Reincarnation Alert! The Depression Generation Is Returning! Meet the Upside-Down Generation

Ever meet anyone who staggered through the Great Depression? Most people alive today probably haven't. So here's some insight. They've never really gotten over it. Never. They're the ones with an IMAX imprint of a society on the brink. The cheap ones who won't throw out a bar of soap till the slippery little lozenge is rendered unlatherable. The scared ones always waiting for a relapse.

It's hard to imagine this mindset. The post-War prosperity and epic indulgence of the boomers -- the inescapable hegemony of the consumer economy -- have made the Depression Generation a quaint irrelevancy, as emotionally distant as Gettysburg or the Alamo. And if we think about it at all, we derive comfort from the regulatory apparatus that it spawned.

Sure, we've had our share of business cycles since then. We've had to suck up some stagflation; we saw the Dow Jones plummet in 1987 and the dot-coms burst in 2000. But through it all, the only Apples we've had to sell are the glinty, erotic packages out of Cupertino, which we peddle on eBay's secondary market to make way for the next wonderment.

But wait. Suddenly, comparisons to the Great Depression are real and jagged, as opposed to distant, reassuring, anodyne. And if we're not feeling them, the press is reminding us of them all the time. Most recently, it now appears that the richest 1% of the population are earning more than at any time since 1929.

We've been time-shifted to another era, when everything that we believed to be solid and soaring became vaporous and free-falling. When banks were running out of dough. When the government was two steps behind, belatedly propping up our economic pillars, issuing words of grand grandiosity and small comfort. When trust liquefied.

We saw the emotional consequences of this to the Depression Generation. And we'll be seeing it again. Imagine the long-term psychological damage to those suddenly looking down the barrel of monthly payments they can't afford, to those witnessing the grim reaper of foreclosure activity in their neighborhoods -- in some cases block after block of abandoned dreams. Those streets have lovely and fraudulent names, like Meadow Lane and Vista Drive and Green Valley Lane. But there is blood in them.

Conventional wisdom is that Americans have short memories. But the Depression Generation was positively elephantine, and I think there's a really good chance that the Upside-Down Generation will be equally shell-shocked. Which means not getting back into the real estate market so fast. Not changing jobs so fast, either. They might even start to recognize the value of saving a few nickels, applying the same self-glorifying virtues that drive them to work-out in the gym, to their personal finances.

Of course, it may be the last remaining slivers of Whole Foods Market's Rosemary Mint Glycerin Soap, as opposed to Lava, that the Upside-Downers will be hoarding. But they will have more in common with their grandparents and great-grandparents, who saw their world crash in the 1920s, than their boomer parents - who merely crashed in the 1970s.

Gen X and Gen Y are fed up with their boomer parents anyway, their selfishness, hypocrisy, refusal to let go and exit the stage. They're looking for a new kind of meaning and balance that is less logo-reliant. Rejecting their values in the wake of the current financial mess -- values, that, the argument goes, helped create it -- will come easy.

The prospect of a financially traumatized Gen X and Gen Y - bearing the burden of a new kind of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Subprime Disorder) - is a chilling thought, given that two-thirds of the economy is driven by consumer spending. And it's spending is only made possible by ever-increasing levels of credit card debt, and a near-zero (and sometimes negative) saving rate. Even the slightest tilt away from immediate gratification, the slightest shift of the foot to the brake pedal, will truly have devastating consequences.

Get ready.

Comments

[DuganS1]

The 0% savings rate is misleading and technically inaccurate because it doesn't consider money put into 401Ks and IRAs or even capital gains as "savings." Money market accounts alone have increased $1.1 trillion in the past seven years.

[larry278]

There is a popular American myth that young people can & will do anything that their ancestors had done. Die alte cocker are more than willing to tell how they got through the depression. A number of younger people have made it a point to listen to those who survived the depression. These youngsters are ready, willing & able to emulate their ancestors.

[mosh]

'Gen X and Gen Y are fed up with their boomer parents anyway, their selfishness, hypocrisy, refusal to let go and exit the stage.'

You have to be kidding, right? Gen X and Y fed up with their parents? These are the 'kids' who never leave home, who are living out longer and longer adolescence - and, at the risk of being as derogatory as you - this is the generation who feel they are absolutely entitled to well, just about everything - who thinks they should be millionaires by the time they are 30 or else they are losers. So, don't blame the boomers. We aren't the ones facing foreclosure, we already bought and sold our homes just in order to get the kids to leave home!

Putting all that aside, it is easy credit, in the form of credit cards, that has really sunk this ship. Credit used to be hard to come by, now everyone everyday receives solicitations in the mail whether they are credit worthy or not. Credit has become a national addiction and the only way to realize that dream of ownership ownership ownership. Except we have become a nation of renters who only think we own anything. People don't even own their cars any more, they lease them.

Let's not pit the generations against one another because, as anyone who survived the great depression could tell you, families will have to pull together in order to survive. And that might be a good thing.

[Thinks4Herself59]

This is great: Consumerism: The Musical

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGaOQKJik-s

[Thinks4Herself59]

My grandfather was born in 1913, still lives on his own, has a huge garden, cans his own fruits and vegetables, and could show most of us a thing or two about surviving tough economic times. It's not just being frugal, but also his ability to live off the land if he needs to. He knows more than simply how to open a package and pop it into a microwave. He already recycles because he doesn't waste anything--he reuses. Rarely does he talk about the Depression--he is not a whiner, but his eyes did fill with tears one day when he recounted how as a young boy he was forced to sleep outside in a crummy shed. What does he hold dear? Not things at all, only family.

"Consumerism is the equating of personal happiness with the purchasing of material possessions and consumptio­n." (Wikipedia)

Somewhere along the way, the American Dream became more than just owning a home with a white picket fence. It became a McMansion with 2+ SUVs, a swimming pool, clothing from the Gap, an RV, a boat, flat-panel TVs in every room, Viagra, Prozac, Ritalin, and so on... Even Bush following 9/11 reinforced our value as citizens when he told us to go shopping.

Overcoming Consumerism, an excellent site to check out:

http://www.verdant.net/

[drkazmd65]

Your grandfather and my grandmother would have gotten along wonderfully Thinks4Herself59. Unfortunately she passed last summer at 95.

Until she was too infirm for the last several years of her life to do it and ended up in an assisted living center - she always managed a vegetable garden. Her husband (who died) in 1981 and her had a teeny lot (less than 0.1 acres), but always grew enough green beans to get them through the winter (frozen or canned), grew and made their own dill pickles in big basement crocks, and canned peaches from the local orchards every summer.

I miss them both - but I think I did manage to learn a few things from them. I hope enough of us did learn from their generation.

[Mason]

I'm a boomer and I've looked on with geometrically increasing dismay at the horrific and stupid things this criminal administration has committed in every living American's name. I've spent all of my adult life helping those less fortunate than myself and fighting injustice in all its myriad forms. I am spiritually rich, but not economically rich. I've learned to live with less and I'm happy. I've ranted and raved for years about our misbegotten leaders and I will continue to do so. Yes, I'm disgusted with those members of my generation who bought into supply-side economics, greed is good, and Jesus wants you to be rich. I'm certainly not the only member of my generation who thinks this way. Don't forget that George Bush is an illegitimate president. He "won" the 2000 election due to an assist by the United States Supreme Court and he "won" the 2004 election due to Diebold's electronic voting machines that changed enough Kerry votes into Bush votes to literally throw the election to Bush. Before people start blaming an entire generation for the mess we're in, please take a moment to consider where all of us would be today if Al Gore had served as president for the past seven-and-a-half years.

It's not about what generation a person belongs to. It's about what each individual does to respect the rights of others to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

[Pavane]

Amen.

[svyoder]

You are right -- not all Boomers fit the mold described in the article. There are exceptions to every rule when analyzing generations to better understand historical trends. However, collective attitudes shape how a particular generation views what they "owe" future generations when it's their turn to run the country.

The Greatest Generation, having lived through the Depression, largely accepted higher taxes and an economically activist government. They knew first hand what it meant to live through hard times when a nation had to pull together to survive. They saw value in working together, and invested heavily in their children's futures.

Boomers, who grew up with a strong economy, strong middle class and generous national safety net, ended up taking it all for granted. Boomers led the tax revolts of the last 30 years, creating an ethos of "each person for himself...­as long as I GET MINE." They dismantled the social contract believing that a free market will magically work everything out in the end.

Boomers are largely responsible for the national debt crisis (grown from $1 billion when Reagon took office, to over $9 billion now) due to the large Boomer electorate voting in tax-cutting politicians at all levels of government.

Enough of this "me first" tendency has dominated the Boomer age cohort to jeopardize our future. Hopefully enough Boomers with a civic conscience will act responsibly in the coming dark years and redeem their generation in the eyes of history.

[JoeBlough]

You could always send the IRS more money than you owe. That would help, too.

[itmaybetoolate]

We should not forget the role religion has played in this debacle. Evangelical churches shoulder much of the blame - they wanted a conservative "christian" who made them feel better about what they believe. They did not care about anything else. They were used by these immoral republiscum traitors and, even now, don't see it. They will destroy democracy, if they can.

[Thinks4Herself59]

There are also a large number of evangelicals who equate wealth with blessings from god. If you aren't doing well financially, you aren't going to church enough... It's part of this whole "me first" attitude.

[SisterAnn]

The writer, Adam Hanft wrote: The prospect of a financially traumatized Gen X and Gen Y - bearing the burden of a new kind of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Subprime Disorder) - is a chilling thought, given that two-thirds of the economy is driven by consumer spending. And it's spending is only made possible by ever-increasing levels of credit card debt, and a near-zero (and sometimes negative) saving rate. Even the slightest tilt away from immediate gratification, the slightest shift of the foot to the brake pedal, will truly have devastating consequences. Get ready.
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This raises the question of why we are not spending more. I know many need to hunker down and pay off their credit cards and build up a little savings in case worse comes to worse.

In a capitalistic society, don’t we want those who can to spend? If several each buy a car or TV, then that helps the car company and keeps them from laying off.

Those stimulus checks saved a lot of jobs. We just need to get some adults in charge that will pay off these debts/deficits before the younger generations are stuck with them.

[vietveter]

I am 61, a first year boomer.
I was laid off (no) outsourced is a better term for what happened to me.

Who wants to hire a 61 year old?

I cant wait to draw some social security

It may not last, so I am going to get it while it is there.

I would love the ability to join your shop till you drop club.

I just cannot afford it.

[renatam]

These are REAL stories the boomers should remember -- and tell our own grandchildren -- to pull back on the unrealistic and excessive expectations we have unwittingly passed on to the Xers/Millenials of the Reagan/Republican era. Boomers and our offspring will never again know the kind of security our grandparents fught for and ushered in post WWII -- because we allowed ourselves to be manipulated by the Reagan Revolution by a union-busting President who was the beneficiary and leader of a union (Actors) for himself and his self interests -- but cared little about the lives of Middle-Class when he became President.

Senator Obama is a serious man. He knows what it is like to bootstrap himself, while being considered (as he is being cariacatured today) as an "outsider.­" His ROOTS are in the Middle Class. He knows the Middle Class were the parents of today's billionnaires.

Too bad THEY don't seem to remember -- in their insatiable desire for more -- at the expense of those who have less.

[renatam]

I am a boomer and our generation has been one of pendulum swings -- and excess. We went from flower-power anti-War demonstrators -- to excessive capitalists, bombing Nations based on LIES -- and greed. We created the environmental movement and bought SUVs.

In between, we created and funded the Internet (thank you Vint Cerf/creator and Al Gore/funding) and gave birth to a generation born in the age of Ronald Reagan and Republican values/domination, which is thankfully coming to an end.

We have a chance to move forward -- or backward. John McCain is a throwback to the boomers' parents generation. He doesn't use the Internet or a computer. He has lived as a privleged elite and on Government dole since his birth. He has NEVER lived independently and w/out support of some kind of wealth/pri­vilege/inf­rastructur­e. Legacy DEFINES his life experience.

My AA grandmother, the youngest of 13 children, born in 1912 told me a story when I was a small child -late 1950s. Finish my dinner because when she was growing up, came of age in Mobile, AL during legalized Segregation/the Depression -- they only had one chicken for the entire family and until she married after joining the black migration North -- she thought the only part of the chicken were feet. She became a waitress in the early 1930s and married the restaurant owner at 20, in part, to never be hungry again. He was 20 years older and promised her she would not be.

[SisterAnn]

It wasn't the average boomer, or X or Y, that did the lying that led us to war. It was the republicans and their enablers.

I never use the word 'We" when talking about what has been done. As a country we have done some bad things, but as people, it wasn't us or "We' it was them who did it.

[renatam]

The average boomer voted for Bush/Cheney -- twice. Xers/Millenials notoriously did not vote in large nos.

That will change. They instinctively know we are on the wrong path and their future is at stake.

It is time for boomers to take responsibility and help repair the damage while we still have the time. Blame isn't the point. Responsibility is.

[tommy slothrop]

My parents lived through the Depression (as kids). They were so traumatized by my rebelious days that my younger brothers and sisters (boomers all) convinced them they had to "change with the times." As a result they gave up the frugal ways that they had learned growing up. I am the only one left in the family who lives frugally because I was raised before they changed.

[mbaty]

It's like we want to have it both ways--I mean, we want a consumer based economy while not providing adequate monies to those consuming. The economy will change or die. It will definitely be transformed.

[JoeBlough]

"we want a consumer based economy " - where do you learn that?

Big Business wants us to have a consumer based economy. That how they survive. We would be better off with an economy of "needs" rather than one based on wanting crappy stuff.

[pikaomega]

Now, they are getting on in years, and guess who will be footing the bill for their ever increasing lifespan. They had the sex, did the drugs, turned Hendrix into ABBA. They were afforded every opportunity, and they grabbed it with gusto. They skipped across the bridge and then burned it to the ground behind them. That Medicare that pays for your Viagra? Yep, I recognize it from the tab on my shrinking paycheck, but that's as close as I will ever come to it. Those elections you keep faulting my generation for not caring about? My first election (before I became an organizer in 2004) was to vote against the fuhrer himself, and we see how fair that was. My current job, at an anti-war, veteran's issue based non-profit. I spend my days watching kids, mostly even younger than me, come home physically intact-som­etimes-but mentally destroyed. I guess you needed to salvage the American psyche by waging another war that was never to be won.

So, to all of the boomers out there that lament about the youth and our lack of a moral compass: we will pay for your mistakes many times over; us, our children, and their children. That is the legacy that we have been handed. But please, stop the undue moralizing. You have managed to do what no other generation in the history of this republic has done, the world behind you is less than the one you found.

[SisterAnn]

Most of the boomers are still paying the tab for viagra too because they are still paying in to Social Security and Medicare. Paying for Viagra in Medicare was a gift to the drug companies from the republicans for their donations.

About 52% of us voted against the fuhrer, but we had the same experience as you did.

You need to look for the common denominator in all things. It is usually a republican leader or a DINO that has pulled these stunts. We should throw our complaints and criticism at them, not at each other.

The war is sad. Our country has attacked a country that had not done one thing to us. I love the soldiers and was as upset as anyone when my son in law went over there. There isn't a really safe place over there. Thank you for what you are doing for the soldiers.

Myself, I have fixed up old homes and picked up rocky fields. I have always tried to leave things as good if not better than I found them. I try not to use too much gas and walk where I can. There are a lot of boomers like me.
It 'aint' over either. We may rise from the ashes.

Try to fine tune who actually was responsible for this mess. Voting is a disastor. Writing letters to our leaders doesn't cut it. Blogging makes us feel better, but they don't stop. Republican leaders are the termites of the world.

[SisterAnn]

The latest statistic show that we are only living about 2 and 1/2 years longer than they did when Social Securiy was started. We started gradually raising the full retirement age to 67 to take care of that.

People who know, checked the prospects out for Social Security and they said the figures used were a worst case scenario. They said if the economy does even moderately well down the road, after we clean up the republican mess, that there will be plenty for the X and Y generations.

[pikaomega]

I was born four days before Ronald Reagan's inauguration as Lead Yuppie Viking, and yes, we are most definitely pissed off. I know that not all boomers were responsible for this situation, but for a moment consider the situation people my age exist in.

We grew up with the "War on Drugs," as latch-key kids, eating ketchup as a vegetable. We saw both parents working because, hey, it's Morning In America, which loosely translated means get your ass to work. We were raised by MTV and Nintendo, ever more estranged from a world which we were taught was fraught with constant peril, so stay inside and eat your Hot Pockets.

The boom generation loves to yell about our detachment, our lack of values, our general uselessness. But, I posit, we did not raise ourselves. We did not gut our schools, wage fictional wars against moderate dangers, declare everyone a winner and distribute "Honorable Mention" ribbons, regardless of the honor involved.

[SisterAnn]

I watched Reagan in horror as he reigned. About half of the people did, not all of us were fooled.

There was only one thing I agreed with him about. It was eating a tablespoon of ketchup was a vegetable. You see, I had canned tomatoes that summer, making tomato Ketchup and salsa and it took a big pan of tomatoes to make a jar of ketchup. He was right, a tablespoon of ketchup is equivalent to a tomato. It is condensed.

Your writing has a touch of low key humor in it. I loved reading it.

Morning in America sounded good, but many boomers never got past midnight. When the Reaganites decided 'Greed was Good' it became impossible to live on one paycheck.

If you would look back on the last 30 years you will see that it isn't your parents or grandparents that did it, it was the republicans and the Dino (Democrats in name only, who went with the republican­s.)

I never got decorated for anything. One time I created a "Goodhousing Award' to myself and hung it on my living room wall, when my kids messed up the house while I was sick in bed. Does that count? :-)

[Unrepentantliberal]

Eat the rich!

[SisterAnn]

Na, they would taste awful. I prefer puppies.