WHICH generation is it that is "bitching about entitlements?" [Politics]

[rant on]
http://www.newsweek.com/id/128540


oh yeh, the last one that will ever get back what they paid into SS,  etc.

wah, i can't retire at age 55 if i keep my 3 SUVs because my house dropped down to a measly $450k.

     
i think there's a just a slight difference about feeling 'entitled' decent public schools, to affordable college, and to healthcare than feeling entitled the cushiest lifestyle combined with earliest retirement age  in the history of the post-Industrial Revolution world.

maybe if you all had thought a bit more about the future we'd have 40-50 mpg cars by now, more sustained infrastructure, etc.
 

btw. (as a stereotype of the whole) you all were the ones who voted into power (both figuratively, and literally) the current politico-economic situation.     you have noone to blame but yourselves.   

like to tell us how we can get what we want if we just work harder?  fine. now go get a part time job working night greeter at walmart.  practice what you preach.

 [rant off]

no, i blame both parties... they both suck.  one is arguably (imho) a slightly lesser evil  overall in the long term trends of performance.  nonetheless the system is broken-  largely because people who have been voting the last 30-40 years let it get that way  as long it didnt really negatively affect them.

Take a look at the statistics of the number of individuals of the recent generations that voted, or, more appropriately, didn't vote, nor have registered to vote.  If you're gonna blame us old farts for breaking the system, I gotta blame you young-uns for not giving a *feces*.

Did you even read the article you linked?  Burge worked a good-paying *feces* job, rose up through the ranks, and he worked a second job.  He diligently socked money away to be able to retire early.  His ~$430k house is on freaking LONG ISLAND -- what do you think the average property is worth there, $120k???  Property values in Port Angeles WA aren't cheap, either.  Neither family was said to have more vehicles than drivers.  And none was complaining about current leadership, national debt, etc., just the falling value of retirement investments and how it's changed the future that they'd worked hard to create.

Geez, I expect to work until I'm 70.  If I hit 70 and the retirement funds aren't going as far as expected because of a down-trending economy and/or sagging housing market and/or skyrocketing healthcare costs, I'm going to be quite pissed.  And when you tell me I didn't work hard enough and have no room to complain, I'm going to light a cigar with my Social Security check just to spite you.


Your rants might have some value, and people might be more willing to engage, if you used a tad less hyperbole.