GUEST POST from Don – Hoarding?

HOARDING?

Ageism is alive and well among some in America.  I wrote some weeks ago that the younger generations hate old people.  They not only create systems which are biased against old people, they are intentional and purposeful in placing BLAME on those Baby Boomers who had no choice when and to whom they were born.  Blame for what?  Every aspect of the economy or politics which the younger generations don’t like (however they don’t mind the things that benefit them, by the way).
One author claims that Baby Boomers are hoarding the good houses and good jobs, and won’t get out of leadership.  That is one author’s excuse for why subsequent generations don’t have everything their hearts desire.

It is a false argument; a complaint based on jealousy not fact.

The older generation never had things handed to them on silver platters either.  The advantage they had was they weren’t bogged down financially with techno-wackiness.  If your family is spending up to $10k a year on phones, internet, phone plans, and electronic devices that isn’t the fault of your parents.  If you are ordering meal and package delivery multiple times per week those aren’t decisions made by your parents.  But one thing is sure, you’re not going to have enough left over to buy a house.  The problem is not with Baby Boomer hoarding, but with YOUR out-of-control spending. 

I know several families who have cable (with 60” TVs), internet (blazing fast speeds), five i-Phones (with phone plans), order meal delivery several times a week, paid subscriptions to everything, expensive battery cars, and can never save enough to get out of apartments.  They’re not even trying to buy a house … they’re buying everything else.  

Boomers went to college to get degrees in science, medicine, business, and law.  Now the kids are getting degrees in video production and worse.  They’re not even trying to get a job that would pay enough to service their student loans.

Even if every Boomer retired and sold their houses the next generations COULD NOT fill their jobs or afford their homes.  We are running out of doctors and dentists.  We can’t get enough scientists or teachers.  

Boomers are NOT choking the economy, they built it and keep it going by being careful.  The next generations are likely to inherit far more than the Boomers did from their parents.  Generational wealth will soon be flowing like a river into those younger generations, but they have no clue how to maintain the value.  They are more likely to blow it on European excursions and cruises.  It is an attitude of deservedness (entitlement) that keeps the next generations from acquiring their own wealth, homes, and positions of leadership.

Nick Lichtenberg and other jealous types think they are being insightful when they suggest that Boomers need to “make way.”  Trouble is that he, and the others like him, have never searched history.  The Greatest Generation never “made way,” nor did the generation before that, nor the one before that, nor the one before that.  Further, neither should Baby Boomers.  It isn’t their fault, nor their obligation.  Every generation in history has had to make its own way and build its own resources.  If you want something, you don’t take it away from someone else, you EARN it for yourself.  You don’t deserve ANYTHING you don’t earn.  If you didn’t build it, it isn’t yours.

Second, writers of his ilk claim to be “wise.”  However, if you are wise, or even smart, you should be capable of finding a path to success without killing off or pushing aside those you think are in your way.  If you can’t come up with a good plan by yourself maybe you could ask some AI, right?  Better, ask a Boomer for advice.  He and she found a way to succeed.  If you listen you may gain true wisdom.

Thieves never build anything.  They take.  So, Nick, are you a builder or a thief?  Boomers built.

Third, it is always the complaint of the unprepared that “others are hoarding.”  Boy Scouts are hoarders?  Or do they prepare?  No, being prepared is not a “fault,” it is a “virtue.”  By complaining you are admitting you haven’t any virtue to speak of, you are admitting you are entitled, and you are admitting you are incapable of forethought.  You are a child who never grew up.  You are the Peter Pan generation.

The Boomers are not “lodged in America’s throat” as Lichtenberg pens, they built the America that the younger generations have inherited.  The Boomers built the interstates you drive, the banks you depend upon, the concert venues you enjoy, and farmed the crops that fed your overfed mouths.  Without the Boomers America would be a second world country and not this land of vast opportunity you can’t seem to find.  But you want us (the doers) to get out of the way of you (the takers).  

The truth is much deeper than our current gaggle of writers imagine … For Boomers it was rare to move back home after moving out.  But a recent survey finds that 58% of young adults later move back, including 15% who have done this multiple times.

But adult children aren’t just moving back home.  Unlike previous generations, when living with parents past a certain age carried a distinct stigma, these “kids” aren’t ashamed about their living-at-home status.  They have an entitlement mentality.
Greedy much?  But are you willing to do what it takes, like we did?

Sonny, I don’t care what you think until I see how much you are willing to give.  Its time to grow up and stand on your own two feet.  No one is stopping you except you.

Copyright 2026 Donald Whelpley

[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere.
ALSO, Don is always open to offer his thoughts on various topics. If you have a specific request, you can let him know in a comment; he reads – and replies to – them all. ~ Sherry]

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