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Comment by djrogers | Hacker News Reader

Really very surprising that such a long piece doens't seem to mention once that the current crop of older Americans are teh first generation to live largely on credit, lived in houses 3x larger than previous generations, purchased 10x more new cars than previous generations, and have spending habits that far outstrip anything their progenitors would ever have considered.

Yes, healthcare costs a lot, and social security pays very little. To previous generations, such knowledge would have been motivation to spend less and save more...

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Having been peripherally involved with a small handful of that aging crop and their experiences with "security" I'm not sure you're being entirely fair by lumping all their ills together because they over-consumed. I'm not sure you noticed life around you but we're all but force-fed raw, unadulterated consumerism. Be that as it may, sure, careless spending seems like it would definitely be a contributing factor - credit where credit is due.

Unless one is a ff rich elder (or at least well above moderately wealthy) the suction of any wealth is aggressive and unrelenting, especially if any services are required. Not until someone is totally insolvent do the "real" safety nets (what's left of them) begin to kick in. If you can't afford your ever escalating healthcare costs then you will likely not get the care you need until your assets total $0.00 and you're living ss check to ss check.

There has been and continues to be a sickly draw on any wealth and an unrelenting hacking away of the security of society as a whole. We are surrounded by vultures that eat the living in what seems like an "I've got mine and now I want yours." agenda that does nothing for society, rich or poor and continues practically unabated.

Bankruptcy seems like a perfectly good, viable and reliable option when considering the stacked deck.

>We are surrounded by vultures that eat the living in what seems like an "I've got mine and now I want yours." agenda that does nothing for society, rich or poor and continues practically unabated.

In other words, Capitalism working as intended.

I suppose, yeah. Maybe that's a valid point in that until we can (want to?) cordon off core social services (for the whole of society) from the reach of private capital then we will inherently continue to create and sustain a market that zeroes in on the truly vulnerable. For example services just like healthcare including aging with dignity in assisted living after they've either been taxed out or need help or both.

For that latter part I've witnessed two mind-numbingly ugly siphoning of all assets to the tune of thousands and thousands of dollars a month until assets are gone and then they're forced out and into pretty sub-optimal situations and neither of these two examples started off anywhere near the edges of being poor but they certainly did die that way.

The baby boom generation (as a whole) benefited the MOST from a surging economy, the debts of which are falling on Gen X and Millennials.

I'm not singling out individuals, obviously not every boomer benefited, but it seems, like NFL players, we are not good at budgeting for retirement and perhaps there is value in maintaining that social safety net before it's too late.

My parents are giving me a hard time because I won't buy a new car for my spouse. We currently have two cars, one is paid off and is reliable. The other is almost paid off and is also reliable. When I ask why we should buy a new car, I often hear responses like "because I want one", and "because I deserve it".

I question our society when given those type of responses.

It's a societal issue, but if your wife is asking those things, it's also now a you issue.

It also fails to mention how everyone under 50 is being co-opted to finance these lifestyles and literally create notions of generational wealth.

This. What a nightmare.

I fantasize about buying a house and find it outrageous that most of the houses I would want to buy are nearly 100 years old. Anything since has been very cheaply constructed and designed for a strange lifestyle that seems to prioritize individual greed. To me, my home is second to my neighborhood and this should result in smaller homes which make for a walkable and neighborly surrounding. What was going on in these greedy baby-boomers minds? They are like aliens to me.

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