Generational Warfare: GenX has been at it from day 1

Matt Towery outlines for you what we've talked about here for years - the Greatest Generation beget the Worst Generation.

As an-early cohort Gen-X type, of course none of this is news to me. I've had to wade through their cultural and economic debris my whole life - something outlined very well by Douglas Copeland in his 1991 fun romp, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture (dogs eating from discarded bags of yuppie liposuction fat still makes me wince).

What was once funny and irritating is now existential in its threat. Matt, over to you;

Regardless of how the so-called "fiscal cliff" ends, one thing is clear: The combined group of Americans whose age comprises either the last few years of the "baby boom," which is said to have ended in 1963, and most of the so-called "Generation X," which followed and ended in 1984, will collectively get the worst end of a deal that, as a whole, they do not want — when and if ever Congress and the president quit playing their games of alternative threats and capitulation.

That particular "Forgotten Collective Generation" should be mad as hell — particularly those between the age of 55 and 35. The combined vote of that age group, no matter what survey one uses, was in the majority against President Obama and has a disdain for government in general.

... math tells us that by the time these folks start to reach the age of eligibility that now exists, they either won't be eligible, or the costs they share will be sky-high, or the quality of care will be so regulated, limited and uncaring that it won't come close to resembling the Medicare program their parents or older siblings enjoyed.

Particularly if one is on the younger side of this unfortunate group, don't count on that little statement you receive telling you what you have contributed and what you would receive down the road. The math says it is impossible — particularly if you are contributing to the "fund" at a higher level.

And of course these folks in general will have the great honor of having to work years longer than many of their parents or older brothers and sisters (I know there are many exceptions, so don't think I don't feel your pain, too, remaining boomers and seniors).

The same goes for Social Security, which is not really a separate fund or trust, just another growing obligation for a debt-ridden nation.

Read it all.