Good one John - I don't agree with some of the stuff you are involved in, but totally agree with you on this article.

I think some folks forget that Boomers were also Tax Payers for a long time, and the fact we were healthy and long lived means we paid a lot of tax.

So I don't feel so bad when Boomers comment on the following generation - we paid for it, so why not.

So you're getting old and rolling around in the money you made by living long enough to see your real estate grow in value and trying to claim some reflected respect for achievements made not by you but by better members of your generation.

Just think on this, GenX and Y are only treating you with the respect that you showed your parents. Generationally speaking of course.

Dear John (or should I call you Johnny?), I suspect the so-called Boomers get under everyone else's skin partially because of their tiresome capacity to bang on about how special their generation was/is.

I see the Boomers as a statistical glitch, a wave of often flatulent, under-qualified, over-confident wind bags, thankfully now cresting and on their way to the same place we are all bound - the scrap heap of history.

John, Boomers DO get in the way, I've seen it countless times. They are also - in my experience of several large and small workplaces over the past 20+ years - suspicious of better qualified (usually younger) folks and inclined to create barriers to frustrate their careers if they are perceived as a threat.

Now, having reached a new milestone where their past lifestyle decisions are bound to catch up with many of them and create significant budgetary pressures (pensions, health etc.) on a shrinking tax base we hear them bleat about all the tax they paid over the years, as if those taxes were never applied along the way to sustaining their unsustainable lifestyles.

One thing I admire about the generations before them who lived through truly testing times (war, depression, Menzies) is their stoicism, their self-reliance.

Perhaps the Boomers could learn from this, if they'd just shut up for 5 minutes and listen.

Tebbutt, I belong to the previous generation and I would take issue as to whether generation X and Y are better qualified. Qualified for what?
The main thing they seem to be qualified for is instant gratification as they get further into debt out of which they are finding increasing difficulty to climb.

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow; for the morrow will take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." seems to be their motto, even though they have no idea from whence the quote comes.

On the other hand, older generations are a bit more circumspect when they get into debt and if they are spending their children's inheritance, then so be it.

A couple of posters, so far, have gone straight to a major factor in generational confrontation.
Age.....and that means experience!
Forget all that rubbish about not teaching an old dog new tricks.
What some puppies perceive as new tricks, are the results of years of chasing cars, digging holes and retrieving balls.
At 70, I have balls enough, now, to know what to do, and importantly, what not to do.
Puppies, don't whimper. Sit! Wait!
O.K?
Now fetch!

tebbutt
I'll make this simple for you.Given you failed Hisory, sociology etc.
1. The baby boomers were those born after 1945.
2. The War finisead in 1945
3. The Depression was from 1929-1939.
4. Post 1950 was boom years Unemployment was down to about 2%.so where you got the stoicism from beats the hell out of me.
Might I suggest you have the wrong generation.
By definition most Snr surgeons, Scientists etc are baby boomers.
The generation you are refering to would be their parents who would be 70+ mostly retired. I might point out that that generation now are in reflective mode and like all people we remember our past as the 'good times' as you WILL do in time so don't be so judgemental.

Ponder: Exquisitely put! How about offering that gem of a post as the text for Fathers' Day cards? The twist is that fathers will give to their kids. This could give Fathers' Day much deeper meaning. Well done!

The wealthiest, best educated and most mollycoddled generation in history. The era of infinite expansion, rampant consumerism and a devil-may-care approach to natural resources.

And still you mock those who inherit the debt.

Ouch! Being hit by wet lettuce can really leave a welt.

OK, my retorts:

VK3AUU => don't worry, it won't be long now, go towards the light.

examinator => you don't get my point and have mis-read what I said. Just re-read it a few times and you might "get it". Focus people!

... oh, and Ponder, just keep taking the blue pills ... relax!

Keep on ageing y'all.

I'm a bit old to be a boomer, but I kind of feel a kindred spirit with them.

I'm from the generation where the smart tradesman manager, who had developed the process, patiently held the hand of the bright eyed X & Y graduate engineer, as we re-educated him, [not yet her] in the true facts of life. Sadly for many areas of endeavour, many of these old blokes have now gone. [Think hospital admin, before you squael]

I'm getting tied of the effort of keeping you kids in check, now. If you would please just stop comming to me, to bail you out of your money/industrial/personal problems, I would happily go on my mandatory drive around Oz, & fade into the background.

PS. I won't require any retirement support, if you just pay back half of your borrowings.

I do not get this idea of "getting old".

If the Who (a much underrated band) and all the other Sexagenarian old band members, have shown us anything, it is there is no such thing as growing old gracefully (although in Keith Moon's case growing old did not figure at all and in Pete Townsend's case, he seemed to be "recapturing his youth" literally, in some very strange ways).

Anyway, like a good many of the boomers, they made it without the inheritance, which many of the newer generations seem to take as an “expectation” and for whom the only thing which can be suggested is, if you want it, go and earn it.

Expect nothing as far as inheritance is concerned and not only will avoid disappointment but you will "grow" through the effort of being responsible for yourself and for carving out your own success in this competitive world.

tebbutt "Boomers as a statistical glitch, a wave of often flatulent, under-qualified, over-confident wind bags, thankfully now cresting and on their way to the same place we are all bound - the scrap heap of history."

Reads like someone is master-bating to me.

I wonder what your children will say about you... maybe, "if he worked as hard as his parents, he would have left some of what he inherited for us"....

As for under-qualified, over-confident… sounds like the wannabe X’s and Y’s who think a degree means they have the insight in all things.

The thing with this boomer, we have the experience and can see the recessions and booms coming before they happen. The X and Y seem so self centered, it is all about them and do not understand the value of boomer experience.

Conversely, Boomers never discounted the experience of their “Great Depression-changed” and “World War-changed” parents and grandparents.

One Boomer colleague of mine observed, he was among the last generation to obey his parents and the first to start to obey his children.

I never played it with my kids that way, hence they are self-sufficient and not inheritance hungry.

Ah this reminds me of those disgusting insurance adverts. Parents gleefully and spitefully 'spending their kids inheritence'. I always think, what makes them think their kids give a toss. All it shows is how angry and spiteful they are, that they are so gleeful in thinking they are hurting their children.

The whole advert expresses ugly baby boomers, and presumably ugly children who think they deserve some of their parents money, or else where does the parent's spite come from?

Any money left in your bank when you die is a waste. Try and spend it all and enjoy yourself. If you happen to over-estimate your needs and die young, your kids will be grateful for what's left, but I've never met anyone who is expecting there to be any left, or worried about how much their parents are spending.

As a BB myself - let me say this.
All the hype about the BB generation being somehow all beer and skittles is misleading. The majority of them had to work as hard as the generations before, who at least had the benefit of not having to deal with so much social change crap. On top of that, we also had to shoulder part of the burden of our parents' experiences with The Depression and The War (or two or even in some cases, three or more Wars), as well as a succession of dismal governments.
Personally, I think we've done very well.
One thing I know for myself and my kids' mother is that we've worked very hard, and never stinted, so as to ensure that our children never had to do the hard yards that we did; what else is a parent for? My kids are drawing the benefits of that right now - and I'm happy to spend the rest of my life SKI-ing (Spending the Kids' Inheritance), since they've already got theirs due to their father's and mother's dedication to ensuring they would never have to work hard, go hungry or cold, or be broke, and are admirably set up to have a good life.

Beer & skittles, no. Career security, an expectation their generation would be better off than the previous one, predictable employment, affordable housing and tertiary education, uninterrupted economic growth; all these things have cossetted the BBGen from the risk and insecurity of today's "difficult times". X & Y gens have a totally different set of circumstances to contend with, in many ways better and in others a lot worse.

In terms of the economy the BBGen is enjoying the benefits of a serendipitous 30-year pyramid scheme. Spend your savings by all means but realise the generation that follows is more savvy, unconventional and skeptical since that's their world.

Come on bennie, more savvy? BBs had 60 in a class & still learned to add up, WITHOUT a calculator.

More sceptical? You lot believe in anthropological global warming, for heavens sake.

Try again mate.

Bennie, if the X and Y gen were at all savvy, they wouldn't be building huge houses that they can't afford, maxxing out their credit cards on luxuries that they don't really need and working their butts off to send their spoilt kids to private schools which don't produce any better outcomes than the schools that the state provides.

Get Real

David

Ah, yes. Aggressive capitalism and the rise of the profligate generation. It’s a matter of speculation how things would be today if credit fell off the back of a truck and landed at the feet of the BBGen, as happens now.

But relax. Firstly you’ll get to enjoy watching the inevitable comeuppance from a position of security; and secondly it’s what drives the ASX to ever-increasing heights, carrying your super with it.

AGW is another kettle of fish altogether. What did the BBGen believe in? The idea of an immutable planet and unlimited natural resources is fortunately waning

Interesting to observe the way the comments are evolving it seems as if the argument has become centred on which generation has a mortgage on good sense and sound ideas about living. To me the reality is that every generation since the dawn of time has been much the same - a few idealists with views how the world could be a better place drowned out by the majority only interested in short term gratification. And we are supposed to be at the pinnacle of evolution?

Bennie reading your post all I can say is you seem to be suffering from the “Poor Me Syndrome”.

“It’s a matter of speculation how things would be today if credit fell off the back of a truck and landed at the feet of the BBGen, as happens now.”

I wonder how the newer generations would handle living with the threat of the Russian overthrow of Europe and the consequences of that?

I wonder how the newer generations would handle many domestic product prices being around 100% higher than they are today (relative to incomes)?

I suppose you will be complaining someone has watered down your beer, when all trhat is happening is the glass is collecting your own tears.

“But relax. Firstly you’ll get to enjoy watching the inevitable comeuppance from a position of security; and secondly it’s what drives the ASX to ever-increasing heights, carrying your super with it.”

I wonder how many of the newer generation remember the share market collapse of 1987?

I wonder how many remember the oil crisis of 1973?

“AGW is another kettle of fish altogether. What did the BBGen believe in? The idea of an immutable planet and unlimited natural resources is fortunately waning”

In terms of AGW, I believe in what can be proved. I do not believe in applying a nebulus theory based on unspecific and dubious probability as the basis for restructuring the national economy.

It might suit your idea of the instant fix but some of us are old enough to have seen similar theories blow up in the past.

I only hope when the AA and AB generations come along, they have more respect for the experience of the X and Y generations than the X and Y generations have for BB’s.

Its like the old saying, we all know everything when teenagers.

Any X or Y generation who wants to swap with me?

They get to keep all I own and I get the years they have left, the only caveat, I get to remember what I already know.

No fool like an old fool, as my grandmother is wont to say.

This all reminds me of that Monty Python skit "When ah were a lad..."

I'd take you up on your offer Col but as we all know youth is wasted on the young. It IS still a young person's world, isn't it? Unfortunately I'm not one of them.

"So having laid the foundations for the 21st century lifestyle we are all of a sudden a problem?"

The great majority of boomers in no way deserve the above statement. The tiny majority of hard working, creative, entrepeneurial, and now rich boomers that do aren't the problem. The rest have taken, and will continue to take, a lot more from society than they'll ever contribute. And the reason it matters so much now is those same people, for the most part, have enough money and assets that they really shouldn't.

con discord?

Discord indeed! So you imagine that we should judge the efforts of an entire generation by those few who are good enough, fortunate enough, unscrupulous enough, or rugged enough to actually be what you deem 'successful'(meaning well-heeled)? And we should just cast the rest aside as being a burden on society (hey - I've earned that right)?
Wel, I agree - some of the successes by your standards have certainly set the stage for the 21st Century - your Bonds, Skases, and their ilk, who are not yet extinct in the Land of Oz, believe me, have certainly done that! And what a wobbly stage it is for the rest of us as a result!
And don't forget that all of those people you deem 'successful', meaning they've scraped up some moolah, were nothing without the support, loyalty, hard work and integrity of others who actually did their work for them, probably including you!
Me? I don't judge people by what they have - I judge by what they are!
Keep working, boy - I need your tax money to support my retirement in style! (Written on asbestos paper).

The baby boomers now in their late 50’s and early 60’s will have a good chance of being dead in another 15 to 20years. It is not them who are going to have the major problem with having no taxpayer base. It will be the people presently in their 30’s and 40’s who have left having children until very late or who have had only one or no children at all.

You see these perfectly fit, beautiful, women who could have produced at least a couple of children for the future of the country who are now in their forties and will remain childless.

Ironically, it seems to be this age group that carries on about people in their 50’s and 60’s being the problem and can’t see that it is they, who will have created a much bigger problem as they age.