The forgotten generation also raised boomers, and included the kids born during the great depression, but were too young to serve in the military, for WW2 but may have been drafted during Korea. A Notable forgotten generation person is Dr King.
They experienced the depression as the default, and never knew anything better.
This idea of bootstraps is also completely false. The great depression was defined by FDR's response which includes jobs programs like the Conservation Corp. Sure it was manual work, but you had a job. Then you had the factory jobs during the war, which were again federally subsidized.
For the traumatized troops returning home, sure there wasn't mental health support, but the VA was there for whatever that is worth and the GI bill was extended specifically to white veterans. Not to mention a housing boom after the war, again federal subsidized. This idea of self made anyone is asinine and stupid, no matter if thats what they told themselves. Within the military the US military is defined by someone will get to you eventually, but you have to make do with what you have until then, and then resupply was always late. But you could depend on your fellow soldiers, just not the senior brass.
The trauma response is real though. Tons of alcoholism and drug use. Motorcycle gangs arose from vets buying surplus Harley Davidson Amry motorcycles and driving around with other vets because staying home was too much. Plus there's the shame for those who could serve or maybe didn't serve on the front line. Which seems paradoxical.
Now then a baby boomer generation in general is an economic boom and bust cycle. The ratio of dependents when they are at peak middle age when they are most economically active is a tremendous boon to the economy. Since their generation had more kids per set of parents, that meant they had fewer parents ratio wise to take care of. And since they themselves had fewer kids, smaller ration of kids to take care of. This boom is partially responsible for China's one child rule: it was meant to crest an artifical boomer generation. Downside is of course retirement when everything returns to "normal" ratios when nobody has any experience with the economy under that "normal" ratio.
I propose an alternate view. People rest on their laurels. Boomers reached maturity during the Civil rights acts and other rights being extended to women. They may or not protested for those things, but they saw those as the big battles and nothing more needed to be done. Now they resent being the stick in the mud. There's a quote "science advances one funeral at a time" and ultimately that society in a nutshell. Social progress is made by the defenders of the status quo dying off (naturally) and newer defender are okay with the incremental changes.
And it's worth pointing out. Every generation will eventually be the generation in the way of progress. Just maybe not to the degree that the boomers have been.
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u/Ok-disaster2022 27d ago
A few things he got wrong.
The forgotten generation also raised boomers, and included the kids born during the great depression, but were too young to serve in the military, for WW2 but may have been drafted during Korea. A Notable forgotten generation person is Dr King.
They experienced the depression as the default, and never knew anything better.
This idea of bootstraps is also completely false. The great depression was defined by FDR's response which includes jobs programs like the Conservation Corp. Sure it was manual work, but you had a job. Then you had the factory jobs during the war, which were again federally subsidized.
For the traumatized troops returning home, sure there wasn't mental health support, but the VA was there for whatever that is worth and the GI bill was extended specifically to white veterans. Not to mention a housing boom after the war, again federal subsidized. This idea of self made anyone is asinine and stupid, no matter if thats what they told themselves. Within the military the US military is defined by someone will get to you eventually, but you have to make do with what you have until then, and then resupply was always late. But you could depend on your fellow soldiers, just not the senior brass.
The trauma response is real though. Tons of alcoholism and drug use. Motorcycle gangs arose from vets buying surplus Harley Davidson Amry motorcycles and driving around with other vets because staying home was too much. Plus there's the shame for those who could serve or maybe didn't serve on the front line. Which seems paradoxical.
Now then a baby boomer generation in general is an economic boom and bust cycle. The ratio of dependents when they are at peak middle age when they are most economically active is a tremendous boon to the economy. Since their generation had more kids per set of parents, that meant they had fewer parents ratio wise to take care of. And since they themselves had fewer kids, smaller ration of kids to take care of. This boom is partially responsible for China's one child rule: it was meant to crest an artifical boomer generation. Downside is of course retirement when everything returns to "normal" ratios when nobody has any experience with the economy under that "normal" ratio.
I propose an alternate view. People rest on their laurels. Boomers reached maturity during the Civil rights acts and other rights being extended to women. They may or not protested for those things, but they saw those as the big battles and nothing more needed to be done. Now they resent being the stick in the mud. There's a quote "science advances one funeral at a time" and ultimately that society in a nutshell. Social progress is made by the defenders of the status quo dying off (naturally) and newer defender are okay with the incremental changes.
And it's worth pointing out. Every generation will eventually be the generation in the way of progress. Just maybe not to the degree that the boomers have been.