ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The Bankruptcy of Generation X

Updated on April 25, 2023
Patty Inglish, MS profile image

Ms. Inglish is successful at employment & training, with regional records of tens of thousands placed and retained in gainful employment.

Source

Intergenerational Recession and Poverty

For years, pundits have repeated the chant, "We're leaving our children and grandchildren in overwhelming debt." Other voices, notably pseudonyms on Internet discussion boards, berate Baby Boomers for stripping national resources bare and leaving the Generations X and Y with "nothing."

One side's argument is an organized emotional trigger for use in spurring an uprising to prevent taxation. The opposing side's argument is emotional bloviating for use in avoiding concrete issues.

I'm not sure anyone is listening anymore, because too many people are scraping to survive now, this day, and cannot look to their own futures, let alone to that of their children and grandchildren. Perhaps some of the pseudonyms need to look for work -- There is plenty of opportunity in Healthcare, Health Technologies, Allied Health Services, Engineering (including IT), Engineering Technologies, and the various segments of the Aerospace Industries, as well as some others, like Sales/Sales Representatives/Sales Supervisors. Many metro areas are hubs of numerous listings for Truck Drivers or Truck Owner-Operators.

Employment Opportunity

The mentioned work opportunities include Aerospace-related Manufacturing as well, although pundits would have us believe otherwise.

The news is full of "manufacturing is in great decline" articles and union vs. management conflicts are growing continually. One side wants long-term unionized employment at high wages (some want wages that are too high) and one side wants to do away with unions (this is unreasonable).

Gen X-er's and Y's need to train for jobs that are and will become available from 2013 - 2023; specifically in the industry fields mentioned int he last paragraph. I have spoken to a host of 2013 graduates that changed majors to psychology in order to graduate more quickly - or at least to graduate, some not being able to complete engineering studies. A Bachelor's in psychology is not an end degree and offers little hope of non-minimum wage employment.

Studying for a degree that will lead to a job instead of haphazardly attending college and "getting some sort of degree in the end" is more likely to lead to well-paid careers and a lesser risk of suicide over matters of poverty and loss.

Full-Retirement Ages

Born in year 1937 & earlier = age 65.

Retirement age increases by months every year to:

Born 1943 - 1954 = age 66.

Similar Increase...

Born in 1960 - 1969 = Age 67.

...etc...

Born in 1990 - 1999 = Age 70 or older.

Born in 2000 - 2009 = Age 71 or older.

Further, the age can be raised at any time, legally, by Congress.

Longer Careers and Shorter Retirement

Some voices still claim in the 2020s that there are no jobs anywhere.

However, advertised jobs rose from a low point since 2008 of a bit over than 3,000,000 in September 2012 to 5,000,000 advertised in October, coast to coast, to over 7,000,000 advertised jobs in the USA in all of January, February, March, April and May 2013, and over 7,457,000 jobs listed on all Internet sources in June 2013 by my own tracking in workforce development. This does not account for another few thousand hidden market jobs or jobs simply not advertised anywhere online.

Unproductive squabbling aside, "scraping to survive" is particularly true of the last half of the Baby Boomers (the generation born 1945 - 1964) and more so for Generation X (born 1965 - 1984). At the same time, suicide is the third leading cause of death among the next youngest generation, Generation Y/Millennials.

Suicide may even increase among X's and Y's (quoted as anywhere from 1978-1985 to 2000-2004) as the retirement age rises and hits 75 for the Gen Ys - and it will, since the increase was planned in Congress and the Social Security Administration under the Reagan Administration in the 1980s, when Gen Y's were toddlers. I know this from access to government data connected with preventive medicine/public heath research in the mid-1990s. So, what did some of the Greatest Generation (Reagan's cohort) actually leave for the Gen Y's?

On the other hand, consider this: Baby Boomers largely did not have an easy time in education and career opportunities. For many high school gradauting classes, the men and some women went to Viet Nam war zones; while the women, some men, and minorities left in the USA struggled to find any employment at all. At the same time, college seniors graduated generally at ages 17 - 19; however, in most states until the mid-to-late 1970s, only the parents could sign up a high school graduate for college or university and apply for financial aid until the child was 25 years old.

I've spoken to hundreds of Boomers whose parents would not complete the invasive financial and educational paperwork. These Boomers were stuck. More of them joined the US Armed Servics, because you could do that by yourself at age 18. Many of the females simply tried to get married. There were a lot of divorces. Many Boomers ended up working two, three, or four part-time jobs at once. Pushing ahead 30 years, a sizable number of Baby Boomers were laid off at age 50 - 55. There is an "invisible" popuation of female homeless persons ages 50 and above, but plenty of men are in the same situation. Horribly, the same thing is happening to our Generation X-er's, the children of the Boom Generation.

Generation X and Y and Entitlement May Be Overstated

Some Successful Generation X Members

  • Charlie Sheen - OMG! "Winning!"
  • Brook Shields
  • Halle Berry
  • Dave Mathews
  • Moon Unit Zappa
  • Celine Dion
  • Tony Hawk
  • Mary Lou Retton
  • Sammy Sosa
  • Emmitt Smith
  • Shaquille O'Neal
  • Brandy Norwood
  • Venus and Serena Wiliams

Some of the More Notorious X-ers

  • Mike Tyson
  • Marilyn Manson
  • Lance Armstrong
  • Monica Lewinsky
  • Tiger Woods
  • Britney Spears

Insulting the Generations

Probably a portion of each generation of people in America use name-calling against the previous generation. However, I think calling X a bunch of slackers does not help them to any extent, but I see it in the news. One in Detroit, actor-producer Sean H. Robertson, is almost single-handedly keeping the film industry alive in Detroit with projects funded by Kickstarter-type groups. He's progressed from scripts to web series to a new television show, plus more acting work,all while raising a daughter alone as a single parent. There are many more X-er's out there like him.

The Pew Charitable Trust looked at data collected by the Federal Reserve Board and the University of Michigan and found that Generation X lost an average of $33,000 ac in The Great Recession of 2008 - 2010. At the same time, they still have balances on their college student loans. The Pew consensus is that X lost nearly 1/2 of its net worth and will recover only half of that before full-retirement age - the Boomers lost only 25 - 28% of their net worth.

Generation X may feel like its working for nothing - when it can find work - but with examples like Sean Robertson, they can see hope. One of the reasons for Sean's success is that he seeks out others to raise to success with him. It becomes a group effort and a group success. This raises hopes, but a portion of X-er's are held back because Boomers have not yet retired and some Boomers and X-er's will probably work until death.

Impact of Recession on Boomers, X and Y

While the Boomers and Generation Y were harshly affected by The Great Recession, Generation Y has suffered the largest financial losses and will likely continue to do so, according to Pew and other research and financial analyst groups. Proceeding from this situation, some analysts feel that Generation Y will suffer even more, while other researchers feel that Gen Y has and will have the creativity, energy, and self esteem to thrive long-term.

While all of the above is proceeding, pundits of various media outlets chime continually that Generation Y will be left with a large US National Debt that they can never pay, because of taxation, "programs", and Stimulus Funding. While I see individuals in X and Y generations that show significant success in film, business, and sports; it is unclear exactly what will happen as Generation Y joins adulthood and ages.

Looking back to classroom experience concerning generations and retirement, I remember middle school on a particular day - I suggested that the US pay down the National Debt more quickly, but teachers expressed disdain. Most of them said that the debt would always increase over time and would never be paid. I hope that they were incorrect.

Considering job increases in Aerospace, Health, and other industries and the future retirement of Generation X, Generation Y should have a better chance at long-term careers and financial stability. Hopefully, they will retire before age 70.

The ME Generation Followed By the WE Generation

Opinions of the Video

What is your take on the video presented above about the WE Generation?

See results
The Great Recession has been a global problem, affecting many markets and countries around the world.
The Great Recession has been a global problem, affecting many markets and countries around the world. | Source

Sources

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

© 2013 Patty Inglish MS

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)