Spend five minutes online and you’ll find someone blaming Boomers for everything.
Housing prices.
Student debt.
Healthcare costs.
Stagnant wages.
Retirement insecurity.
Climate change.
Pick a problem and somewhere, someone is explaining why an entire generation is responsible.
It’s a convenient story.
It’s also a distraction.
Most Boomers weren’t CEOs. They weren’t senators. They weren’t hedge fund managers, corporate lobbyists, or billionaires writing tax policy.
They were teachers, mechanics, nurses, factory workers, office staff, firefighters, truck drivers, small business owners, and parents trying to keep food on the table.
Just like most Millennials.
Just like most Gen Xers.
Just like most Gen Z workers today.
The average person wasn’t sitting around in the 1970s plotting how to make housing unaffordable fifty years later.
They were working.
Raising families.
Paying bills.
Trying not to drown.
That doesn’t mean mistakes weren’t made. Policies were passed. Industries changed. Wealth became increasingly concentrated. Labor protections weakened. Housing became an investment vehicle instead of simply a place to live.
But those decisions weren’t made by millions of ordinary people acting in unison.
They were made by people with power.
And that’s where the conversation should be.
Because while we’re busy arguing about whether Boomers ruined everything or whether younger generations are entitled, the people who actually shape the rules rarely face the same scrutiny.
The generation war is useful because it redirects anger.
Instead of asking why housing is increasingly unaffordable, people blame Boomers.
Instead of asking why wages haven’t kept pace with productivity, people blame Millennials.
Instead of asking why young adults are struggling to get established, people blame Gen Z.
Everyone gets a villain.
Nobody examines the system.
The truth is that most Americans, regardless of age, have far more in common with one another than they do with the people making the biggest decisions.
Most people want decent schools.
Affordable housing.
Accessible healthcare.
Safe communities.
A fair shot.
The generations aren’t the enemy.
They’re simply different groups of people trying to survive under the same set of rules.
And the longer we spend fighting each other, the less likely we are to ask who benefits from the fight in the first place.
Maybe that’s why the generation war never seems to end.
It’s a remarkably effective distraction.
Scarlett says follow the money.
