are today's 40 - 60 year olds the worst generation we've ever seen?

say what polar bear wrote:

They've drove the world economy into the ground, continue to argue for unnecessary and pointless wars, blame everything on the generation THEY HAVE PARENTED, and left it up to the following generations to fix their f*ck ups.

Agreed. Yes they are.

I'm 52 and agree with you. I'm ashamed that it is my generation that has enabled young people to be such freaking losers- they whine and their parents defend them no matter what. Although I think it was the 70+ers who destroyed the economy and still vote like fools.

runn wrote:

I'm 52 and agree with you. I'm ashamed that it is my generation that has enabled young people to be such freaking losers- they whine and their parents defend them no matter what. Although I think it was the 70+ers who destroyed the economy and still vote like fools.

Yeah, your parents only beat the Depression, Hitler and Jim Crow, but they just didn't do enough for you worthless hippies.

Meanwhile, you "turned on, tuned in and dropped out", until you were 30, when you all quit your "alternative lifestyles" and became a bunch of Wall Street corporate raiders and destroyed the country, or a bunch of political correctness spewing professors of comparative literature or some such (driving down the quality of education while simultaneously driving up the price while you're at it), or a bunch of lawyers suing everyone for everything and sucking all the fun out of American life.

Meanwhile your kids can't get a job because you strip-mined the government and the economy, and they have a mortgage-sized student loan payment hanging over their head, and then they get to hear you whine about them having a "sense of entitlement." And all you care about is whether or not you'll be able to retire at 55 and spend the next 40 years playing golf in Boca or Palm Springs or wherever, with all of it financed on the backs of your broke children and the non-existent grandchildren that they were too poor to have.

You are a bunch of selfish, narcissistic, simultatneously unpatriotic and jingoistic, entitled, overpayed and underworked vampires! You should be ashamed of yourselves!

My parents did all of that but did not contribute to the demise of the country.

I did not do what you said. I went to college, got my degree, got married, had kids, got a job.

I'm a teacher, I meet with parents my age who make every excuse for their child. The problem is, they made mistakes, they babied them, "built up their self esteem" and now they're spoiled brats.

Don't get me wrong, 90% of my students are good hard working kids with a good future.

But there are a few...

You make some good points, for sure. I'm 52 and I feel that my generation has over consumed and borrowed for so long that it has no clue how to live sustainably. Nonetheless, I am going to say that the problem is with our culture in general, more than with any particular age class within it.

say what polar bear wrote:

They've drove the world economy into the ground, continue to argue for unnecessary and pointless wars, blame everything on the generation THEY HAVE PARENTED, and left it up to the following generations to fix their f*ck ups.

. . . comments?

Well the World War 2 generation that grew up in the depression had kids that they wanted to have it easier than they did.

Those kids were too busy taking advantage of those opportunities they forgot about the next generation. In turn those kids never learned real values.

They say, just leave parenting up to parents, but when those parents are so selfish this is when I think the government should have responsibility for the future of this nation.

These days kids should be trained to compete in the new world economy. My parents were from a different era. Just get a degree.

Kids should be focusing on careers by the time they are in 8th grade.

The baby boomers had a lot of playtime but those days are gone for good.

The kids in their early 20's or younger do not yet have any real say in this world. How are they responsible for the mess that we are leaving them?

When you say "our" culture, do you really mean the 40-60 year old adults who created this situation over the last two decades?

Surprisingly in the last decade, US runners in the age group from 16-30 have not only overcome the malaise of the 90's, but took running to a whole new level well beyond that of the late 70's and early 80's. This includes the HS, college and professional level.

The great runners of the late 70's should have been the great coaches of the 90's, but this did not happen, based on the results.

Perhaps the post Vietnam era kids were the most narcissistic and failed to build a future for the next generation.

Looking at the Occupy movement does not give me much hope for the 20-30 generation. To build for a future generation they have to provide for themselves first.......something the generations preceding them did. They seem most interested in sticking their hands out FOR a hand-out. If they go into an interview and mention they were part of the Occupy movement they will be living in tents for the rest of their lives and playing 5 gallon paint buckets for handouts in the subway. I have no interest in sharing anything I have worked for with them. It will not happen.

I doubt Steve Jobs agrees with you. Do you know about his history?

The occupy movement is our hope. The hand-outs are given to the banks. And you all pay for it. Let the Wall-street people

learn it the hard way by going bankrupt. Crying for the Government to help is odd since they are supposed to be in favour of the market.

The worst generation is the one who accepted nuclear power plants, chemical waste, and pollution just to have two cars

and huge consumption, i. e. why we have the climate crisis!!!!

Pop History Lesson. You are combining parts of two generations. Oddly enough, 1961 (Obama's birth year) is often recognized as the split in generations. I used to think that was early, but I think Obama exemplifies the general cluelessness of Baby Boomers.

Yes. And I'm sure you believe the 20-40 year olds have all the right answers. Each generation just gets worse due to what they learned from the previous one. The 20-40 year old crowd will make it worse still. They've already started on it. Just look around.

Fourteen year olds, like yourself, haven't seen anything. You have ZERO experience.

Since the dawn of time, 12 to 25 year olds have been the worst generation. When you get your first car insurance bill you will understand. When you get your first minimum wage paycheck you will see the light.

not to mention squandering untold amounts of cheap energy and obstructing any real effort at efficiency. Then spending their golden years driving RVs around the country and moaning about $4 gas.

can we just agree that there are screw-ups in every generation?

entitlement isn't new and technology doesn't make us inherently lazy. there will be those who work hard and contribute to society and those who don't. certain societal things will change but i urge us all to use caution before tagging an entire generation as ''bad'' ''good'' ''worse'' or ''better''

every generation will have it's collective strengths and weaknesses

I'm a boomer. I despise my generation but love being one. I suspect everyone feels the same about their own age.