Home Economics A Major Force Behind Our Economic Problems – “Boomers vs the Rest”
January 19, 2009 2 Comments

A Major Force Behind Our Economic Problems – “Boomers vs the Rest”

I read a great short article this morning which outlines one of the major causes of our financial problems (and interestingly, why living in a younger part of the world might be better for economic opportunity).

Article

The author, Robert Samuelson points out immediately in this article the hypocrisy of politicians who cry “let’s do it for the younger generation” then turn around and basically screw the younger generation (think GM and social security).

Next time you see policy discussions, look at them with an eye toward who is the ultimate beneficiary – is it everyone? or is it primarily one age group – I know this is tough to hear but understand this point: throwing future money at current problems with bail outs and handouts means we (or, some of us) will pay dearly later on – just ask Japan. And you can be sure there will be generational conflict!

From a financial standpoint,  this is a very good reason to diversify away from the US dollar and US assets in case these politicians destroy our currency by printing too much bailout money (search Jim Rogers in my search feature for discussions on this topic).

Chris Grande

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Filed Under: Economics Tagged: age conflict, baby boomers, economic problems, robert samuelson, social security
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  • http://sonofalbertus.blogspot.com ScholarChanter

    As someone who works in the field of aging, the current situation does bother me, as pointed out in the article. A better way to address the economic woes is to create real productivity and create real wealth. The Obama plan for infrastructures, etc. will help somewhat, but we are borrowing money from the future to pay for something we want now. In a sane economy, one would take out such a loan if it could increase income, so that we can pay off the debt. Are we? Much of the treasury action lately has not been investments, as in banking on the future.

    The question for us “youngens” who will otherwise have to pay for this over our lifetime, is to come up with ways to use money that will create true income/wealth.

    As the boomers retire, the US will see a big drop in overall productivity, because there are less people working – which is a double whammy for paying off debt. Perhaps Americans just need to embrace poverty like the rest of the world.

  • http://ChrisGrande.com Chris Grande

    What’s interesting, if you “plan” an economy to grow, I believe the baseline growth comes from population increase and then you get “real” growth from tech and productivity improvements.

    Japan is seeing their “baseline” drop as their population declines and ages. What we need is to save, be prudent, and teach people colonial American values of prudence, hard work, thrift, and responsibility. If government officials keep promising to “get the economy going,” then people will rely on government for answers and on the other hand will BLAME government for problems.

    This is similar to what happens in a South American country every 8-10 years which causes riots – people expecting everything from daddy government, and when they don’t deliver, they protest. Their model is not one I would like to duplicate here.

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