Highlights From The Comments On Boomers

17 snips

Jan 23, 2026

Explore the fascinating dynamics of intergenerational conflict as the discussion dissects the three claims concerning Boomers: their easier lives, political prioritization, and unique moral failings. Delve into how policy framing impacts perceptions, especially around taxes and housing. The influence of European contexts on U.S. anti-Boomer sentiments and the reality of how social security politics shape generational tensions are also examined. Plus, an engaging critique of cultural myths surrounding divorce and dating adds depth to the conversation!

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INSIGHT

Eldercare Norms Shifted With Longevity

Boomers reduced familial eldercare norms by using institutional care, which altered expectations for later generations.
Scott notes increased longevity made multi-decade eldercare impractical for most families.

INSIGHT

Fertility Decline Predates Boomers

The US fertility decline long predates boomers; boomers are a return toward pre-baby-boom norms.
Scott notes demographic trends, not just boomer choices, shape the inverted population pyramid problem.

ADVICE

Evaluate Social Security By Household

Analyze Social Security payments at the household level because dual-earner households receive larger combined benefits.
This composition effect changes who benefits and who bears reform costs, so design reforms accordingly.

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[original post: Against Against Boomers]

Before getting started:

First, I wish I'd been more careful to differentiate the following claims:

Boomers had it much easier than later generations.
The political system unfairly prioritizes Boomers over other generations.
Boomers are uniquely bad on some axis like narcissism, selfishness, short-termism, or willingness to defect on the social contract.

Anti-Boomerism conflates all three of these positions, and in arguing against it, I tried to argue against all three of these positions - I think with varying degrees of success. But these are separate claims that could stand or fall separately, and I think a true argument against anti-Boomerists would demand they declare explicitly which ones they support - rather than letting them switch among them as convenient - then arguing against whichever ones they say are key to their position.

Second, I wish I'd highlighted how much of this discussion centers around disagreements over which policies are natural/unmarked vs. unnatural/marked.

Nobody is passing laws that literally say "confiscate wealth from Generation A and give it to Generation B". We're mostly discussing tax policy, where Tax Policy 1 is more favorable to old people, and Tax Policy 2 is more favorable to young people. If you're young, you might feel like Tax Policy 1 is a declaration of intergenerational warfare where the old are enriching themselves at young people's expense. But if you're old, you might feel like reversing Tax Policy 1 and switching to Tax Policy 2 would be intergenerational warfare confiscating your stuff. But in fact, they're just two different tax policies and it's not obvious which one a fair society with no "intergenerational warfare" would have, even assuming there was such a thing. We'll see this most clearly in the section on housing, but I'll try to highlight it whenever it comes up.

I'm in a fighty frame of mind here and probably defend the Boomers (and myself) in these responses more than I would in an ideal world.

Anyway, here are your comments.

Table Of Contents:

1: Top comments I especially want to highlight 2: Comments about housing policy 3: ...about culture 4: ...about social security technicalities 5: What are we even doing here? 6: Other comments

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/highlights-from-the-comments-on-boomers