Vox just reposted this interview from 2017. It's worth a read. I haven't read Gibney's book yet, but his comments in this discussion are sound.
I've been thinking and talking about the track record of the Baby Boomers (born 1946-64) for some years now. The facts are in (and then some) and we can learn a lot about why the country is in the state that it's in—and what can be done about it—by becoming aware of how the damage was done. Furthermore, we can learn a lot by becoming aware of the mindset of those who authored that damage.
The mantra repeated by the Boomers is the same professed by conservative/libertarian lawmakers and commentators: personal responsibility, limited government, and free market enterprise. This sloganeering threatens constraint of one's thinking, especially if one grows up hearing it. It becomes a self-evident truth.
But of course, and again, the facts are in. These principles apply to the lower income strata, not to the wealthy. Certainly not to Wall Street. They apply to the classes (and racial groups) the Baby Boomers have abandoned or outright punished (oftentimes including themselves), not the classes they have praised and rewarded.
As I have mentioned before on this blog (see below), the Millennials (born 1981-96) and Generation Z (after 1996) give me hope for future. They are more open minded, their heads aren't full of Cold War rhetoric, and they tend to support their interests.
The disparagement of these two younger cohorts by the Baby Boomers and Generation X (1965-80) requires breathtaking temerity. Though this haughtiness is consistent, and its absence would make no sense given the psychology.
It's important to mention that the point here is not to return the disparagement; merely describing the performance of the Baby Boomers since the late 1970s will suffice.
The point, especially for these younger generations looking to move forward, is to see mine and the Boomers for what they are and have been. And from the conversations I've had with now many Millennials and Gen Zers, they do.
NOTE
See my Mar. 31, 2019, blog post, and two earlier posts on the concept of socialism: Aug. 21, 2018, and Sep. 4, 2017.
