Reply #2: Trying to divide the elderly and the young people....

[madfloridian]

Here are a couple of paragraphs from the Generational Gambit. Part is true, but the part that says is it is not working....well, that was then. Now it is working. It has the younger folks getting panicky now.

SNIP..."If journalists reached out to a broad group of young people, they would find a generation that is not just trying to get a bigger share of the pie, or growing resentful of their grandparents. They would also find a generation whose prospects have been steadily undermined by negative wage growth, declining economic security, and diminishing investment in the future.

They would also find a generation trying to promote positive political change. Young activists have already changed our future with diversity, divestment, environmental and service movements. Underlying each is a profound concern for improving the lives of all people, young and old.

Cowan and Nelson once predicted that Social Security would be our generation's Vietnam. They may be correct—but for the wrong reasons. As in the early years of the Vietnam war, young people face a press that dismisses our views and participates in a propaganda campaign promoted by special interests.

The good news is that young people have not taken the bait. We may be skeptical about the future of social insurance programs—which is hardly a terrible "generational conflict"—but we have resisted the calls to division....."

I think the division is occurring now. The press has worked its magic. The article is from 1997.