Two Generations Argue Over The Economy

His generation bought homes in a far cheaper market than mine; they didn’t move us off oil; they’ve reaped the stock gains and the carbon externalities and the budget deficits — and left us with the bill. He keeps brushing me off, flipping the camera. “There’s this whole theory in democracy that you get the government you deserve,” he says, readying more verbal jujitsu. “And it’s our fault for not saying, ‘That’s enough,’ just like it’s your fault. I mean, you’ve been voting now for how long?”

By evening’s end, the defense has turned to open taunting. So what, he asks, if it’s his generation’s fault? “What are you going to do with that? Are you going to learn something and not do it? Or are you going to just point fingers, like this article seems to be doing?”

Can we blame Baby Boomers for leaving behind a huge economic mess for our current generation to inherit and fix? And should we stop pointing fingers and focus our energy on correcting mistakes so that the next generation won’t look back and blame us too? The National Journal has a really terrific piece pitting two generations against each other over the state of the economy. There’s no clear winner after the dust settles.

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