‘Cause I love to live so pleasantly,
Live this life of luxury,
Lazing on a sunny afternoon…
— ‘Sunny Afternoon’ by The Kinks, 1966
If only I had been born just one year later — in 1965 — maybe I could plead “not guilty”.
But as it stands, the best I can hope for is a plea bargain.
According to Wikipedia, the Baby Boomer generation includes people born between 1946 and 1964. Which makes me part of the generation that ruined America.
In our own defense, we could claim that the people responsible for America’s decline and fall were born before 1946. Joe Biden, for example (b. 1942). Rupert Murdoch (b. 1931). Mitch McConnell (b. 1942). Nancy Pelosi (b. 1940).
But no. These people are safely part of the Silent Generation, born between 1928 and 1945. Silently undermining our way of life.
So it’s my generation, the Baby Boomers, who get stuck with the blame.
We weren’t silent enough, I guess. We burst out of our respective mothers’ wombs with a “BOOM”, with one goal in mind: to acquire as many possessions as possible, while paying out as little as possible.
And what a fine job we did. American Baby Boomers make up 20% of the nation’s population, but own 52% of its net wealth, worth $76 trillion. Most of us are now collecting corporate pensions plus Social Security — both precariously funded by struggling Gen X and Millennials who are working underpaid jobs and paying outrageous rents. They’re driving us around in Ubermobiles, stocking our shelves, changing our sheets, delivering our packages… while we sit in the shade, sipping lemonade. (Or else, as in my case, a cold beer.)
The poster child for our generation? Donald J. Trump (b. 1946). He arrived as one of the very first Boomers, just barely over the 1946 wire, to lead the way.
Of course, back in the 1960s and 1970s, we were the radicals who thought we could change the world. And we did. But not in the way we imagined.
As a generation, we’re now retiring with more disposable income than any previous generation. But we’re not sharing our wealth. We’re trying to preserve it, or even increase it. The issue for the American economy in the 2020s and 2030s will not be why Boomers are spending so much… it’s why we’re spending so little. We’ve turned into a generation of Scrooges.
Apparently, we’re trying to die rich.
I read somewhere that Boomers, on average, bought their first home at age 25. The average age for buying a first home is now around 36. Either the world has changed, or Gen X and the Millennials are not trying very hard. But Boomers are getting the blame. We could downsize into smaller homes, but instead we’re staying in our mostly-empty four-bedroom houses and, to top it off, buying vacation homes. Real estate is a great investment, in the middle of a housing crisis.
Just to be clear, I don’t live in a four-bedroom house, and I don’t own a vacation home. And I won’t have a corporate pension, if I ever retire. Maybe some Social Security, if I’m lucky. But I do plan to live to be 100, requiring several million dollars in medical treatments along the way that my children and grandchildren will pay for.
Because I deserve it?
Here’s Briana Nicholas, a 28-year-old Millennial accountant with $200,000 in student debt from her college education.
“It’s a little bit morbid to have to wait for your relatives to die to have some kind of financial success.”