Wanderers in Wonder

We are back to a ‘normal’ life. The LA Times is delivered to the door every morning. The neighborhood is peaceful and walkable. The beach is a fifteen-minute bike ride away. Kind of nice to return to our life of a few years ago. So, we are enjoying the laid-back suburban lifestyle…reading a great deal.

I was turned on to an interesting book by one of my brothers-in-law.

Being a Boomer, 1952 vintage, with two Millennial children I found this book to be both interesting and disturbing. I have felt for quite some time that my generation did not live up to its potential. I took a walk back in History to review the accomplishments of my parents and grandparent’s generations. They achieved a great deal. 

They fought the Great Depression and WWII to successful conclusions. Then they kept tax rates high to pay for all the borrowing to fight those two disasters.  They created the Social Safety Net…Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Unemployment Insurance. They established a Federal Minimum Wage. They demanded and received employer sponsored pensions and healthcare benefits. They built the Interstate Highway System. In many states, most notably my home state of New York, they agreed to pay higher taxes to create what was by 1970, the most successful system of higher education the world had ever seen. They supported these systems with their tax dollars so that their children, we Boomers, could attend college for a very low cost. Boomers taking out large loans for school was almost unheard of. After Rachel Carson warned of the declining song bird population, they passed Clean Water and Clean Air Act, then added an Endangered Species Act. They were not perfect. They got us mired down in Vietnam and they did very little to desegregate schools and neighborhoods. But their list of accomplishments is impressive.

Then came the 1980’s. Boomers started to be a force on the National Stage. Boomers became the largest generational voting-block. Boomers began to enter politics and the upper echelons of the corporate world. By the 2000’s Boomers had elected one of their own, Bill Clinton, as president, controlled the U.S. House of Representatives, were becoming a major voice in the Senate, were a majority of state governors and state legislators…Boomers ruled.

After forty years of mostly Boomer rule…

In 1980 the National Debt was $800 Billion. In 2020 the National Debt was $27.8 Trillion. Boomers simply refused to pay for all of the government spending they demanded.

In 1980 Social Security was solvent. There was a cloud on the horizon…Boomer Retirement. President Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill negotiated a deal to help Social Security remain solvent through the retirement of the largest generation, Boomers. Reagan got the top Marginal Income Tax Rate cut dramatically and O’Neill got a large increase in the Social Security Tax Rate to be put in a trust fund to ease the financial burden of Boomer retirement. Reagan and every president after him raided the trust fund to pay for everyday government operations. In 2020 Social Security is a mess. Solution…raise the retirement age and cut benefits, not for Boomers still working or retired, but for their children, grand children, great-grand children…

Minimum Wage purchasing power peaked in the 1960’s, thank you Mom and Dad. It has been falling ever since. The Federal Minimum Wage in 1980 was $3.10/hour. In 2020 it was $7.25/hour. It had not been raised since 2009.

Boomers actively supported or sat idly by when Reagan began the conservative attack on unions. Today, the pensions the parents and grandparents of the Boomers fought for are mostly a distant memory. In their place, self-funded retirement plans…IRA’s, Roth’s, 401K’s, etc. These can be good plans. The problem is, many Boomers and those in following generations do not earn enough income to fully fund these accounts. Unlike pension plans which can take into account mortality rates and make payouts higher and more efficient, every one using individual retirement accounts for retirement has to fund them through at least age ninety. Trying to factor in mortality becomes a scary gamble.

The federal gas tax to fund the Interstate Highway System peaked in 1980 at 18.4 cents per gallon. Boomers have not raised the tax. It was still 18.4 cents per gallon in 2020 and our highway system shows the neglect.

Annual room, board, tuition and fees for a state college was $2,550 in 1980, thank you Mom and Dad. In 2020 the average cost for a year of state college was $24,390.

Since the heyday of environmentalism in the United States, the 1970’s, thank you President Nixon, the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act have been under attack. 

I am not sharing my thoughts because I want to upset Boomers. I am a Boomer. But I am also the father of two Millennials. Too often these days I hear Boomers bashing Millennials and Gen Z’s. Common refrains, ‘they don’t know the value of work’, they are the most pampered generation’ or ‘they want something for nothing’. Student loan forgiveness generally enters the conversation at some point. Not fully sure where I stand on that issue. My children are both college grads and the oldest has his Masters. Neither had to borrow for their educations. But, just for the sake of argument, it would cost the U.S. Government $1.8 Trillion to pay off all student debt. That is a far cry from the $30+ Trillion of debt we Boomers are passing on to these generations. So, Boomers, bear these thoughts in mind when you are drawn into Boomer conversations about the next generations. The Millennials and Gen Zers I know are all hard working and assets to their communities.

Peace…Wanderer in Wonder, Joe.