Kelly McParland: Lament of the baby boomers
Has there ever been a generation more pampered and privileged than the Baby Boomers?
We grew up in a postwar boom involving lots of money and an absence of responsibility. We came of age in the Sixties, conveniently deciding that moral and sexual restrictions of previous generations didn’t apply to us. Education was cheap, universities were easy to get into, jobs weren’t hard to find.
We protested American wars without the danger of ever having to fight in one. We learned to love real estate and pushed the cost of homes so high the next generation is stuck with dinky little condominiums at ridiculously high prices. We favoured deficit spending when our incomes were low and it served our needs, then rejected it when interest costs rose and pushed up our taxes. (We’re all for helping the needy, as long as it doesn’t threaten our big-screen TVs). We consistently ignored the damage we were doing to the next generation, just as long as things were OK for us. We drove big cars; we want everyone else to be content with hybrids.
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