re: My theory on why baby boomers are criticized

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I would pay into it for 50 years with zero expectation of ever receiving a dime if it meant my children never had to pay into it.

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Anyone that says anything other than they support it completely shutting down tomorrow, cares more about themselves than their grandkids. Full stop.

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Early marriage/family life isn't supposed to be "comfortable"...

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By comfortable I mean roof over their head, food on the table, rainy day savings and health insurance.

Health insurance for a family of 4 is 7-8k a year alone. Start moving lower than 200k and the money would be very tight

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Today’s creature comforts would include a much larger list and no generation will accept living at a lower financial life style than what they had growing up.

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First thank you for the well thought out post that actually makes a good point. All 4 of my grandparents were old enough to remember the depression. My parents were born in the early 50s, I'm a young Gen X, and my wife is a bit younger and falls in the Xennial subset. I have one kid who is in the very young millennial group and another at the start of Gen Z...so this has always been an interesting discussion for me.

My paternal grandparents worked hard and thanks to public sector jobs, knowing the importance of saving, and living within their means their retirement was quite comfortable. My maternal grandparents were unique. My grandfather ran a century old farm first settled by his great grandparents, was a successful politician, and played a part in the construction of the only interstate road in the county. Unfortunately he died at 53 which meant my grandmother had to go from being a housewife to working a desk job.

My parents were the first generation not to work a day in the public sector. They didn't take the lessons from their parents, divorced, and I grew up in a worse economic household than they did. (As an aside, my wife grew up living in a crudely constructed apartment inside of a former gas station.)

My dad's parents always imparted on me the value of getting a college degree (I'm the first on that side of the family) and I was lucky enough to have gone to college before costs exploded. My wife got out of extreme poverty through her full athletic scholarship (she should star in those NCAA ads). When we left our homes neither one of us had anything to fall back on with our parents.

Fast forward 25 years. We live fairly comfortably in a house we paid off without any help. My dad is living in the house where he grew up. As a result of me being an only child, each of my kids will inherit a paid off house. My grandkids will be the first to be affected by the rise of housing costs.

People like to criticize/blame those who have succeeded trough hard work and financial discipline. Those who go through life blaming others for their own shortcomings do not deserve any sympathy. That does not mean that college, gas, food, and housing costs aren't out of control. They are. But that isn't the fault of Boomers in general. That blame is misplaced and should be placed on the boomers in DC. Unfortunately you have hypocritical self centered idiots like Jill Filipovic who live to blame an entire generation for their own inadequacies.

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Health insurance for a family of 4 is 7-8k a year alone.

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Yeah, this shite is a racket. My daughter is coming off her dad's insurance this month and to go on her husband's is an extra $500/mo... when my family was young we did NOT have to deal with that.

I want it ended to. But you are bright enough to know that is never going to happen because it is just a slush fund for Congress. Hell yes, my daughters are getting abused by the system just as you are and I was.

Am I just supposed to throw my money to the Government and say I don’t want it after I have given to Cesar what supposedly belongs to Cesar.

I never worked for free and I don’t feel the responsibility to let the Government off of the hook. Seems like you would be happier and more content if you were not so concerned with what us Boomers do with our money.

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On an employer plan.

$32,000 this year for our family on a self-employed plan.

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Have you tried applying for the local police department?

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Health insurance for a family of 4 is 7-8k a year alone.

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and I bet there is a 15k deductible and no copay on that plan

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saying bluegrass is responsible for all the boomer politicians that have affected her life through KY state legislation.

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She is responsible for the people she voted for. However, ultimately, her life is her responsibility, and sitting around blaming others is a sure fire way of never achieving for yourself.

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She's responsible for them as much as you are responsible for Obama. Taking some responsibility son.

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What is your obsession to idiotically label based on no information? Same reason for this thread. Blame others, make assumptions, but spend no time on reflection on yourself. Ultimately, YOU are responsible for your successes and failures. Blaming others is a sure fire way to stay in a rut.

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Was able to pay the $300 per semester tuition in cash and had money leftover to buy a meal plan and live in a frat house without having to work 9 months out of the year.

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$300 will buy you one book now.

You could work a full time job and still wouldn’t be able to afford college and all of the ancillary expenses.