07-13-2013, 12:53 PM
quote:Some baby boomers came to San Francisco and wore flowers in their hair. Some went to Vietnam. 50,000 of them didn't return alive.
Originally posted by unknownjulie
I do not appreciate boomers who had it so much easier.
We bought gas for $.29 a gallon in the 1960's. In the 1970's and 80's we waited in lines that went around the block just to get a 1/4 tank of gas.
Interest rates in those years were 18% for a mortgage.
If you had enough money to invest in the stock market in the 90's you probably did pretty well. For the rest of us, we paid into Social Security, which at best gives us about a 3% return on our investment. Most boomers who paid into Social Security would get on average 200% - 300% more in their monthly retirement check if they had been able to invest the money themselves, rather than have the government take care of it for us.
Boomers that I know who still work aren't hoarding a job, they're working because the value of their home is half of what it was in 2008, and their 401k (if they have one) for a time was also about half of what it was in 2008.
Boomers who don't have a job to hang on to, are told when they apply for work that they are too old, even if they're 10 years away from retirement age.
For baby boomers it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves