Wow. Gen X Is So Screwed. And We Weren't Even Paying Attention.

Just caught this Gizmodo item in a facebook post by a friend. Wow. Just read it.

Weird for me to think about this. I had more than one marriage and two kids far apart in age. So one's a Gen Xer, and one's a Millennial. We boomers have let both generations down.

Again, as Atrios would say, shit is fucked up and bullshit.

Must be the Millennials' fault.

Or not.

BTW, my generation:

Of course, that could have been just an act. It didn't seem like it back then.

What I can say is, after all the years in between and how everything turned out, what happened? My feeling has always been two things happened: Ronald Reagan and AIDS.

This chart, which shows The Great Divergence clearly beginning during Reagan's first term, is pretty compelling:

Somewhere around 1982, incomes for the rich took off and ours didn't. Even worse today. Yep, Reagan. As for AIDS, here's a picture of life before AIDS:

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Sorry Gen Xers and Millennials. We got some things right and some things wrong. But don't blame us. We lived life as best we could, just like you do. I will say this: I wish it would have turned out better. We, most of us, had high hopes. Maybe too high.