The American Dream is Dead (For a Little While, at Least)

America was once a place where people believed that they could work hard and improve their lot in life.  Well, it appears that dream is mostly dead.  Read this article and observe the lack of optimism for America's future: http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110503/ts_yblog_thelookout/optimism-about-future-for-american-youth-at-all-time-low.

Besides the fact that most people are right, what else is deeply disturbing about this article?

This paragraph: "Older Americans were much more pessimistic about the future than younger ones. Among those between the ages of 50 and 64, just 36 percent said they expected younger Americans to have a better life than their parents, and among those 65 and over, just 37 percent did. By contrast, 57 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds said they expected their lives to be better than their parents'. Among Americans aged 30-44, 45 percent agreed with that view--a total just about in sync with the results as a whole".

Question: Why are the Boomers much more pessimistic about our futures than we young people are?

I have a theory: it's because they know they screwed things up for young people in terms of destroying our image in the world, creating massive liabilities that we will have to pay for (e.g. Social Security and the public debt), and screwing up our education system so badly (in terms of quality and price) that we young people will not be ready to compete in tomorrow's economy.

In short, I believe the Boomers may feel a little bit bad.  But, I doubt they feel bad enough to do anything about the problems they created.  I seriously doubt they are willing to cut their retirement benefits or raise taxes on themselves. I do not believe they will help us when we finally wake up and realize our education system sucks.  Basically, I do not believe they will fix the messes they created.  

And, I believe that will impact how the Boomers will be remembered.  The generation that did a lot to push minority and womens' rights forward will not be remembered for those actions.  They will be remembered for their partisan bickering, their refusal to serve in Vietnam, and their unfettered licentiousness.  Mostly, though, the Boomers will be remembered as the generation that financially and morally bankrupted America because of their selfishness and unwillingness to make small sacrifices.

So, Boomers, do you want history to remember you as the most selfish generation the USA ever saw?  If not, you should make things right.  Fix America's debt problems, the education system you screwed up, our entitlements, and our image in the world.  If you do not fix the mistakes you made, I can promise you this: history will not remember you kindly and we young people will make sure of that.