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I love this. Love it. I don't even know where I fall (the sandwich generation is what they call us, born in 1974) but I am so sick of hearing boomers whine. Salaries are down, the environment is a hellscape, civil rights are eroding and they are whining. Stop. Seriously.

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Even though my older, wiser self says “Just walk away”, there are some questions for Mr. Fawcett.

The first is: within the next couple of decades all of the boomers will die off. What happens to all of their accumulated wealth? At some point all of that fortuitous property value will become cash. Where will that go? Perhaps to children and grandchildren? Or will you refuse that ill-gotten wealth and insist that it all go to charity?

Second: property value is not the same as income, although one can sell the house and live off the proceeds. For a while. Instead of leaving it to the children. (see above.) Also, let’s not confuse “Assessed value” with “Equity.”

Third: I could very easily point a big finger at all of the Silicon Valley (and Silicon Valley North) geeks and dot-com guys that make way, way more money than I ever will. There’s a really BIG pool of Millennial cash sloshing around, so I now declare that all Millennials are now rich.

Fourth: I don’t consider Donald Trump a “Baby Boomer”. I consider him an extreme asshole. Besides, the Trump kids are Millennials, if you know what I mean.

Fifth: No question that global warming is going to hammer all of us very hard, and I’m the first to admit that I expect to be gone before the worst of it, but lets keep in mind that our generation invented all of the clean water legislation, environmental regulation, automobile pollution controls, and pretty much the entire environmental movement. And seatbelts and airbags. It’s fair to say that you have no idea how utterly bad things were sixty years ago. Yes we’re moving backwards, especially in the US, but we’re still a lot better off than we were.

You say “power is finally starting to flow into the hands of other people, and they’re going to use it in ways that may make you uncomfortable.” That’s not true. I am incredibly happy to see thousands people in the streets, willing to battle police and military to make changes, and who are prepared to stand up for what they feel is right. And I am hopeful about electoral politics precisely because of some of the young (compared to the old 60 year old guys) candidates who are being elected and generally really pissing off the Old Guard. I can’t think of anyone my age in politics that is really contributing much of value. I'm even pretty pleased with the mythic profile enjoyed by Antifa.

What I do mind though are stereotypical shots at whole demographics that ignore the real and serious underlying issues in favour of name calling.

BR

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I have, for years, advocated for an estate or wealth tax that would prevent wealthy Boomers from transferring said wealth to their children without the treasury getting its cut. And we should remember that not everyone will benefit from said transfer of wealth equally. What of those of us who grew up in, say, co-operative housing? That's why we need a robust estate tax.

Yes, people can live off the value of a house. Reverse mortgages are, after all, a thing. And cities like Vancouver allow seniors to defer property tax payments, so they don't have to worry about that. How nice!

You are again conflating anecdotes with data. Are there rich millennials out there in the tech sector? Sure! But in the aggregate, millennials still have a much more challenging economic road to travel than the Boomers did. This is a fact. Read Rob Carrick's piece here if you don't believe me: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/household-finances/article-2020-vs-2012-vs-1984-young-adults-have-it-harder-than-ever-today/

You're welcome to think of Trump however you like, but he was born in 1946, so, you know, Boomer. Oh, and only Eric and Tiffany are millennials.

Climate change is NOT going to hammer "all of us very hard". It will barely touch the Boomers. But it will definitely make life far more difficult for millennials, and harder still for their own children -- thanks in large part to Boomers doing nothing about it for decades. It's nice that your generation did some other pro-safety, pro-society things, which makes it all the more disappointing that they failed to obviously on the biggest challenge of all. Why? Because, I suspect, it actually required them to make financial sacrifices.

I'm glad that you support the cultural and political battles of young people. But again, anecdotes aren't data, and Boomers in the aggregate have been the ones driving movements like Brexit and the election of Donald Trump (https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2016/11/10/the-demographic-blowback-that-elected-donald-trump/).

And please -- it's not "name calling". It's a widely accepted name for a generation which the generation in question willingly embraced when it conferred cultural power on them. Young people can definitely come up with better (and meaner) names than that.

Cheers // MF

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You know what Max, I pretty much agree with you on everything. It just about how things are phrased. I'm suggesting "I have, for years, advocated for an estate or wealth tax that would prevent wealthy people from transferring said wealth to their children without the treasury getting its cut."

FWIW, my first pro-ecology march was in Kelowna in about 1971. There were many since that, and not a small amount of work in the media, and in real life. Unfortunately since about the end of the elder Trudeau era the political class pretty much sold their soul to the petro industries. Again, many of us worked to stop that, but for whatever reason the larger societal choices worked against us. (As, arguably they still do. COVID-19 responses being a good example.)

I'm still not sure what drives the Trump/Bresit crowd. There's surelya large helping of outright racism, and an awful lot of right-wing media and Facebook, but somewhere under there it feels like a lot of people who are realizing that they've been sold a bill of goods. Once upon a time they would have been prime organizing material for Unions and the left in general, but somehow the right wing assholes have managed to step into the role of saviour of the little man. because, IMHO, the left has abdicated their role.

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“I’m also sympathetic to the idea that we need to build bridges between the generations, and break down the misconceptions that we often have of each other.” I’m having a hard time believing that, given the level of condescension expressed in your piece.

“Boomers like Mr. Rueger also need to understand that the plural form of the word anecdote isn’t data.” Seriously? That’s how you talk to somebody you want to see things your way?

You don’t get to define what contribution a generation of people gets to make or refrain from making to wider society. But you can seek to persuade them, something I’m not sure you’re up to if this is what you’re bringing to the table. Especially considering that if Boomers are as well off as you say (and I’m not arguing with you on that point), then they don’t need to give a damn what any of the rest of us think unless they want to.

So pick: if they’re persuadable, then speak to them in a way that’s likely to win them over and achieve the outcomes you want. If they’re not, then who exactly is it that’s whining again?

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I recall reading a study which pointed out that in the 70s it took about 5 years average income to pay for a house. Now it’s something like 14 years here in the Calgary area. “Poor, poor, pitiful me.” should not be our theme song.

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Hello Max,

As evidenced by my earlier comment, what you said, and in particular the way you said it, really pushed some buttons for me. Since having some time to think about it further (and with some help from Line Editor, who it seems know how to handle a complaint email), I’ve realized that my anger at your piece resulted from my reading your criticism of Boomers as a group as criticism of seniors as a group.

That wasn’t a valid inference, and as much as I’m still pretty on the fence about what you had to say, I’d like to be able to approach discussions of this topic a bit more intelligently the next time around. If you’re open to it, I’d like to ask for your help with that.

Do you know of a good online posting that effectively addresses the issue of criticism of the Boomer generation being construed as ageist by default? I know I’m not the only one who’s had that reaction in the larger public conversation, so I assume some quality deconstructions have been written. I just don’t know where to start. Seeing as this isn’t your first foray into this discussion, I’m hoping you do.

Best,

Jeremy

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Boomers are welcome to construe the criticism any way they like, but I think if they actually looked at the substance of argument like mine they'd see that it's about things they did in the past, not who they are today. If they try to elevate said claim of ageism to the level of other bigotries (say, against women or LGBQT people or minorities)? They're asking to get dragged.

I thought this was a good read on the subject. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/ok-boomer-ageist-maybe-supreme-court-case-won-t-fix-ncna1117496

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Thank you

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