Are younger people worse off than their parents?

• Author: Kreyche, Gerald F.
• Position: Parting Thoughts

IN THE ETERNAL WAR OF YOUTH VS. AGE, the complaint commonly heard is that in today's world, children never will be as ell off as their patents. The deck supposedly is stacked against them, as they are the first generation to start going backward. The magazine Modern Maturity claims that "people over fifty have the highest level of wealth in the country." Not only that, but it is the seniors who get most of the discounts in taxes, movies, restaurants, and department stores.

Apparently, Generation X and its successors are afraid they may not get the Social Security checks their ciders receive and stash away in the bank. Moreover, many previously high-flying Yuppies have lost their high-paying jobs in the current recession and with the downturn in stocks, much of their pension savings as well. Many are desperately looking for work--any kind of work. As if to add insult to injury, a couple of years back, the newscaster Tom Brokaw wrote a best-seller entitled, The Greatest Generation (referring to seniors).

The seniors' response to their juniors' gripes is that the validity of their complaints have yet to be determined. As history reveals, future prognostications find that reality has a way of changing them. Then, too, criteria also have to be established in order to make any comparison. These should include ease of living, salaries, job security, and improvement in both the necessities and luxuries of life.

While not blaming our children, we seniors point out that we had the economic and psychological hardships of raising larger families. Nor did we split with our spouses as readily when some disagreement surfaced. We tried harder to reconcile our differences, understanding the value of compromise. Disputes might have involved child rearing, but they rarely were personal and acrimonious. Couples saw themselves as partners rather than competitors. They complimented and complemented each other and what was good for one was good for the other as well as for the test of the family. Our marriages lasted longer than those of today's generation. One suspects that Silver and Golden Wedding Anniversaries are going the way of the dodo bird. Divorces are so commonplace that one forgets how expensive they can be--specially with child support.

Back when today's seniors were younger, there were few His and Her automobiles. Then, too, modern technology has made living in the contemporary world a lot easier than four or five decades ago. Former back-breaking...