There are other reasons to pity Gen Xers, especially the older ones: As PwC's report points out, those who came to parenthood in the past two decades are not only putting their kids through college but supporting them afterward, as the recession has left many of them unemployed. Meanwhile, their own parents are living longer but needing more care.

They are, in a word, strapped. Half of Gen Xers have difficulty meeting their expenses each month, compared to less than a third of Boomers and Millennials. Some 58 percent carry balances on their credit cards, 16 percentage points higher than Boomers.

"Not having enough emergency savings is still the top concern," said Kent Allison, a partner at PwC who oversaw the study. "This is an indication of just how extended people are."

But PwC's study starkly shows how those in middle-middle age have failed to adapt to the economic storms as well as other groups. "Generation X overextended themselves" in the good times, said Allison. "They bought what they could afford, not what they should afford, and the economic downturn hit them hard." The damage done, "they are often making choices they shouldn't be making," said Allison, citing paying for their children's educations and continuing to spend on credit.

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Their lack of discipline is coming at the cost of their main sources of retirement savings. Of the three groups broken out in the PwC study, Gen X is the most likely to have already withdrawn from retirement plans like 401(k)s and IRAs, and the mostly likely to do so in the future. "With their depleted home equity, employees are continuing to view their 401(k) funds as not just a retirement savings vehicle," said Allison. "Even when you force them into saving, with auto-enrollment in 401(k)s, there is leakage of 30 to 40 percent."

The study shows that all Americans need to be smarter about how they spend, Allison said. The share of workers who said they don't save for retirement because their expenses are too high leapt last year to 73 percent from 60 percent in 2011. Nor do we save as wisely as we could, failing to take full advantage of programs like health savings accounts, that are designed to help with expenses in retirement.

But is it Generation X that appears to be most stalled by the downturn, rather than energized. "We were hoping the pain would help fix the problem," said Allison. "The question is, with things getting good again, will they remember being on the edge?

Patrick, the Sunday Times reader from Minneapolis, doesn't think so. "Now we're in our 30s and they still haven't figured out how to live within their means," he wrote. He can take cold comfort that his family and friends are not alone.