda. The lessons of Nazi Germany reapplied to "de-nazify".

What I'd really like the boomers to realize and talk about, is how they could only live like they did, because the rest of society lived by traditional norms. The rest of society kept things running smoothly and politely, while boomers played around. Big kids being looked after by adults. The second that generation died off in the late 80s, the world went instantly to shit.

This is the same phenomenon as when people go to South East Asia and act like the local men are such pussies and losers, while the western man is such a big deal. You're only able to be a situational alpha, cause you're exploiting an existing polite culture. It's boomerism reapplied.

Post: #6

This isn't an apology, it is a humblebrag.

This guy is gloating.

Summary of article:

Sorry for a couple of things.

(The stuff he apologizes for is all the work of the elites. The wars. The debt. The dismantling of manufacturing. Your average Boomer is only guilty of not examining things too deeply when times were good. Well, that describes almost everyone. If times were still good no one would be mad at Boomers, they would just be enjoying good times without looking too deeply into them.)

Sorry younger people turned out the way they did.

(This part is very twisted and dysfunctional. It is like a declaration of power. I made you, I shaped you. I am the alpha and the omega. Sorry guys. Sorry you all are so lame. Supersorrybro!)

But I'll be fine.

(He actually says: "We're going out happy." !!! What a cunt. And then proves his cultural *cred* by quoting Homer Simpson to close it out.)

This is the smug faux introspection of a pampered, childish, complacent big baby crowing about how good his life has been.

Look at all the mistakes I made, but my retirement account and Social Security checks (thanks kids) are still by god intact.

I'll be fine.

This dude is twisting the knife.

Post: #7

Most boomer take downs are unfocused and idiosyncratic.

Basically an opportunity for whoever is talking to unload general dissatisfaction on an acceptable target.

My sister was the first in my family to travel abroad, and when she came back she said, "A lot of people hate the United States. I had no idea. I was always just told: We're great."

Boomers are like the generational version of the U.S.A.. They give other generations the opportunity to feel like a third world country.

The best pure attack on boomers I ever heard came from one of their elders:

Post: #8

I love boomer hate:

Post: #9

(03-12-2019 12:06 PM)DJ-Matt Wrote:  I love boomer hate:

Title of that video is misleading. He supports Yang because he wants to see the country crumble just to make boomers suffer (along with everyone else).

Fuck that guy.

Post: #10

Whatever happens, when Soylent Green becomes big, the Boomers will be the first to get churned in along with the soy.

G