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We owe oldest Americans an apology

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Originally posted by: SagaLore
Originally posted by: ducci
I personally think we owe our grandchildren an apology more than our grandparents.
Click to expand...

Why? 😕 Explain.
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Guess who gets to pay the Chinese off for the trillion dollars worth of T-bills they own?
 
Who's we? 😕

As big as the current economic crisis is, most Americans had no hand in any of this. This is the work of 2 small groups of people, one with too much power & greed, and the other with no power/control over their finances.
 
Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
Originally posted by: GasX
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Originally posted by: ducci
I personally think we owe our grandchildren an apology more than our grandparents.
Click to expand...

Why? 😕 Explain.
Click to expand...

Guess who gets to pay the Chinese off for the trillion dollars worth of T-bills they own?
Click to expand...

I'll bite. Who? And how do you know this?
Click to expand...
Me, you and every taxpayer from here to eternity. I know this because that is how debt works and we have a bunch of assholes in Washington with the collective fiscal prudence of a crack addict on gubment check day.
 
Originally posted by: darkxshade
Who's we? 😕

As big as the current economic crisis is, most Americans had no hand in any of this. This is the work of 2 small groups of people, one with too much power & greed, and the other with no power/control over their finances.
Click to expand...

This group is probably larger than we care to admit, but point taken.
 
Originally posted by: kranky
An apology would hardly suffice.

These greedy SOBs are so insulated from the lives of the average person, they don't even think they did anything wrong. They don't feel disgraced in the least. They live lives based on "get what you can, when you can" and if things go sour, oh well. They don't think about the lives of the people who lost money. They didn't feel any responsibility to act ethically and prudently. They do not feel shame.

I'm embarrassed for my country to see AIG trying to defend paying bonuses to the people who ruined everything by saying the bonuses are contracturally guaranteed. If these people were ethical, they would simply refuse the bonuses as they certainly did nothing to earn them. But they won't, they'll demand their bonuses or sue to get them.

It's a damn shame the generation which did sacrifice, which did live within their means, which did look out for each other has to take it on the chin now due to unbridled greed and selfishness on the part of those in positions of power. I know two families who have done everything "right" who now see their remaining retirement years becoming pretty lean when they should have been comfortable. The money they used to give to support single mothers get their cars repaired, to fund youth athletic programs and to send kids to summer camp won't be there any more.

When we see how vast and deep the scamming was, we'll be shocked, but we won't do anything about it. We'll keep re-electing the same people as always, we won't get involved, and we won't think about it once any more once we see who won on American Idol this week. Gimme the remote, then let me watch some youtube vids and pr0n, get me out of jury duty and keep gas prices under $3... there's nothing wrong with America. Let someone else do something.

Embarrassed for my country.. that's how I feel. It's not a good feeling.
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Stop making me feel guilty damnit, I didn't do anything wrong.
 
Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
Originally posted by: GasX
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Originally posted by: ducci
I personally think we owe our grandchildren an apology more than our grandparents.
Click to expand...

Why? 😕 Explain.
Click to expand...

Guess who gets to pay the Chinese off for the trillion dollars worth of T-bills they own?
Click to expand...

I'll bite. Who? And how do you know this?
Click to expand...

Isn't that China's problem? Similar to how the US stock market doesn't owe us Americans anything?
 
Originally posted by: finite automaton
Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
Originally posted by: GasX
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Originally posted by: ducci
I personally think we owe our grandchildren an apology more than our grandparents.
Click to expand...

Why? 😕 Explain.
Click to expand...

Guess who gets to pay the Chinese off for the trillion dollars worth of T-bills they own?
Click to expand...

I'll bite. Who? And how do you know this?
Click to expand...

Isn't that China's problem? Similar to how the US stock market doesn't owe us Americans anything?
Click to expand...

You think things are bad now? If the US were to default on its debt, the whole world would explode in a firery ball of mayhem and confusion.
 
Originally posted by: sactoking
C) They perpetrated their fair share of atrocities upon their descendants (e.g., Supplemental Security Insurance)
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This. A huge chunk of the federal budget is already going to them. That should be apology enough.
 
Originally posted by: gorcorps
Originally posted by: darkxshade
Who's we? 😕

As big as the current economic crisis is, most Americans had no hand in any of this. This is the work of 2 small groups of people, one with too much power & greed, and the other with no power/control over their finances.
Click to expand...

This group is probably larger than we care to admit, but point taken.
Click to expand...

Depends on how you look at it. The problem is that the whole situation was a domino effect. A lot of people who could've otherwise afforded a house no longer can't because they lost their jobs. They lost their jobs because their employer took a hit from the worsening economy which was the result of greedy banks who loaned to people who couldn't afford houses. So as the situation got worse over time, more people got dragged into something they were not originally apart of. So when I say small group, I meant the initial bunch who ignited all of this.
 
Originally posted by: sactoking
A) I, and the vast majority of the collective 'we', had no part in what's happening now and we are just as much victims as they are. That our timelines are different (i.e., we're younger) is nothing to apologize for.
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This. I personally had nothing to do with the lack of financial ethics. While I can feel bad for people that had their plans ruined by unscrupulous people, I don't think it's my fault.
 
I think a major difference between my parents generation and the current generation is the sense of entitlement of the current generation . My parents generation if you lost your job and couldn't afford to support your family you did everything you could to avoid going to the government. Getting welfare was shameful, like you had failed at life. The current generation looks at the government like it owes them something for every pitfall in their life.
 
Originally posted by: GasX
Originally posted by: finite automaton
Originally posted by: Fingolfin269
Originally posted by: GasX
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Originally posted by: ducci
I personally think we owe our grandchildren an apology more than our grandparents.
Click to expand...

Why? 😕 Explain.
Click to expand...

Guess who gets to pay the Chinese off for the trillion dollars worth of T-bills they own?
Click to expand...

I'll bite. Who? And how do you know this?
Click to expand...

Isn't that China's problem? Similar to how the US stock market doesn't owe us Americans anything?
Click to expand...

You think things are bad now? If the US were to default on its debt, the whole world would explode in a firery ball of mayhem and confusion.
Click to expand...

Isn't that what you're for? /remark about username

Thanks.
 
Originally posted by: Modelworks
I think a major difference between my parents generation and the current generation is the sense of entitlement of the current generation . My parents generation if you lost your job and couldn't afford to support your family you did everything you could to avoid going to the government. Getting welfare was shameful, like you had failed at life. The current generation looks at the government like it owes them something for every pitfall in their life.
Click to expand...

Riiiiiight and that's why AARP is such a libertarian organization
 
What a completely bullshit sensationalist article. The journalist should be publicly flogged for such misinformation. People in that age bracket aren't losing much because most of their money isn't in stocks. And if it is and they did then it's their own damn fault it is in such a risky investment.

Now if he's talking about pensions going under that is another thing, but I see no mention of that in the article.
 
Call me crazy, but I'm betting a lot of the people behind this whole mess - politicians who turned a blind eye to regulations, CEO's of banks & lending companies that agreed with the leveraged positions, ect are a hell of a lot closer in age to the people being defended in the article than the people being blamed.
 
This the same generation that has produced 10+ trillion dollars of debt, had its own people crash the market with their greed, and keep pushing agendas which no longer are good for the entire nation? Yeah, thought so.

Congrats, you just burdened my future kids with your retarded spending.
 
My grandparents lost a pretty decent chunk of change. They are pretty frugal though so I don't think they will be too directly affected, just the people/charites they were planning on leaving all their money too.
 
My grandpa was a WW2 vet and also the last grandparent to go and he went a few years ago. (2-3). I don't recall any of this stuff affecting him at all. There were only 3 things that I think had a profound affect on him: age, the fact that he outlived his wife, and the cancer that was destroying him.
 
Actually, it should be Baby Boomers that are apologizing, both to their parents' generation for being such monumental fuckups and to their kids' generation, for leaving them such a fucking mess to clean up.
 
I never took out a bad loan. I never purchased a house at an inflated price. I never shorted stocks for a living. I don't owe anyone shit, and those old people can suck a fuck for all I care.
 
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