Blame Game

I am one of the notorious Baby Boomers. There, I've said it, and it feels so good to confess! After World War Two, America was filled with exuberant optimism. The Nazis and the Fascists were defeated after epic battles all across the world. The war was so horrific, so huge, and so magnificent, it could have been written by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Forces of Good really defeated the forces of Evil!
 A funny thing happened after the War. All the happiness, all the joy, began to show in a physical way nine months after the end of hostilities. A new generation was born, and in a very big way. Young brides were popping out babies all over America, one after another. Houses had to be built, cars had to be bought, food had to be produced, and America reconfigured her War machine into the strongest economy anyone had seen. Jobs were plentiful, at good wages, with pensions and health benefits thrown in. I was lucky enough to grow up in that time, thinking that my country was the greatest ever known, the Protector of the World. We believed the good guys always won, just like on TV.
 Everything was new, and new was good. The politicians rode this tsunami of joy for years. The fact that certain formulas for covering the costs of all this fun were wrong, and just wouldn't work for the long run, were never mentioned, except by dismal economists with pen holders in their pockets. The party was slowly running out of punch, but no politician would hear it or say it. Baby Boomers built the Grand Economy and became the greatest consumers in history. That was their function, and they did it well.
 Now, the bill for the party is coming due, and there's not enough in the cookie jar to pay for it. Who should be blamed? The Boomers, of course! It's their fault they were born all at once, and encouraged to spend, not save, because it made politicians and bankers and Corporate America look good every fiscal quarter. There's not enough money to pay for Social Security and other pensions because nobody would recognize the coming gloom during the brightness of the day. Boomers are blamed for America's crumbling infrastructure. Our highways and bridges are literally falling apart. The politicians of the next generation need a scapegoat and he is us.
 Just for the record, it wasn't us that ran the party into the ground. It was the people who were supposed to be in charge who started wars without funding them, the people who saw the bridges fading and kicked the can down the road, the politicians who raided Social Security and union pensions for their own immediate benefit, knowing the bill would some day come due. These folks step quietly into the background, and wisely let the Boomers take the heat, just because they were there.