Jim Hoagland - The Madoff Generation - washingtonpost.com

Jim Hoagland - The Madoff Generation - washingtonpost.com: "don't know what to call the generations on the rise, but Generation Xcess would do just fine for the one now in charge of global affairs. We have taken the greatest financial, technological and political opportunities the world has ever offered and abused them for our own pleasures, greed and egos. We read about Bernie Madoff so avidly because deep down that is particularly true, but not uniquely true, of Americans. Bernie was one of all of us who refused to vote for politicians who would raise our taxes and make the nation live within its means, even as we went to war. Bernie was one of all of us who did not demand more diligent supervision of financial markets as long as the outsize returns kept flowing. And in his own special way, Bernie was one of all of us who wasted energy in myriad forms, kept on consuming imported goods even when it meant going into debt to foreign lands that do not wish us well, and cut budgets for regulatory and law enforcement agencies even in the fat years. , Bernie is one of us. He got what he could while he could."

I have long held that "baby boomers" attitude is "I got mine, screw you". And now the folks under thirty are going to pay. They are growing up in an era now of depressed jobs, little to no manufacturing base, huge budget deficits that the only way to eliminate will be with large tax increases or severely cut government services. I am not talking about entitlement programs, but the very services that keep this country safe and running smoothly. Everything from roads and bridges to the Coast Guard. Good job, you selfish boomers.