Tom Friedman is on Fareed Zakaria talking nonsense.

[potone]

He said the baby boomers believed in "borrow and spend" unlike the previous generation. He does not seem to know that wages have been stagnant since the 1970s, and many people who borrowed did so to make ends meet, not to buy mansions. He repeats that "everyone has to sacrifice" as if everyone has benefited equally from the tax policies of the last thirty years. He drives me crazy!!!

[Odin2005]

1. Both Friedman and Zakaria are No-Liberal corporate tools.

[EFerrari]

3. Friedman made a multi-hour infomercial for the apartheid wall in Israel

that passed itself off as a documentary. He's disgusting.

[EFerrari]

2. Has Tom Friedman ever been right about anything ever?

lol

[Kennah]

8. He married well, and that got him into the 1%

[kentuck]

4. How stupid!

They planned it that way. Give everyone easy credit and wages would not have to rise. Once their credit cards maxed out, they could refinance their homes and pay off their credit cards. It was a vicious cycle until the balloon popped...

[FarCenter]

5. You can't "make ends meet" by borrowing.

Particularly not when you are paying credit card interest rates varying from 18 to 30%.

Borrowing for consumption is only something you do in an emergency when know you will have the extra cash coming in later to pay it off, or when it is for a major purchase, like a house, that you will pay off over an extended period of time out of future income and savings on other expenses, like rent.

[Unvanguard]

6. When Tom Friedman talks, he's talking nonsense. He is clueless and should be ignored. n/t

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

7. or that, for profits to continually increase,

wall street demands that wages be pushed down, benefits decrease, jobs go overseas, unions are busted, and long time employees of gigantor corporations be pushed out at a certain point, and replaced with youngsters.

These policies have destroyed the American middle class -

IF you aren't on the side of the 99%, you either are very, very rich, or are living in some sort of denial land, where you walk around in a bubble believing that it may have happened to my neighbor, but it won't happen to me. Maybe it will, or maybe it won't, but I can guarantee that it will happen to your children.

[wishlist]

9. Baby boomers faced 12%+ interest and terrible inflation in late 70's, 80's

In the late 70's and 80's when we boomers were starting out we had to borrow and spend more because college tuition, rent, homes and cars were skyrocketing while interest rates went through the roof and wages did not keep up with inflation. Even the most frugal singles with no kids couldn't save anything unless they lived with their parents. Whereas our parents got low interest loans to buy much cheaper cars and homes back when groceries and utilities were affordable and a college education wasn't required for a good paying job while many of them had GI Bill paying for college and VA helping with mortages and/or they were able to build on family land.

But at least we boomers starting out had more opportunities to find stable jobs with benefits and pensions than younger people have now, although many boomers lost those good jobs over the past 12 years or so due to the outsourcing and downsizing and layoffs.

[CanonRay]

10. Same talking fools on every channel every Sunday

why bother watching, you can predict the discussion beforehand.

[Worship Money]

11. I would call Friedman Captain Obvious

But his shallow, pseudo-intellectual paradigm doesn't even WORK when you get down to it.