According to a frequently repeating trope on Reddit, Boomers had it real good and then PULLED up the ladder!

[jmbar2]

The frequency of the trope increases the closer we get to elections. I never let one pass when I see it.

- Do you remember the big meeting we had, the one where 77 million boomers got together and agreed to screw over our children and grandchildren?

- The stirring speeches, explaining why we should "pull up the ladder" to prevent them from having stable jobs, affordable housing, and retirement plans?

- Do you remember our instructions for how to actually "pull up the ladder"? I must have been absent that day.

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There is no question that our younger folks have it rough, and the future doesn't look bright. We can only change it by building a multigenerational, multicultural coalition into an overwhelming blue wave.

When you see posts trying to stir up shit between generations, take time to respond. Our young folks need to know we are their allies.

[struggle4progress]

1. "Oh, look!" said Dick. "Oh, see! See a fascist divide-and-conquer tactic!" said Jane.

."I wonder why they keep doing this shit," said Mother. "Maybe Father knows. Maybe we should ask Father"

"I don't have a clue what the fuck is wrong with them," said Father. "Do you think I should go buy a gun?"

[jmbar2]

3. Puff pawed Sally with a concerned look, and shook her head. "No. Don't let father have a gun".

[LudwigPastorius]

2. The broligarchs are inciting generational warfare because...

they want that sweet, sweet Social Security money that retirees are living on.

Convince enough younger people that the olds are screwing them and eventually that "political third rail" loses its charge and SS gets cut.

[Skittles]

4. I *KNOW* it's harder for young folk now

I also know I AM ON THEIR SIDE

[ColoringFool]

5. I'm PSU '71. Here Is The Cover Of TIME May 24, 1971:

TIME Magazine Cover: The Graduate, 1971 - May 24, 1971 - Education - Labor & Employment - Economy https://share.google/s7jTDNsKTlNZl0b44

WE DID NOT HAVE IT "EASY." WE CERTAINLY COULD NOT MOVE TO A SINGLE HOUSE RIGHT OUT OF COLLEGE, OR EVEN AS NEWLYWEDS.

DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON VIETNAM. We had the DRAFT. Boomers are the last generation to have a MEMORIAL FOR THE DEAD. (I'm not saying we didn't have any fatalities in Afghanistan and Iraq.)

[Skittles]

6. right?

my dad grew up during the Depression and my mum was a WWII survivor - yes indeed

still, I do think just the fact that wages have never kept up with inflation makes it harder for young folk

[jmbar2]

7. Great find - thanks.

[ColoringFool]

25. Heh. I still have the original from back then!

[Bev54]

8. Yeah we didn't have it easy, I won't say dirt poor but grew up in a logging community

There was no such thing as designer clothes, we did have tv with one channel and we made our own fun, nobody entertained us. I went to work to save money for university because my parents couldn't afford it. Every generation has their crosses to bear. I do see a lot of entitlement in the younger generations, and unfortunately we do have to take some responsibility for that. The "everyone gets a ribbon", instead of healthy competition did not work. I don't remember anyone in our generation blaming the previous generation, in fact we were grateful for them.

[raccoon]

35. We ended the draft, but none of these people who complain about Boomers ever mentions that.

[Figarosmom]

9. Yeah they've been saying that for a while now

I unsubscrbed to some youtube.com channels I liked, like Parkrose Permaculture because she was saying that too. I explained what happened in the early seventies which sidelined a good portion of boomers from actually achieving the "American Dream" and then the double whammy of Reagan. They didn't seem to understand it was the parents of boomers who got to experience the dream because basically UNIONS. The boomers were on their way until the recession in the 70s. Then it got to the point where we were happy to have any job and unions or insurance became a luxury.

Much of the problem is that in my parents day if you belonged to a union or worked for someone matching union benefits and pay, you didn't need a college education. You could save money to buy a house which opens up to generational wealth. The unions got them benefits like health and dental insurance and college tuition. Then the recession hit and jobs with those benefits were gone. Could still go to college on government grants until Reagon hit. I know I dropped out then and went back and finally got my degree after Clinton established grants again. Now there are so many college grads that they no longer have enough of the good jobs to go around. They start out with enormous debt. I don't know why they don't get that the help Democrats offer would help them achieve their goals.

So sure we pulled the ladder up.

[ColoringFool]

26. Re: College Then And Unions---EXACTLY! My H.S. Classmates Made A Good Living Going......

Directly to Bethlehem Steel rather than spend 4 years wage-less.

[NNadir]

10. I'm a "boomer" and to be perfectly honest, I'm ashamed of what we are leaving the world.

We had such promise, and we blew it.

[ColoringFool]

28. We Were Never A Monolithic Generation. Many Were Pro-Nixon And Remain Conservatives.....

But as a Liberal Democratic Boomer, I'm not quite inclined to shoulder blame for the current 💩show!

The Dream died in 1963, and was interred in 1968.

[live love laugh]

11. The propaganda is being catapulted.

[ColoringFool]

30. Is Our Children Learning? 🐐

[stopdiggin]

12. maybe. but I never had any real trouble finding boomers

( that would be contemporaries) who had any real trouble pissing and moaning - perpetually - about "muh taxes!". (with a side order of "govmunt regulations" and "waste, fraud n' abuse!" . ). Meanwhile, a whole friggin bunch of them went to college (including self) somehow - WITHOUT the ancillary joy of compiling gargantuan debt .... Then there's the ailing SS system (along with others) that we have habitually and flatly REFUSED to fully fund - for virtually decades on end. With consequence targeting - guess who? So - perhaps not all of the rancour and sarcasm is totally without merit?

Or at least worth consideration and a fair hearing?

[BidenRocks]

13. Boomers and our Trash 80 did this.

We worked jobs which didn't exist when we were born.
We went to school and learned the new tech.
We didn't pull up the ladder. We helped build the path.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

14. I've apologized to my kids.

Our generation definitely screwed it up for their generation. Yes, I agree it was mostly the other side, but we let them get away with it. My kids are really struggling right now, and it's much worse than I had it at their age.

[Skittles]

15. some of us fight the good fight

for example, a pox on EVERYONE who voted for that POS Ronald Fucking Reagan - UGH!!!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

20. Yup, it goes back to Reagan.

I could never understand how my fellow union members could vote for Reagan/Bush etc. We could talk until we were blue in the face and we couldn't reach those people. I hope they're happy now, because most of their kids are probably struggling as bad as mine are.

[Skittles]

23. he fooled a LOT of people

SO many of them should have known better

I was young but I saw though his bullshit immediately, he made made greed and idiocy fashionable - America has NEVER recovered - a lot the economic woes today tie directly back to his trickle-down nonsense (which was ALWAYS the uber-wealthy pissing on us)

[Nasruddin]

16. Boomer pols

There are sure some boomer pols we could have done without.
Including "the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life," who's in charge right now.

Big cohort. All kinds of flavors of apple.

[BaronChocula]

18. Plenty of boomers voted for

- Higher wages
- Fair tax rates
- Voting rights
- Corporate and financial regulation
- Consumer protection
- Labor protection
and so many other things that would have extended the "American Dream."

How did the entirety of following generations vote... if they did?

Republicans voted against everything listed above. The culprit wasn't necessarily generational. As usual, the actual party to be blamed avoids the full credit due.

[betsuni]

19. "Boomers took everything" is same as right-wing saying Democrats give immigrants, poors minorities everything.

Jobs, housing, opportunities, status. Take from US and give to THEM. Both divisive and helps Republicans.

[Torchlight]

21. The age-bait schtick has gotten

too obvious and absurd for me to really take seriously anymore. When the critique is predicated on a demographic rather than individual performance, I've learned to dismiss it as nonsense (sealions be damned).

[jmbar2]

22. Been awhile since I've seen reference to sea lions - nailed it.

The dulcet tones of sea lions in my little town...

[EdmondDantes_]

24. Some are, some aren't

But for example their policies on building housing has resulted in increased housing costs. Same for the surge of outsourcing, taking away school funding, resisting the fight against climate change, gutting spending on infrastructure, paying for wars on a credit card.

Sure it's obviously not all baby boomers, but it feels a lot like how saying"not all men" or "all lives matter" misses the point. Does every black person vote for Democrats? Obviously not, but it happens at such a degree that Republicans are very eager to reduce the electoral power of black voters.

[Bluestocking]

27. Divide and conquer

Is what the fascist oligarchs do.

Boomers are now over 60. Seem to be a lot of boomers on DU that did not cause the mess we are in.

[DBoon]

29. This is a decades long attack on the Boomers who worked for progressive politics

It is a way of discrediting the white who worked for civil rights (and the many Black boomers too), the anti-Vietnam War movement, second wave feminism, and the environmental movement (the foot soldiers for Earth Day were almost all boomers, some were in High School)

This has been going on since at least the reign of Reagan. They attacked progressive boomers, first as communist subversives, then reduced their politics to a hedonistic lifestyle, and are now accusing us of theft.

[TBF]

31. As a gen X'er I'll admit it used to be better -

in the sense that there actually was a middle class. But we need to be brutally honest about WHO pulled away that ladder, and it wasn't run of the mill boomers. It is the uber wealthy who will never be rich enough, their enabling politicians, and the voters who are stupid enough to vote against their own best interests (yes, MAGA, that would be you).

[50 Shades Of Blue]

32. The older you are the more likely you are to vote.

If you can't be bothered to vote, STFU.

https://www.electproject.org/election-data/voter-turnout-demographics

[BlueTsunami2018]

33. No one is blaming ALL boomers but Reagan/Bush did win in massive landslides.

Backed by Boomers and their elders. My own Generation X embarrassed the fuck out of us by backing Piss.

Obviously not ALL but enough for it to make a huge difference. Maybe the difference.

And what has gone on over the past fifty, sixty years regardless of who was in power has indeed pulled the ladder up. It’s just gotten worse and worse and only varies by degree.

Democrats need to at least find their FDR roots when it comes to working class issues. They play footsie way too much with the ruling class. Stop fucking around with the “middle” and go as far left as the Republicans go right. I’m concerned that they just don’t seem to have that in them.

We desperately need a full on workers party. A full opposition party that welcomes the hatred of the oligarchs.

[Blue Full Moon]

34. The ladders were pulled up by the Greatest Generation.

Reagan and Bush Sr did it double time