Hey, Generation Screwed, Can We Borrow $46.5 Billion Until Payday?
Recently, the Bush administration requested an additional $46.5 billion in funding for Iraq. Now Democrats in the House and Senate (stalwarts that they are) seem poised to go along with it because they don't want to appear soft on supporting the troops before the 2008 elections.
$46.5 billion is $46.5 thousand million. $46,500,000,000.00. The government will not raise taxes (personal or corporate) to generate it. They will borrow it, and pay interest on it primarily overseas. It will come in large part from China.
That's $46,500,000,000.00 stolen directly from America's future. $46,500,000,000.00 that won't be available for education. Or health care (socialized or otherwise). Or the kind of research that gave the United States a global technological advantage for decades.
It's $46,500,000,000.00 stolen directly from Generation Screwed, the generation of people -- most under 40 -- who will bear the brunt of the burden of servicing the debt and repaying the loans. It's $46,500,000,000.00 transferred out of this economy. $46,500,000,000.00 gone. $46,500,000,000.00 that is not coming back.
As unhappy as that sounds, it's chump change, compared to the total amount our elected officials will borrow against America's future in order to fund the fiasco in Iraq. Many experts place that figure somewhere north of $2.4 trillion. $2,400,000,000,000.00. Plus interest.
One would think such wholesale larceny would be somewhat alarming to the entire nation -- especially to Generation Screwed. So far, though, no one -- Generation Screwed or otherwise -- appears to be especially concerned.
Meanwhile, much closer to home and life as we live it, cash-strapped school districts across the nation will go, hat-in-hand to the voters with bond referenda next week. They will ask for operating funds. If they don't get voter approval, programs and jobs will get cut. Class sizes will go up yet again. The next generation of Generation Screwed will get just a bit more educationally short-changed.
The editorial pages are full of letters from indignant taxpayers, obviously Republican, alleging mismanagement and malfeasance up at the school.
Are these people crazy? They're watching Generation Screwed get fleeced out of $2,400,000,000,000.00 (plus interest) and they gripe about paying maybe $100 a year more for local education. This at a time when the same politicians who are borrowing money to fund the war are carrying water for international corporations who want to globalize the work force.
In allowing education to lag like this, they are not only making America poorer. They are making it more difficult for future generations of Americans to compete globally.
Faced with perhaps the most daunting set of financial and social challenges since the Great Depression, We The People appear to, "Got nothing." We have yet to muster an election plurality or protest movement large enough to begin changing course. The vast majority of the country continues to sleepwalk; to go to the mall; to sit on the political sidelines while the heart of the country gets stolen like the copper wiring from an abandoned apartment building.
It's our fault. We're doing this to ourselves. It's us -- one and all.
But, fairly or unfairly, doing something about it is going to depend on how involved Generation Screwed becomes in the political process. And not just in '08. From here on out.
To date, Generation Screwed has been fairly passive. It's only natural. They are young, and getting established in life.
But from protests to caucuses and polling places, the time has come for them to join politically active Gen Y, X, and Baby Boomers in opposing the policies that will leave them (and the generations of Americans who will follow them) poorer and less competitive in a global economy.
Hey, Generation Screwed. Let's go.
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All this generation rivalry is both pointless and absurd. No age group is responsible for the degeneration of the U.S. into the pit of hell that is conscienceless capitalism. Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman are to blame for putting a cloak of respectability on greed. Their advocates were made up of the worst of any generation.
Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt beat back the robber barons for a good 60 years. No living American has ever seen unbridled capitalism and the history of it seems lost to most Americans. Reagan created the conditions for a return to the glory days of unmitigated greed. And as should be obvious now, it only takes a dedicated minority of any generation to make life miserable for the majority.
What you see now, is the natural expression of the capitalist economic goal, monopoly. It is monopoly not only of a market for a given product, but a monopoly of a government that will assure the efficacy of a monopoly.
As monopoly replaces competition, oligarchy replaces democracy. Most of us have been sadly reticent in this realization, having relied on the heritage of 200 years of the moral compass of America pointing towards progressive humanitarianism.
We began to trust that corporations were responsible citizens. We did not realize that under the visage of compliance with the rules of civilized behavior raged the urge to dominate and destroy. The Pandora’s box has now been opened by the radical right.
The national debt can be dealt with, it is funny money anyway, just as is the Social Security trust fund. What matters is that we try and find a course that will change things for the better, instead of spending our days in recriminations over what is left of America.
Show of hands from Boomers: Who really expects to receive Social Security and Medicare bennies that actually count for something?
I'll wait.
Watch for massive restructuring and reform by 2020, if it even exists as we know it.
Also, keep in mind that for every two Boomers that retire, there is only ONE GenX/GenY to replace them. You think outsourcing and illegal immigration are bad now? Wait until Boomers begin leaving the workplace in droves and there's no one coming up the pipeline.
Watch for significant corporate incentives to keep Boomers in the workforce longer than they expected, combined with Federal legislation to force the issue.
I believe you are a little bit harsh,Mr. Smith, on your aptly named,"Generation Screwed". The fact is I think we have all been screwed - royally - by the multi-national corporations and more so by the mainsteam media, who quite frankly are a disgrace to the once proud Institution of Journalism.
The greatest single factor - and best kept secret - in our demise as a once great Nation and world leader is our ever increasing dependence on oil. All we get is palliatives and promises: got to expand our choices of alternative fuels; renewable energy is on the way but still 10 to 15 years from making a difference; and on and on with the empty rhetoric duelly shoveled forth by the bought out MSM. This is the same B.S. we've all been getting since the Arab oil embargo of the mid 1970's
What is truly outrageous - and an indictment of every generation going back to the so-called "greatest" of the 30's and 40's - is that we are all to blame for continued stupidity in following incompetent and corrupt leadership in all of our supposed society's institutions.
In closing. The last time I looked America had to consume 8 Billion barrels of oil a year to keep our economy afloat. The current price of oil is $90. per barrel. That amounts to 720 Billion dollars a year,litle,if any of which makes our Country any richer in a material sense; especially when - contrary to the lies spouted by the corporatocracy and their MSM lackey's - renewable energy has for years been ready to play a major role in our energy mix.
As an example; out of the 8 billion brls we consume in a year,4.7 billion or appr. 60% of the total has to be imported,which means around 427 billion dollars of our money is continually fleeing our Country. We have not been an energy independent Nation for years. But we could be again, and quickly, if we realize that every generation since the 30's,on up to the generation now just begining has been screwed. It's time to raise hell.
Why should we worry?
Sure, for the lower and whats left of the middle classes, the current $28,000 owed just for being an american is steep. but for those of us with a good degree and a bright future, it is an easy fix. We will leave the US and become British, Canadian, Irish, or Aulstrailian. The Helms-Burton act was supposed to stop this by taxing former citizens as citizens for 10 years after we leave, but if you take all your assets with you, the US is left whining pitifully about it.
Of course, for the US, there is a downside. The way for smart people to make a quick $28,000 each (over $100K for a family of four) is to leave the US. Such a brain drain can't be good for the nation, but anyone smart enough to make that quick money knows the US is sunk anyway. Best get out while the getting is good.
The Boomers were the ones who lived through the 60's and set out to change the world.
I would like to congratulate you, because you have. Boomers sold out on the ideals of the 60's for the almighty buck. Who cares about smiling on your brother and loving one another when there's money to be made.
Remember the 80's, dominated by the Boomers? That was the beginning of what we have now. As such a large percentage of the population, the elders with wisdom, look where you've taken us.
Not all Boomers fall into this category, but Boomers are shitting on the rest of us. And us younger folk get to clean up your crap and deal with the messes your generation has created?
We are all in this together, but as such a big part of the population and the sector with the most money, I say that it is your responsibility to take the lead on this, realize the error of your ways, and come up with real solutions.
But what is happening is that Boomers have basically accepted this is the way things are and lost all sense of what their generation could have done.
Funny how you came along right after the "Greatest" generation. Instead of totally following through, your generation chose the path of money and power over your fellow citizens and human beings.
The good news is that this nation is crumbling and cannot survive what is taking place. Something new will be birthed, and it will be up to us, generations X,Y and beyond to replace this corruption with something that values humanity over money.
I ask that we bring together our generation, and generation Y and beyond and reclaim our power, and kick these idiots out of office and our lives.
We actually get that things are all interconnected. We actually care that people are clothed and fed and have medical care, not "health insurance."
We either come together and do this or continue right down the shitter being led by the most fucked up generation this planet has seen.
I agree with every single word you said. Well done
Nobody is going to rebel as long as the changes happen gradually. It's only if there's a crisis will the citizenry get actively involved.
Before anybody even considers anger/action about the atrocities that this administration, with the full assistance of the democrats before and after the last election, has laid upon us, we need at least another 10,000 troops dead and reinstatement of the draft.
There are quite a few other things that could motivate the a significant number of people. Economic collapse or a serious perceived threat of it. Enough people waking up to the knowledge that the US government was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Opposition members within the system (Paul, Kucinich, Gravel for example) gaining enough influence to actually do something.
Any of these things could be enough to affect real change in the way our society is run. It is not only annonymous, faceless, nameless strangers dieing that can have an affect.
To Jen326: A lot of the Boomers left off trying to save the country because they bought into the idiotic yuppie syndrome and got caught up in the rat race so they could send their kids (you know: generation screwed) to the very best schools so their little darlings could pursue the American dream bigger and better than the next guy. Because, in the final analysis, that's what the American dream is: f**ck everyone else, I'm getting mine first! Well, I opted out of that madness and chose to "settle for less" - and as I approach retirement age, I know bloody damn well I made the right choice. But it is ironic that, without kids of my own, I've been paying taxes for 40 years to help educate other people's kids (you know: the poor side of generation screwed that had to settle for public school) - and now, because all the big spenders f**cked everything up so bad, some little punks are going to moan and groan that they may have to pay me Social Security one day. Well, boo-hoo. Social Security is just about the last human oriented thing in this country that people in droves are still willing to fight for. So if you kill it, you will have killed the last vestige of solidarity among the American people. And soon everything else that keeps this nation civilized will disappear too. Social Security is far more than a safety net for old people; it's the greatest and, quite possibly, the last barricade against the tyranny that's been slowly overtaking this country for the past two decades. Because it still matters to people.
If the social security system had not been put in place you could have saved or invested the money you put into it and used that money for your retirement rather than relieing on the government to dole it back out to you. If I had the choice that is what I'd want for myself. I don't agree with social security as a means of retirement. I do think it is a good system for providing for the unfortunate who, through no fault of their own, were not able to generate enough wealth for themselves. I don't think this article was about social security so much as it was about wasteful spending and overborrowing which will lead to the impoverishment of the country some time in the future.
I'm not surprised that the part of my comment that you focused on was the threat of having your social security checks taken away. Boomers -selfish 'til the very end.
But I will respond. Since taking power in the 80's, the Boomers dismantled many things that "matters to people". This includes the New Deal, taking away unions, decent public schools, and healthcare. They also managed to take away minority voting rights, habeas corpus, and sent us "little punks" to die in a war that was just as irresponsible as Vietnam. Oh yeah - and we torture people now because of you guys. And the world hates us for it.
Your generation knows all this yet social security is still very much in tact. Why? Because "It still matters to people". More precisely, it still matters to the Boomers, because they are the one's that will benefit.
It's not so much that I want to see social security checks disappear. In fact, knowing my generation, we'll take care of our crazy, selfish parents because they are our parents. What I want though, is for the Boomers to admit that they don't deserve a check every month in the mail from the government. I want them to admit that they have racked up an insane debt with their greed and irresponsibility, which their kids have to pay back, and I want them to offer to pitch in and sacrifice.
But I have no faith in your generation. You've been screwing us for 30 years, and I see no end in sight other than the day we can finally get you people out of office.
In fact, tell you what... If the Boomers would please just retire from government service - all of them, right now - we'll make sure you'll see every dime of your social security checks. Just go away and give us our government so that we can fix it.
How's that for a trade?
The real problem with Social Security is not that it will break future generations. It's that it has been used to, rather than accrue interest, fund the deficits created by taxbreaks for the wealthy in combination with military and corporate welfare. And yes this will add to the burden of the next generation when the bill comes due.
What is done with the money our citizenry pays out via social security and taxes should properly be considered national investment. What should be invested in? The younger generation my rightly bemoan the cost of social security or medicare for their elders, but the investment has the benefit of averting a much more costly nation-wide devastation of a huge poverty stricken populace over 70 without such benefits. On the other hand the war in Iraq and the tax code as it currently stands is in both short and long term a benefit to very little of our nation's populace.
I don't know about the rest of you, but in about 5 years when the phone rings and I see "China" on the caller ID, I'm just going to let it go to voice mail.
The sad thing about this is that while Bush and company are keeping "America Safe" from the terrorists, they are helping them destroy America by bankrupting us.
The only history they seem to remember is Hitler, Hitler, Hitler. But there is some recent history they need to study that imho is much more relevent. Remember that the Soviet Union was not brought down by WMD, they essentially went bankrupt.
INTRODUCTION TO REPUBLICAN FISCAL POLICY
Spending $2.4 Trillion of US taxpayer's money to provide hospitals, schools, security, roads, sewers, water, electricity, bridges, doctors, teachers, policemen, firemen and industrial infrastructure to the people of Iraq is "sound economic policy".
Doing the same for the people of the United States would be "socialism".
Go figure.
PS: Nice gloss "Generation Screwed". Too bad my kids are part of that generation, but they earned it by not voting out the gang of crooks in the White House when they had the chance.
Aloha.
Many people voted; trouble is most of those votes weren't included. Ask Diebold why that might be.
For God's sake! I'm so tired of reading this line. I am a member of "Generation Screwed", and I can tell you that we are well aware and plenty pissed that our future is being squandered right now. And the thing that really gets me is that articles like this have the audacity to tell us to get off our asses and join the Baby Boomers in fighting.
Hey Baby Boomers - go to hell!
I don't know how this has escaped your attention, but YOU are the one's in power right now. George W. Bush- Baby Boomer. This pathetic excuse for a Congress overwhelmingly consists of, you guessed it, Baby Boomers! Baby Boomers, not the young, have enough money to donate to campaigns to influence elections. The media - Limbaugh, Scarborough, Dobbs, Abrams, Huffington, Olbermann, O'Reilly - Boomers, Boomers, Boomers.
And what are you doing to stop the maddness? Damn near nothing! In Congress, on TV, in newspapers are Baby Boomers fighting with each other. Democrats and Republicans - bickering like school children. My generation doesn't have the power yet to stop the maddness - and you do. But you continue the cycle, and look to us for someone to blame.
Instead of bitching about the young, how about you guys use the power and influence you have in this world and get your peers to knock it off? Peer pressure is a powerful thing and if warmongers felt like social pariahs, they might behave differently.
I for one am angry. Very, very angry. And it is very clear to me, and my peers, that much of this is the Baby Boomers fault. And guess what- if you want your big fat social security checks, I suggest you stop screwing us. Right now. Because if you think for one second we are going to let you retire like kings on golf courses while we pay off Baby Boomer George W. Bush's wars (which we're dying in, by the way) you've got a serious shock coming. "Generation Screwed" may not have power right now... but we will. And payback is a bitch.
Wow---I guess you really told me!
D'accord - except for the misplaced apostrophes (smile) you've got it on the money. There are thousands, nay, millions who are opposed to the ham-fisted management that is the signature of this administration. The trouble is that the MIC has its own way of dealing with such opposition. Anyone see Syriana?
"Big Fat Social Security Check" lol
In eight years when I retire at 62,I will get about $1,800 a month from social security. I will get $4,000 a month in pension. I have a 401(k) and a Roth IRA that have a combined balance of over seven figures and I hope to get another $8,000 per month in investment income from my retirement accounts (not touching principal).
Weather your liberal or conservative, take my advice and forget social security and rely on yourself. I will actually make more retired than I am making working because I save a lot of money.
That is great advice...if you make enough money. Do you have any advice for members of Gen X, Y (and Z for that matter) who have either seen their incomes plateau (or flatline) for years or who are still cobbling together multiple service industry jobs as they enter their 30s and 40s?
I try to "save a lot of money" too. Back when I was in my 20s, I had that mythical "one year's salary" banked, for one thing. But my wages stalled and everything else got more and more expensive. Have you been to the pump lately...or priced food? And my ability to save has plummeted.
So "amassing personal wealth" is not a realistic expectation for the majority of us. After paying our bills, insurance, putting aside money for our children's college education, etc. there is not much left over. This is another challenge the younger people are facing. We need to learn to do more with less and accept that our lifestyles are not going to be as luxe as that of the Boomers.
Yes, it's true, my generation has known about the ills of the world for four decades almost five now, and we have done very little to turn the tide. We have failed our children.
But the entire adult population is failing the next one to come if something is not done about the runaway adventurism of the several generations in the Bush administration, its enablers, toadies, and croneys, whose penchant for fleecing everyone under the guise of patriotism, Jesus, and less taxes isn't somehow addressed in the upcoming years.
You may have ample right to rail against the windbags we've apparently become, perhaps always were, but the Sphinx has got us all in its trance, and the house is burning down.
I agree. I'm 24 and this whole country is pissing me off. I have been thuroughly disenfranchised by the system and really have no say in what happens... and now I'm supposed to share in the blame for things going wrong? If those in power would listen to me or the millions like me this mess would not even exist, and if they listen to us now it can be corrected.
I am 60 and in exactly the same boat. They are trying to further divide us by age.
I resent my helplesness.
yea, I know... so what, right
The first tax cuts during wartime in the recorded history of the world and Republicans want more while cheerleading the war that breaks us.
And they call US unpatriotic!
Yes, and Bush is bitch-slapping Congress again today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/washington/30cnd-policy.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
And waddya think they'll do in response ...?
Get the knee-pads ....
What the prez was saying is to send him some more bills to veto.
Yes, A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR PER SOLDIER IS OUTRAGEOUS... THE ONLY QUESTION IS WHETHER OR NOT ALL THE MONEY IS GOING TO BLACKWATER INSTEAD OF THE SOLDIERS ON THE GROUND...
Nope. Part of the plan is to lose another $9B somewhere along the way....
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Posted October 30, 2007 | 02:04 PM (EST)