If you’re one of the millions of Americans who became adults on or close to the year 2000, you’re being blamed for a multitude of problems, from the closing of various department stores to the waning popularity of golf.
According to the pundits, you’re the reason golf courses are becoming deserted, theaters are closing, vineyards are failing, homes aren’t selling… and so on.
So what’s the matter with you guys? Don’t you know what’s good for you?
I think you do know.
You just don’t want to be like your baby-boomer parents.
And I don’t blame you.
Looking back at the Sixties generation, there’s not much to be said that’s favorable. They were a generation of wastrels.
They wasted the political power their numbers generated. They wasted their formidable talent.
They chose sex, drugs and rock-an’-roll instead of seriously trying to reform society. They had the clout to change things, but they were distracted by self indulgence. To them, life was one big party.
And they left you guys to pay the piper.
When some managed to make a lot of money, they lavished it on tinsel and wallowed in snobbery.
Meanwhile, America deteriorated, income inequality accelerated and perverse forces grew ever more powerful.
Now, the boomers are retired or retiring. And you have to find the money to pay for their Social Security and Medicare. It’s no wonder you became such penny pinchers.
You millennials were left with a diminished world. You don’t have the money or the exuberance to support a flourishing economy. You don’t have the time or patience for pastimes like golf or hobbies like wine tasting.
You’ve endured too many disappointments. The baby boomers used up all your dreams.
