Millennials and RVs

One thing that helps understanding is open and honest communication. Calling each other names and hurling insults is not conducive to solving a problem.

IMO, and considering what Social Security was originally called "Social Security Supplement", it was not to be a pension, it was a supplement to go along with a pension or savings. Unfortunately there are large numbers of people who receive Social Security but never put any money into the fund. Of course it can't be sustained that way, it was never intended to do that.

IMO that article linked to was rather facile. By the same token insurance companies are the same as social security. You put money into them and they pay out when you need it, hopefully anyway. And yet the insurance companies will make money. I don't want to make this post too political, but unfortunately it is the politicians who used Social Security to buy the votes of the unwise.

Social Security is one our most successful government programs, completely changing the way we live in old age. However some folks like to exaggerate how it differs from other safety net programs. Here is a link from Forbes, a quick reality check.link

Don't forget to take your mortgage interest deduction on that second home called an RV. Just another crock to buy the millennial vote.

WTP-GC wrote:
... For the most part, that generation is one of the earliest to live under a government that so freely subsidized so much and provided exceeding levels of benefits that seems to be proving over time to be unsustainable. It's not the fault of "boomers"...they just happen to be living in it...

The Boomers elected those people. It's not like the Boomers didn't know the people they were electing were spending money on the credit card and not paying it off.

I think this thread is kind of fun, so hopefully it can keep going a bit longer despite some of the name-calling and snarky-ness going on.

When people talk about how "boomers" are screwing the rest of us, I think there's a lot of context that has to be added to the conversation. For the most part, that generation is one of the earliest to live under a government that so freely subsidized so much and provided exceeding levels of benefits that seems to be proving over time to be unsustainable. It's not the fault of "boomers"...they just happen to be living in it. Social security is another problem. Yes, "boomers" paid into it (just every legal worker still does) and no one has a choice to opt out. But the amount paid in over the "boomer's" working career likely falls way short of what they will likely receive back in benefits if they live long enough. In short, they'll get way more than they out in, which is contrary to how the system is designed.

The national debt is another story all together. That number is large, uncomprehendable, and completely unrealistic. The only actual national debt that matters is what we owe other countries. Everything else is a calculated number based on a myriad of factors.

I suspect that in 20-30 years, the next generation will have the same complaints about us millennials.

MrWizard wrote:
i really don't think much of 'broad' social terms

This ^^ Just another of the many ways to keep us fractured. Everything has to pit us against us.

camperdave wrote:

mountainkowboy wrote:
Nothing was EVER given to me, including my retirement and SS.

This is part of the disconnect. To the millenial generation, those are things of myth. Not saying either side is right or wrong, but there it is.

I know for a fact that 20 years ago someone with my exact job could raise a family of 4 and own a nice home here in town. Retire at 65 with a solid pension. I know, cause I see them at the company parties happily retired.

Now my salary for that same job isn't even close to enough to get by. Pension is a thing of the past. Who knows if SS will be there after the boomers are done with it. I've chosen this job cause I like it, and my wife's salary makes it possible. But the reality is working hard is no longer enough.

While some cost have not risen much at all adjusted for inflation such as food and fuel others have Far exceeded inflation such as health care, pharmaceuticals, housing, education, vehicles to name a few. Some of these can be controlled such as housing by where you live.

Another thing that young people have to deal with that my generation did not is the competition for low-skill jobs. With mass migration of immigrants the wages are kept low for these jobs.

camperdave wrote:

mountainkowboy wrote:
Nothing was EVER given to me, including my retirement and SS.

This is part of the disconnect. To the millennial generation, those are things of myth. Not saying either side is right or wrong, but there it is.

My "retirement" was paid for by me and I've payed into SS all my life and am a conservative. It ain't my fault that SS is trashed.....I made my future.

Good deflection though

i always thought of baby boomers, not economic but 60's were strong growth in many areas so..

anyway i always thought in terms of family after WWII, so maybe a decade or less in span say 46 to 56, not in 20yr spans, where a newborn is the same generation as a 19yr old that doesn't make sense to me, but i'm not a sociologist or whatever

Generation X to me those were ones in between the boomers and laters years
say 57 to 67 ?

language changes, definitions change, thoughts change

sorry to stray away from Millennial's, i still think they got that wrong, everybody in a 20 yr span before the year 2000
my son was born in 78, what does that make him
i guess my granddaughter born in in 98 is Millennial
what does that make the other one born in in 2002 ?
what does that make my great grandson born in 2017 ? what 20yr span do the social namers, want to put him in

i really don't think much of 'broad' social terms