Boomers Didn’t Ruin Everything. Really.
Optimist Economy
Kathryn Anne Edwards and Robin Rauzi
4.9 • 829 Ratings
🗓️ 10 March 2026
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The popular narrative is that baby boomers rode cheap houses and 401(k)s to wealth, dismantled the welfare state behind them, and left everyone else to fight over scraps. But conflating boomers and conservatives lets the latter off the hook for 25 years of tax cuts and disinvestment in children. It erases the Black boomers, poor boomers, and pensionless workers who never got a slice of that wealth. And it lays the groundwork for the one policy outcome its loudest advocates actually want: gutting Social Security. Who really benefits when you decide your parents' generation is the enemy?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the worst topic for us to be rolling on on a day when you and I are both in terrible moods about the podcast of like, today we're going to talk about why boomers don't suck. Honestly, digging deep here. |
| 0:14.5 | Hello and welcome to Optimist Economy. I'm Catherine Ann Edwards, economist. |
| 0:21.6 | I'm editor Robin Rousey. On this show, we believe the U.S. economy can be better, and we talk about how to get there, one problem and solution at a time. Sorry, I'm already giggling because I'm like, I guess that means the problem for episode today is baby boomers. |
| 0:33.6 | It's baby boomers, yeah. |
| 0:35.6 | It could be. baby boomers? These baby boomers, yeah. |
| 0:45.0 | It could be the problem is whiny millennials who complain about baby boomers. |
| 0:46.6 | Oh, God. |
| 0:49.5 | God's deep. |
| 0:50.3 | Well, you know what? |
| 0:52.1 | We're going to talk about boomers and generations. |
| 0:53.8 | But first, announcements. |
| 0:59.4 | The only announcement I have is to remind people that it helps us out a lot. If you rate the show on Apple Podcasts or whatever platform you listen to the podcast on, if you want to leave us a written |
| 1:04.9 | review, that's also super. But yeah, that's it. Excellent. We also, if the review is really funny, not that's the only reason why. Like, you should tell us generally how we're excellent we also if the review is really funny that that's the only reason why |
| 1:12.9 | like you should tell us generally how we're doing but if the review is funny we do love reading them |
| 1:16.5 | on the show we do remember andy five all all the back is named rindy five johnny five |
| 1:24.1 | johnny five johnny five all of the compliments about how like you guys are trying so hard. |
| 1:31.1 | I have them file the way as the bless her heart. |
| 1:35.0 | You have a file of them? |
| 1:36.7 | Nice. |
| 1:38.3 | After announcements, we move into retcon for retroactive continuity, |
| 1:42.9 | where we reflect and discuss and correct things that we |
| 1:45.9 | said in the past episodes. Robin, do you have a retcon? I do. We were talking about the Trump |
... |
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