House of Eratosthenes

Victor Davis Hanson does it again.

If anyone wished to know what the baby-boomer generation would do when, in its full maturity, it hit its first self-created, big-time recession, I think we are seeing the hysterical results.

Baby boomers. I’m one and when we want something, we expect to get it. Forget about consequences. Forget about the future. It’s all about me, right now.

I want a house, but I can’t afford one. That’s ok, bank A will get me into one. Bank A wants money for my mortgage but who would buy it? No problem, we’ll package it and sell it to bank B. Bank B needs money for those mortgages, but I’m not paying the mortgage. No problem, the government will handle it.

Same story, different want. I want a vacation, but I can’t afford one. That’s ok, I can use the equity in my house ……..

I want, I want, I want. And by God, I expect to get.

VDH himself, after putting together an admirably simplistic list of things that really are simple when all’s said and done, concludes…

At some point in all this serial hysteria, we are beginning to see the problem is not in the stars of the economy or of the war, but in ourselves—a weird generation that, when it finally came of age, proved to be just about what we could expect of it from what we saw in its youth.

It’s really quite sad, when inspect the wreckage. For all these decades, working hard and living in an apartment instead of a home, is a crisis…an intolerable crisis…you’ve just gotta have a house. And then when you have kids, a three-bedroom home is a crisis because you have to have five rooms plus a bonus. The car must be big, to make you feel safe, and you have to have two of ’em.

Once the baby-boom wave has come and gone, the nation will be financially weak. Ironic, because while they were here, most of them spent much of that lifespan babbling away something about drinking out of recycled-cardboard cups, unplugging your cell phone, and participating in Earth Hour…all to leave “mother earth” in better shape than when you found her.

But the bill is coming due for this entire generation’s entire lifetime of saying “I want I want I want” — and the solution is debt on top of the debt, so that their kids have to clean up the mess.

Try to do some fixing in the here-and-now? To actually produce something, to create real wealth as opposed to simply shuffling it around? Just find a way to do that — without someone calling you “greedy.” We aren’t contending with the ghostly disease of an ancient and deceased mindset; we’re battling demons that are consuming us right in the here-and-now. And losing.

I think it’s worse than that, of course. Since I definitely define myself as pre-baby boom because of the facts that (a) when I was born WWII was still being fought, and (b) my Father was KIA just before the Battle of the Bulge and didn’t return to have more children, I’ve watched this insanity at close range my entire life.

The “worse” part is that what we’ve been watching lately is the entitlement-without-knowledge mentality of the Baby Boomers’ children, who were raised with no apparent sense of responsibility whatsoever. And they’re gonna be voting for a long, long time. The appalling ignorance of history displayed by the 0 voters is mirrored in the new President’s having been born long after the Baby Boom exhausted itself. Generations raised on television seem to be proud of denying any attempt to reason with them.

As I’ve said before, Newsweek, of all things, had an issue over 15 years ago entitled “Everybody’s Hip, and That Ain’t Cool.” We are indeed reaping the whirlwind. I say again how grateful I am that there are people like you that aren’t as depressed about it all as I am. Hang in and fight the good fight; we’re all counting on you.
- rob | 04/05/2009 @ 15:48
I would also add that in these United States, it was a capitalism boom that fueled this unstiable desire to have the better things in life. I love capitalism as much as the next guy, but TV has elevated envy to an Olympic sport. Many boomers can’t seem to find value in things that aren’t sold on TV (family, loving relationships, hard work, civic pride). In fact, for each of those listed, I could name the exact opposite which are heavily marketed:

anti-family – Vegas, that awful housewives show, escapism
anti-loving relationships – Oprah (what’s wrong with your man), every single soap opera, vi@gr@
hard work – any cleaning product, every single show where the rich and successful are never seen working ever (implied: so why should you), or any get-rich quick info-mercial
civic pride – iPod, cars, every democrat talking point, populist sentiment

Mike Rowe didn’t go far enough – we have declared a war on more than just work.

The internet may become the next driver of public opinion – it would be wise to monitor where it strays from promoting hard work.

I think (moral) capitalism is the best form of economic growth, but some folk are way too susceptible to the powers of suggestion. If it’s not promoted on TV it can’t be worth anything? How simple-minded can you get?

P.S. – I have always bristled at the (hippy, therefore icky) phrase “The best things in life are free.” But, I would be okay with “The best things in life are free – but aren’t obtained or maintained without a lot of work.” Lastly, there is a correlation between abandoning religion and embracing commercialism – but at some point commercialism becomes a religion (defined by me as your direction for assessing value).
- wch | 04/08/2009 @ 08:25
In the Book of Genesis, God lovingly provided Adam and Eve a garden full of nourishing fruit — and there was one tree in the garden from which they were not to eat. When they ate from it, it led to their downfall.

Had they been nourished in some other way, the entire disaster could’ve been avoided. It’s a story of Satan contamination of man, through his (man’s) own free will.

We have a lot of gardens that have been lovingly provided to us. Mass communication, instant financial transactions of staggering value, the ability to vote ourselves lucre from the public coffers, all kinds of electronic babysitters for the kids, cool hip Presidential candidates that don’t know anything…all this stuff demands our sanction. All of it can & will create havoc and lead to our downfall, and when it does, it will be our fault and not the fault of the bauble or the doo-dad — since it works through free will.

I have long argued that all, or nearly all, of the man-made disasters that came about during the twentieth century resulted directly from the ability of one man to speak, and expect his words to be instantaneously heard by millions. The electronic mass communication — it by itself is not a bad thing, it’s a very good thing. We just weren’t ready for that technology. We ate of the one forbidden tree.
- mkfreeberg | 04/08/2009 @ 08:55

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“I Want, I Want, I Want; and by God, I Expect To Get”Sunday, April 5th, 2009

“I Want, I Want, I Want; and by God, I Expect To Get”
Sunday, April 5th, 2009