In anxious times we look for scapegoats, so boomer-bashing is on the rise. Wondering how to push back? Here’s a quiz:

Cheer up, they’re dying off!The boomers invented [the internet/water bed/etc.]. What does your [entitled/tech-addicted/etc.] generation have to show for itself?It’s about class, not age.

It’s easier to point fingers than to address what’s actually going on. So blame the actual culprits: the rich. The politicians, lobbyists, technocrats, and corporate leaders who’ve shaped a system that benefits other wealthy people at the expense of the common good. Since the financial crisis of 2008, almost 100% of the country’s economic growth has gone to the to the families of the 1%, and they’re doing just fine. As for the underlying forces, blame predatory capitalism, unfettered by shifting political power. It’s not about age. It’s about class.  

Both the 1% and the 99% are made up of all ages .

Americans born into the postwar economic boom were indeed demographically fortunate. The benefits, however, were not evenly distributed. As leading economists have long pointed out, growing wealth disparity within different age cohorts (not between them) underlies the shrinking prospects of ordinary Americans. It’s about class, not age.  

For a clear explanation of what happened to the more egalitarian social contract that followed World War II, and who benefited from its destruction, read No, the Boomers Did Not Take It All in The American Prospect, by journalist Robert Kuttner. Hint: “It wasn’t ‘boomers’….It was Ronald Reagan and the presidents who followed.” Including the Democrats. It’s not about political party or “gerontocracy.” It’s about class and power.

Media coverage is not neutral.

Kuttner’s article is subtitled, “Why is the New York Times validating the generational myth, as opposed to taking a hard look at power and class?” Because the status quo serves the New York Times Company’s neoliberal agenda quite nicely; why upset the apple cart? That agenda prioritizes protecting private property over providing social services—services that disproportionately benefit the young and the old. Old people make better targets than kids, and much New York Times coverage is ageist. (Age advocate Stella Fosse lays out the paper’s sorry record on age bias here.)

Most mainstream media outlets are for-profit companies with sharp eyes on the bottom line. Editors know that generational labels attract readers, and that conflict = clickbait. Of course media outlets have options, and could choose not to advance the misleading narrative that the old profit at the expense of the young—especially in these divided times. Check out journalist Sheila Callaham’s analysis in Forbes of how the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times covered the same story: older Americans not selling their homes. Guess which one steered clear of the “boomers caused the housing crisis” trope?

Look beyond date-of-birth.

Yes,  people born in the aftermath of WWII were lucky. That doesn’t make them the enemy. The housing shortage isn’t a selfish-old-person problem, it’s a housing-market problem. It’s a result of policy failures compounded by economic barriers and demographic shifts, and it affects Americans across the age spectrum. Only the wealthy are protected. It’s about class, not age.  

Far more resources have always flowed from old to young. That’s as it should be. Already underway, the Great Wealth Transfer is moving an unprecedented $124 trillion from older to younger Americans. However, as with the postwar economic boom, the benefits are not equally distributed. Although high- and ultra-high-net-worth households make up only 2% of American households, they’ll receive over half that money and will pass it on to their already-super-rich children.

Don’t let age divide us.

In 2023 the Pew Research Center stopped using generational labels to avoid contributing to generational conflict, and suggested that others follow suit. The more energy we waste on generational finger-pointing, the less likely we are to join forces to demand a society that works for all ages. Blaming America’s ills on old people—or on immigrants or feminists or trans folks, for that matter—divides us and distracts us from what’s actually going on. The only winners in this blame game are the ultra-wealthy. Once again, it’s about class, not age.

The story we need to tell isn’t about boomers vs. millennials. It’s about the rich and powerful vs. the rest of us.