Baby Boomers - Thoughts?

[chalo 07]

Opinions on this generation?

Are the baby boomers full of it?

Are they a drain on the economic system?

In the media, you often hear baby boomers bagging on the laziness of generation Y? Is this valid? Are baby boomers the lazy ones?

Did they live during easier times?

Are they entrenched in career slots that could otherwise be occupied by young people?

Interestingly, a friend mentioned that the negative accounts of generation Y are perhaps a subconcious tactic by older generations to maintain their own power.

Curious to see responses (particularly those who belong to the boomer generation or gen Y).

Since my questions are loaded against boomers, here is a link harsher take on gen Y, from Fox News... Fair and Balanced.

[Xeogred]

from Fox News... Fair and Balanced.

[o.pwuaioc]

"Fear(mongering) and (Mentally) Imbalanced"

[scarper]

I like to think we're all our own people.

[Nemoide]

I'm personally very frustrated in my own situation. I'm in my 20s, have a Master's Degree, and consider myself to have a strong work ethic but haven't been able to find serious employment. I wanted to be a librarian but found that the field is shockingly competitive and now I find that I'm overqualified when I apply to many other positions.

Not having a job in this country makes one feel like a non-citizen. As time passes and I have yet to gain a foothold in society, I find my mindset growing harsher and more bitter. It feels like the Baby Boomer generation has built a culture which only exists for their own benefit, a world of nepotism that everyone just says is a meritocracy.

However, I don't think it's honestly fair to blame an entire generation. I can't really fault the Boomers who want a comfortable life. People are people and I don't think there's some kind of conspiracy to keep young people down. There's no such thing as a homogeneous group and it's a gross and dangerous simplification of reality to say that Boomer A = Boomer B = Boomer C = Boomer D, etc.

I just hope that someday my peers and I can crawl up socially. Sometimes I fantasize about rounding up all the well-educated un/under-employed people I know and building a town out of some piece of wilderness in the Midwest.

[gtmtnbiker]

In the media, you often hear baby boomers bagging on the laziness of generation Y? Is this valid? Are baby boomers the lazy ones?

Did they live during easier times?

I think this sort of thing happens every generation. When the boomers were growing up, I'm sure their parents complained about them.

[Luke]

Opinions on this generation?

Are the baby boomers full of it?

Are they a drain on the economic system?

In the media, you often hear baby boomers bagging on the laziness of generation Y? Is this valid? Are baby boomers the lazy ones?

Did they live during easier times?

Are they entrenched in career slots that could otherwise be occupied by young people?

Interestingly, a friend mentioned that the negative accounts of generation Y are perhaps a subconcious tactic by older generations to maintain their own power.

Curious to see responses (particularly those who belong to the boomer generation or gen Y).

Since my questions are loaded against boomers, here is a link harsher take on gen Y, from Fox News... Fair and Balanced.

Great generation. Not the greatest, but a great generation.

In any group someone is always full of it.

Quite the opposite.

Totally valid to say Generation Y is lazy and has a sense of entitlement.

They lived and grew up during much worse times.

Seniority has its privileges and is earned. Job security is one of those privileges.

That video is pretty much spot on. Most people are nuts these days and spoil their kids rotten and never think of the consequences. Weirds me out actually.

[chalo 07]

I'm personally very frustrated in my own situation. I'm in my 20s, have a Master's Degree, and consider myself to have a strong work ethic but haven't been able to find serious employment. I wanted to be a librarian but found that the field is shockingly competitive and now I find that I'm overqualified when I apply to many other positions.

I feel for you. I turn 23 in a few weeks and will graduate with a M.A. English next month. Like almost any other graduate degree, The M.A. English is hardly a "fluff" degree. However, my job prospects are also simultaneously competitive and meager. PhD programs in English are incredibly competitive, and full-time job opportunities for people with English PhDs are very, very scarce.

I have been told that if I go back and get my certification to teach high school, I would never get a job. Luckily, I'm fairly confident that those who have told me this are wrong. Still, there is an structural, or subconscious animosity towards the "overqualified." I sometimes joke with myself and others that I had the audacity to want to be an English teacher, or worse, find a job in a related field.

Not having a job in this country makes one feel like a non-citizen. As time passes and I have yet to gain a foothold in society, I find my mindset growing harsher and more bitter. It feels like the Baby Boomer generation has built a culture which only exists for their own benefit, a world of nepotism that everyone just says is a meritocracy.

Exactly my own sentiments. Thankfully, I'm employed as a teaching assistant through May. I'm incredibly grateful to have this position. However, my stipend is meager, by all accounts. I don't need more, certainly. However, I live with my parents, go out very sparingly, and rely on other sources of income to build my small savings and pay off bills.

The more and more I look into potential jobs, the more I agree with your thought that the culture really is one veiled as a meritocracy. A huge burden facing any 20-something is the experience barrier. I don't have the experience that would make me competitive in jobs that, in other times, would be entry-level. When I shadow some instructors and speak with them, it becomes clear that some of them really aren't effective.

However, I don't think it's honestly fair to blame an entire generation. I can't really fault the Boomers who want a comfortable life. People are people and I don't think there's some kind of conspiracy to keep young people down. There's no such thing as a homogeneous group and it's a gross and dangerous simplification of reality to say that Boomer A = Boomer B = Boomer C = Boomer D, etc.

Certainly its an oversimplification. Yet, oversimplifications are what the contemporary generational discourse seem to be rooted in. There is a such a negative stereotype about young people. And, if one of us admits we don't have a job or live at home, it's attributed to laziness. I've worked infinitely harder than most. Yes, that's incredibly egotistical for me to say. But, I feel that there is a logjam of hardworking talented people in our generation that are really getting the shaft, to speak plainly.

I just hope that someday my peers and I can crawl up socially. Sometimes I fantasize about rounding up all the well-educated un/under-employed people I know and building a town out of some piece of wilderness in the Midwest.

The mid-west is a great. I'd be down.

[chalo 07]

Totally valid to say Generation Y is lazy and has a sense of entitlement.

They lived and grew up during much worse times.

Seniority has its privileges and is earned. Job security is one of those privileges.

1. What makes you say this? Are you focusing on a segment of generation Y or the whole of generation Y?

2. I disagree. The country, currently, is in the worst economic downturn since the great recession. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that if we weren't currently in it, some would call it a depression. At any rate, it will likely be referred to as the Great Recession in a few decades.

3. And how do senior employees and management address opportunities for young potential employees? Or do they not have any responsibility to do this? Maybe they don't.

Ultimately, are you embracing two mutually exclusive truths -- 1) young people are lazy and need to work harder and get jobs, 2) older generations are entitled, by virtue of their seniority , to fill the jobs, and have no duty to create new jobs?

(Hopefully, this discussion will soon be moot. Unemployment has been going down -- though there is some debate about those numbers)

[Luke]

Totally valid to say Generation Y is lazy and has a sense of entitlement.

They lived and grew up during much worse times.

Seniority has its privileges and is earned. Job security is one of those privileges.

1. What makes you say this? Are you focusing on a segment of generation Y or the whole of generation Y?

2. I disagree. The country, currently, is in the worst economic downturn since the great recession. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that if we weren't currently in it, some would call it a depression. At any rate, it will likely be referred to as the Great Recession in a few decades.

3. And how do senior employees and management address opportunities for young potential employees? Or do they not have any responsibility to do this? Maybe they don't.

Ultimately, are you embracing two mutually exclusive truths -- 1) young people are lazy and need to work harder and get jobs, 2) older generations are entitled, by virtue of their seniority , to fill the jobs, and have no duty to create new jobs?

It's nice to see someone engage in a discussion civilly.

That said, you make assumptions about the truths I embrace. Although I hate to do paint by numbers discussions, in this case I will make an exception.

1) As a broad and sweeping generalization, Generation Y has a sense of entitlement. No doubt in my mind, based on personal experience. It's not just the girls on Sweet 16, it's nearly every kid, and adults in their early to mid twenties. Not all, of course, but nearly every.

2) Financial times were just as difficult, and finding employment was a lot more difficult. There was no "support the troops", rather ours were spat on. The house market was completely different and banks weren't giving everyone a loan they couldn't afford.

Baby Boomers come from a generation based on elbow grease. They followed the tradition. These days kids can find just about whatever they want whenever they want with no work involved. Life has gotten easier by a long shot from only thirty years ago.

3) Who will be hired has always been, and will always be at the discretion of the boss.

As far as the truths you mention, that's not my point of view.

Young people are lazy because they don't have to work harder at finding a job. It is not the responsibility of executives to create new jobs, it is the responsibility of a new generation to create new jobs for themselves.