Felix Rex once observed that the power of the middle class in the post-WWII order was something of a historical aberration and I can't help but wonder if that is the case. Frankly, I view western recognition of the People's Republic of China as the first domino to fall as it led to the post-Cold War hollowing out of Western industry because a Chinese peasant was willing to do the same low-skill job for shit pay. Now those jobs are moving elsewhere in Southeast Asia because even China's getting too expensive.
Its kind of this, I would say. Post WW2 is definitely a historical aberration, but not one that had to be a one off thing.
Really, the social security system was designed with the
Greatest Generation in mind, and honestly- it worked well and I think they deserved it.
They got through the depression, massive societal change, they won the cold war, they fought through the early cold war, etc. They were instrumental in the rise of North America, at the cost of Europe, and they would all essentially die or retire between the 80s to the 2000s.
If you want an ideal time to be born into, in North American society at least, it'd probably be the 30s or 40s. Too young to serve, but just young enough to experience the peak of our culture and to actually retire in a world that was largely consistent (at least in terms of employment standards) from the birth to retirement. You do still have some people from the 30s and 40s that are still around, but by and large- the current shenanigans have largely not affected them too much. They got theirs.
By contrast, lets look at the boomers.
They're really about to get fucked, if we're being honest- probably starting with those born in the 50s who are retiring now, and those born in the 60s.
Its not Canada, but its the same rough demographic-a new aberration is that it used to be that the homeless tended to be in their 30s or 40s, and now the largest percentage are 55+
The 401k is failing them, social security can't cover the expenses associated with housing, food, and other utility bills, many don't even have houses, etc. The
lucky ones have houses that they own, but that they're currently locked into because they can't sell them- because there's nowhere to go to, and because theyre ladled with debt that they can never hope to pay off because of lifestyles we've been pushing since the 80s
Normally we all dislike boomers, but I genuinely feel sorry for them on this one. Most millennials were sold a false bill of goods by boomers, but at the least most of us
are able bodied, can survive, are in our late 20s to 40s and Im assuming will come out of this on the other end of whatever wacky decade we're moving into. The boomers are going to be spending most of this time losing their facilities, with less health, no way to recover, and will see their quality of life just diminish year, after year, after year amid their 'ideal retirement'. I don't even think social security will even last the decade, if the rate by which we're going is any indicator (we're taxing the banks extensively now, to try and get some of that money- which is going to have all sorts of wacky results)
I think that a lot of this was by their own design, in the offshoring craze that started in the late 70s and really kicked off in the 80s (which the GG also had their own part in). That part shouldn't be understated- their insistence on, and overinflation of the value of education, eliminating of unions and insistence that cheap and made in mexico or china was the solution to 70s stagflation, really, really burnt the last things the GG got for our culture.
But if you think of it in terms of a cycle:
-The greatest generation had a tough youth, and the remaining 2/3rds of their life was amazing,
-Boomers had an amazingly easy youth and mid-life, and now its very likely that the last 1/3rd of their life will be awful and theres zero they can do about it,
-Millennials seem to have had a tough youth, and while the heights won't be as great as the GG, we have the
potential to fix things ourselves and have a good mid-life and retirement. Maybe that last parts cope, but at least we're going to have our youth during the upcoming crisis this decade. The part where thats difficult is that many, many millennials are also pozzed.
Gen X Im not going to get into because actually fuck them, thats Trudeaus generation and all the laptop class basically. If there's any solace, its that by the time they start to retire, millennials will be the bigger voting block in deciding what that retirement actually looks like.
I can't see many of us giving boomers the respect of "you earned your retirement" the same way we gave the greatest generation that (this is, outside of immediate family). I think, seeing the Indians here, the failure of social services, the degradation of our publicly funded institutions, etc- that most people with sense in Canada are going to trust socialized funds a lot less, and go more towards the individualist route and caring for their families and communities directly, rather than through government schemes.
Why donate to state run social security that is just going to Indians?
