A Pep Talk

When historians look back at this recession it is going to be a shameful period for the Baby Boomers for they are the ones who were more or less at the helm of this financial disaster. This is not to foist all blame on them, as there is certainly no limit to the amount of idiotic, disgusting, entitlement mentality driven Gen-X’ers who more or less make up a plurality of the sub prime dead beats and thus are also to blame, but at the helm of all the financial institutions, regulatory institutions, governments and corporations were the Baby Boomers. And they were asleep.

Well, maybe not so much a “pep” talk as it is a “you don’t completely suck” talk.

48 Replies to “A Pep Talk”

  1. ‘They’ were and are Bush and Co.
    History will see W. Bush as the idiot POTUS; asleep at the switch for 8 years. He is the Latter Day Nero; fiddling away with his theo-con jackass buddies while the USA rusted into a scarp heap. What a disgusting wee little man.

  2. not stirred – So now that you are beginning to realize that the bug OWE is a great campaigner but little else you want to creat a smoke-screen by trying to lay the blame on GWB. Not gonna work buddy. This belongs on the Dem controlled Congress and in particular the likes of Barney (sweet cheeks) Frank, Pelosi, Reid,Schumer et al.
    Just to illustrate how vacuous Pelosi is I just saw a video clip where, at a media scrum, she mentions that if the stimulus package is not passed soon – FIVE HUNDRED MILLION Americans will loose their job. Quite a number for a country whose population is about THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE MILLION.
    Stirred – you elected an empty suit and the Dem leadership (there’s an Oxy for you) is non existent. All you really have is your empty ideology.

  3. Bob,
    Please get your timeline straight before getting off on a tangent. Remember for the first 6 years of Bush’s reign of nonsense Congress was rightoid.
    Pelosi is shooting from the hip and so are you.

  4. Ever notice that whenever anything goes wrong, anyone born before 1960 is a baby boomer, even if they are like seventy years old right now?
    Baby boomers are currently aged about 55 to 63.
    I think the Axis of Blame is a lot bigger than that.

  5. Stirred – you cannot hide from the FACTS. GWB inherited the Clinton recession. By the summer of 2001 the economy is starting to pick up – things are looking good – more jobs being created – enter 9-11 and the economy is in the tank until roughly Oct 2002. For the next roughly 5 years the US economy is going great guns. All this under a Republican controlled Congress.
    Enter the Democrats. Things start going south – and in a relatively short period of time. Never forget Stirred – it was the Bush administration that badgered the House Banking Committee (remember Sweet Cheeks?) to bring in some oversight and tighter regulation. No way! Frank, Shumer, Pelosi – ya, those clowns – wouldn’t have it. The rest is history.
    Your naked, stirred. Go put some clothes on.

  6. That was 500 million job losses per month. If Sarah Palin had said that the media would have gone crazy over it. Let a democrat makes a stupid stmt, it is forgotten.
    Gee, O has been in office 3 wks and is upset he has not changed Washington yet.
    How can he change it, he has all the guilty people in his administration and congress and the senate.
    Wonder if he will call our PM President next week, or if he thinks he is visiting the 51st state instead of Canada.

  7. The demonization of George Bush is the most perplexing, disturbing political development in my lifetime. The venomous politics of today and the gross and malicious rewriting of history – history I have witnessed up close in person – paints an undeniable picture of decline and fall. Good luck, kiddies….you’ll need it.

  8. Pelosi was being inclusive and concerned. The term “American” refers to any person born in North/South America now living anywhere in the world. The words “Democrat” and “mistake” must never be written together as they would then constitute an obvious untruth.

  9. demonization of GWB is not unlike the demonization of Harry truman – called communist, blamed for the loss of china Korea, etc., etc.
    Like HST, GWB will be better judged in the fullness of time and while on domestic issues and his relations with congress his record was to be generous spotty on foreign affairs he will be very well regarded.
    (it is interesting that BO brought up FDR during his presser and the fact that the new deal is now being questioned and accused of having prolonged rather than ending the depression. He seemed to see that as puzzling. i see it as evidence that history is not finished with its verdict on the new deal and that this stimulus package may sway it even more after all is said and done.)

  10. 500 million a month would leave the whole world unemployed in a little more than a year.
    sounds good. maybe we could reset the clock to zero then and go from there. the left could redistribute the wealth and see how long it took to go back to the distribution we see now.

  11. The Silent Generation, born before 1946.
    Baby boomers, born beween 1946 and 1959.
    Generation x – born between 1960 and 1979.
    Generation y – born between 1980 and 1996.
    Those born since 1996 are known as the millenians.

  12. Gord Tulk – 9:27 AM, you are absolutely correct.
    FDR was president during a recession and made it worse. Before he was through it was a full blown depression. The second the US experienced the first was in the 1920’s. Unfortunately, people either do not know history or don’t want to know.
    GWB will go down in history like Harry Truman. History will be kind.

  13. On cue, the first comment is a “Blamebush”…
    Self greed and entitlement by citizens of all classes who are responsible for at least who they elect as their political masters are the overall reasons why we are all in this mess. All the free and democratic nations on earth are all in financial trouble and to blame it solely on one man tells me that the finger pointer has yet to realize and/or admit he is part of the problem himself or worse, does not understand the magnitude of the problem itself.
    Just like Bush, Obama has yet to demonstrate that he has what it takes to apply enough tough love to steer away Americans and subsequently the world from financial capitulation. The majority of American voters could have chosen a much tougher Ron Paul or Fred Thompson. No, they opted for an easy, magical, mystical way out instead just like they did when they elected the ones before him. The only difference now is that the end of the roll has been reached and postponing the disaster yet again is no longer doable. It’s tough to run a free democracy. Ask any dictator if he would prefer the challenges of a democracy: NOT!
    For me it’s too late already and we will yet again, because of greed and short sightedness that has build up since at least the Carter years will have to suffer with much turmoil and unrest to come.
    Here is the type of tough love I would undertake if I had to sketch a map out of this mess (In the USA):
    Democracy and debate would first have to be put on hold with a leader with total free reign to call the shots BUT WITH THE ARMY IN THE WINGS ONLY LOYAL TO ONE THING: RESTORING FULL DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM TO IT’S PEOPLE ONCE THE PLAN HAS BEEN DEEMED A SUCCESS.
    – Repatriate all troups around the globe (Leave enough in Iraq and Afghanistan) and mobilise them in and around big urban centers across the country. Get the National Guard, police and all other organisations that could provide security and hold the peace.
    – Temporarily “confiscate” oil from Iraq (Without disrupting Iraq’s own economy) to insure ultra cheap energy for the master plan to be acheivable.(The peace keepers and volonteers would need “free” mobility power)
    – All citizen groups, associations including religious and volonteering individuals to control distribution of basic needs like food and medicine would be asked to volonteer their time to be paid with basic needs of course.
    – Temporarely Nationalise food providers (Farmers and distributors): Maximise land usage by eliminating ethanol production for good and temporarely (If necessary)stop land use for beef production and replace with protein rich substitutes like soy. (MacDonald and Burger King can serve veggy burgers for a while).
    All this again to secure feeding the masses thus keeping peace.
    – All public and private work unions would no longer be law. Employers would be given free reign in lowering pays and benefits to stay viable but pressured in return to keep everyone employed as much as financially sustainable.
    – Temporarely nationalise and distribute energy like gas and electricity to minimise civil unress. Also freeze evictions from homes for those who have legitimately lost their jobs. It is better to maintain and preserve a dwelling than it is to abandon it as thousands will be.
    – Temporarely shutdown all higher learning centers from High Schools to Universities and mobilize teachers and experts in key fields to start massive retraining programs.
    – Systematically shutdown all public paid (Government institutions and or Government subsidized/semi private) institutions that are deemed non essential; and that at all levels: Federal, State and Municipal.
    This would include elimination of the war on drugs. Legalize drugs and prostitution would kill a large segment of unnessasary government and just about kill organized crime, street crime and seriously hurt terrorist groups around the world like the Taliban.
    – Start retraining for key fields:
    -Energy exploration and exploitation (Carbon, hydro and nuclear only).
    -Health care.
    -Agriculture.
    -Civil engineering: Infrastructure.
    Ultimate Goal: Reduce size of governments substancially = Reduction in regulations and total elimination of existing taxes to be replaced by a universal flat tax on consumption.
    Estimated time to acheive: 8~10 years.
    Reader’s Digest version:
    PROACTIVELY MANAGE AN INNEVITABLE DEPRESSION IN ORDER TO SET A COURSE FOR A FULL REIGN CAPITALIST RECOVERY IN THE SHORTEST TIME POSSIBLE .
    OTHERWISE WAIT FOR TOTAL FINANCIAL AND GOVERNMENT CAPITULATION/CIVIL SUFFERING/WORLD WAR = 1929 TO 1945 REDUX.

  14. RHTT
    You have to drink a lot of electric Kool Aid to find any use for your plan. The only point I agree with is the legalization of drugs and prostitution; possible now with a liberal Congress and POTUS.
    Rightoids can spin it any way they want. Yes it started with Clinton but Bush had 6 years to make adjustments and failed miserably to do so.
    Boomers only did what they were supposed to do; chase the American dream. Bush was supposed to ammend the rules as the dream progressed.

  15. Great bitch slappin you put on that ill informed leftard Bush hater, Different Bob. Hard to compete with facts you poor lefties aint it! Made his makup run I’ll bet.

  16. “You have to drink a lot of electric Kool Aid to find any use for your plan.”
    NSES
    What’s your plan? Let me guess: The O’s.
    My plan is an attempt to save freedom and democracy and that’s the most dangerous threat of all of our problems right now.
    If we eventually loose our freedom of speech, we won’t be here to talk about it here for example and you won’t be able to blame out loud like you did with Bush.
    You can take away my house, my car, my flat screen TV but you will have to take my life before you take my freedom away.

  17. Gord Tulk and dolly – here is a good (perhaps a bit biased, but nevertheless good) explanation of how FDR’s policies prolonged a recession into the Great Depression.
    http://www.mackinac.org/archives/1998/sp1998-01.pdf
    Clearly, a guy like Obama has never been exposed to such arguments. His comments seemed a bit dangerous to me.
    He has to start realizing the election is over, and he has four years of work to do.

  18. Stirred – I’d have thought you would love the Terry Tory plan. It is a blue print for what Russia and Cuba have had implemented for years. It is communism in its purest form with some imperialism thrown in.

  19. RHTT,
    Here in the west freedom is a state of mind; if you feel that way then you are.
    My plan is to let the market economy take care of itself; no bailouts, no tears. Reward CEOs for job creation not performance measured in days or for creative accounting tricks.

  20. Not stirred enough – that last sentence of yours identified exactly one of the biggest things that led us to these problems.
    People were juicing up theoretical value so that they could maximize their bonuses on a year to year basis. There was no benefit to 5 or 10 year profitability or sustainability, which is what a shareholder seeks.
    People moan about huge CEO/Executive bonuses now, really, the point is that bonuses already awarded should be retroactively taken away for the ten years of damage that was done to the US banking sector (impossible of course)

  21. As a boomer, may I just say, “Screw him!” If I owned his blog, he’d be toast and I don’t care if he’d be ashamed or not.

  22. Reward CEO’s for job creation. Better invest your money and not mine. Oh wait I do decide how to invest mine.

  23. “For the next roughly 5 years the US economy is going great guns. All this under a Republican controlled Congress”
    I think it’s becoming increasingly obvious that those 5 years of growth were all built on the back of the housing/financial bubble which has now not just popped, but exploded. I do not think the Republicans or their supporters should be cheerleading about such false growth, nor their role in starting the ball rolling on this never-ending cycle of bailouts with that abomination known as TARP.
    There is a lot of blame to go around on this, and the Republicans certainly are due their share.
    However Obama’s rank idiocy on display last night has sent the Dow down 300 points so far today. Everything from here on out is on the Democrats.

  24. IAN – Nonesense. The jobs being created were of the high-paying variety in what was being referred to as the “new economy”. You’ll recall that GWB was under the gun from the likes of Lou Dobbs decrying the closure of factories and the loss of jobs to foreign countries under NAFTA. Those were lower paying jobs being replaced by jobs to folks with technical and professional training. It took a while to get those job numbers rolling but roll they did.
    There was no housing nor financial bubble. After the 9-11 debacle the housing market was in the dumps. The financial markets were in a big slump. Those are things that respond positively to a growing economy. The housing bubble really started to form with Fanny and Freddie lending money for houses to anyone with a pulse. And , of course, sub-prime mortgages.
    I just hate it when lefties want to re-write history. Wait 50 or 60 years when someone might believe you. We’re talking recent past here. Please, enough with the smoke blowing.

  25. You boys are all blowing smoke:
    “LOYAL TO ONE THING: RESTORING FULL DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM TO IT’S PEOPLE”
    The United States is a Republic, not a Democracy. In one sentence; Democracy is majority rule, Republic is rule of Law. It’s the difference between the lynch mob and the Sheriff.
    Here are uncle kenz 10 points to recovery:
    1. Scrap all perks and salaries for Congress and the Administration. Henceforth it will be a honorable position only. No indexed pensions or other special perks. -they get SS like the rest of us (until we can scrap that Ponzi scheme). Congress not exempt from any laws. Make your own lunch you bastards.
    2. One term only. Per family.
    3. Lobbying made a capital crime.
    4. Members writing earmarks have their ear cut off on TV.
    5. Constitutional Amendment – FedGovCo budget cannot exceed 10% of GDP. No borrowing.
    6. Currency to be backed by gold standard. No more fiat money.
    7. Banks must keep reserves of 100% of outstanding loans.
    8. Voters must pass a simple test with questions such as “Name the three branches of the Federal Government. Name your current congressman. Etc.”
    9. Constitution to be explicitly followed. It means what it says, for example it does not contain the word “Education”.
    10. Future inaugurations to be held on January 20th at 2:00 PM at Denny’s. No plates, no t-shirts.
    I have lots more, but that’s a decent beginning.
    uncle ken
    Houston, Texas

  26. Just frigin great, I am already being blamed globally for the world’s problems as a White Conservative Christian Nascar Hunting Dad, might as well throw in Baby Boomer as well.

  27. I like most of what Uncle said expect the gold standard thingy. Money is basically just a lubricant if you move to a gold standard then growth is severely limited to the amount of Gold you have. Fundamentally you could end up in the neverending recession simply because you have no way to facilitate growth.
    GWB basically gave way to the House to fund the Iraq war. He signed off on stuff like the community reinvestment act. A trade off to pay for a war that was costing a couple billion a month.
    Certainly make congress pay for what they spend do not allow them to borrow. They will either have to raise taxes or cut programs. It would soon become apprent that in order for them to do stuff raising taxes would slow the ecomomy. Cutting programs would keep it flat to a point but then the ecomomy would begin to grow again.
    Now I don’t know if you could ever compell them to return the money to those that produced it but
    not letting them borrow would go along way to stemming future disasters.

  28. “There was no housing nor financial bubble”
    You need to start reading sites like Mish’s Global Economic Analysis and the Market Ticker. Heck, just go through Captain Capitalism’s archives for a start about how the housing market was pushed overboard by all the mortgage & development fraudsters. This was one hell of a bubble, started in housing, enhanced by banks, blown beyond all proportion by Wall Street, with government arms like Freddie, Fannie, and the Fed blowing as hard as they could to keep it going. Underlying incomes never increased at a rate that could support any of those activities; why do you think consumer debt in the US economy has skyrocketed? The last 5 years have been all about BORROWING and spending, not earning and spending!
    Now all that bad debt and insane leverage is choking the life out of the US financial system, and with it the economy. It CANNOT be fixed with more borrowing and spending.

  29. MaryT
    “””Wonder if he will call our PM President next week, or if he thinks he is visiting the 51st state instead of Canada.””””
    I presume you ment the 58th state:-)))))

  30. Perhaps we could just avoid all the partisanship and just say that all governments f**k people over.
    Remember, most of these people couldn’t hold a real job if they tried, and based on how they all act, most 3 year old brats are better behaved.
    And these are the people you want to place trust in to look out for your best interests?

  31. Believing you are free in Canada is truly a state of mind.
    Unless you consider unvoluntarily turning over 50 to 60 % of your income to govt, not counting the endless mandatory fees, a partner of freedom. To pay a monthly rent in the form of property tax on property you own. To be told what you can and cannot do with that property. To be told how to raise and educate your children. To be disallowed choice in healthcare. To be stopped arbitrarily. To have speech and thought restricted and criminalized.
    Definitely a state of mind.

  32. [quote]8. Voters must pass a simple test with questions such as “Name the three branches of the Federal Government. Name your current congressman. Etc.” [/quote] Uncle KEN
    8a caveat; all questions & answers must be given in English!
    NANCY P “MUST GIVE UP PRIVATE JET” Just hoping she may be “ashamed” into a jump
    Market heading on it’s way to 4800… but it is hard to rate a market of such diminished volume

  33. In the end the Boomers brought this on themselves. Buying into the culture of death. The greed of locusts. It will surprise me if after all they have done to the future generations. That they will only get a needle in the arm, not a rope around the neck. Its only the few who did not go hippy dippy that has left us with what little we do have now. The MSM with the co-operation of Elitists have befouled this Nation of its birthright for momentary pleasures or desires. This generation had no farsightedness. Except its own stomach. Red Ed is now in the process of reversing the effect of pay cuts we took to ensure our youths future. I used to be proud of Alberta for that. Now Eddie & his boy’s want to raid the food locker as per usual to fill there own bellies. While simultaneously throwing our oil companies under the Bus for the honor to be green. A pox on them all.
    JMO

  34. Very few times in history have seen such a massive increase in the money supply as now. Keynesian indoctrinated Hyppies from the 70s are pushing hard. It always, ALWAYS leads to inflation. Hyper inflation, even.
    It fits the Hyppy, Boomer mindset to a Tee. Erode the wealth (dollar) of those who have been frugal and give it to the Flunkies.
    It is all coming home to roost. Hitch-hiking-Hyppies. Global Warming Doomsters. Barney Frank Bill Clinton induced no-down buying. Stir. The Media can be relied on to report it all in a simple, live for the day, man bad way. Big Industry is only good for paying taxes to support socialistic schemes though up since the 60s. Cool, man. Cool.

  35. Thank you Ratt. I thought I was the one everyone is blaming for _________(insert leftoid agenda item).
    p.s. I also use metal hooks to catch and eat sea puppies.

  36. Hey texas canuck.I still use lead sinkers to catch my sea-kittens!AND hooks with barbs,which, believe it or not,are illegal in AB…heh

  37. “I like most of what Uncle said expect the gold standard thingy. Money is basically just a lubricant if you move to a gold standard then growth is severely limited to the amount of Gold you have. Fundamentally you could end up in the neverending recession simply because you have no way to facilitate growth.”
    Not really. Growth is increase in productivity. If the amount of goods and services (GDP) doubles but the amount of gold remains static, the price per ounce doubles and you print twice as many dollars. The point is that currency then has an inherent value directly related to productivity. The price of a candy bar remains the same, wealth increases or declines in concert with the economy and everyone knows where they are at. It is our present uncertainty that is causing the DJ to be so volatile.

  38. Eric Larsen – 11:24 AM. That was quite the lengthy read. I knew alot of it but much was an eyeopener. Too bad that Obama guy probably won’t read it. Could save us all alot of heartache.
    Being of the Silent Generation I saw my parents go through much of this. I even remember those union riots in Detroit. Think we are in for fun.

  39. cal2 – 11:43 AM. I had heard that mentioned some time back. I suppose with a full house of Dems they could push that through, making that Obama guy president for life. Man, I hope the USA wakes up. Look how long we had the turdeau and what he did to us, and then that other Jack A%% we got rid of after 13 years. Not much difference between all the fools they love to keep in power.

  40. One cannot simply blame the economy for their layoff. If they had made themselves valuable enough to the economy and their company, a layoff wouldn’t occur.

  41. if you think you are free you are. what kind of bullshit is that?
    It’s typical leftie kindergarten philosophy and it supplements “if you think you’re pretty you are”; if you think you’re intelligent you are”; get the picture? It’s from the leftie reader “All I ever really needed to know, I learned in kindergarten”

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