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The 'Y' Generation

sandye21's picture

Got this email this morning:

People born before 1946 are called -
The Greatest Generation.

People born between 1946 and 1964 are called -
The Baby Boomers.

People born between 1965 and 1979 are called -
Generation X.

And people born between 1980 and 2010 are called -Generation Y.

Why do we call the last group - Generation Y ?

Y should I get a job?

Y should I leave home and find my own place?

Y should I get a car when I can borrow yours?

Y should I clean my room?

Y should I wash and iron my own clothes?

Y should I buy any food?

sandye21's picture

Good point. My Mom is among the 'Greatest Generation'. She gets a better pension, better health care and more social securuty than either DH or I. She was a housewife and I think most hard working stay-at-homes deserve a retirement but us kids did most of the work. Easy life, good pay. Maybe the quote was written by a memebr of the 'Greatest Generation'. LOL

Orange County Ca's picture

Don't blame the "Greatest" generation for the benefits they're receiving. A small amount was a direct result of serving in the war - GI bill to go to college. Everybody didn't get that boost - just guys who could have been killed in the war - i.e. veterans.

The federal legislature consistently purchased votes to get re-elected using Social Security and Medicare to do so. As a group these people were not so sophisticated that they could see that the plan was un-sustainable. In fact they were told, as was I, born in 1943 that our money was being set aside to be repaid to us when we retired.

That was never true - it's more a Panzi Scheme where your money is taken and paid to me and your grandkids money will be taken and paid to you. Even today your generation, presently in the federal legislatures, is pandering to the voters by failing to address this problem.

The inevitable bankruptcy of these give-aways will be avoided by the only means possible. Printing currency, depositing it to the U.S. Treasury, and dispursed as Social Security. The resulting inflation will act as a general sales tax would hitting everyone equally and depressing the economy.

Frankly folks I'm glad I probably won't be here to go through it. But don't blame me or my parents. Put the blame were it belongs - Washington D.C. and every pollster who bought a vote.

christag's picture

The Greatest Generation is generally seen as those that were adults during WWII and born between 1900 and 1925.

The Silent Generation was born between 1925 and 1945. They were the children of the Great Depression and WWII, received the initial perks of life in the post-WWII baby boom but also were adults during the beginning of the Cold War, and then produced Gen Xers.

Pilgrim Soul's picture

I love this sequence! How about i use it to make a point?
I am tempted to turn it into a toast. As in, do not become one of those people who...

Yesterday was YSD 17th birthday. She expressed an interest in doing
something with us over the weekend, which has not been the case lately.
I guess she wants money. Her older siblings are poster children for the Y gen.
Their latest questions include:

why should i waste my early 20s working?
why should i buy a car when i can demand my father gets me one?
why should i pay my student loans when i can demand my parens pay them?
why should i give anything back?
why should i take your interests into account when mine are the only ones that matter?
why should i contribute anything?

If she comes over for a birthday dinner, i am so curious to see how they all would respond to me saying anything along these lines. Do you think it's worth a try?