Why is the Economy weak in the US?

I agree but the trend in recent years has been the opposite. Look at all the bank mergers before their bust, the commodity producer mergers. Definitely too much concentration of money/power.

 

The money is already spent.

The Social Security Trust Fund is just a big pile of IOU's.

 

By far the worst thing Boomers did was produce "Generation Me."

The worst generation?
You’ve heard the whining, now studies back it up: Gen Y workers are the pits
By BRIAN MOORE
Last Updated: 9:53 AM, May 10, 2010

Gen Y workers get a bad rap in the workplace, with many a geezer complaining that their work ethic is less developed than their sense of entitlement. But is that really fair?

Yes, according to new research that’s yielded actual data to back up that notion.

In a series of studies using surveys that measure psychological entitlement and narcissism, University of New Hampshire management professor Paul Harvey found that Gen Y respondents scored 25 percent higher than respondents ages 40 to 60 and a whopping 50 percent higher than those over 61.

In addition, Gen Y’s were twice as likely to rank in the top 20 percent in their level of entitlement — the “highly entitled range” — as someone between 40 and 60, and four times more likely than a golden-ager.

Harvey’s conclusion? As a group, he says, Gen Yers are characterized by a “very inflated sense of self” that leads to “unrealistic expectations” and, ultimately, “chronic disappointment.”

And if you think the Gen Yers in your workplace are oversensitive as well as entitled, Harvey’s findings back that up, too. Today’s 20-somethings have an “automatic, knee-jerk reaction to criticism,” he says, and tend to dismiss it.

“Even if they fail miserably at a job, they still think they’re great at it.”

Of course, to be fair, there’s another stereotype about Gen Yers. They may be high-maintenance, but they’re committed and idealistic, and determined to do work they believe in. A fair estimation?

No, according to another study, which will be published in the Journal of Management in September. Co-author Stacy Campbell, an assistant professor of management at Kennesaw State University, says the study revealed that when it comes to work, the two things Gen Yers care most about are a) high salaries, and b) lots of leisure time off the job.

“They want everything,” says Campbell. “They want the time off. They want the big bucks.”

To reach their conclusions, Campbell and co-author Jean Twenge — a professor of psychology at San Diego State and author of “Generation Me,” a book examinning discontent among members of Gen Y — worked over the data from an ongoing survey of high school students conducted annually since 1975 by the University of Michigan. Among their findings was that while both Gen Y and Gen X want sizable salaries, Gen X workers show greater awareness that a hefty paycheck comes with a hefty workload.

“The findings really support the idea that they’re entitled,” says Campbell.

All this leads to a question: Where exactly does this tsunami of privilege come from? As Harvey puts it: “We’re wondering, how do they end up like this?”

The answer, he thinks, can be found in a reworking of the children’s song “Frere Jacques” that he once heard elementary-school students sing. Instead of braying the original French chorus, the kids instead sang, “I am special/I am special.”

Entitlement “gets ingrained in the formative years,” says Harvey. “It stems from the self-esteem movement, telling kids, ‘You’re great, you’re special,’” he says.

Echoing the findings in Twenge’s “Generation Me,” Harvey says the “ultimate irony” of jamming unwarranted notions of self-worth into youngsters like corn down a goose’s throat is that it has the unintended effect of higher rates of depression in Gen Y.

“You see high levels of disappointment,” he notes, adding that unwarranted self-esteem acts as a shield until the ugly truth intrudes.

Recognizing that is easier than fixing it, he says, noting that excising entitlement from the minds of Gen Yers can be a daunting task. It was thought that giving entitled Gen Yers small bits of feedback a la their beloved Twitter might do the trick, but one study found that approach actually made the problem slightly worse, says Harvey.

The quandary is one that both Gen Yers and their employers will eventually have to confront as Gen Y increases its presence in the workplace, says Campbell, adding that each will have to meet the other halfway.

If not, there’s calamity brewing.

“There’s a chance we’re going to have a group of disappointed and disgruntled employees,” she says. “Surely there could be a crisis if no one budges — where Gen Y says, ‘I want everything,’ and the company says, ‘You’re not getting anything.’”


Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/busine...WGTlWa0gO?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=#ixzz0yko9o4Xh

 

When I was a kid, my grandfather told me many times, "The world doesn't owe you a living... make something of yourself". I took that to mean, perhaps incorrectly, that I was ENTITLED TO NOTHING except for what I earned for myself... and if I didn't work, I didn't eat. Even the thought of accepting government assistance of any kind, including food stamps, was embarrassing and repugnant..... as would be the thought of "working for the government". I always thought "only losers would work for the government... those who were lazy or nonmotivated.. couldn't hack it in private industry". The way "things" have gone politically, that notion has turned out to be very wrong.... financially.

My, how European some of our attitudes have become.

 

I really thought this was self evident.

Look at the U.S. debt? Which generation is at fault?
Look at the empty SS "lockbox" which generation spent it?
Who was the poster children of Baby boomers.


Carter was trying to tell them they suck, they are not superior, and should not expect to be live as well as their parents. So what did they do they voted him out and went on a massive spending spree.
They spent trillons they did not have.

They "rebelled" against fiscal and moral responsibility with free love, big drugs and big spending.

Now they are going to demand Govt pay big pharma to provide them with mood drugs for the rest of lives. And they are going to demand the next generations to pay for their retirements even though they spent all their money and the next generations.

They are the disgustingly selfish generation.

 

the clasp rather than a handshake says it all.

Chavez to Close Brokerage Firms Seized in Crackdown
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-03/chavez-to-close-brokerage-firms-seized-in-crackdown.html

 

1. You think it was the Boomers' fault with all the debt? You think the Boomers demanded this and that, defict spending, et al? You don't think it was the POLITICIANS?

2. Which generation "spent the SS lockbox?" Wasn't the Boomers. Wasn't any "generation"... POLITICIANS STOLE IT!

3. The Boomers didn't go on the "spending spree".. again, POLITICANS!

4. I'm not sure how the Medicare drug business got started... I don't know whether politicos volunteered it to garner political support (much like Obama's administration trying to curry the Hispanic vote by not closing the border), or the retirees lobbied for it. Regardless, it wasn't the Boomers. The generation before the boomers are the primary beneficiary so far... when the program started, Boomers weren't yet eligible.

5. As far as Boomers "demand next generations pay for their retirement"... It's not that Boomers "demand" it, but it's how "the system works".. as told to all of us by the POLITICIANS.

Personally, I don't think younger generations are going to have to pay for the Boomers much. The USA is on the fast track to bankruptcy, so everyone who is expecting benefits or feels they are "owed" will be hugely disappointed.. including the Boomers.

The ONLY generation to make out on your terribly flawed social experience is the generation BEFORE the Boomers.

Social Security should have been modified 40 years ago... POLITICIANS fault.

You want to be mad at somebody, vent your fury on Washington! The Boomers are going to be victims just as much as those that come later.

 

The politicians were and are scum, but it was the boomers who allowed them to have no scruples. It will be the boomers who make demands on the system for the next decade or two, you watch as they howl as they eventually lose their voting control and then their "entitlements" get taken away.

It will be historic and interesting.

 

Just look at those imports...

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/julys-trade-balance-data-may-unravel-mystery-2010-09-05


Oh, Goldman says things will improve by year-end.

Come end of the year, they'll be saying it's a temporary stocking-up for Christmas.

In the meantime, official unemployment will keep creeping higher & ...

 

you mean unofficial full time unemployment don't you? the government
will fudge the real figures