This started off as a response to A Holiday Request to Our Elders by @jacobtothe. In summary, that post is sort of defense of Boomer criticisms of Millennials. However, it got way too long and rambling so I just made it a post instead. You'll have to read the above if you want more context.
I fit in the Gen X generation. My parents are Boomers. However, I think there are some misconceptions and misrepresentations in what you say here.
First, yes, Boomers definitely encourage their kids to go to college. However, if you are hearing that "any degree" is worth it, you probably weren't listening. Obviously we are speaking in generalizations here but I've never met a boomer that would say a degree in underwater basket weaving, or even philosophy, English, or other such liberal arts degrees are worthwhile. A college degree is very useful for a wide variety of career pursuits including medicine, law, finance, engineering, science and others. I don't know about architecture in particular, however, I suspect that if you are serious about it then incurring some debt for a college degree is worthwhile in the long run. I only know one architect and he makes a lot more money designing houses than I do as a software engineer. The biggest difference to me is that Boomers and even Gen Xers often seemed to have a good idea of what they wanted to do (or what they were going to do anyway) by the time they graduated high school. I knew what I wanted to do by the time I entered high school. This seems less common among millennials and post millennials. But those with professional degrees like those I mentioned suffer far less from the possibilities of only finding part time work, minimum wage work or work without benefits. This is why Boomers say college is important. There are alternatives that Boomers don't always acknowledge. Trade schools are good choices if you want to pursue something like being an electrician, welder, plumber, etc. and those are good paying jobs. But don't blame boomers because you chose to get a worthless degree (not meaning you personally here, just a generalization). The narrative by many Millennials seems to be that college is worthless. This is nonsense. However, there ARE many worthless degrees available.
Speaking of college debt, yes it can be daunting and yes college has gotten more expensive. Having said that, there is a lot you can do to minimize your expenses. Attend community or state college for at least your first two years for starters. These are still affordable and even if you have to go into debt, it shouldn't be unmanageable. In many places you can do this while still living with your parents. Do well enough in high school and at least your tuition will be covered via scholarships. Unless you have a very good reason, you shouldn't be attending an out of state school and unless you can afford it without going into debt, private schools are probably not a good choice either. You can get useful degrees at state universities for far less money (or even free depending on the state and your scholarship prospects). And of course whether or not the cost is worth it depends on the degree and the job prospects it offers. I would think this would fall under the category of common sense. I understood that going into college. I find it hard to sympathize with someone who spends six figures on a gender studies degree. All of this was true when I went to college in the early/mid 1990s and it is still true today.
As far as the economy, every generation sees its bad times. Baby boomers had stagflation, boomers and Gen Xers black Monday and the dot.com bubble bursting, etc. I don't think Millennials have generally had it worse than anyone else and all the other generations are experiencing current economic troubles along with you anyway.
Houses aren't really investments unless you are in a position to buy low and sell high. Most people aren't. A house is a home so if you sell it you have to buy (or rent) another. Most people, of any generation, also can't afford to buy a house immediately out of high school or college. It takes a while no matter what generation you are referring to. Most people have to rent until they can save up for a down payment on a house. How long this takes depends on many things (location, job, size of house, etc.). For obvious reasons, houses are almost always cheapest when the economy is the worst both in terms of actual cost and financing. This is nothing new. My parents didn't own a house until I was in 5th grade... They were in their mid 30s. And when I say own, I mean when they started a 30 year mortgage. My grandparents were renting until they retired...at which time they bought the house they had been renting. Buying a home has never been easy and for the vast majority of people in any generation it consumes the largest share of their income. I've seen memes using fuzzy math to indicate that houses were easy to afford in the Boomer generation for people working at McDonald's. This is nonsense. Both my parents had jobs that were at least marginally better than working at McDonald's in terms of salary and benefits and struggled even with their combined incomes.
A poor job market affects everyone, In fact, I would argue that it affects older people more than younger. Often times, companies will let go of older more experienced people in favor of younger but cheaper employees. It's also harder to find a job when you are older. Benefits have also been declining for everyone. My first job included a pension and matching 401k. My current job has neither. Technically, I have medical benefits but it isn't much better than me simply purchasing insurance for my family. It's an expense nearly as big as a mortgage.
It's not as if only Millennials experience bad stuff like 9/11 and using that as some sort of excuse ignores the things they haven't experienced, like the constant fear of nuclear war that boomers lived under. 9/11 hasn't got anything on "duck and cover".
As far as savings accounts, those have NEVER been good investments (certainly not in my lifetime). I currently get the best interest rate I have ever seen from a savings account with a nearly 4% interest. Interest in bank accounts is always less than inflation though. A savings account is a good place to have emergency cash or to save up for certain big purchases, not a good place for long term investment. That's nothing new either. Close to 0% interest helps those new to buying a house more than anyone else. Many Boomers would either have already paid off their house or most of it making refinancing to a lower interest rate less important. So to the extent 0% interest helped anyone, it would have helped any Millennials that could afford to finance a house or any Gen Xers late to the game as well.
Government managing retirement is a bad idea. Having said that, Social Security is a debt owed by the government to those who pay into it. The reason it has become a ponzi scheme is that the government mismanages the funds which should surprise nobody at this point. While you can certainly say Boomers are the most to blame, anybody who continues to vote for the same idiotic choices shares part of that blame. This is part of a bigger problem of the government borrowing ever more money putting a greater burden of debt on future generations. This problem continues to grow despite Baby Boomers dying off so it isn't a flaw of just that generation though perhaps they started it.
My perception is that there were a higher percentage of Millennials supporting all the COVID nonsense than there were Boomers supporting it. I don't have any hard numbers on that though. In any case, like everything else you mentioned, Boomers had to live through it also (those still living anyway).
Government encroachment on freedoms has been a struggle in every generation as well. One example that comes to mind immediately is the outlawing of gold in the 1930s. Private ownership of gold wasn't legal again until 1974. But there are many other examples. And once again, anything you are experiencing in regards to government encroachment on liberty, Boomers (and all the other generations) are also experiencing.
The one thing that Boomers have that Millennials and post Millennials (and even most Gen Xers) don't have is a pension. However, given how often those have failed I'm not sure that's a positive. Imagine relying on a pension and then it not being there. I'm not speaking of government pensions (yet) but private corporation pensions. Those used to be the norm, now they are virtually non-existent.
Long story short, I don't think any of the above arguments are going to go very far with Boomers. Especially if you are going to try to claim that the hell you've had to live through is worse than theirs and ask for an apology, so good luck with that. Sure, Boomers could be more sympathetic but Millennial attitudes make this hard. I think it is the perception (whether a fair one or not) of Boomers that Millennials whine more about their struggles. I believe the perception is also that Millennials think they have it worse than anybody else. Social media probably contributes to this. I think the arguments you are making would only reinforce that perception. I think a lot of these arguments are also conflated with what parents/grandparents tell their children/grandchildren to some greater or lesser degree in every generation..."back in my day..." type stuff.
Having said all of this, no, I don't think Boomers should be leading out holiday conversation with criticism about Millennials. Not any more than I think Millennials should be leading out with how bad they have it compared to Boomers. I don't think "lazy" is a fair criticism of Millennials in general but I also don't think Millennials, on average, have it any worse than any other generation.
Side note, looking at the ages of the last few presidents... Biden is part of the 'Silent Generation' (pre Boomer), Trump is a Boomer but just barely (born the first year of what is considered the Boomer generation), and Obama is solidly in the Boomer camp. Other previous presidents would all be pre-Boomer.