Books and articles abound about the Greatest Generation (1910 - 1924), the Baby Boomers (1946 - 1964), Gen-X and Gen-Y. 

But...what about my generation (1924 - 1945)? Why do the pundits and politicians ignore us? Why are most Americans totally unaware of our existence?

It's our own fault. We failed to defend and pass on the values that our parents inherited from as far back as the founding of America. We were so busy rebuilding an economy that was decimated by the Great Depression and put into a wartime state by WWII that we lost sight of the turmoil that the entitlement thinking and the quick-buck-investment mentality that followed us was wreaking on America's economic stability.

Our inattention has allowed America to flounder its way to a measure of success unseen in the history of the world. This success is, however, also the foundation of our failure. Our economic house is built on sand. Baby Boomers and their progeny deny or are unaware of the Four Pillars of every financially successful and secure family and person

1. Instead of Freedom from Debt-to-others they embrace debt as passionately as they would a lover during a first encounter - mortgages, lines of credit, credit cards, auto loans, furniture, appliances and home improvements financed "same-as-cash" (not)
2. In lieu of keeping three to five years of ready cash and maintaining high levels of equity in their homes, they hold tight to the shibboleth that six months of money reserves is enough to weather the storms they'll encounter during a 90 to 100+ year lifespan and that home equity should be sucked into "investments"
3. Rather than building a financial structure that delivers guaranteed income in good times and bad during their 30 or more years of after-work life, they expect the government, an employer, a union or (often unrealistic) investment returns to assure them security and peace of mind 
4. Perhaps most damning, many Boomers and Beyonds care not whether they leave a legacy to their heirs. Many of them received a legacy of money themselves but, having neither received nor embraced a legacy of understanding, knowledge and wisdom, they simply have nothing to give.

It's time for the Forgotten Generation to step forward and reclaim its destiny as the protectors of the American values that were passed on to it but which will pass out of existence if the Forgotten Generation does not act to restore them and pass on the legacy of wisdom that it received from its forebears. It's also time for the Boomers and Beyonds to discard the falsehoods and foolishness that can lead to America's ruin. Its time for them to put renewed faith in the finacial founding fathers who wrote, spoke and lived the Four Pillars.